Creating Community Through Moderating: Perspectives From Andrew Yin

A humble reporter embarks on a behind-the-scenes exploration of the NAMUN moderating experience through an interview with Andrew Yin, Co-Director of Procedures and Training and former moderator

By Jeffrey Leung

Andrew Yin presents a prime example of the often unappreciated positive effects of a group like NAMUN; aside from the many useful skills, political and historical knowledge, and general experience such an exhaustively-organized event would grant you, it’s important to also acknowledge its power to bring people together and, beyond even that, create a sense of community in an academic environment that can often seem cold and uncaring.

In an exclusive interview, Andrew not only told me about the absolute joy that this close-knit community gave him, but also the behind-the scenes of various positions at Model UNs, from his humble beginnings as a delegate in high school, to moderator in NAMUN last year, to Co-Director of Procedures and Training, focusing on preparing the next batch of moderators for what is sure to be a fantastic conference.

The first thing I gleaned from our conversation was the importance of experimentation. It’s always a good idea to step out of your comfort zone and try new things; you might gain a wonderful hobby out of it, or maybe even a job. It was exactly that mindset that lead Andrew into MUN in the first place, with one of his high school friends initially encouraging him to join as a delegate. Though, looking back, he definitely prefers moderating and other behind-the-scenes work, his limited experience as a delegate provided a better background and understanding for his future as a moderator and moderator trainer.

Speaking of moderating, Andrew had a lot to say when asked about his NAMUN experiences as a moderator, enumerating both the highs and lows (though the highs vastly outweighed the lows). In terms of the highs, he first listed his wonderful experiences at the NAMUN social events: the semi-formal (he really enjoyed the macarons in particular, which I’m honestly a little jealous I didn’t get a chance to try, given how much praise he lavished upon it) as well as the board games night, both of which really contributed to the feeling of community and almost pseudo-family that NAMUN had already given him during the close-knit training sessions. As a generation 1.5 student, the prospect of starting university life in a campus that seemed cold and distant at best and downright unforgiving and brutally competitive at worst was a daunting one. NAMUN showed to him a different side to the UofT community; providing him with great opportunities to create lasting friendships that feel almost like family and memorable experiences outside and within the actual conference. This familial connection was so powerful that he even remembers tearing up during the closing ceremony, with said experience being one of his most treasured in his UofT experience thus far. Such a connection, given the brutally competitive nature of the UofT experience, goes a long way in helping mitigate the potential social and mental issues that many students face (an issue that UofT has had a problem with in the past).

Speaking of conference itself, Andrew felt that it all felt like an immensely satisfying reward for suffering through all of the extensive and rather exhausting organization and training that had come before it. As a moderator, he loved the feeling of shaping and enhancing the Model UN experience for all delegates involved, since as what essentially amounts to a more-involved referee, he got to control the flow of his little piece of the conference (he humorously noted the cool authoritative feeling the gavel gave), ensuring the enjoyment and comfortability of everyone involved, something that also came naturally to him due to his past experience as a delegate himself.

In regards to the lows, Andrew only really disliked one thing: the difficulty of balancing his social life, school work, job work, and NAMUN all at the same time, especially now as an executive member. Though he certainly enjoys his new managerial role, he admits that he misses the more focused and hands-on approach to NAMUN that his old moderator position granted him, and that memorizing and explaining all the rules and procedures (not just the ones relevant to him), was quite a difficult process, though he believes that the personal growth he achieved as a result would ultimately be worth it; furthermore, this experience would only serve to enhance the quality of the conference in the near-future.

In regards to this preparation, Andrew also had a few notes on possible training improvements for the future; namely, the handling of equity. Though he appreciates the necessity of such training and even praises the relevant scenarios presented, he believes that as it is, the equity training is inefficient and takes up more time than it needs. Rather than equity scenarios being used at the beginning of every training session, the equity training should be streamlined and centralized, scheduling specific (mandatory) training sessions entirely focused on equity, which would both allow more time for position-relevant training as well as well as equity, with the latter being more fleshed-out as a result of the added time.

These minor criticisms and suggestions aside, Andrew feels that overall, the NAMUN experience and MUN experiences in general have been tremendously rewarding, speaking from his past as a delegate, moderator, and exec member, and is optimistic that the coming conference will provide the same caliber of wonderful experiences as his past ones did. As NAMUN continues to provide him with a sense of belonging on campus, he hopes that he can bring that same sense of family to a new group of students, students that will hopefully achieve the same personal growth that Andrew did during his own experience as moderator.