A day in the Media Room

A coverage by the media team of the media team

By Naomi Richardson

It’s the first full day of the 2018 NAMUN conference – committee session runs 10AM to 12:30AM and the halls are quiet, except for the occasional click-clack of shoes as a page or staff member delivers news or updates.

Here we sit at the Emissary HQ – an outline of the NAMUN magazine format takes over the chalkboard, alongside an idea of word counts for article assignments. Media staff are busy updating the NAMUN 2018 Twitter and Facebook pages, creating graphics for the online magazine and putting the finishing touches on committee articles. However, this room at least is filled with a peaceful working atmosphere, thankfully devoid of a stressful anxiety that seems to be present in most television press rooms. Quiet conversations fill the room, sometimes on work, sometimes casual.

Natasha Malik, Editor in Chief of the Emissary, and Rhea Hsu, Director of Branding and Design, are also present with their staff. Thinking of what to write on today’s conference, I started by asking these two what they were doing.

Natasha is busy working on watermarking photos, she says, and coordinating with journalists on which committees to attend. Rhea sits close by, flipping between snapchat filter designs for the events of the next few days. When asked on her role during the conference versus earlier preparation throughout the year, Rhea agrees that she was much much busier in preparation for the conference; its unsurprising, since she is the one who has designed all the nametags and logos for the committees. Proud of her accomplishment and somewhat jokingly, she says “I did everything with my own two hands”.

A favourite place both this year and last, we often get visits from other Secretariat members who need a minute to sit, or need to enlist a second pair of hands to carry boxes, or water – since many of the rooms are steadily gaining in temperature.

One of those who stops by is Brittany Hadley and Bamdad Attaran, second time Secretariat members and this year’s Senior Advisors.

Rhea asks for opinions on her snapchat filter graphics – choosing a good judge, Hadley, one of the most stylish Secretariat members. I asked her too what she often finds herself doing throughout the conference, which I discovered was mostly checking on things, and supporting the conference in whatever capacity NAMUN needs. Bamdad agrees, who I spoke to in the Staff Room, EM119. The Secretariat can often be found there, or often running around and paging paging for committees.

Back at the Emissary, Nickolas Shyshkin stops by. Nick’s role is similar to Bamdad and Brittany’s, as he is often checking in on committees, solving issues as the come up, and responding to staff or delegate needs. Later in the day he will be working on the head delegate meeting and participating in the committee feedback sessions. While I talk to him, Rhea on a whim takes our picture – and Natasha asks us what she should make her quote for our ‘Humans of NAMUN’ page. Am I the only one amused that as the head of the Emissary, she doesn’t know what to say?