Designing a webpage, placards, nametags are just some of the many jobs Columbus School Model United Nations (COSMUN) Logistics Team were in charge of preparing for this year’s event, April 2-5.

As both a  Staff Writer for The Discoverer and COSMUN logistics delegate I am fortunate to have unique perspective on the detailed organizational plans that go into a successful event with over 500 participants.

Logistics is the fountdation of the event, nothing would be possible without them. They are in charge of making sure everything goes as planned, and in case it doesn’t, are the ones who take care of it. There’s a very wide range on the kind of jobs they to do. For example, working with presidents and secretaries and the press delegation, and printing and designing everything needed for the event.

“It just wouldn’t exist, without logistics COSMUN wouldn’t exist because it would be chaos, total chaos,” Federico Caro, COSMUN Vice Secretary General, said.

Work starts months before the event. It all starts with the president’s selection of the Logistics crew. He selects a few High School students and then asks them for advice on who else to enroll.

“I started selecting people on November 3, and we have been working ever since,” Felipe Rey, Logistics President, said.

Once the delegation is complete, work begins on designing the webpage. The templates for committees (with topics and presidents included), the Registration page (for individuals and institutions), the Press page, and the Sponsors page are created.

“We had a lot of trouble with the page at the beginning because some links weren’t working, but now, in my opinion, the page is beautiful,” Rey said.

When the webpage is done, placards from past events have to be organized. This year the placard system changed, so the old ones had to be organized by country, counted, and then written down. The new system consists on printing a paper with the country’s name and code of arms which will be put inside an acrylic.

“We had to see what old placards we still have because they are going to be given away,” Agustin Solorzano, COSMUN logistics Vice-President, said.

After the secretaries assign the needed countries, work on the design of the placards begins. To have the same size and format for all countries, Adobe Illustrator is essential. On the left side of the page goes the code of arms, on the middle, the country’s name, and on the right side goes COSMUN’s logo.

“There were so many placards we all had to work; presidents, secretaries, even people who weren’t logistics,” Caro said.

After designing the placards, they are printed then cut. After they are cut, each one is mounted on the acrylic stand to see if it fits.

“The jpeg files are placed on a google doc, then printed, and then cut with a guillotine,” Rey said.

Portraits of important historical figures had to be created for the inauguration. High School Art teacher Gloria Velez helped by making the sketches on big canvases, and they were painted according to what she suggested.

“We painted for hours and hours until we finally finished those portraits,” Solorzano said.

The week before the event, all of the materials required by the delegates arrive, so the COSMUN kit is created. Notepad, pens, and papers to send messages are put on a bag to be given to a delegate as they register on the opening ceremony day.

“There were two bags, A and B each containing a pen, sticky notes, notepad and the schedule for the event,” Caro said.

We have to go to school on a Saturday morning to make sure everything is ready for the opening ceremony. Logistics is highly demanding, to the point we have to sacrifice our free time.

“Logistics at COSMUN requires a lot of time and lots of sacrifice, we are the core of the event,” Solorzano said.

Finally, the coliseum is organized for the Inauguration Day. Chairs, tables, registration stations, and decoration have to be set up. After the coliseum is finished, the rooms used as committees are configured.  Each president instructs how they want their room to be set up and we accommodate it to their needs.

“We have to move desks around an arrange them how presidents want, then we have to cover them with table cloth,” Rey said.

On the Inauguration Day, we register the delegates, give them their nametag, placard and the kit we prepared.

“Each logistics delegate is assigned to a committee for the registration. They have to check if delegates payed,” Rey said.

The hard work and dedication has paid off on the past, and we hope this year runs smoothly.  This is the part to logistics no one knows, it’s not just moving boxes.

“I would like to highlight that the logistics students are fundamental because they are capable of distributing everything needed for the event,” Erika Atehortua, COSMUN coordinator, said.