<p>I went to HMC Europe in 2005 (in Paris that year) - it was great. HMCE is a lot smaller than HMC, but definetly still a Harvard-calliber conference. My school was the only North American school there, the others were mostly European schools and International schools from the Middle East. I was on the G8 - our directors were great and the committee was a good size, although my friends who sat in the actual Congress said it was good too. My little brother is going to the 2008 conference - I think it’s in Athens this time around.</p>
<p>As far as “international” MUN conferences - you should all consider going to SSUNS, which is in Montreal and run by McGill. For me it wasn’t international as I’m from Canada, but there’s always a good representation of US students there. I went to SSUNS three times, and it’s probably the best conference I’ve been to. It’s very well organized considering the size of the conference (I think they’re at 1200+ delegates now). They have all the standard committees plus some great historical and future scenarios - like the '82 soviet politburo or meech lake 2010 (imagine quebec actually voting to separate from canada…!). The press corps is also very well run, if you like that aspect of MUN conferences. I think that a good press corps only add to the experience. </p>
<p>The worst conference I’ve been to, as far as ones to avoid, was my uni’s conference last year (UBCMUN in Vancouver - open to uni and hs students). It’s a bit on the small side, which is okay, but I had two major problems with it: 1) the press corps was unorganized and the way they handled the conference-wide crisis made it all incredibly unrealistic and almost stupid (interrupting debates to bring in unrelated and unrealistic issues), and 2) it was the first conference I went to were the majority of delegates got to use laptops, and not just in unmoderated debate to work on resolutions or fact check - I hated it because the delegates in my committee would be looking up their policies 2 minutes before a speech and then read off the screen! So much for preparation! Also, the US delegate, who was sitting near me and should have been a very important player, was on facebook the entire time. AAAHH. I’m hoping to be on the secretariat in the next few years… maybe shake things up a bit and crack down on the people who are way too laptop-dependant. The best sessions I’ve been in have definetly been the ones that have a laptop ban (to avoid pre-written resolutions).</p>