Having attended a few summits more than can be attributed to blind good fortune, I tend to think of myself as having had a bit of experience being ‘the Philippine delegate.’ With the exception of once pulling a joke on my fellow summiteers and, on talent night, singing the dirty version of a world famous Filipino song, I also would like to think that I haven’t yet embarrassed the country irretrievably.
This was probably the reason why I was asked to give some pointers to some neophyte summiteers. After I finished that informal conversation, I thought to myself, why not blog about it?
So, apart from the usual “do your homework and come prepared with killer presentations and discussion guides,” here are the top ten things you ought to remember.
Number Ten – Make sure you have spare luggage space for all the pasalubongs AND all the various magazines, brochures, white papers, and so on you’ll be bringing home.
Number Nine – Bring the various magazines, brochures, white papers, and so on home. You’ll be able to start a collection of summit materials that will serve you well in the future as a source of ideas and insights.
Number Eight – Bring a fact sheet about the Philippines. Land area, main export, that sort of thing. You’ll be surprised at how many of your fellow summiteers are interested in things like that.
Number Seven – Pre-summit, read up a little on the countries that will be sending delegates. It’ll make things go smoother for you – especially when you’re trying to have your proposal adopted or something – when you know where your fellow summiteer is from. Remember, information is the new currency.
Number Six – Make sure you can contribute something – a song, a dance, whatever – to culture night. As a summiteer, you’re practically an ambassador of Philippine culture.
Number Five – Bring tourism type brochures. There’s no reason why your time there can’t be used to promote Philippine tourism. But a warning – make sure you bring brochures from places you can talk intelligently about. There’s nothing more off-putting than someone giving you a brochure they can’t explain or describe competently.
Number Four – Bring at least one set of formal national costume type clothes.
Number Three – Wear a Philippine flag pin. And bring several spares. Fellow summiteers often exchange flag pins as souvenirs.
Number Two – Don’t bring food. Many summiteers make the mistake of bringing packs of dried mangoes. Trust me, they don’t make an impression. Some of them get torn open in the room and left uneaten. You want your souvenirs to be remembrances, not snacks-of-the-moment.
Number One – Bring small Filipiniana souvenirs. As a rule of thumb, you’ll want to bring about twenty key chain sized items, maybe ten pashmina scarf type things, and at least one really nice and flashy souvenir like maybe a small sculpture made of marble or this nice glass chess set.
There. I hope that helps!