The photo to the right shows the pumpkin decoration that Katie created for her room.
Katie had a job interview this afternoon. “Kinda”. As a bit of a background, she became the head of Model UN this year as the kids wanted her to lead it. Today the “adults” called to make sure that she is worthy of the position. They actually emailed last night to see if she would be able to take the call, but she didn’t check her emails. Today, one hour before the call, they texted to ask if she would be available. Luckily she was! The good think about this situation is that she didn’t have time to fret and worry about it.
Katie had Bobby show me a problem with the CVEMUN website. There are three rectangles on the front page, and the third one, when expanded, is not the same size as the others.
I’m going to get ChatGPT “Agents” to “Go Wild” with the staging environment I have set up for the CVEMUN website. I’m going to get it to investigate what kids who are about to go to high school in a year would like in a website. Something that would impress them enough that they would want to join Model UN once they arrived at Vanier!
ChatGPT suggested: For Work, I would give it a mission rather than a page-by-page design brief. The important thing is to tell it to research the audience first, inspect the existing CVEMUN site for content worth preserving, study strong youth/student/Model UN sites, and then give it substantial creative freedom on the staging site.
I’d paste something close to this into Work:
You have considerable creative freedom. Go wild.
Mission: Reinvent the CVEMUN Website for the Next Generation of Model UN Students
I want you to take substantial creative initiative with a staging version of the CVEMUN website and transform it into a website that would genuinely excite young students about joining Model United Nations when they reach high school.
This is an experimental staging environment. I want you to GO WILD creatively. Do not merely modernize the existing website or rearrange its current pages. Research, rethink, redesign, prototype, test, and improve it.
The audience
Your primary audience is students who are approximately 12–14 years old and about one year away from entering high school, particularly students who may eventually attend G.P. Vanier Secondary School in Courtenay, British Columbia.
Imagine a student who knows little or nothing about Model UN. They arrive at this website because a friend, teacher, parent, social post, QR code, or Google search sent them there.
I want that student to come away thinking:
“Whoa. What is this? This looks fun. I want to do this when I get to Vanier.”
Phase 1 — Research before designing
Before changing the staging site, investigate what today’s 12–14-year-olds respond to online. Research current web-design patterns, visual styles, interactions, storytelling approaches, mobile experiences, games, clubs, educational organizations and youth-oriented experiences that successfully engage this age group.
Also research Model United Nations from a teenager’s perspective. What initially attracts students? What intimidates them? What misconceptions do beginners have? What makes MUN sound exciting rather than academic or stuffy?
Look at excellent Model UN, debate, youth leadership, educational, gaming, entertainment and youth-community websites—not to copy them, but to identify ideas that could make CVEMUN unusually compelling.
Think especially about students who may initially care much more about friends, experiences, travel, competition, belonging, confidence, adventure and having fun than about diplomacy or international relations.
Phase 2 — Understand CVEMUN
Thoroughly examine the existing CVEMUN website and staging environment. Understand its history, conferences, activities, photographs, traditions, accomplishments and useful existing content.
Preserve valuable factual information, but do not allow the structure or appearance of the existing website to constrain the redesign.
Determine what a prospective Grade 8 student actually needs to see and what material is primarily useful to existing members, parents, teachers, alumni or conference participants. Organize those audiences appropriately instead of putting everything in front of a first-time visitor.
Phase 3 — Invent the experience
Develop a strong creative concept for the new site.
The homepage should communicate what Model UN feels like, not merely explain what Model UN is.
Explore ideas such as cinematic imagery, motion, dramatic typography, immersive storytelling, interactive elements, country/delegate experiences, conference simulations, quizzes, “choose your country” experiences, beginner pathways, student stories, conference photography, achievements, travel, friendships, debates, challenges, countdowns, maps, animations or other ideas you discover during your research.
These are suggestions, not requirements. If your research leads to something better, do that instead.
Make it contemporary and impressive without becoming childish. A 13-year-old should feel that the site treats them as an intelligent teenager approaching high school—not as a little kid.
Design mobile-first, because assume many prospective students will first encounter CVEMUN on a phone.
Phase 4 — Build it
Once you understand the audience and have developed the concept, implement the redesign directly in the staging environment.
You have permission to experiment aggressively on the staging site. Change layouts, navigation, page structure, typography, imagery, calls to action and presentation as needed.
Create new pages or experiences where useful. Remove unnecessary complexity. Reorganize existing material. Create or source appropriate visual assets where permitted.
Don’t stop after producing recommendations or a report. Actually build the best version you can in staging.
Work iteratively. After an initial implementation, inspect the site again as though you were a skeptical 13-year-old encountering Model UN for the first time. Ask:
Do I understand this immediately? Does this look exciting? Would I show it to a friend? Does Model UN suddenly seem like something I might want to try?
Then improve the site accordingly.
Guardrails
ONLY modify the staging environment.
The existing production CVEMUN website is STRICTLY READ-ONLY unless I explicitly authorize otherwise later.
Do not change production WordPress, hosting, DNS, databases, files, plugins, themes, users, settings or content.
Do not publish the staging site publicly or replace the production site.
Do not invent facts about CVEMUN, Vanier, its students, conferences or accomplishments. Clearly distinguish factual material from proposed or placeholder content.
Protect student privacy. Do not expose personal information or use identifiable student material in inappropriate ways.
The ultimate test
Don’t optimize this primarily for administrators, teachers, parents, SEO, or what a traditional school-club website is “supposed” to look like.
Optimize the central experience around one question:
If a Grade 8 student saw this tonight, would there be a real chance they would remember CVEMUN a year from now and think, “When I get to Vanier, I want to join that”?
Research first. Then surprise me.