It impresses the pants off people to have passes to UN meetings, pictures with heads of state, rub shoulders with Bono, and other seemingly important things that come with the summiteering that's inevitable in global campaigning. It's widely accepted (but somehow not widely talked about) that successfully engaging at these summits is devilishly difficult, and very expensive. It's also an unfortunate reality that, even though it rarely provides results, it needs to be done just the same. These are the kinds of things that drive we evaluation people nuts - we know costs are high and results are limited, but the work must go on, even at the expense of more effective and cheaper work elsewhere.
They're almost never the time and place decisions are made - outcome documents were usually negotiated ages before, and while there's occasional wiggle room at the actual summit, big breakthroughs usually happen much earlier in the process.
They're designed to make public mobilization difficult. They're often held in inaccessible places, information about the logistics of the meeting is often released at the last minute, there are usually a gazillion side events taking place. It's almost inevitably an organizational nightmare.
They're not a great place to get your message out. There are so many people doing so many different things, that even if there is consensus around your message, and you're well resourced, well coordinated, and so on….your message is very likely to get lost in the noise. Plus, no matter how diligent the preparation, one recent global event (like the Greek debt crisis) often dominates discussions (and therefore press coverage).
So why bother? Partly because it impresses people, and can therefore contribute to organizational legitimacy. It's great to be able to tell funders you met with Ban ki Moon, and have speakers from your organization addressing the General Assembly. Partly, to be part of a club. This is where global campaigning organizations go, so it's where a lot of networking and outreach happens. International travel is expensive, so these events, when people are all face to face, are when a lot of important planning happens (even if it's often an afterthought). And partly because it's often the culmination of a lot of other more important work, and making space for that is important. You need to 'be seen' at global summits to be part of working groups and planning processes where more substantive work gets done. I wish everyone could frame them for what they are, though, and save all of the expensive, bedazzling media hubris.
In spite of all the complaints I have about summits, I recently discovered that they do build useful skills; at a recent overcrowded and disorganized concert I went to with a colleague, we were super stars at figuring out which queues we needed to stand in for which tickets, and how to get access to the right sections of seating!
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