[1][2][3] MSC SCONA 1's keynote speaker was United States Army Major General William J. Donovan, founder of the World War II-era Office of Strategic Services that later became the Central Intelligence Agency.

[1] The highest-ranking military officer to speak at an MSC SCONA conference was in 2015 with then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, United States Army.

[1] Every year, MSC SCONA develops an overarching topic to guide discussions, anchor policy proposals, and provide inspiration for the conference speakers and facilitators.

Although MSC SCONA once included delegates from local high schools as well as from countries such as Mexico and Canada, both practices have since been discontinued due to funding issues in the 1990s and a focus on a more rigorous standard of discussions.

Since at least as far back as the time of SCONA Finance Chairman Henry Cisneros, later the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, members of the committee have traveled to major cities across Texas to raise private funds from businesses and individuals in order to operate the conference.