Especially for committee work, it's quite clear once you go there that what matters is being sponsored to attend regularly and build up relationships so that yo

Especially for committee work, it's quite clear once you go there that what matters is being sponsored to attend regularly and build up relationships so that you can get experienced people on your side. People on the committee are not sufficiently good to just accept a proposition based on technical merit alone. The whole thing needs to be made accessible and easy to digest, and preferably integrate well in what others want to do. It's political work, which is tedious and frustrating. Some people are good at this (especially if they can figure out a way to integrate that into their career), but for most people, it's just a waste of time and effort.