How do I start a MUN session?

The United Nations model is an after-school activity, academic program, conference, leadership incubator, pedagogy, tool for global citizenship, and looks great when you apply to college. This is a lot for many of its participants, which explains its popularity and continued expansion in various contexts.

At the center of MUN is the possibility of looking at global problems from a “host country” perspective and addressing these issues through elaboration and discussion of resolutions. MUN debates can take place in clubs or small classes, or at international conferences attended by 2,000 or more people. MUNs are increasingly being created in languages ​​other than English and can even be made online. Most MUN delegates attend high school students, but university-level MUN is popular and growing rapidly in secondary and even elementary schools. The United Nations model is essentially a process of exploration, consensus building and debate and may look slightly different depending on where and how it is practiced in the world.

Conference planning phase

Pre-conference

Most of your work as a teaching and host team is done prior to the conference, which can take up to a year. Organizing a conference is not an easy task, so proper planning is essential. Follow these steps:

When is the conference scheduled?

You will need to schedule conferences around major high school dates (proms, EOC tests, house meetings, holidays, etc.).

• Work with your school and district authorities to find the best dates.

• Make sure you choose a date to stick to. You cannot change it once you have started the registration process.

• Conference amount and cost.

• Decide how big you want your conference to be before making any other decisions.

• If you are a beginner, consider a smaller one-day conference first.

• How much will you charge for participating delegates? You need enough to cover your expenses, but you don't want the costs to be too high.

Decide where the conference will take place.

• Is your school building large enough to host a conference?

• Think about how much commission you have, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.

• Where will you be officially or socially? (If needed)

• Is there accommodation nearby?

• Do you need a conference center? These are more expensive, but may be necessary due to the space required.

• Set up committees in your Model UN team to handle a variety of tasks. Example -

• Executive Committee - to ensure that each committee does its job. You can be a teacher.

• Selection Committee - to decide which UN committee you will simulate at your conference. That's important. Focus can be generated on the agencies that play an active role in current global events.

• Communications Committee - to coordinate communication between the home team and participating teams. Building online forums, email strategies, etc.

• Finance and Fundraising Committee - to raise funds for the conference and to ensure that each delegate pays their dues.

• Organizing Committee - Have a team to organize local accommodation listings

• Include local hotels and prices (contact the hotel and see if they can offer a discount).

• Include local restaurants and the estimated cost of the meal.

• Include local activities (movies, shows, etc.) and prices.

Determine the required management position

The following list is from the UN MES information site. Leadership positions are based on the size of your conference. They are a great way for experienced participants to participate in a successful conference. To learn more about structuring a secretariat, read our article on the role of the UN model secretariat.

• Advertise in other schools

• Do you only advertise in your area or elsewhere?

• Advertise at any local school or university.

• Connect with other conferences to see how they are promoting their events.

• Prepare registration

• Will you apply by mail or online?

• If online make sure the website is working and the payment method is secure.

• Set deadlines for yourself.

• Choose a leader (secretariat, chairperson, reporter, etc.)

• After the school submits, choose a leader.

• Use those with previous conference experience.

• Try to maintain regional balance (not all from one school or district) and gender balance.

State allocation

Be careful with this step. You will want to consider the experience of each delegate as well as the level of your committee.

Give more experienced delegates more difficult state and committee assignments.

Delegates must be included on the novice committee for the first time and are sometimes assigned tasks that are less important for each country.

Guest Speaker

If you have guest speakers, schedule them in advance to avoid planning conflicts.

Give topic

Assign topics for each committee via email or other electronic means.

Provide conference guide

You need to create a conference guide with all the important or useful information. This should be sent to each delegate. This can be done electronically or in printed form, which is provided at the time of registration.

This guide should at least contain:

I. Welcome letter from the Secretary General or conference organizer

ii. Conference schedule

I, I, I. Commission room occupancy

NS. Body name, topic and chair

V. Map of places

He. Social network details

vii. Emergency email and phone number

This guide may also contain:

viii. Procedure rules

ix. Position paper and deadline information

x. Template for draft resolution

xi. Brief history of the conference

xii. Host city information

You can imagine what one of these guides from the school's international program would look like.

Award

Decide which gifts you want to give at your conference. You may have some of the following: Best Delegate, Outstanding Delegate, Distinguished Mention, Distinguished Award, Best Representation in Country, Best Position Document, etc.

Electronic workspace

It would be useful to have an electronic area where delegates can communicate with staff and each other. This can be an area for handling initial discussions (where permitted), for submitting position papers and for submitting documents to delegates (topics, delegation guides, teacher guides, etc.).

Staff meeting

If logistics allow, you should try to get to the Bureau early so that they become familiar with the area of ​​the panel and the expectations of the conference. This will benefit the entire process as every committee meeting relies on active and knowledgeable guidance for success.

Conference briefing after MUN

Get up on time for proper analysis. It is almost certain that not everything will go well during the conference. Maybe a technology isn't working as planned, or your management hasn't determined what is needed. It's good. The first conference will not be perfect. There will be no conference. The key is to have a session with your team to see how you can improve for your next conference.

Conclusion

Holding a UN model conference takes time and effort from your UN model team and your high school or university, but it is a great opportunity to create something that has a lasting impact. This is also a great opportunity to create a networking platform for students visiting colleagues and administration. If done right, it will provide a learning environment that cannot be combined with most high school activities. Join MUN training sessions to prepare for MUN.