Reports on Model UN Conferences and Common Practices
We are all looking for ways to provide our model UN delegates with a great model UN experience. As I visit model UN programs and conferences, I will report on what they are doing to develop delegate skills with eye towards helping Faculty Moderators find what activities and strategies for building their programs work best for them.
Monday, September 25th, 2017
Sandwich High School International Studies Program weekly model United Nations session held from 7 pm to 9 pm.
I was invited to attend the third meeting of the year the model United Nations program at Sandwich High School. The program, which is under the direction of faculty moderators Rebecca Lewis and Michael Welch, and secretaries general Anna Smillie Catherine McGee is off to a strong start the year with five students in attendance drawn from a student body of 650 students. Monday night sessions are built around debate over topics under consideration for two weeks. I was attending the first night of a new topic, which was focused on restructuring the government in society and economy of the United States after crisis in which sea levels rose and reduced the number of states to just over 30. This was a great topic to build participation as at least 20 delegates participated in debate over the course of the. The roles played include political parties, political groups, public interest groups, environmental groups and economic interests groups. The evening ended with the reading of working papers to deal with one of the key questions on the topic, followed by adjournment with announcements by international studies members who may be other clubs and activities and had things on their calendar that they wanted to present to the group. My congratulations faculty moderators of the secretaries general for a great session!
Notes on Common Practice:
As with many conferences, unmoderated caucuses were heavily used to debate the issue within the limited time frame. They were used very effectively, emphasizing discussion on a particular point under consideration the committee chairs assigned to handle the debate, had, on occasion to get delegates back on point from when they wandered off top. They did so quite successfully, and set an example future shares that the group must build can follow.
The choice of topic, as mentioned above, allowed a number of new delegates with no model UN experience for to jump right into debate. The topic put a premium on creative thought solutions to problems, and the present in abundance. Building the skills necessary to present ideas is a skilled best taught early, and this year's sandwich High School program has certainly embrace this philosophy.
The secretaries general represent both the senior class in the junior class, helping create a condition where you can have continuity in leadership from one year to the next.
A former graduate, John Bishop, was also present and is assisting this year with helping delegates to develop an appreciation for rules of procedure and other model UN skills. It was very helpful in the session on pointing out some of the interview sees the rules of procedure to new delegates.
Finally, teaching the working paper to new delegates before teaching the intricacies of resolution writing has its merits, because it teaches not only how to frame solutions to problems under debate, but begins the process of developing the diplomatic skills necessary to create solutions acceptable to a broader group of delegates.
Sunday, October 1st, 2017
United Nations Association Global Leadership Conference, Sponsored by the United Nations Association of Greater Boston in Association with the Suffolk University Model United Nations Club.
This conference was designed to provide students with little or no model UN experience with an opportunity to develop speaking and debating skills with the assistance of faculty mentors. I had a chance to serve faculty mentor for three students representing two nations at the level. Our job as mentor was very straightforward-review the students position paper on the topic, and then provide a basic assessment of their speaking skills across a broad range of categories, including clarity of speech, eye contact, the ability to be heard and understood, and presenting an idea in such a way where the speech is a clear beginning and then a clear conclusion. The United Nations Association of Greater Boston provided an outstanding template for reviewing these skills. It has great value to faculty moderators there looking for a structure they can use to introduce students to the basic points involve a public speaking.
The structure of mentors also had great value. The structure of mentors used at this conference could be easily adapted to a high school program that is attempting to build score skills with its newer delegates. This would involve having a session where your experience people work with one or two students who are new and then all the debate and negotiation on a particular topic you run is conducted by the new delegates. In the past, I've used a similar should program involving some experienced delegates in the debate to serve as role models. This works very well. However, I believe after the experience and the Global leadership conference that you can just as easily have a successful mentoring session by putting all the responsibility for debate in the hands of the new delegates.
The delegate assessment sheet mentors used at the conference can be found on our UNA GB resources page.
Notes on Common Practice:
The Conference provided the topic (Sudanese refugees and relief), but did not provide nation assignments until students arrived. Students were provided with about twenty minutes to prepare a position. This worked very well, as even the middle school students were able to research information online that could provide them with a basic idea about how their nation stood on the issue. In building skills among new delegates, I recommend this approach.
One of the concerns many faculty moderators have expressed over the years involves how unmoderated caucuses are used by the delegate. There is concern about how delegates often wander off topic despite the fact that a moderated caucus is usually focused on addressing a particular question under discussion. The Suffolk University Model United Nations club provided the moderators for the Global leadership conference. When they were running the unmoderated caucus in the committee I mentored, they ran it by taking three speakers at a time on a short speakers list. After the third speaker had finished, they had the opportunity to either remind the delegates to speak to the question under discussion or make some point relative to the issue under this discussion. This helped keep every speaker focused on the question they were supposed to address. A 10-minute unmoderated caucus with a one-minute speaking start time still got its 10 speakers, but the focus remained on the question under discussion throughout.
My congratulations to Caitlin Moore, Lynn Arsenault of UNAGB, and to the Suffolk University Model UN Club for running a great program on October 1st, 2017.
Wednesday, October 4th, 2017
Coaching session with the new Model United Nations program at West Bridgewater Middle-Senior High School, West Bridgewater, Ma., 7.35 am to 8.55 am.
Mr. John Nenopoulos, Faculty Moderator, Hannah Flynn and Elizabeth Herman, Co-Secretaries General
I have the opportunity early in October to help students involved with the model United Nations program develop skills in researching a position paper, develop a sense of what debate at a model United Nations conference was like, and then provide some ideas about how their model United Nations program could develop. The faculty moderator, Mr. Jonathan Nenopoulos had done outstanding work paving the way for this session. The previous year is sponsored a model United Nations conference involving nearby high schools where the focus was basically on giving students a chance to debate the topic without strictly representing a nation's position. This has always been a successful way of getting students to talk. Mr. Nenopoulos has also begun the process of building leadership by putting a great deal of the responsibility for recruiting members of the club in the hands of his Co-Secretaries general Hannah Flynn and Elizabeth Herman. Taken together, the work of these three led to the recruiting of 38 students to the model United Nations program-something that is quite remarkable given the fact entire school grade 7-12 of just over 600 hundred students. Mr. Nenonpoulos set aside first teaching walk of the day is an opportunity for members of the club to come to a special session where I would run my orientation. The support of the high school staff and the principal on down was remarkable, and taking into account student obligations for tests that day, 22 students were able to attend the session 38 in the program. What was also helpful was the fact that the students came were equally divided among freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
My agenda included the following:
1. A basic intro model UN and why it is special;
2. Brainstorming important issues facing the world that students were interested in addressing, and how the list of issues they create could become their agenda for debate for the year;
3. Setting up debate on Global Warming, and assigning nations important to the topic;
4. Providing students with a basic template for a position paper, and then an opportunity to use some basic research skills to find at least one idea about their nations position they could use in a speech;
5. Running a twenty-minute debate on the topic;
6. Closing remarks on the how their debate prepared the students for model UN conferences, and how students should use Model UN as an opportunity to build a program where they can set the agenda in the context of its mission.
In roughly 15 minutes, the students had prepared developed enough information they could use to participate in a debate I was light on parliamentary procedure, simply starting the debate and asking for delegates who wish to be heard. There was no time limit placed on speeches-I wanted to provide students with the opportunity to complete an idea without interruption in the hopes that this would build their confidence for speaking. Of the 20 students present, 12 made speeches in of the 12 who made speeches eight spoke at least twice. Despite the fact it was morning, the passion for a particular position soon showed itself in the students did a remarkable job representing the viewpoints of their nations given the fact that they had so little time to research their positions.
The group is planning to send a delegation of 12 students to the St. John's Model United Nations Conference on Saturday, October 21. This is a great conference for new delegates since it is designed to give everybody a opportunity to on limber those you model United Nations debating skills for the first time during the school year.
Mr. Nenopoulos is looking ahead to the future and is certainly open to working with other schools to help develop program. The students certainly demonstrated that they have the debating skills to go to any conference and acquit themselves well.
My congratulations to Mr. Nenopoulos, Hannah Allen, Elizabeth Herman, and the rest of the WBMSHS crew, and special thanks to Principal Mark Bodwell and his staff for supporting model UN.
Notes on Common Practice:
Mr. Nenopoulos established some steps to building his program that involved the following components:
1. Focus on developing student leadership right away, especially in the area of recruiting;
2. Get students involved with a single-day model UN conference as rapidly as possible;
3. Make time available during the school day for a special training session.
All three of these built on the interest he and his students developed for his program the previous year. When it comes to the rationale for taking time out of the school day to get students involved a model UN program, faculty moderators may consider the development of speaking and thinking skills as a selling point since both help students in every single class they're involved with at school.
I presented Mr. Nenopoulos with the idea of having a day where students run a model UN session that other classes in the school could come down and watch. We did this at Sandwich High School some 15 years ago, and it was a great way to present what we do to students outside of model UN so they could understand its benefits engage if they wanted to become involved. Faculty had a chance to see how the program could benefit their work as teachers. We made one mistake with this program. We ran it every year. That “burned it out” within three years. If it was run every other year or every three years, it may have been something that was more welcome in the schedule and more institutionalized into the school.
Saturday, October 21, 2017, 9 AM to 4 PM.
St. John's Model United Nations 30
St. John’s High School, Home of the Pioneers
378 Main Street, Shrewsbury, Ma. 01545
Faculty Moderator: Mr. Charles Abdella
Secretary General: Cameron Sheehy, SJHS Class of 2018
This year's St. John's Model United Nations Conference marked the 30th anniversary of the program. The first of its kind, SJMUNC launched the entire idea of hosting a one-day model United Nations for high school students, and over its 30-year history, has been essential to helping thousands of delegates get their start with model United Nations, as well as setting a model for other Saturday conferences to follow. This year's conference offered both new and experiences delegates the opportunity to immerse themselves in the model UN experience for the first time during the school year. The conference also reflected a trend in a variety of committee topics that appeal to a wide range of interests among prospective delegates. Traditional United Nations topics were well represented in committees addressing contemporary slavery, overfishing and the Asia-Pacific region, Cartel Conflicts, the crisis in South Sudan, atomic energy, and the Yemeni Civil War. Interactive committees like the House of York and the House of Lancaster during the War of the Roses along with specialized government bodies such as NATO, the Roman Senate, the Colombian Council of Ministers, and the British House of Commons, offers students an opportunity to explore both historical and contemporary political issues in special committee settings. The Republican Senate from Star Wars rounded out the list of committees offering students an opportunity to combine their model United Nations skills with their knowledge of the Star Wars universe.
The organization of the conference made a faculty moderators job very easy. The ranking of committees by difficulty help faculty moderators assign students to committees that they could handle based on their experience. This practice, which began about five years ago continues to appear with conferences are written in our region, and it is of enormous help when it comes to making sure the students are in the right committees.
Faculty moderators were also helped out by the calendar events and payments, and the step-by-step process involved registering. When setting up student assignments on the matrix provided by the St. John's staff was added to the process, faculty moderators had the opportunity to assign a great deal of the processing registration to their student leadership where it was appropriate to do so. This helps them build leadership among their students, and it stands as one of the hidden benefits of having a Saturday conferences that is so well organized.
Add to this, the support that Mr. Abdella and Secretary-General Sheehy provided to both students and faculty moderators over the course of the day. As always been a conference where if there were any issues they could be raised with the staff in a very relaxed manner. The St. John's model United Nations conference reflects a philosophy where they tried to improve every year, and this year like many others the conference staff solicited advice on how they could do better.
The SJMUNC staff wrapped up the day what has become a tradition-no formal awards, but some shout outs to students who they believe deserve special recognition. One very nice touch was the awarding of gavels to schools and been participating for 10 years. This said a very strong message to everyone in the St. John's Model United Nations staff is grateful for everyone's participation, and hopes that schools remain invested in their program because of the benefits that it provides their students.
Our congratulations to Mr. Abdella, Secretary Sheehy, entire St. John's Model United Nations community for giving students a great day of model United Nations, and we wish them the best of luck as they attend their conferences at the University of Chicago and Brown University over the course of the year. We also look forward to seeing their program represented at the St. John's Preparatory School Model United Nations and the Boston College High School Model United Nations.
Notes on Common Practice:
1. For a model United Nations conference that includes over 300 students, all delegates, particularly new delegates, did not feel overwhelmed by the numbers. Reasonable committee sizes gave SJM UNC a small conference field that was deeply appreciated by faculty moderators brought a large number of experienced delegates. And with experienced delegates in committees that match their skills, the issue of numbers was a moot point. Conferences Over the past few years have been running committees of different sizes, and this, along with the rating scale for assigning students, has been of enormous benefit to delegates of all ability levels.
2. The online matrix for assigning students to their nations and committees continues to be one of the most helpful technical innovations that is, with model United Nations administration. It allows faculty moderators to check and make sure that they have every student assigned to the appropriate nation committee for their skills.
3. The committee choices within the context of United Nations subjects touched upon both hot topics, and topics that's took students to some subjects they might not have otherwise considered debating at any time over the course of the year at a conference like St. John's not presented the to them. This is another trend that we are seeing among model United Nations conferences, and it is certainly a welcome one.
Saturday, November 18, 2017
Catholic Memorial Model United Nations VI
Hosted by the Catholic Memorial School and Ursuline Academy of Dedham, Ma.
Catholic Memorial School
235 Baker Street, West Roxbury, Ma.
Mr. Vincent Bradley, Catholic Memorial School, Faculty Moderator; Jessica Stokes and Michael Noyes, Ursuline Academy, Faculty Moderators
Will Padden, Kevin Spear, John Dashe, Catholic Memorial Class of 2018, and Samantha Lord, Ursuline Academy Class of 2018, Secretaries General
Approximately 300 delegates and staff in attendance
The Sixth Annual Catholic Memorial Model United Nations Conference represented another step in the development of a conference that has earned high praise over the years from participating schools. This year’s conference marks the third year of collaboration with Ursuline Academy, and the one of the strengths of this relationship appears immediately in the consistent quality of committee chairs from committee to committee. Committee chairs had to deal with committees deep in strong delegates, who were well prepared to handle both the topics and parliamentary procedure, and they rose to the challenge, making for committees that ran smoothly throughout the day.
Opening ceremonies set the stage for well-executed conference. The Catholic Memorial and Ursuline students set the goal of running a larger conference that would insure that committee sizes had enough delegates. The number of delegates attending was up by at least fifty. Understanding the implications of this, opening ceremonies were designed to get this larger number of attendees focused on the day. After introductory remarks from Will Padden, and a warm welcome from Principal Thomas Beatty, three brief speeches presented by Kevin Spear, Samantha Lord, and Kiara Cronin (Ursuline Academy Class of 2018) focused on developing leadership, the power of collaboration and developing the role of women. The keynote speech by attorney and former City Councilman Michael McCormack, Catholic Memorial Class of 1964, focused on public service and how people in government are at their best when they help people. The keynote speech, lasting roughly fifteen minutes, launched the students into the day in a way that tied everything the SG’s said together.
Preparation for the conference reflected the integration of students from both Catholic Memorial and Ursuline Academy into the administration of the conference. Mr. Bradley served as faculty contact for schools, while his students did the heavy lifting when it came to assigning nations and committees to attending schools, as well as every other aspect of getting committees organized to host. This continues the trend of handing as much of the responsibility for running a conference to students, helping both the students develop leadership skills and the programs they represent develop a depth of leadership for the future.
The topics debated at the conference also reflected a trend we are seeing among conferences to provide a diverse range of subjects for students to debate. Two Impeachment Trial Committees-one for Richard Nixon and one for Donald Trump-provided students with the opportunity to address controversial actions by Presidents both past and present. A Security Council on the North Korean Nuclear Crisis, an Economic and Social Council on Clean Water and Sanitation, Human Rights Council on the Iraqi Civil War, and General Assemblies dealing with the Refugee crisis in Myanmar brought focus to important challenges faced by the United Nations. Potential futures were the subject of an IOC Committee on the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, and a Security Council set in the year 2075. For students interested in channeling Machiavelli, A Game of Thrones committee offered a chance to write (or rewrite) television history. For students interested in changing current history, and NFL Owners Committee allowed for an opportunity to change the fate and leadership of the sport.
As part of the process of building committees, Faculty Moderators were given a clear idea in the registration process about the level of experience required to successfully participate in each committee. This continues a trend that we are seeing at model UN conferences that has proven a real help to faculty moderators, who, based on the delegations participating at CMMUN, are bringing students from novice to experienced delegate to the conference.
Notes on Common Practice:
The speeches of the opening ceremonies offered Secretaries General an opportunity set objectives they wanted delegates to achieve for the conference in a very effective manner. The five-minute speaking time kept the attention of delegate’s attention, all the while demonstrated just how strongly a student could make a point about something important to them in a short period of time. This modeled good speech making, enhancing what delegates could learn at the conference.
The CMMUN staff made superb use of the facility at their disposal. In a committee addressing the possible impeachment of President Trump, Separate committees of Democrats and Republicans met in a conference rooms created by a dividing wall that was removed later in the day allowing both committees to interact in the same space.
Conference staff insured that debate was authentic by permitting only resolutions and working papers that were prepared at the conference during the day. This insured that every delegate had the opportunity to be part of the process involved with these documents-and in doing so helped insure the widest possible participation in the conference.
The awards structure represented CMMUN’s continued commitment to delegate development, with Best Delegate and Outstanding delegate honors going to students who demonstrated a complete range of skills that make a strong delegate, while honorable mentions recognized delegates with certain specific skills that allowed them to make a contribution to the work of their committee. For the second year, CMMUN also offered delegates an opportunity to chose a delegate who contributed to the success of the committee. This award, called the People’s Choice Award continued to win raves from students and has been a successful addition to CM’ award structure. All awards announced in Committees, and Best Delegate winners and People’s Choice winners are introduced at closing ceremonies, helping to expedite proceedings at day’s end.
Finally, the Catholic Memorial Model United Nations continued the tradition of involving parents in the administration of their conference. A parent chairperson, and a parent coordinator were both part of the administration will structure of the conference, and they provided enormous assistance in making sure that both breakfast and lunch went smoothly. Close to a dozen parents were involved, and their assistance was deeply appreciated by everyone.
Congratulations to Mr. Bradley for helping take his conference to another level, and special thanks for the recognition many provided Mr. Donald Franke during the opening ceremonies.
The faculty moderators and student staffs of the Catholic Memorial Model United Nations have much to be proud of result of their work on Saturday, November 18th.
Saturday, December 2, 2017, 8 AM to 2 PM
Warrior Model United Nations Conference III
Seekonk High School, Home of the Warriors
261 Arcade Ave.
Seekonk, MA, 02771
Faculty Moderators: Ms. Suzanne Larson, Ms. Jennifer Borden
Secretary General Noah Brennick, Seekonk High School Class of 2018
The third annual Warrior Model United Nations Conference presented by the model United Nations club of Seekonk High School offered a superb model for providing an opportunity for a model United Nations program to build the skills necessary to host a successful conference. Warrior MUN III featured 67 students from six schools-Seekonk, Coyle-Cassidy High School, Westwood High School, Lyme/Old Lyme High School, The Lincoln School and Woodtsock Academy. Students debated in three committees: a Soviet Union cabinet at a United States Interacting with each other in a simulation of the early Cold War politics and diplomacy, and a media committee featuring representatives from new services is wide-ranging as CNN and Breitbart debating issues of fairness in the media. Running three committees allowed the Seekonk High School model UN staff to concentrate all its resources on making sure each of these committees was a success. Secretary-General Noah Brennick could easily monitor developments in each committee, especially when it came to ensuring that each committee stayed on task. The small number committees also allowed for effective administration of the conference. Each committee had two chairs assisted by a representative from the special affairs committee, who served as a liaison between the committee chairs and the special affairs team. This expedited communication between the two which, during a conference featuring roughly 3 1/2 hours of debate, was critical to each committee’s success.
A conference schedule allowing for roughly 3 1/2 hours of debate was by no means limiting. The conference featured roughly 60 delegates who began committee business after a brief opening ceremony at 8:20 AM, and wrapped up debate at 1245 in the afternoon. Delegates were provided with a snack break roughly halfway through the session, and they were provided lunch after closing ceremonies were completed-a great way to end the day. Under the direction of very capable chairs, each committee made the best use of its time, focusing on using moderate caucuses of five minutes duration to deal with separate questions that they had to address, while using unmoderated caucuses of two or three minutes duration to rapidly negotiate solutions to problems they face before writing resolutions. Shorter time frame also allowed the staff to identify any issues and committees that arose more quickly. If there was an issue with the committee going off topic, or working outside the rules of procedure, model UN staff could deal with the issue right away, ensuring that little time was lost in pursuing the committee's goals.
At the heart of the conference was a structure used to prepare it. Secretary-General Brennick built the conference as part of a course open to juniors and seniors at Seekonk High School called Student Performance-based Project. The standards for the course are available on page 11 of the Seekonk High School Program of Studies (see http://shs.seekonk.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_232884/File/SHS/Library%20Acquisitions/Program%20of%20Studies%202013-2014.pdf) Secretary-General Brennick took this course and used it to lay out the proposal for writing the conference as well as secure the time and place needed to host it. With academic requirements driving his work, this raised the level of attention given to organizing every aspect of Warrior MUN III. This attention to detail certainly showed in everything from the selection of committee chairs, who were exceptional, to all the nuts and bolts the came with running the conference. It also inspires some good decision-making when it came to things like adopting rules of procedure. Instead of reinventing the wheel, Secretary-General Renick chose the model United Nations rule procedure for the Brown University Model UN Conference ( see https://storage.googleapis.com/busun_assets/rules.pdf). In the context of the entire model UN program, the course helped faculty moderators Ms. Larson and Ms. Borden emphasize the development of student leadership as the key to the success of the program.
Congratulations to Ms. Larson, Ms. Borden, Noah Brennick and the entire Warrior MUN staff for running a great conference. It is a testament to how well the conference was wrong that I arrived there without knowing what the topics were pursuing any committee and within 10 minutes understand what each committee was debating, and what its goal was. With topics that engaged so many delegates and inspire most delegates to participate, Warrior MUNC had a great day, and there are many great days to come.
Notes on Common Practice.
An increasing number of model United Nations programs are taking advantage of smaller conference models to host conferences that can help build interest in their programs, and also tap into the enthusiasm for running a conference that usually builds any group after they've been involved with one of the Saturday conferences. Small conference model allows programs to find a place on the calendar to host a conference because the small conference model does not really compete with larger, established programs that have established conferences at specific times of the year.
The Warrior MUN approach adds an interesting component to preparation of the conference with its incorporation of the special project. Since completing the model UN conference becomes a curriculum issue, this provides the Seekonk High School model UN program with more leverage when it comes to making sure that all facilities they needed a school are available. They, like the staff of any other program, have to be aware of other activities that might be using facilities, and the Warrior MUN staff had to become aware of these, and work with the administration on securing the resources they needed. This is a great learning experience for the students involved. The results of the conference certainly would inspire any student to continue choosing the special projects option so they, too, could run a model UN conference.
The support from the Seekonk High School administration was exceptional. Principal Christopher Jones was on-site during the day and his praise for the program was heartfelt and deeply appreciated by all involved.
Small size of the conference allowed the Warrior MUN staff to maintain the most immediate contact with participating schools. For schools just starting out with running a model UN conference, the skills involved with dealing with visiting schools are critical to develop. With fewer schools to host, everything from committee and role assignments to administering finances is less complex and therefore easier to master. It also allowed for more rapid response to questions from schools any bureaucratic issues arise.
Using the Brown University model UN's procedure was a real plus. Not only did it provide a set of procedures that did not have to be reinvented, but it familiarized delegates with the kind of rules and procedures that undergraduate level conferences use.
In committee, the right of reply was used in two ways. First, it was used to deal with any issues where the dignity of a delegates was impugned. It was also use when, during unmoderated caucus, a delegate asked a question directly to another delegate. The delegate who was directed the question asked for a right reply was granted this so the question could be answered. This helped facilitate debate in a shorter time frame of the conference.
Unmoderated conferences were short and to the point during the parts of each session for delegates for getting down to any resolution paper 2 to 5 minutes and generally involve trying to solve one particular point rather than a broad range of issues. Committee chairs deserve credit for holding delegates to a tight schedule with both unmoderated and unmoderated caucuses of they could facilitate business 3 1/2 hours available for each committee.