How to organize a Model UN conference: the team, the timeline and the day

Nine steps take you from a date on a screen to a full room, and most run side by side.

Six months is enough for a first school or university conference; allow eight to twelve months for several hundred delegates or an overnight event. The steps, in the order they start:

1. 1Pick a date and a size. Choose a weekend and a number of delegates you can fill, and get your school or university behind it.
2. 2Gather your team. A secretariat of a few people, each owning one area.
3. 3List your conference. Put it on mymun for free as soon as you have a date, and add committees and the fee as you decide them.
4. 4Choose committees and chairs. Chairs come first, then topics, the country matrix and background guides.
5. 5Decide on the fee. Charge nothing, or work out the fee that covers your costs before anyone pays.
6. 6Bring in delegates. Open applications and reach teachers, societies and students on Instagram and your other channels.
7. 7Assign countries. Match delegates to seats from their preferences.
8. 8Run the day. Venue, catering and check-in, with every committee in MUN Command.
9. 9Hand over. Feedback, the records and a handover file for next year's team.

Copy the six-month timeline and give every row an owner in your first meeting.

Work back from the conference day: each row says what must be done by then and who owns it.

Finish the top row in your first two weeks, then tick each row off as you go.

When delegates actually apply

Delegates apply late: at a typical in-person conference on mymun, a third of applications arrive in the final month. A quiet first month is normal, so plan your catering and seats for the late surge.

In two weeks you have a weekend, a size you can fill and your school or university behind you.

Pick a weekend clear of exams, holidays and other conferences near you. Search the conference list for your region and month, then hold the date with your venue.

How big to plan

Half of in-person conferences on mymun accept about 60 delegates or fewer. Plan for the conference you can fill: your delegate count and the number of days set the budget, the rooms and the chairs.

For a first school conference, 30 to 120 delegates over one or two days in one building is a great start. Reach other schools or societies, and you can plan for 150 or more.

Getting your school or university on board

Bring your school or university in early: it often lends rooms for free, and its name opens doors with other schools. At a school, start with a teacher who likes debate, then the principal; at a university, the students' union.

A one-page plan makes it an easy yes: the dates and the rooms, how many delegates for how many days, and the main costs. The UN General Assembly backs Model UN in resolution 77/336 (PDF).

Money before the first fee arrives

If a venue wants a deposit before the first fee arrives, agree now who pays it. Pay from an account your school, society or students' union holds, and plan the gap with a cash calendar.

A few people can run a first conference if each owns an area; add heads and deputies as you grow.

The secretariat is the team that runs the conference. Many conferences call each head an under-secretary-general (USG), such as the USG for academics, and add a deputy secretary-general.

For a one-day conference, three or four people can cover every area, with some holding two. Fill a gap by asking in your club or society, and add heads, deputies and backups as the conference grows.

On the day, a team of helpers runs the rooms, check-in and food. Many conferences in India call it the organizing committee (OC). Recruit it a month out, and give each helper a room or a desk.

Agree who has the final word on money and on people. The treasurer and one other person check every bill, and at a school the second person is usually the teacher in charge.

Size the lineup to the delegates you expect, choose chairs before topics, and publish background guides six weeks out.

Plan one committee for every 20 delegates, though General Assembly rooms can hold far more. The committee lineup guide has sample lineups for 150 and 400 delegates.

Give first-timers beginner committees, such as WHO or UNEP, and keep the Security Council and crisis for experienced delegates. Many conferences in India also add an Indian body, such as the Lok Sabha.

Chairs and topics

Each committee needs two or three chairs, called the dais or, at many conferences in India, the Executive Board (EB). Choose chairs first and let them propose topics, because people write better guides on topics they chose. Pick topics the UN is working on now, so delegates find UN documents, and give each room its own.

Open chair applications five months out, and choose your chairs within a month. Older students and delegates you met at other conferences make good first chairs: ask how each would handle a silent room. Then send every chair the guide on how to chair a committee and train them on one set of rules of procedure.

Background guides

The background guide (some conferences call it a study guide) is each chair's main job before the conference. Give every chair one template:

1. 1the committee's powers;
2. 2the topic's background;
3. 3what the UN has done so far;
4. 4where the blocs stand;
5. 5the questions a resolution should answer.

Ask for drafts two months out, read every one and publish them six weeks before the conference.

One list carries every applicant from the first click to check-in, so your team decides fast and every payment matches a person.

List your conference on mymun for free; a free conference pays nothing for registration, and the organizer page shows the cost for a paid one. Then run everything from one list, from the first application to check-in:

• Publish your page. Committees, topics, the fee and the venue go where students and teachers already search, with your application dates, and followers hear the day applications open.
• Open applications. Take delegates, delegations led by a head delegate or a faculty advisor, and chairs, each with its own questions and dates.
• Decide with the full picture. Each application shows how many conferences the applicant has done and opens their MUN CV, with past committees, countries and awards.
• Assign seats. Delegates rank committees and countries as they apply, and you assign from the same list. Give a delegation a block of seats, and its leaders place their own members.
• Get paid. Card payments reach your bank every week, and one checkout covers a whole group. A delegate paying by bank transfer uploads a proof, and you accept it.
• Bill schools. Add a fee per school delegation. When a finance office needs an invoice before it pays, send one with a reference.
• Let the emails go out. Acceptance, assignment, payment and reminder emails send themselves. Write to any applicant yourself, and the email log shows what each one received.
• Check delegates in. On the day, check in each delegate from the same list.

Two choices shape the rest: whether delegates pay when they apply or after acceptance, and whether you take everyone or select delegates.

Write to teachers and societies by name, post where students follow you, and give people a reason not to wait.

About three in four delegate applications at in-person conferences on mymun come from students applying on their own, not in a delegation. So reach students directly, not only through their schools.

• Teachers by name. Five months out, email the teacher who runs Model UN or debate at each nearby school with the dates, the fee and the committees. Schools need that time to approve a trip, and a teacher can then bring the whole school as one delegation.
• Other universities. Write to other societies' presidents by name, and let a head delegate apply for the whole society.
• Instagram and your other channels. Post your committees, chairs and topics one by one, so each post gives a reason to apply.
• An early-bird fee. A lower fee for everyone who pays by a set date brings applications and money in early.
• Reminders. Remind schools and your followers two weeks before each deadline.

Both choices have good reasons, so decide before applications open and publish your criteria on your conference page.

THIMUN in The Hague gives no awards, while many others give a top delegate award, outstanding delegates and honourable mentions in every room.

• For awards. They draw experienced delegates and give schools a reason to send a team. They also make your chairs follow every speech closely.
• Against awards. Judging costs your chairs time, and a close call can upset a whole school. Without awards, a committee works toward agreement instead of airtime.
• In between. Reward diplomacy only, or give every delegate written feedback from the chairs, so delegates keep a goal and nobody is ranked.

For a first conference, give two or three awards per committee and publish the criteria early. Chairs judge with one rubric and the ratings they give each speech, and no chair decides alone on a delegate from their own school.

Debate runs on screen in every room, and the record of every speech helps you choose awards.

Run your committees in MUN Command, the best tool for running Model UN debate. Many conferences use it for every committee: once your chairs are chosen, you set up each committee and send its chairs an invite. It makes every room easier to run:

• Debate on screen. The speakers' list, timers, motions and votes run in every room, so chairs watch delegates, not paperwork.
• Live documents. Blocs write drafts together in the live document editor, with no Google Docs or shared folders.
• Chair approval. Drafts reach the chairs for approval, and chairs approve them or send them back with a comment.
• Notes. Committee chat replaces paper notes between delegates.
• Awards. Statistics and the full history of the debate show who spoke and when, and chairs rate and comment on each speech.

Start with your own school's rooms, give catering numbers twice, and fix problems fast on the day.

You need a room for each committee, a hall for the ceremonies, a secretariat room and somewhere to eat, all close together.

• Contracts. Read the cancellation terms before you sign, and ask for a small deposit now and the rest after your payment deadline.
• Rooms. Check seats, a screen, sockets and Wi-Fi in every committee room.
• Catering. Give provisional numbers a month out and final ones in the last week, with a small buffer.
• Socials. For a conference of two days or more, book the evening venue early, and decide whether the fee covers it.
• Access. Check step-free routes, and ask delegates what they need.
• Rehearsal. Walk through the day with chairs and helpers, including what happens if a chair is ill.

Looking after delegates

Agree with your school which adults look after delegates under 18. Collect a parent's consent for every delegate under 18 as you accept them.

On the day

Keep the opening short, so committees start while delegates are fresh. Collect the chairs' award decisions before the last session ends, so the closing ceremony starts on time and announces them against your published criteria.

In delegate reviews, logistics scores below academics, so smooth queues and a good lunch are where you stand out. Fix your own mistakes at once: a wrong name on a badge gets fixed, not explained.

Read the reviews, settle the money and leave next year's team the records.

• Feedback. Delegates rate your academics, logistics, socials and committees in their reviews. Ask chairs and teachers too, within a week.
• Money. Settle refunds and bills, and record every cost against the budget.
• Records. Export the applicant and payment lists, so next year's team sees when people applied and paid.
• Handover. Within a month, write the handover file: contacts, prices, the deadlines that mattered and what you would change.
• Successor. Choose next year's Secretary-General while this year's team is still together.

Running it again

Start from last year's numbers, and list the new edition early: people who followed last year's conference hear when it appears. If applications came late, add an early-bird fee.

Then resize rooms by seat demand: merge any committee under 15 and split any above 30, except General Assembly rooms, which can be much larger.