The Delegate's Playbook – A MUN Masterclass

Explore independent sections you can learn from at your own pace and in any order, with short digestible videos, downloadable resources for committee work, and a bonus MaldiWen commentary.

Identify your country's values and motivations through research to infer positions on diverse subtopics, even without official stances. Build a holistic country profile to prepare for any committee question.

Explore researching with government websites and databases, locate white papers, and extract facts and statistics for your topic. Find quotes on YouTube and press conferences, and use the master document.

Model UN becomes a personal skills lab, with five seconds of courage to participate, invite others, and refine a working paper to unlock your potential for MUN success.

See how a model UN committee looks, with a dais, chairs, a podium with a microphone, and rows of delegates. Pro tip: familiarize yourself with the room before first session.

Explore the three-act flow of a Model UN committee: impressions, building, and culmination. Learn to establish collaboration, build alliances, and push for votes on a draft resolution.

Embrace the MaldiWen mindset to shed insecurity and reveal your best self in committee sessions, turning nerves about appearance or speech into confident performance.

Find the who and make him you by researching online materials, watching tape, and reading official statements to authentically embody a delegation role.

Learn how moderated caucus, the formal part where the chair calls on delegations to speak, contrasts with unmoderated caucus, an open floor for collaboration and team formation.

Learn how writing transforms Model UN debate into policy by developing working papers as rough drafts and consolidating them into draft resolutions voted on to shape solutions.

Build your brand in the Maldiwen committee brick by brick through every interaction, shaping your reputation. Win delegates with clear communication, fairness, and collaboration to pass papers and shape votes.

Learn how to navigate the rule of disruption in Model United Nations by mastering motions and the most-to-least disruptive order of unmoderated and moderated caucuses to advance subtopics.

Explore motions in a Model United Nations committee, including unmoderated caucus with flexible speaking time and moderated caucus with set durations like 15 minutes and 30-second speeches.

Learn the need-to-know motions and rules of procedure for model UN. Use moderated and unmoderated caucus motions to push your country's agenda forward.

Master the silent weapon of a well-timed pause to collect your thoughts, hold the room's attention, and deliver a two-second to five-second dramatic moment in your maldiwin speech.

Learn to adapt on the spot during a moderated caucus by scratching out and reshaping your plan, then respond to delegates to drive the debate forward.

Non-verbal communication shapes public speaking as much as content. Master your body performance—posture, microphone handling, and gaze across the room—before exploring hand motions in the next video.

level up your speeches by naming your delegation at the start and end, shouting out another country to show listening, and pushing a meaningful idea that advances your agenda.

Project confidence in your opening speech by showing excitement for the opportunity to represent your country, like the delegation of Lithuania, and emphasize dedication, diligence, honesty, and drive.

Master engaging openings and endings for Model United Nations speeches by using quotes, facts, or simple greetings, and invite further discussion in unmoderated caucus.

Use purposeful hand gestures to enunciate your points, keep motions in a center zone from shoulders to hips, avoid fidgeting, and invite the audience with confident microphone handling.

Learn to raise your placard and speak without a fully written speech by using a few bullet notes, building confidence, and advancing the committee's agenda.

Overcome speech anxiety in Model UN by preparing ahead with research and a rehearsed opening, making early allies, and reframing anxiety as excitement for confidence.

Define and build effective working papers and draft resolutions, including preambulatory and operative clauses, to pass a paper and succeed in committee sessions.

Define preambulatory and operative clauses, explain their roles in working papers versus draft resolutions, and describe how the preambulatory setup matches the operative details to address a specific issue.

Explore preambulatory clauses 101, including starting with deeply concerned and citing the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development to frame problems and trigger action toward operative clauses.

Develop precise operative clauses for Model UN by expanding detail and specificity, clarifying implications, and aligning action with the preambulatory context and the R2P framework.

Collaborate with your block and co delegate to build strong papers and draft resolutions, optimize time during unmoderated and moderated caucuses, and align on alliances to craft a better paper.

Master the dos and don'ts of clauses by building unique openings, creating detailed preambulatory and operative clauses, and using a pen when finalizing draft resolutions.

Draft a model UN paper by assembling the opening, title, introductions, sponsors, and signatories. Then craft pre-ambulatory and operative clauses to address the issue and reflect moral obligation.

Learn to navigate the chaos of unmoderated caucuses by forming strategic blocks, adopting roamer and anchor roles, and maximizing your influence to climb the MUN ladder.

The roamer, a mobile half of the delegation, recruits support with quick 2–3 minute talks and acts as the eyes and ears of the bloc, reporting before unmoderated caucus.

The anchor stays in one spot during the unmoderated caucus, synthesizes the working paper, and includes roamer-delivered delegates into the block to influence votes.

Bridge the gap between moderated and unmoderated caucuses to maintain momentum, using block announcements to recruit allies and anchor progress.

Build a block before unmoderated caucus by networking during moderated sessions. Find people you like to work with; a strong block becomes your army and armor, improving your paper.

Navigate large blocks in a multi-UN by assessing red and green flags, collaborating with trusted peers, and, if needed, strategically leaving with your group to preserve influence.

Develop a branded, organized block that acts as a war engine, delivering a focused draft resolution and working paper while assigning roles and engaging stakeholders.

Master effective blocks and unmoderated caucuses by applying organizational tips to transform chaos into productive discussion, while building lasting delegate relationships beyond the committee.

Forge alliances in your Model UN by using a threats and targets list to map enemies and allies, collaborate with your co-delegate, and grow your reputation beyond the committee.

Leverage meal breaks to build personal connections and alliances in Model UN. Invite key colleagues to lunch or dinner to discuss off-the-record topics and return to committee ready to excel.

Offer small acts of kindness, like gum or snacks, to break the ice and build alliances in committee bit by bit, without bribery or expectations.

Identify and manage threats and targets in Model UN by building pre-session lists of power delegates and allied speakers, then adjust as the committee evolves to shape alliances.

Practice elevating others in committee sessions by sharing the spotlight, praising good ideas, inviting quieter delegates, and building inclusive alliances that earn respect.

Make consistent first impressions with every committee member by actively listening and engaging. Build a reputation as a diligent, reliable, trustworthy, and kind delegate who feels human.

Forge a co-delegate partnership weeks before the committee session by dividing and conquering with a targets and threats list, assigning roamer and anchor roles, and sharing notes for unmoderated caucus.

Learn real world strategies to overcome adversaries and powerful delegates in a MUN setting, stand up for yourself and allies, and bring bullies to heel.

Learn to go on offense for policy disagreements without personal attacks, and to handle rude delegates diplomatically, balancing firmness with tact.

Choose your strategy by target: talk to well-respected delegates to shape how the committee views you, or go on the offensive against power delegates to stand up to bullies.

Identify threats, socialize to build alliances, begin your papers, isolate powerful delegates in unmoderated or moderated caucuses, and condemn them to shift power in Mali U.N.

Go on offense by drafting opposing papers, amending language, and securing sponsors and signatories to defend your country's interests in committee.

Master the attention economy in Model UN by steering the committee toward your policies and your working paper, instead of attacking other delegates.

Explore the right of reply in parliamentary procedure, where a delegate can address attacks on character or motives. Avoid such interruptions by stating facts about policies and working papers.