Delegate Preparation
If you have any questions about the resources on this page, feel free to reach out to empiremunc.nyu@gmail.com.
Speeches
“Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
There are two fundamental ways to get better at public speaking and at crafting the clear, coherent, and concise speeches beloved at Model United Nations conferences: listen to powerful, memorable speeches and practice giving them.
For listening to powerful speeches, we recommend TED Talks and political speeches delivered at United Nations summits and General Assemblies. A few staff favorite examples can be found here*:
*These speeches do not necessarily reflect the views of the NYU EmpireMUNC staff or greater NYU Community. They are simply examples of subjectively good speeches.
Most successful speeches, particularly those above, are such because they are rooted in a central idea. They go about explaining this idea by:
Focusing on one major concept and illustrating it clearly with examples,
Giving listeners a reason to care,
Building their idea with familiar concepts,
Making their idea worth sharing.
Chris Anderson explains it best in this TED-sponsored video.
Remaining cognizant of the fact that delegates won’t be giving 20 minute opening speeches, these four points are still helpful for outlining content that can later be transformed into a speech. With the exception of the opening speech, we recommend outlining what you want to say rather than spending time writing a full speech word-for-word. This will help your speech sound more natural and, overtime, will lessen anxiety as you won’t depend on a sheet to give your speech.
For example, if you were to propose a solution to the water shortage present in numerous developing states, your speech could go something like this:
In developing countries such as country X, Z% of people do not have immediate access to water.
As a result, many school-aged children travel several miles for water each day rather than attending classes.
By placing wells near schools, school-aged citizens would be able to bring water home to their families after attending classes.
Literacy rates are likely to increase which traditionally contributes to the standard of living. These projects could be funded by NGOs such as charity: water.
Each of these bullet points would be expanded upon in your speech, but by having an outline, you’ll keep your train of thought throughout, tying ideas together.
Writing
There are three types of writing you will generally come across in Model United Nations: resolutions, directives, and crisis notes.
Resolutions
Click the image for a resolution template & preamb/operative intros!
Resolutions consist of:
Perambulatory clauses which give context to the resolution at hand, and
Operative clauses which are action statements, requesting Member States or NGOs to do something.
Some key things to remember that aren’t on the sheet:
1. Unless you are in Security Council, you can only recommend that a Member State takes a certain action. You cannot force funding, donation of troops, cooperation, etc.
2. Generally, you want at least three preambulatory clauses. These often mention treaties or previous international law that contributes to the resolution at hand.
Committee Directives
Click on the image for an annotated directive!
Directives are mini-resolutions which are used in crisis committees. Unlike General Assembly resolutions, directives usually only have one perambulatory clause. All directives should utilize resources under your characters’ disposal.
Both resolutions and directives should have fun, appropriate titles and should contribute meaningfully to debate or the committee world. In both cases, a successful delegate will position themselves as the author of one of these papers and will clearly argue their support of the paper in question.
Crisis Notes/Personal Directive
Click on the image for an annotated crisis note!
Crisis notes are a way for crisis characters to utilize their own resources for a goal. Unlike Committee Directives, these are usually covert operations.
There are some instances where sponsors can work together on a Joint Directive which remains hidden from committee but aggregates the resources of two characters. Joint Directives should be formatted closer to Committee Directives than Personal Directives.
