<p>My school's Model UN club has its first meeting of the year tomorrow! MUNers, what conferences are you all going to this year?</p>
<p>I don't get what you do in model UN. My first meeting is on the 14th which is thursday,</p>
<p>Brown, Yale, and Cornell. Model UN is sort of a debate thing where you make up your own alliances with other nations and work toward a solution most beneficial to your country's own interests. I like it. Personally though, I prefer to get on the historical committees even though they're usually not specifically UN related.</p>
<p>Masterus, I've been doing MUN since I was in seventh grade (I'm a junior now), so I'm glad you asked.</p>
<p>In Model UN, you go to conferences with numerous committees, each one of which emulates a corresponding committee in the real United Nations. Sometimes, there are even committees that model outside organizations as well (eg, ASEAN, EU, Arab League, WHO, etc.). Every delegate going to a conference is assigned a country and committee ahead of time, which gives you time to study your country's position. In committee, delegates are judged by the chairmen of the committee based on various criteria, including the quality of their speeches, the fidelity with which they represent their country's policy, and resolutions they write. The winner will almost always get the gavel used by the chairmen, but people who obsess about impressing the judges the whole time don't always do well (Many people in the club I was in last year got into trouble with this; judges don't like it when you hound them or ask insulting questions after committees are over!)</p>
<p>As for what delegates actually do in committee, MUN basically consists of speaking, diplomacy, and resolution writing. Each committee is given some issues to discuss during the conference, and delegates must work together to solve these problems while following their respective contries' policies. The solutions to the provided issues are "working papers" that delegates representing different countries work together to complete--this is a very important part of Model UN; you can learn more about the exact formatting of these working papers from your club's senior members or officers.</p>
<p>Don't let that exceedingly long introduction faze you, though. Model UN is a fun and gratifying experience. You get to know a wide variety of people from different clubs, and the overall Model UN experience can help you improve in writing and public speaking, to name a few areas. It seems that you could do well in Model UN. Just remember that a modicum of interpersonal skills can go a long way in committee (don't take this personally; I had to learn this the hard way).</p>
<p>Anyhow, if your club might be going to BOSMUN this year (Boston conference, hosted by Boston University and MIT), send me a private message or something. I'm trying to convince the club I've just joined (I transferred over the summer) to go up there. Good luck w/ MUN</p>
<p>yeah, the historical committees are really sweet. I've been doing a lot of cabinets lately.</p>
<p>VAMUN, ILMUNC, JHUMUNC. I'm going to one of the latter two.</p>
<p>My club might be going to VAMUN</p>
<p>OUR school has model UN too.
and our school is a few blocks away from Yale
neat eh? lol</p>
<p>We're several blocks from Princeton. Oh I forgot to mention we're going there, too (PMUNC). I'll most likely be attending.</p>