Flow of Debate
The Flow of Debate is what occurs during the conference. There is a list of procedures required to meet the goal of the conference, creating a resolution paper suitable to your issue. You may print out the Flow of Debate sheet for the conference.
Once everyone has settled in the room, a roll call is taken. Roll call is where the chairs will call for your country to see if you are here. You either reply with present or present and voting. Present and voting is where you are required to vote on every motion no matter what. Present is where you can abstain from voting and vote if you would like. It is a personal decision. Replying to the chairs as present will let them know that you can vote as a choice. Replying with present and voting means you have to vote no matter the situation. After telling the chair if you are present and voting or present, you come up the front to receive your placard with your country’s name. This will be used to identify your delegation or country when voting on motions.
Roll Call
Setting the Agenda is where you address what the topic you are talking about. The chairs will say “Motion to set the agenda to ___ (the topic)” to which everyone will vote. Everyone should raise their placards in agreement.
Setting the Agenda
After roll call is taken, chairs will ask for any motions on the floor. This is where you as a delegate get to motion. In this case, the motion should be motioning to open the Speaker’s List by raising your placard. A motion to open the speakers list would sound like, “Motion to open speakers list with a time of 1 minute and 30 seconds”. You can adjust the time from in-between 1 minute and 1 minute and 30 seconds. After, the motion will be voted on by all the delegates in the room. Chairs will usually accept around five to ten speakers during this time. Speeches should be made prior to the conference by addressing your country’s position on the topic and your solutions to the topic. More information about speeches is located in the Conference-Prep section. During the speakers list, these speeches should be presented. You can only present your pre-made speech once. If the selected amount of speakers has finished, other motions can be taken such as un-mods or mods, which are discussed later in this page. However, one motion you can make is to extend the speakers list if you want to speak but don’t have the time. To motion for this, you would say “Motion to extend the Speaker’s List”. If the Speaker’s List doesn’t continue, there still is an opportunity to present your speech. If all motions on the floor don’t have a majority vote, then the committee session will go back to the Speakers List. However, you can’t motion to reopen the Speakers List.
Speakers List
There are two types of Caucuses, Moderated Caucuses and Unmoderated Caucuses. They are also referred to as mods and un-mods.
Moderated Caucus
Moderated caucuses or mods are formal speaking times. In Mods, you get to further understand your neighboring countries’ perspectives on the topic and their solutions toward it through speeches. It gives you a good idea of how you can build a resolution with them during un-mods. In these debates, certain topics (related to the committee), a speaking time, and general time are specified. The general time and the speaking time will tell you how many speakers will be speaking.
For example, if you have a certain topic and you set the speaking time to 30 seconds and the general time to 6 minutes, there would be 12 speakers as in 6 minutes you can fit 12 of those 30-second speeches. The speeches spoken in this time frame are usually made up on the spot by delegates based on the topic. To motion for a moderated caucus, you should address what you want to talk about and the speaking time. For example, if you are in UNHCR with the topic “Creating a Protective Environment for Refugee Living”, a potential moderated caucus topic would be “Funding” or “Current refugee living situation”, depending on your topic.
To motion for a moderated caucus, say “The delegation of (your country) would like to have a _ minute mod with a _ second (or minute) speaking time on the topic of (state your topic)”.
ex: “The delegation of Angola motions for a 9-minute mod with a 45-second speaking time on the topic of the current refugee living situation”.
“A 10-minute mod with a 1-minute speaking time on the topic of funding”
Un-Moderated Caucus
Un-moderated caucuses, or un-mods, are informal speaking times. Here, you may walk around the room and speak with other delegates to build a resolution, or collection of solutions, together. You must find as many allies, or countries with similar ideas to you, as you can so you can have a solid resolution paper to present. During un-mods, you will have to form blocs of a certain amount of people (depending on the size of your committee, this will be the chairs’ decision). These blocs will come together to share their solutions. These solutions will then be put together to make a resolution paper. When you are required to work on resolution papers, un-mods will be a time for working with your bloc.
To motion for an un-mod, you would say “The delegation of (your country) would like to motion for a 10-minute unmod”. During un-mods, there are no speeches as you will be walking around the room freely to discuss with other delegates.
ex: “The delegation of Angola motions for a 7-minute un-mod”
Caucuses
Blocs are formed by delegates who have similar solutions for the topic of the committee. Blocs are formed to make a resolution, which is a final collection of the solutions of all of the countries in the bloc. When forming a bloc, it is important to consider who your country is allies and non-allies with. Even if your ideas correspond with another delegate's ideas, if they are not a country that your country would consider working with in real life, you should avoid working with them. It is important to remember to take on the role of your country seriously. Blocs are required to form as they are the key to the resolution. Blocs should have a certain amount of delegates depending on the size of the committee.
Forming Blocs
Round robins are where all delegates are required to speak. Round Robins have a topic and are very short. Round-robin speaking times are usually around 15 to 30 seconds. Round Robins usually happen only once in the entire committee. They tend to have topics where everyone is required to have a one to three-second speech. Topics can be similar to mod topics. Chairs usually call for a Round Robin later in the committee sessions. Delegates can motion for round robin, however, it isn’t recommended. Chairs may say, “Delegates, we will motion to have a Round Robin on (topic) with a ___ second speaking time.”
(NOTE: Round Robins may not occur in committee because they are not usually motioned for.)
Round Robins
Resolution papers are the end goal of the conference. A resolution should consist of several solutions between the delegates you are working with to meet the goal of the topic. Once you finish with the papers, they are submitted to the chairs and up for voting. Resolution papers will be voted on by all the delegates in the room to see if they pass or not. The goal is try to have everyone pass your resolution paper. After you make your resolution paper, you will have to present it to the entire committee. To present, you will read off of your resolution paper and talk further about it. There will also be a time for q&a for others to get a better understanding of your resolution. There is an example resolution paper you can follow along with while you read.
Parts to a resolution paper:
Your paper should start with the committee topic and the committee. After this, you have to state the sponsors and signatories.
Sponsors: a delegate that has contributed to the making of the document/resolution, typically all the delegates in your bloc, there maybe a certain amount of sponsors required for you to submit your resoluton papers
Signatories: other delegates who are not part of your bloc that sign your resolution in support of it; if someone asks you to be a signatory for their document, it isn’t required for you to support/sign their resolution
Your resolution should briefly summarize what your goal for your resolution is and how it is targeted by using pre-ambulatory clauses at the beginning of your statement (ex: encourages, reminds, affirming). This should be around 3 to 8 sentences. ex (can be found in the attached resolution paper example): Recognizes the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Pre-ambulatory Clauses:
Pre-ambulatory clauses are what will happen if the resolution is put in place or what will happen if you put the resolution in place. Pre-ambulatory clauses can usually start with a word such as emphasizing, accepting, or some of the other examples above. These words are most of time verbs. Pre-ambulatory clauses usually come after the signatories, sponsors, committee name, and topic. These types of clauses should be direct and short. Do not create clauses in mini-paragraphs. There should be multiple but each one shouldn’t explained in many sentences.
After stating your Pre-ambulatory clauses you have to state the title of your resolution. A resolution should have a name of an acronym with each letter symbolizing one part of the solution.
Operative Clauses:
Operative clauses further go into detail to what you stated in the pre-ambulatory clauses. Both types of clauses rely on each other. The operative clauses is what you state something you are going to accomplish through your resolution and add details under it. Operative clauses should be ordered numerically and there should be sub-bullets under it. If you were to state one of the goals of your resolution, in your sub-bullets, you would add on how you would reach it by using the information from your prior research.
Operative clauses begin with verbs that are italicized:
a. Operative clauses are essentially the calls to action,i. The final product of your bloc’s ideas and solutions,
b. Each clause has a colon that introduces the sub-clauses,
i. Each sub-clause ends with a comma,
1. The last sub-clause of the entire operative ends with a semicolon;
Resolution Papers
Chairs will usually accept 3 to 5 motions (as in mods and unmods) during general debate. These motions will each be voted on most to least disruptive. This is where you get to vote on the mod or unmod you would want to pass. You can vote multiple times for the motion you wish for to pass. The majority of people who raise their placard for the motion will pass. Remeber that if you said you were present and voting, you are required to vote.
Voting for a Resolution Paper
Your resolutions will have to be submitted to the chairs to be voted. Before everyone votes and after delegates have presented their paper, there will be for and against speeches. For an against speeches are where delegates gets to support the resolution and where other delegates can give reasoning to why you shouldn’t vote for the resolution to pass. For an against speeches are usually 30 seconds long. Two delegates are usually taken to speak in favor of a resolution and two are chosen to speak against it. Sometimes for and against speeches don’t happen if there is a limited amount of time. After these speeches, voting for the resolution papers will occur. If majority votes for a paper, then it passes.