The single fastest thing a first-time delegate can do to feel less lost is learn the vocabulary. Procedure feels intimidating only because the words feel foreign. Once they don't, it isn't.
How to use this module
A reference, not a reading.
- Skim it once before your first conference. You will not memorise everything — you don't need to.
- Bookmark it during the conference. When the chair uses a word you don't know, look it up between speeches.
- Re-read after your first conference. The terms you encountered live will now anchor in long-term memory.
Sections
Core conference terminology
- Delegate
- A student representing an assigned country (or other entity) in a Model UN simulation.
- Delegation
- The country a delegate represents — used in third-person address: "the delegation of France believes…"
- Committee
- The simulated body in which delegates debate. May be a UN organ (GA, SC, ECOSOC) or a specialised/regional body.
- Chair / Dais
- The student or staff member who presides over the committee. The "dais" is the platform from which they preside.
- Director / Crisis Director
- Senior chair role at larger or crisis committees, responsible for substantive direction.
- Topic / Agenda Item
- The substantive issue the committee will debate. Conferences may assign one or several topics.
- Background guide
- The pre-conference document chairs publish describing the topic, history, key actors and questions to consider.
- Conference
- The full multi-day event — typically 2 to 5 days — comprising one or more committees.
- Secretariat
- The student leadership team running the conference — Secretary-General, Director-General, USGs.
- Plenary
- A full-membership session of a body — most often the UN General Assembly's plenary, in which all member states sit.
Rules of procedure
- Roll call
- Opening procedural step in which the chair confirms each delegation's attendance — answered present or present and voting.
- Present and voting
- A roll-call response indicating the delegate cannot abstain on substantive votes — must vote yes or no.
- Quorum
- The minimum number of delegations needed for the committee to conduct business — typically a quarter or a third.
- Setting the agenda
- The procedural vote determining the order in which topics will be debated when there is more than one.
- General Speakers' List (GSL)
- The rolling queue of delegates wishing to speak on the topic, opened at the start of debate. Default mode of formal speech.
- Moderated caucus
- A structured period of debate on a specific sub-topic. The chair calls speakers in turn for a fixed individual time within an overall total time.
- Unmoderated caucus (unmod)
- An informal period in which delegates leave their seats and negotiate freely. The lobbying engine of MUN.
- Motion
- A formal proposal that the committee take a procedural action — to caucus, to vote, to adjourn.
- Point
- A formal raising of a procedural concern about something already happening. Several types — see below.
- Point of personal privilege
- Raised when something physical impedes participation — inaudibility, temperature, illness.
- Point of order
- Raised when the delegate believes the chair has made a procedural error.
- Point of parliamentary inquiry
- A procedural question to the chair — "what is the threshold for a draft resolution?"
- Point of information
- A question to a speaker after their speech, if they have yielded to questions.
- Yield
- How a delegate ends a speech with time remaining — to the chair (default), to questions, or to another delegate.
- Tabling
- A motion to set aside a draft or amendment without voting — used when the committee wants to move on without ruling.
- Closure of debate
- A motion to end debate and move into voting procedure. Often requires two-thirds majority.
- Voting bloc / voting procedure
- The phase in which the committee votes on amendments and draft resolutions. Doors close; no entry or exit.
- Right of reply (ROR)
- A formal motion used (rarely) when a delegation believes its sovereignty or honour has been impugned.
- Suspension of meeting
- A break — for lunch, end of day, etc. Suspends rather than ends the session.
- Adjournment
- The formal end of the committee at the close of conference.
Writing and document terms
- Position paper
- A pre-conference document, typically one page per topic, outlining a country's understanding, position and proposed solutions.
- Working paper
- An informal early draft of a resolution, circulated during caucus to gather sponsors and signatories.
- Draft resolution
- A working paper that has reached the required threshold of sponsors and signatories and been approved by the chair for formal debate.
- Resolution
- A draft resolution that has passed a vote of the committee.
- Preambulatory clause
- An italicised opening clause of a resolution providing context or recalling past commitments. Ends with a comma.
- Operative clause
- A numbered, underlined-verb clause of a resolution that prescribes action. Ends with a semicolon.
- Sub-clause
- An indented, lettered (a, b, c…) refinement under an operative clause — typically delivering implementation detail.
- Sponsor
- A delegate who authored or co-authored a draft and commits to voting for it.
- Signatory
- A delegate who agrees a draft is worth debating but does not commit to voting yes.
- Friendly amendment
- An amendment accepted by all sponsors of a draft and adopted without a vote.
- Unfriendly amendment
- An amendment not accepted by all sponsors and put to a vote of the committee.
- Strike / strike and replace / add / modify
- The four amendment actions — removing, replacing, adding or modifying language.
- Annex
- An attached document referenced in the resolution — definitions, schedules, implementation tables.
- Recess of the meeting
- A short break called by the chair for procedural reasons.
- Decides to remain seized of the matter
- The standard final operative clause keeping the topic on the body's agenda.
UN bodies and abbreviations
- UN United Nations
- The organisation founded in 1945, headquartered in New York, with 193 member states.
- UNGA UN General Assembly
- The 193-member plenary deliberative body. The committee YIMUN simulates.
- UNSC UN Security Council
- The 15-member body responsible for international peace and security. Resolutions binding under Chapter VII.
- ECOSOC Economic and Social Council
- The 54-member body coordinating economic, social and environmental work.
- ICJ International Court of Justice
- The principal judicial organ of the UN, seated at The Hague.
- UNHRC UN Human Rights Council
- The 47-member body responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights.
- WHO World Health Organization
- UN specialised agency for global public health.
- UNICEF
- UN agency for the rights and welfare of children.
- UNHCR UN High Commissioner for Refugees
- UN agency for refugees and stateless persons.
- UNDP UN Development Programme
- UN agency for sustainable development and poverty reduction.
- UNESCO
- UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
- UNFCCC
- UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — the parent treaty under which the Paris Agreement sits.
- IAEA
- International Atomic Energy Agency — nuclear safety and non-proliferation.
- WTO
- World Trade Organization (technically not UN, but widely simulated).
- P5
- The five permanent members of the Security Council with veto: United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China.
- E10
- The ten elected, non-permanent members of the Security Council, each serving two-year terms.
- SG Secretary-General
- The head of the UN Secretariat; currently António Guterres.
Country groups and blocs
- G77
- The Group of 77 — coalition of developing countries (now 134 members) coordinating economic positions at the UN.
- NAM Non-Aligned Movement
- 120-member coalition of states not formally aligned with major-power blocs.
- EU European Union
- 27-member political and economic union; coordinates positions at the UN.
- AU African Union
- 55-member continental union of African states.
- ASEAN
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations — ten-member regional organisation.
- OIC
- Organisation of Islamic Cooperation — 57 member states.
- BRICS
- Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa — and (since 2024) several additional members.
- SIDS
- Small Island Developing States — 39-member coalition of low-lying island nations.
- LDCs
- Least Developed Countries — 46 nations classified by the UN as facing structural poverty.
- Annex I
- The UNFCCC list of industrialised countries with binding emissions commitments — used loosely for "developed" countries.
- WEOG
- Western European and Others Group — UN regional grouping including most of Western Europe, US, Canada, Australia, NZ, Israel.
- GRULAC
- Group of Latin American and Caribbean States.
Awards and recognition
- Best Delegate
- The top award, given to the strongest performer in a committee.
- Outstanding Delegate
- The second tier of recognition, often given to multiple delegates.
- Honourable Mention
- The third tier of recognition, given to strong contributors.
- Verbal Commendation
- A spoken recognition without a certificate — increasingly common at competitive conferences.
- Best Position Paper
- An award for the strongest pre-conference written work — often judged separately.
- Best Delegation
- An award given to the school or club whose delegates collectively performed best across all committees.
- Gavel
- The physical award given to the top delegate at many conferences. "Won a gavel" = won Best Delegate.
Informal MUN slang
- Mod
- Short for moderated caucus.
- Unmod
- Short for unmoderated caucus.
- Bloc
- A coalition of delegations working together — usually clustered by interest, region or ideology.
- Veto bait
- A clause likely to attract a P5 veto — typically avoided in Security Council simulations.
- Whip count
- An informal poll, before voting, of who plans to vote yes / no / abstain.
- Muns
- Plural form of MUN events — "I've done four muns this year." Informal.
- Speech of the day
- Informal recognition (sometimes by the chair) for the best speech given that day.
- P5er
- A delegate representing a P5 country — often (but not always) a more experienced delegate.
Self-assessment · Module 02
Drill the vocabulary.
A glossary is a working document, not a memorisation exercise. Use it. These short drills move terms from passive recognition to active use.
- Cover and quiz. Cover the right column. Read the left column. State each definition aloud. Mark the terms you couldn't define. Re-read those.
- Use it in a sentence. Pick ten unfamiliar terms. Write a sentence using each one in an in-committee context — e.g. "Honoured chair, the delegation of France motions for a moderated caucus on the operative clauses concerning Annex I financing."
- Build your country's bloc list. For your assigned country, list the country groups and blocs it belongs to. Include the formal blocs (G77, EU, AU…) and the informal ones (BRICS, SIDS…).
- The 60-second explainer. Pick five terms. Explain each one in 60 seconds to a friend who has never done MUN, without using other terms from this glossary. If you can't, you don't yet understand the term.
- Re-read after committee. After your first conference, re-read this module. Note which terms now feel automatic. Re-drill the ones that don't.
How to grade yourself: If you can explain in plain English the difference between a sponsor and a signatory, between a friendly and an unfriendly amendment, and between G77 and NAM — you have passed this module.
