Usually, I prepare everything in one document for accessibility purposes. It allows me to quickly find (Cmd+F or Ctrl+F) any keyword during the debate.

Country and council dossier

A dossier is a collection of information about something. In this case, I would prepare a dossier about my allocated country.

• Situation globally
• Situation in the country regarding the issue
• Stance on the issue
• Past actions on the issue by your country
• Links to my sources (for future reference)

This is extremely similar to the background information and stance sections of your position paper. Due to the word limit of the position paper, I would suggest creating this dossier before writing your position paper.

Creating a dossier helps to immerse yourself deep into the content that you need to be familiar with to discuss on the spot. (See section on whether you should script your speeches.)

This information is useful to pad your speeches if you need evidence to justify your points. For example, raising a past action and its problems is a neat gateway to introducing a solution to the council.

You may also want to have information about your council:

• List of countries in your council (once the first council session begins)
• General stances of the other countries — important to know the rough stance of other delegates, as working with the wrong delegates can also be considered a breach of stance
• Past actions on the issue by other countries in the council

Proposed solutions

It is very important to be clear and familiar with your proposed solutions.

• Name your solution: A named solution is easier to reference in debate, and it makes it more likely for other delegates to bring it up.

  • For example, you could name a collective fund for humanitarian aid in Libya the Funds for Libyan Peace (FLIP). Having a catchy and possibly funny name/acronym makes your proposed solutions more memorable.

• Detail your solution: Put specific details and numbers where possible. This makes your solution more realistic and makes it seem more thought out.

  • Of course, the details should be realistic. Remember that every delegate in the council is not actually a delegate of their allocated country — having specifics gives the pretense of credibility. How much funding should each country donate to FLIP? Is it a static $1M per country, or perhaps 0.1% of their GDP for a scaled donation?

• Justify your solution: What is the problem you are facing? What context do other delegates need to know, that makes your solution make sense? How did you come up with this solution?

  • The more thought out your solution sounds, the more likely other delegates will latch on to it. Remember: no one in the council is actually an expert. You can feign expertise through confidence.

Often, I will introduce my solutions in the form of a working paper. Having a visual aid also makes my proposed solution more memorable.

Preparing a working paper before the conference is known as pre-writing, which is often banned from the conference. The Dais may also reject working papers that are not relevant to the current debate — in other words, pre-writing working papers and submitting them straight away when the GSL begins is not a good idea.

Have the content of your solutions ready in your preparation, and create your working paper during the council sessions. This also gives you the flexibility to adapt your material to be relevant to other delegates’ content (e.g. if another delegate proposes a similar idea).

Opening speech

The Opening Speech is the only speech I suggest scripting. Actually, let’s rephrase that — it’s the one speech that you should script.

The Opening Speeches are not typically used to have a discussion, but rather set a precedent for the rest of the debate.

• Opening Speeches set the council’s impression of your personality, your debating style, and most importantly, your potential command of the council. Other delegates are sizing you up and categorising you as a potential leader of a bloc, a worthy rival, or a mere backbencher. If they categorise you as a backbencher, it can be hard to change that impression.

• Opening Speeches are used to give an elevator pitch on your stance and proposed solutions.

• Opening Speeches are used to see who your potential allies are from each delegates’ presented stance. You can write a note to these delegates asking if they would like to collaborate.

  • Vice versa as well. One way to gauge the impact of your Opening Speech is to see how many notes you receive from other delegates when the GSL begins.

Because of the importance of the Opening Speech, ensuring that you have a good, impactful Opening Speech is extremely, extremely, extremely important. Just as Simon Cowell tells those auditioning for America’s Got Talent that “these three minutes will change your life”, I am telling you that “this one minute will change your experience in the council”.

Your preferred agenda

Most of the time, the first few speeches in the GSL are dedicated to agenda setting. This is when delegates decide the order at which to discuss the issues laid out in the study guide’s scope of debate.

While a minor part of the debate, delegates who take charge from the beginning often have a stronger foothold on the council. If you are able to establish yourself as a leader in the council by setting the agenda or building off other delegates’ proposed agendas, you will have an easier time commanding the council later on.

Prepare an agenda that you wish to push for, just in case you are in the position to discuss the agenda. Be prepared that your prepared agenda will likely not be the one used, and that’s okay. Your job is not to push for your agenda, but to show that you are capable of taking charge.

Next: Writing a Position Paper