1. What is chairing Tahmid Chowdhury
LIMUN Masterclass
What is chairing
Tahmid Chowdhury

2. What is a Chair?
‘A person who is in charge of a meeting or an organization’
In MUN, the key things that a chair must do are the following:
- Enforce the Rules of Procedure
- Manage speaking time and time of the committee
(At Conferences) Read/write Study Guide Materials
Decide on awards for best delegates
Usually chairs work in teams of two and three, so strong collaboration and team skills are key

3. What should a Chair be? The guiding figure of the committee
- Impartiality is key: deciding awards are always contentious and often it is easy to
-Be fair: try and give as much equal speaking time as possible.
- For beginners, guiding delegates through a debate
- Explaining the Rules of Procedure
- Explain the topic and clarify points of contention (whilst not leading debates to their own opinion on the matter)
-Adaptability to situations: stricter for more experienced debaters, more lenient to newcomers

4. How to excel as a C hair
- Be aware of what your delegates are doing as much as possible – keep a track of who is writing resolutions: excellence in MUN is not just making big speeches: some delegates excel at writing rather than speaking!
- Know the technicalities of the whole Rules of Procedure – delegates can ask awkward questions about different points: it can be embarrassing to get caught out!
- Understand the ‘flow’ of the committee: when is it appropriate for a moderated caucus and unmoderated caucus? More generally, do delegates need a break, time to write resolutions (unmod caucus) or need time for debating points (general debates / mod debates)
Help delegates write resolutions: formatting, writing clauses in a way that will get agreement with more people

5. How to excel as a C hair - Be approachable!
Don’t afraid to be creative – introductions at beginning of the committee, funny awards. Remember, your performance is what decides whether delegates will enjoy the conference or not!
Make the most of technology – conference software such as wxmun and chairmun.com

6. Chairing styles Important to find your own style
laid-back - approachable and can build good rapport with delegates but often easy to question/can be seen as quite casual
Authoritarian – Can get delegates to work hard, however can be seen as quite scary and put delegates off speaking
In reality, a mix of different styles adapted to your own committee is the best way to get the most out of your delegates

7. Starting chairing
- Try chairing in a session at school before attending a conference
- Get support from a more experienced MUNer or teacher – supporting you with knowledge of Rules of Procedure / Topic. Use your experience and knowledge of RoP as a delegate
- Pass on your knowledge!

8. Questions