THIMUN Workshop and Committee Advice and Expectations

Hi delegates!

Hope your week has been great so far. Congratulations on finishing your position papers! I hope they were a helpful tool in deepening your understanding of the topics. Conference is only a few weeks away, and we are so excited to meet all of you very soon! 

Here's an important event I want to bring to your attention - on Friday of conference (March 1st 2019), I will be hosting a THIMUN Procedure Workshop. I will be going over all aspects of THIMUN procedure, and if you have never done THIMUN before, or if you just want to brush up, I highly encourage you to attend! This will be very helpful for NATO delegates, and you will go into committee feeling much more prepared. 

Here are the details for the workshop: 

THIMUN Procedure Workshop

  • Date: March 1st 2019
  • Time: 2-3 pm
  • Location: Anna Head Alumnae Hall (2537 Haste St, Berkeley CA)

I hope to see all of you there! Now, moving onto committee advice and expectations. I'm pretty sure that THIMUN is a completely new style of procedure to the majority of you. Therefore, it's in your best interest to learn as much as you can through reading the THIMUN guide, and if you need to, by reaching out to us via this blog or by emailing us. We don't expect you to be experts right off the bat - BMUN is, at its core, an educational conference and we hope to see you learning as committee progresses. That being said, a good level of preparation is extremely important for us to get started in a productive manner!

THIMUN is great because it places a lot of emphasis on solutions. This is why we devote one entire committee session on Friday to what is essentially one very long unmod - the lobbying process. I recommend that you come prepared with some operative clauses that you may have written. It will help you get in the groove of writing resolutions. Feel free to send them over to us before conference if you want some feedback! The BMUN Learn website, specifically the resolutions and amendments page, is a great resource. 

In terms of making speeches in committee, I want to preface this by reminding you that it's absolutely okay to make mistakes and learn from them. Our job as chairs is to help you become better and to support you in your learning. Don't be afraid to make a speech, especially if it's your first time. The best way to learn is by taking the plunge - I speak from personal experience! BMUN is a place to learn and grow, and you can only do that if you gather a bit of courage and step out of your comfort zone. We are expecting all of you to speak at least once, and yes, we will be keeping track :) 

Finally, I want to emphasize the dais' expectation of respect in committee. You are all here to learn, and so we expect that you treat each other fairly and respectfully. Everyone's ideas are valid, and if there are disagreements, which there will be, we expect you to deal with them in a calm and diplomatic manner. Be open in your communication. Even though the basis of MUN is debate, this is no excuse for rude behavior and aggressive language. 

That's all from me, for now! I hope this post was helpful, and as always, please don't hesitate to reach out to me via this blog, or by shooting us an email at natolxvii@bmun.org

See you all very soon!

- Suma 

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