Students organize a MUN-Conference for young “diplomats”
by Luzie Politt
In November, the 17th edition of Bonn International Model United Nations will be held according to the topic ‘The causes of political reality – Understanding the present to shape the future’ in the Wissenschaftszentrum Bonn. From the 23rd to the 27th of November, about 100 students from all over the world will simulate as ‘diplomats’ the debates of an UN-Conference in different committees.

Part of the ExCom-team preparing the delegates’ visit to the UN Bonn (picture: Jonathan Stiehle / BIMUN/SINUB)
The conference is fully organized by students from the BIMUN/SINUB association which was founded in 2002. The organization of the conference began back in February, when the new Executive Committee (ExCom) of BIMUN/SINUB was elected. Since then, different teams have put in effort for the work that needed to be done. During weekly meetings, the entire ExCom-team met for brainstorming sessions and to help keep everybody on the same page of the current status of the multiple committees.
Naturally, such a conference cannot be paid only by the participants’ fees, therefore, the Finance & Fund-raising team prepared a financial plan for different economic scenarios and wrote requests for public funds and private donations. Furthermore, the Participants team developed strategies to target students as possible delegates and journalists, supported by the PR & Media-team who has been and continues to administer the website and social media channels. When the applications from possible delegates come in, the participants team has had the hard job of allocating the students to the committees according to their experience, knowledge, and personal preferences.
BIMUN/SINUB aims to keep the conference as climate neutral as possible. Thus, the Green Conference team arranges the compensation of CO2-emissions from delegates’ journeys, catering, the conference venue, and also uses recycled paper for printing.
Last but not least, the Events team schedules social events for the evenings, such as the reception, a Karaoke night, and a gala, because the conference is not only about UN-style debates, but also about meeting international students and making new friends from all over the world.
Brainstorming session during weekly meeting on the conference schedule (picture: David Szalai/BIMUN/SINUB)The ExCom is the brain of the conference with the logistical overview, but the heart lies within the Secretaries-Generals who set up the Secretariat and prepare the content of the debates. The Secretaries-Generals were quickly found, namely Konstatina Nathanail from Greece and Christian Richter from Bonn. Video calls between the ExCom and the Secretaries-Generals facilitated the work among wider geographical distances to define a conference theme. More video calls were arranged with the Chairs, who host the debates in the committees and write the study guides for the individual committee topics in order to help the delegates prepare for their positions during the debates.
The last steps are preparing a speech for the opening ceremony, hand out the delegate handbooks as a guide through the conference, and pack the goodie-bags.
Now, we can not wait for the conference to start, and be able to provide the delegates with high-quality debates and lots of fun during the social events!
Got curious about the MUN-Conference?
Join us as a delegate or journalist and apply via
our website
Artikel vom 14.11.2018
Drucken
Leserbrief
Weitere Artikel