Welcome to our next edition of conference recap articles about Best Delegate’s VMUNC conferences! This past fall, Best Delegate launched the Virtual Model United Nations Conference (VMUNC) initiative. With training conferences and advanced invitationals scheduled for the 2020-2021 academic year, VMUNC is a way for students to continue participating in Model UN conferences virtually during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic that has rendered in-person conferences impossible this year.
On March 13, Best Delegate hosted more than 200 students at the March Training Conference, a conference for beginner and intermediate delegates to learn and discover the basics of Model UN. At the end of the month, Best Delegate welcomed over 100 delegates at the Canadian MUN Invitational (CanMUNI), a conference for intermediate to advanced delegates in Canada.
The March conferences marked the first round of conferences for the students participating in Best Delegate’s MUN Teams program, where delegates meet every week with a mentor and practice their MUN skills, gaining insight and valuable feedback from their mentor. Additionally, we invited students from the Student Leadership program to help co-chair committees, gaining hands-on experience on how to run Model UN programs by working alongside our incredible staffers.
Read on to learn more about students’ experiences at these fantastic conferences!
March Training Conference
The March Training Conference had 10 committees and over 30 different schools attended! The committees were focused on a wide array of topics. This conference, we featured The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, where delegates discussed Alternatives to Imprisonment. Another new committee we added was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, where delegates debated solutions to the contemporary refugee crisis. The March Training Conference allowed new and intermediate delegates to expand their knowledge on public speaking, resolution writing, and bloc formation.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the conference. Our chair was well-seasoned and knew exactly what to do in every situation, and gave really nice constructive criticism. Everyone gave super valuable and important arguments.”
-VMUNC Delegate
“The chair was amazing, they made me feel very comfortable and are the best honorable chair I have ever encountered. I think that the conference went amazing and that this was the best conference I have been to.”
-VMUNC Delegate
Canadian MUN Invitational (CanMUNI)
As an invitational conference, CanMUNI was geared towards intermediate and advanced MUN delegates. Unique committees included a NATO committee focused on US-Russia Relations, UN Development Programme (UNDP) centered on Sustainable Cities, and the UN Security Council (UNSC) discussed Peacekeeping Missions in Africa. Overall, CanMUNI was a great opportunity for more advanced delegates to further hone their Model UN skills, level up their strategic thinking, and debate interesting and complex world issues.
The CanMUNI staff are so thankful to the delegates for a wonderful conference experience. They loved watching you debate, connect with each other, and have fun whilst discussing global issues. We hope to see you all at next month’s conference! Here’s a message from one of the conference chairs:
“The best moment for my day was watching a couple delegates come into committee very unsure and progress to the point of winning Outstandings today– Nothing beats watching a shy delegate open up, engage with the topic, and laugh and have fun with the committee.”
-VMUNC Chair
“I absolutely love VMUNC and this one was one of my favorites ever! Your programs have changed my life and I had so much fun today! There was so much lively debate and my chair was so caring and ran the conference great. The vice chair was also very good at running the conference and all around I had SO much fun today.”
-VMUNC Delegate
Canadian MUN Invitational CanMUNI Awards
DISEC Red:
Best Delegate: France
Outstanding Delegates: South Africa, United States
Honorable Mentions: United Kingdom, Ireland, Pakistan
DISEC Yellow:
Best Delegate: Russia
Outstanding Delegates: Ireland, Cameroon
Honorable Mentions: South Africa, France, Kenya
NATO:
Best Delegate: DPRK Nuclear Weapons Expert (Kim Kye-gwan)
Outstanding Delegates: US Secretary of State (Daniel Bennett Smith), Director of Security South Korea (Chung Eui-Yong)
Honorable Mentions: Leader of DPRK (Kim Jong-Un), Minister of Foreign Affairs South Korea (Choe Son-hui), President of China (Xi Jinping)
UNDP Blue:
Best Delegate: India
Outstanding Delegates: Ireland, United States
Honorable Mentions: France, Brazil
UNDP Green:
Best Delegate: Russia
Outstanding Delegates: Chile, Cameroon
Honorable Mentions: Saudi Arabia, Jordan
UNEP Orange:
Best Delegate: Chile
Outstanding Delegates: Japan, Saudi Arabia, China
Honorable Mentions: South Africa, South Korea, Norway, Hungary
UNEP Purple:
Best Delegate: Libya
Outstanding Delegates: Chile
Honorable Mentions: India, Japan
UNPFII Amber:
Best Delegate: South Africa
Outstanding Delegates: Canada, Australia
Honorable Mentions: China, Indonesia
UNSC:
Best Delegate: United States
Outstanding Delegates: Kenya
Honorable Mentions: Russia, Ireland, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Alongside our monthly conferences, this February we also launched our Model UN Teams Program, which has helped our delegates tremendously to build their skills and confidence leading up to competitions! This semester, our MUN Teams include “the Advanced HuMUNS,” the “MUNchkins,” and “the MUN-A-Gers” among others, and each week has featured fun activities, speaking games, trivia quizzes, and opportunities for participants to give each other feedback while having fun (and occasionally making Model UN memes) as they engage with the world alongside new friends! Each team member successfully attended their first conference this month as either a delegate or leadership staffer, with many bringing back awards to celebrate, and we can’t wait to see how they continue to achieve their goals before our April conferences!
