Delegations comprise an important aspect of Model UN culture. From the friends you double-del with, to the teachers who help train you, to the inside jokes, and school trips, the delegation you are a part of contributes greatly to your overall Model UN experience. But what about students who go to a school without a MUN team and don’t have the opportunity to compete on a delegation? And the students who may want to attend more conferences than their schools frequent? That’s the exact situation I was in five years ago when I first started doing Model UN.
As an eighth grader, my school did not offer Model UN as an extracurricular activity. That’s when I started traveling to conferences with my brother as an independent delegate. The next year, we founded our school’s MUN team, but due to administrative constraints, our school was only allowed to travel to one conference per year. Being the MUN-obsessed kids we were, we decided to continue attending additional conferences without our school delegation. Although this presented its difficulties, the experiences I had as an independent delegate shaped my MUN journey and life overall. If you’re in a similar situation, I want you to know that there is still a fantastic way for you to not only participate in Model UN but pave your own path as an independent delegate!
When you register for most conferences, you have the opportunity to register as a delegation (usually within a school) or as an individual participant with a legal adult as your advisor/chaperone. When I first started attending conferences independently, I started to feel a little FOMO as I watched the school delegations bond and experience the conference together. It can be hard to sit on the sidelines as large schools cheer their teammates on and offer each other advice on crisis arcs and resolution writing. But despite these shortcomings, I found that competing as an independent delegate had so many positives!
Even though I didn’t have a group of 20 school friends to hang out with throughout the weekend, I had more freedom to meet delegates from all over the world. Without scheduling constraints from a school, I found myself having almost all my meals with new friends I made in committee and hanging out in the conference center/campus. This allowed me to form deep and meaningful connections to people that I’m still in contact with daily. Traveling as an individual delegate also allowed me to take full advantage of conference offerings. For example, many conferences host additional speaker events, showcases, tours, contests, etc. Without a set plan from an advisor, I was able to participate in as much or as little of the conference offerings as I wanted, therefore enhancing my overall experience.
It may seem simple to grab your WBA (Western Business Attire) and register for a conference independently, but there is a valid financial concern if you are looking to attend multiple conferences. I recommend looking for local conferences to limit travel costs and talking to your parents/guardians about what kind of conferences are financially feasible for your family.
Remember that many conferences will provide financial aid to both delegations and individuals. Another way to make the independent delegate experience easier is to team up with other students who also don’t have a delegation. For example, my brother and I noticed that many of our friends were also looking for additional Model UN experiences so we formed an out-of-school “delegation” called South Florida Model UN. Throughout the year, we traveled with anywhere from 2-7 additional delegates as South Florida Model UN. If you start by just recruiting one or two friends to travel with you as independents, just like we did, it may end up morphing into a legitimate delegation! This can also help you apply for grants to help fund your trips. In terms of training, I recommend taking full advantage of the resources/workshops provided by conferences. Make sure to consult Best Delegate’s website, delegate guides, and virtual programming. If you’re interested in competing on a team, but your school doesn’t have one, stay tuned for announcements regarding Best Delegate MUN Teams!
Stepping foot into a hotel with hundreds to thousands of delegates and nothing but your WBA and legal pad can be daunting at first, but just remember the unique position you have as an independent delegate. You may not have a particular team to fall back on, but you have something even better – the entire global MUN community. Go out there and make it your own!
