ChairBecoming a chair

How to become a MUN chair: experience, application and interview questions

In short

To become a MUN chair, you apply to a conference's secretariat months before it starts. You send your Model UN experience, a short motivation and often a topic idea, and many conferences then interview a shortlist.

Picture the interview: a video call with two people from the secretariat. One asks: “Norway's delegate is using her caucus time on another topic. What do you say?” You answer in one calm sentence, and the panel hears how you would run a room.

In this guide · 7 parts · 14 min

How to become a MUN chair in five steps

Be a delegate first, find the call for chairs, apply early, pass the interview, then prepare with your co-chair.

Will they pick you? About two in three chair applications on mymun are accepted, so a careful application has a real chance. These five steps take you there:

  1. Be a delegate first. Two or three conferences show you what good chairs do. See how much experience you need.
  2. Find the call for chairs. Filter the conference list for open chair applications. Calls open months ahead and close weeks before delegate applications do.
  3. Apply. List your experience, say why you want to chair and pitch a topic if the form asks. Your application is the first test of your writing.
  4. Pass the interview. Expect questions on the rules, your topic and a difficult room, plus one ruling out loud.
  5. Prepare with your co-chair. Split the background guide (some conferences call it a study guide), learn the rules and chair your first session from a script.

What does a MUN chair do? The roles on the dais

The chair runs debate and stays neutral; co-chairs, rapporteurs and crisis staff share the work, and each seat is a way in.

The chair runs one committee from the dais, the table at the front of the room, and keeps its debate fair and moving. The table shows what each seat on the dais does.

Like the chair of a General Assembly committee, you do not vote, and you act for the whole committee, never for a country. So once you take the seat, your own views on the topic stay private.

Seats on a Model UN dais. Names vary, so read each call.
Seat In the room Before the conference
ChairRuns debate, rules on points and motions, approves drafts and leads the awards discussion.Writes or edits the background guide, answers delegates and learns the conference's rules.
Co-chair or vice-chairRuns some sessions, tracks speakers and time in the others, and stands in for the chair.Writes part of the background guide and reads position papers.
RapporteurRecords attendance, documents and votes, and at some conferences reports what the committee decided.Reads the rules and the background guide.
Crisis staffAnswers delegates' notes from the backroom of a crisis committee and writes the events they react to.Plans the crisis timeline with the crisis director.

Some conferences, especially in India, call this team the Executive Board (EB), and THIMUN-style conferences call chairs and deputy chairs student officers. The team answers to the secretariat, the students who run the conference and pick its chairs.

Is chairing right for you?

As a delegate, you succeed by persuading the room. As a chair, you succeed when a room of 30 debates well and hardly notices you. These five habits matter more than your award count:

  • Attention that lasts. You follow the speakers' list, the clock and every motion for three hours without drifting off.
  • Patience. You will ask “Are there any points or motions on the floor?” dozens of times a day, in the same calm voice.
  • Fairness under pressure. You call the quiet delegate as well as your friend, and you judge an argument you dislike on its quality.
  • Saying “I was wrong”. A chair who corrects a wrong ruling in one sentence keeps the room's trust. One who defends it loses it.
  • Being the same person off the dais. Delegates see you at lunch and at the evening events too, and they remember.

How much experience do you need to chair?

First-time chairs on mymun have typically been delegates at two conferences; build up through club debates, in-house conferences and co-chair seats.

No rule sets a number, but first-time chairs on mymun have typically been delegates at two conferences. Many of the chairs picked have chaired before, so a co-chair or rapporteur seat is the easier first step. This route works for most people:

  1. Be a delegate two or three times. Note what each chair does when the room gets stuck.
  2. Chair at your club. Run practice debates for your society or for younger students. The teacher's chair script fits a club afternoon.
  3. Chair at an in-house conference. Many schools run a one-day conference for their own students, and it often needs chairs.
  4. Apply as co-chair, vice-chair or rapporteur. Pick a conference you have attended, so you already know its rules and its people.
  5. Then apply to chair, at first in a General Assembly committee.

Conferences look for chairs who know their rules, so debate under THIMUN-style rules before you chair at a THIMUN-style conference.

Keep a record as you go, and your MUN CV does most of it for you. It lists every conference you attended here with your committee, role and awards, and you can add the ones from elsewhere. When you apply on mymun, the organizers reviewing your application open it, even if your profile is private.

When do MUN chair applications open?

Chair applications open and close earlier than delegate applications, so plan four to six months ahead.

Secretariats pick chairs early, so that chairs have time to write the background guides. A delegate can apply late, but a chair usually cannot.

When applications open and close at in-person conferences on mymun (typical time before the first day)
Applications For chairs For delegates
OpenAbout 4 to 5 months beforeAbout 3 months before
CloseAbout 5 to 6 weeks beforeAbout 1 week before

Filter the conference list for open chair applications to see every conference taking chairs today. Each conference page shows when its chair applications open and close, and when you follow a conference, you get a notice when they open. Other conferences post calls, often called Executive Board applications, on their own websites and social media.

Plan backwards: six months before a conference you want to chair, check last year's dates and follow the conference. To find conferences at your level, start with high school or university.

Your MUN chair application: experience, motivation and topic

Pick committees you can run, list your experience newest first, explain why you want to chair, and pitch a topic if the form asks.

Chair forms ask about two things above all: your Model UN experience and why you want the role. The UN's own process for selecting Model UN officers asks for the same two. Some forms also want a topic or a writing sample, and at high school conferences your teacher may need to endorse you, so ask early.

Choosing a committee

Ask for committees you can run well, such as a General Assembly committee, not the most famous ones. In the Security Council a veto lets one country block a draft, and a crisis committee moves fast, so both are harder to run. If the form asks you to rank committees, put first the ones whose topics you know.

Your experience

List your conferences newest first, one per line, with the details in the same order each time. Count every role: delegate, chair, rapporteur, crisis staff, secretariat. Name each award exactly as the conference called it, and never make one sound bigger.

An experience list in a chair application
  1. 2026In-house conference at my school (60 delegates): UNICEF, chair. Wrote half of the background guide.
  2. 2025Regional conference (200 delegates): Security Council, Sierra Leone. Honourable mention.
  3. 2025International conference (400 delegates): WHO, Brazil.
  4. 2024Regional conference (150 delegates): SOCHUM, Peru. My first conference.
  5. OtherDebate club captain, 2025-26: I run weekly practice debates for 25 students.

Practice sample

Your motivation letter: why you want to chair

Keep it to 100 to 200 words unless the form sets a length. Say why you want to chair rather than be a delegate again, and give one moment that shows how you think. Then say what you will do for your delegates, and show that you will meet deadlines.

A motivation answer for a WHO committee
  1. WhyAt my last conference I spent the final session watching our chair. She moved 45 delegates through four drafts and still called Bhutan, who had not spoken in two days. That is the job I want now.
  2. A momentGood ideas often come from people slow to raise their placard. Our paragraph on funding came from Chile's delegate, once I asked her in a caucus what mattered to her country.
  3. DelegatesI researched drug-resistant infections for my last position paper, so I would like to chair WHO. Many of its delegates will be first-timers: I would explain the points they can raise in the first session and give each one a strength and a next step at the end.
  4. CommitmentI can attend chair training and deliver my half of the background guide by your deadline.

Practice sample

Skip praise for the conference, and mention an award only if it explains something.

A topic proposal or writing sample

A topic question tests whether you can build a debate, not whether you know the most facts. A good topic is on the UN's agenda now, fits the committee's powers, splits countries into clear groups and leaves room for solutions.

This pitch builds on the political declaration on antimicrobial resistance that UN member states approved in 2024.

A topic pitch for a WHO committee
  1. TopicCutting deaths from drug-resistant infections.
  2. Why nowIn 2024, UN member states agreed to cut the estimated 4.95 million deaths a year associated with bacterial antimicrobial resistance by 10% by 2030.
  3. The sidesBig farming exporters, countries short of antibiotics and countries with large drug industries want different things.
  4. MandateWHO sets guidance, coordinates and supports countries, and its Assembly can adopt binding health rules. It cannot pass national laws, so most of its paragraphs ask and recommend.
  5. QuestionsWho pays for tracking resistance in poorer countries? How far should limits on antibiotics in farming go? How do patients keep access to the drugs that still work?

Practice sample

For a writing sample, send part of a background guide you wrote, called a research report at THIMUN-style conferences. Or write one new page: the problem, what the UN has done and three questions for delegates. Write it yourself, because the interview tests whether you understand it.

MUN chair interview questions, and how to answer them

Panels test your experience, the rules, your topic and how you handle a difficult room, then ask you to rule on one moment aloud.

Expect some form of the eight questions below, then one moment from committee to rule on. Reread your application the day before, because the panel asks about what you wrote. Have one question of your own ready, such as when the background guide is due.

Questions chair interviews often ask, with a weak and a strong answer to each.
Question A weak answer A strong answer
“Why chair, and not be a delegate again?”“I have won awards, and chairing is the next level.”You want the whole room to debate, you accept staying neutral, and you say what delegates will get from you.
“A 10-minute moderated caucus and a 20-minute unmoderated caucus are on the floor. Which do you vote on first?”A guess, said with confidence.Under most North American rules, the one that interrupts debate most goes first: the unmoderated caucus. See the order of motions.
“During time in favour of an amendment, a delegate hands in an amendment to it. Is it in order?”“Yes, amendments are always welcome.”At THIMUN The Hague, not yet: a second-degree amendment comes only in time against the first amendment.
“Pitch your topic in one minute.”A minute of history.The problem in one sentence, the sides, and two questions the resolution has to settle.
“A delegate has not spoken all day. What do you do?”“That is their choice.”Check your speaker notes, call them early in the next caucus and ask them an easy question at the break.
“Your co-chair has not started their half of the guide, and it is due in a week.”“I would quietly write it myself.”Talk to them first and offer a new split. Tell the secretariat early, not on the deadline day.
“How would you decide the top delegate award?”“The delegate who spoke most.”Against the conference's criteria, from notes taken in every session. Rank alone first, then compare with your co-chair.
“Tell us about your Model UN experience.”Your whole list, read aloud.The two conferences that matter most for this seat, and what each taught you about running a room.

A mock ruling

Expect the panel to play out a moment from committee and ask you to rule aloud. It listens for three things: you restate what happened, you rule in one sentence and you stay polite when pushed.

The ruling below rests on a power the UN gives every committee chair: to call a speaker to order whose remarks are off the subject. Many Model UN rules copy it.

A mock ruling in a chair interview
  1. PanelYou are chairing a moderated caucus on who pays for adaptation. The delegate of Norway uses her 30 seconds on debt relief. What do you do?
  2. YouI let her finish her sentence, then say: “Thank you, Norway. This caucus is on paying for adaptation, so please keep to that topic. You have 15 seconds left.”
  3. PanelNorway rises on a point of order: “The chair is limiting my right to speak.”
  4. You“Thank you, Norway. The committee voted for this caucus and its topic, so the ruling stands. Debt relief comes up under Topic B. Please continue on adaptation.”
  5. PanelWhy not let her speak on debt relief?
  6. You“The committee set the topic and the time, not me. Overriding that for one delegate is unfair to everyone else. If this conference allows appeals, Norway can appeal, and the committee votes.”

Practice sample

If the panel asks a rule you do not know, give the line you would say in the room:

When you do not know a rule

“The chair will check the rules and come back to the committee in a moment.”

Exercise Timed: 5 minutes

Answer “Why chair?” aloud in a minute

Read the profile. Write your answer in five minutes, then say it aloud in 60 seconds or less.

  1. ProfileYou are 17 and have been a delegate at four conferences, twice in General Assembly committees.
  2. ProfileLast term you chaired two practice debates for younger students at your school's Model UN club.
  3. QuestionWhy chair, and not be a delegate again?
Hint 1

Open with a real moment, not with “I have always wanted to chair”.

Hint 2

Name one thing your delegates will get from you.

Show the model answer
  1. MomentAt a practice debate I chaired last term, I wrongly ruled a motion out of order, said so in one sentence, and the debate went straight on.
  2. WhyThat is when I knew I wanted to chair: keeping a room fair and moving matters more to me now than winning the argument myself.
  3. EvidenceThose two debates also taught me to keep a speakers' list and to give the quiet students their turn early.
  4. PromiseIn your committee, I would make sure every delegation speaks at least once on the first day.

About 90 words, which fits a minute. It opens with a real moment and says why in the second sentence. It backs that with what the applicant has done, ends with what delegates get and lists no awards.

Check your answer

After you are accepted: your background guide, your co-chair and training

Confirm quickly, agree the work with your co-chair, deliver your part of the background guide on time and learn the conference's rules.

Most of a chair's work comes before the conference. Reply to the acceptance quickly and check whether the conference charges chairs a fee. Then split the work two ways:

  • With the secretariat. Go to chair training if there is one, and practise the scenario cards out loud. Get the background guide template and its deadline, and note what this conference's rules do differently from your last one.
  • With your co-chair. Agree in writing who writes which part of the background guide and who runs which sessions. Agree too how you will judge awards: by the conference's criteria, or a judging rubric if it publishes none.

Then prepare the rules, your topic, the guide and the position papers in the order your deadlines fall. On the day, run your first session from the chair's script.

If you are not selected

A no is not the end: about one in five accepted chairs on mymun had been turned down for a chair seat before. Ask the secretariat for one sentence of feedback. Then apply as co-chair or rapporteur elsewhere, or try a new committee type as a delegate.

You can now write a chair application and prepare for the interview.

Questions and answers

How much experience do you need to chair at a Model UN conference?

No rule sets a number. Most chairs were delegates first. Many start by chairing at their club or an in-house conference, or as a co-chair or rapporteur.

What is the Executive Board (EB) in MUN?

The Executive Board, or EB, is the team that runs a committee from the dais: usually a chair, a co-chair or vice-chair and a rapporteur. An Executive Board application is a chair application under another name.

What is the difference between a chair, a co-chair and a vice-chair?

The chair leads the committee. A co-chair shares that job as an equal, while a vice-chair supports the chair and takes over when the chair is absent. Conferences use the words differently, so read the call for chairs.

What does a rapporteur do in Model UN?

A rapporteur keeps the committee's record: attendance, documents and votes. At the UN, the rapporteur also presents the report on the committee's work at the closing plenary meeting, and some conferences copy that.

How old do you have to be to chair?

Each conference sets its own limits. On mymun, about half of accepted chairs are under 18. The typical chair is 17 at high school conferences and 21 at university conferences.

Do I need a recommendation to chair?

Sometimes. Some high school conferences, often THIMUN-style ones, ask your MUN director or teacher to endorse your application. The call for chairs tells you if you need one; ask early, since teachers need time.

Do chairs pay a conference fee?

Usually not: about one in five in-person conferences that accept chairs charge them a fee. The call for chairs tells you, and your application page shows any fee you owe.

Can I apply as a chair and as a delegate to the same conference?

You hold one application per conference here, so pick the role you want most. If you would also take a delegate seat, ask the secretariat before you apply.

On this page

  1. Five steps
  2. Roles on the dais
  3. Experience
  4. Chair calls
  5. Application
  6. Interview
  7. Once accepted
  8. Questions