How to run Model UN conference registration and payments

Seven steps take each applicant from your conference page to a seat on the day, and mymun sends the emails and reminders.

Registration is one list of applicants that you work through every day or two, in seven steps:

1. 1Open applications. Put your conference online and say who can apply.
2. 2Ask a few good questions. A short form gets more applicants.
3. 3Say yes or no within a few days. A fast answer keeps delegates excited.
4. 4Give each delegate a seat. Assign a committee and a country from their preferences.
5. 5Collect the fees. A clear date to pay, and reminders that run on their own.
6. 6Keep delegates informed. Send each group what it needs next, from background guides to the schedule.
7. 7Check delegates in. On the day, tick each one off as they arrive.

Before you open, make two choices: when delegates pay and how you choose them.

A full conference page answers most questions before anyone emails you.

Open applications about three months before the conference, and close them a week before. Put everything an applicant asks about on your conference page: dates, place, committees, the fee, how you choose and your refund policy.

Take two kinds of delegates: individuals who apply on their own, and school delegations led by a teacher or a head delegate. Open chair applications earlier, about five months before, so your chairs are in place first.

Ask only what helps you decide, and ask the rest once a delegate is coming.

Keep the form short, because every extra question costs you applicants. Ask what helps you decide: school, experience, committee and country preferences, and a short motivation answer if places may run out.

Ask the rest after acceptance, when you know they are coming: dietary and access needs and an emergency contact. For delegates under 18, add a parent's consent.

A fast yes keeps delegates excited, and a fast no lets them apply elsewhere in time.

Answer every application within a few days, yes or no. Work through your list each morning, and the queue never builds up.

At in-person conferences on mymun, turned-down applicants typically wait ten days, so a fast no is a real kindness. When you are full, offer a place on your waitlist first, and point the rest to conferences still taking applications.

Most delegates get their seat with their acceptance; only the most wanted seats wait for one date.

Assign a committee and a country as you accept each delegate, from the preferences they gave. Decide the seats many delegates want, such as the five permanent members, together on one date by a rule you publish.

Give each school delegation a block of seats, and let its teacher or head delegate place the students.

A clear pay-by date and automatic reminders bring most fees in within the first week.

Give delegates about two weeks after acceptance to pay, and set your fee's pay-by date to match. At in-person conferences on mymun, about two in three individual delegates who pay after acceptance do so within the first week.

Invoices for schools

Schools often pay one bank transfer for the whole group, after their finance office gets an invoice. Put on it your organization's name and address, the school's name, an invoice number, the date, what it pays for and your payment details.

Agree a payment date with the school, and keep its seats until then. If the money is late, check your bank statement for the amount first, then ask the teacher for a new date.

Bank transfers and other ways to pay

Ask everyone who pays by transfer to quote a reference, such as the invoice number. Then you match each payment to the right delegate the day it arrives.

Send each group the one thing it needs next, so delegates arrive prepared and teachers can plan the trip.

Between acceptance and the conference, write to delegates whenever they have something to do. Send the background guides when they go online, the schedule, and the venue with how to get there.

Write to the group that needs it, not to everyone: one committee, every school delegation, or the delegates who have not paid yet. Short emails with one clear action get read.

A quick check-in tells you who came and which seats you can still fill.

On the day, check each delegate in as they arrive and hand over their badge. Then you know who came, and you can fill an empty seat from the delegates who are there.

A short check of your list every morning keeps applications moving, and a weekly look keeps payments and seats matching.

In the busiest weeks, the person in charge of delegates decides on applications and your treasurer handles the money, both from the same list:

• Every morning. Answer yesterday's applications, assign the seats you can and accept proofs of payment.
• Twice a week. Check your bank statement against your invoices, and see which committees fill fastest.
• Every Friday. Offer free seats to your waitlist, and share the committees that still have free seats on your social media.

Pay on applying suits a conference that fills first come, first served; pay after acceptance suits one that chooses its delegates.

Most conferences ask for payment after acceptance, and some take it with the application:

• Pay when they apply. Every application on your list is paid, so you fill your seats in days. The costs: delegates can only pay by card, school delegations still pay after acceptance, and you refund anyone you turn down.
• Pay after acceptance. You choose freely, schools pay on an invoice, and nobody you turn down needs a refund. The cost: a few accepted delegates never pay, so you need a deadline and a waitlist.

If you take everyone and expect to sell out, let delegates pay when they apply, and close applications the day you are full. If you choose your delegates, decide first and ask for payment with the acceptance.

Most conferences accept at least four in five applicants; when you have more applicants than seats, publish how you choose.

About three in ten in-person conferences on mymun turn nobody down. When applications outnumber seats, pick one way to choose and put it on your page:

• First come, first served. Simple and fast, and it rewards delegates who apply early. Announce the opening date weeks ahead, so everyone has the same start.
• Selected. You build a mixed room of schools, regions and experience, and every applicant waits a little longer for an answer.
• In between. Decide every few days against a short list of criteria, and cap places per school, so one large school cannot fill the conference.

A beginner with a clear motivation answer often adds more to a General Assembly committee than a fourth-time award winner. A fair mix of schools makes the best debate.

A few seats always come free before the conference, and a waitlist fills them within days.

Start a waitlist the day you are full, and tell people their place on it. Then fill dropped seats in order:

• After the payment date. If a fee is still missing after the reminders, send one email with a last date, then offer the seat to the next person.
• Quick deadlines. Give a waitlisted applicant three days to say yes and a week to pay.
• A week before. Tell everyone still waiting that the conference is full, and thank them.

Answer every request from the policy you published, and offer a swap before a refund.

Your refund policy sets the dates, and requests are rare. Most have a simple answer:

• A swap first. For a school, sending another student often beats a refund for both sides.
• Part of a delegation. If a school cancels some seats, apply the refund dates to those seats only.
• The same way back. Refund a card payment to the card, and other payments to the account they came from.