A Model UN opening speech is your first turn on the general speakers list: sixty to ninety seconds in which you state your country’s position, give one reason the room should believe it, propose something concrete and invite allies to find you. The structure below does that every time, whatever the committee.
Key takeaways
- A reliable Model UN opening speech has five parts in order: hook, position, evidence, proposal, call to bloc.
- Write for slightly under the time limit; a 75-second speech read aloud is roughly 150 to 170 words at a measured pace.
- The opening speech is not a summary of your position paper; it is an invitation to the delegates who will write the resolution with you.
- Memorise the first and last sentences, speak the middle from cue words, and look at the room rather than the chair.
- Pace and pause matter more than vocabulary; one deliberate silence before your proposal is worth three adjectives.
- Score yourself after each speech against a fixed checklist so improvement is measurable rather than a feeling.
What is a Model UN opening speech for?
The opening speech exists to tell the room who you are, what you want, and who should come and talk to you in the first unmoderated caucus. It is not the place to prove how much you researched.
The general speakers list (GSL) is the running order of formal debate. Early speeches on it set the vocabulary of the committee: the first delegate to name a specific mechanism often finds the room using their words all session.
Delegates listening are asking three questions: is this country on my side, does this delegate have a plan, and would I want them in my working group. Answer all three and you will have company at the break.
A Model UN speech template for 60 to 90 seconds
The template has five parts, spoken in order, with rough timings for a 75-second slot: hook (10 seconds), position (15), evidence (15), proposal (25), call to bloc (10). Adjust the proposal section first if the chair sets a shorter time; never cut the call to bloc.
- Hook (one sentence). An image, a question or a single well-established fact that frames the topic from your country’s point of view. Not a greeting, not the topic name.
- Position (one or two sentences). What your country believes should happen, in plain words. If a delegate remembers one line, it should be this.
- Evidence (one or two sentences). One reason the position is credible: a treaty your country has ratified, a programme it runs, a principle in the UN Charter. Qualitative is fine; invented numbers are not.
- Proposal (two or three sentences). A specific mechanism the committee could adopt. Name it so that others can repeat it: a fund, a review process, a working group, a reporting standard.
- Call to bloc (one sentence). Who you want to work with and where to find you. Be concrete about the kind of delegation, not just “all like-minded states”.
The template mirrors a good position paper, so a delegate who has written the paper properly already has the raw material.
How to start a Model UN speech
Start with the formal address, then go straight into the hook: “Honourable Chair, distinguished delegates. Every year the tide reaches a little further up the road to our national hospital.” The greeting is protocol; the hook is the speech.
Three hooks work reliably. The image puts the room somewhere physical. The question asks something the committee cannot yet answer. The fact states one thing everyone accepts, such as that the UN has 193 member states, and turns it toward your position.
Three opening speech examples
Each example below runs to roughly 75 seconds at a measured pace and follows the five-part template exactly. The assignments are described rather than named so that nothing here is mistaken for a real government’s policy.
Example one: a small island state on climate finance
Honourable Chair, distinguished delegates. My delegation measures sea level rise not in centimetres but in the number of families who moved inland last year. We believe climate finance must reach the communities that are already adapting, not remain in pledges that are counted twice and delivered once. Our country contributes almost nothing to global emissions, yet we have already committed our own budget to coastal defences, because waiting is not an option we have. We propose that this committee call for a simplified access window for small island developing states, with a single application, a fixed decision timeline, and public reporting on the share of finance that arrives as grants rather than loans. To the delegations of low-lying and coastal nations, and to any donor state that would rather fund results than paperwork, we will be at the back of the room during the first caucus. Thank you, Chair.
Example two: a middle power on artificial intelligence governance
Thank you, Chair. Distinguished delegates, the most powerful models in the world today are built in a handful of places, and used in all of them. My delegation’s position is that governance of artificial intelligence must be international, or it will be written for us by whoever moves first. We are neither a leading developer nor a bystander; our regulators already work with our universities and companies on safety testing, and that middle position is exactly why we can broker between the two ends of this room. We propose a technical working group under this committee, with balanced regional membership, mandated to draft a shared framework for testing high-capability systems before public release and to report back to the plenary. To the delegations who would like a framework they can live with rather than one they must accept, and to the major developers who need legitimacy as much as we need access, we invite you to join us in caucus. Thank you.
Example three: a large economy on global health financing
Honourable Chair, distinguished delegates. A vaccine that exists but cannot be delivered protects no one. My delegation believes the priority for global health financing is predictable, multi-year funding for the systems that deliver care, rather than emergency appeals after each outbreak. We are among the largest contributors to the multilateral health institutions and have supported them through every recent crisis, and we have learned that money arriving late costs more than money committed early. We propose a replenishment framework with pledges made for several years at a time, a published schedule of disbursement, and an independent review of how funds strengthen national health systems, not only how much is spent. To the delegations of donor states seeking accountability, and to the delegations of recipient states seeking reliability, we believe there is a text that serves both, and we would like to begin drafting it with you today. Thank you, Chair.
None of the three cites a number that would need a footnote, and each ends by telling a defined group of delegations where to find the speaker.
How should you deliver it?
Deliver the speech slower than feels natural, with one deliberate pause before the proposal, and with your eyes on the room rather than the dais; the chair is scoring how the room responds to you.
Pace
Most nervous speakers rush. Aim for a pace that feels slightly too slow while you are speaking; it will sound composed from the floor. Finishing early and yielding to the chair reads as control, not a mistake.
Pause
Silence is punctuation. Pause after the hook, so the image lands, and again before the proposal. One second feels long to you and short to everyone else.
Eye contact
Divide the room into three zones and move between them at the end of sentences. Look at the delegations you are calling into your bloc on the final line.
Notes versus memorised
Memorise the first sentence and the last, and carry the middle as five cue words on a card, one per part of the template. A fully read speech loses the room; a fully memorised one collapses the moment you lose your place. The public speaking module in the Youth Impacts curriculum covers breathing, stance and recovery when a line goes missing.
What goes wrong most often?
The most common failures are speeches that summarise instead of propose, speeches that run over time, and speeches that end without telling anyone what to do next.
- Reading the position paper aloud. The paper is background; the speech is an invitation. If your speech could be the paper’s introduction, cut it in half.
- Running over. Being gavelled down mid-proposal means the room hears your position and never hears your plan. Time yourself against the limit at home.
- Inventing figures. A confident number that another delegate can challenge damages you for the rest of the conference. Use qualitative claims unless you can name the source.
A self-scoring checklist
Score each speech out of ten using the list below, one point per line, and keep the scores across a conference so that you can see what is improving. Ask a friend to score you too; the gap between the two numbers is where the work is.
| Criterion | One point if… |
|---|---|
| Hook | The first sentence after the greeting was an image, question or fact, not the topic name |
| Position | A listener could repeat your country’s position in one sentence |
| Evidence | You gave one credible reason, without an unsourced statistic |
| Proposal | You named a specific mechanism another delegate could adopt |
| Call to bloc | You told a defined group where to find you |
| Time | You finished inside the limit without being gavelled |
| Pace | You did not speed up in the second half |
| Pause | You paused deliberately at least once |
| Eye contact | You looked at the room for most of the speech |
| Result | At least one delegate approached you afterwards about what you said |
The final line is the one that matters: a speech that scores nine on technique and zero on result was a performance. Our guide to your first Model UN conference explains what to do with the delegates who approach you.
Speaking at The Global 60
At The Global 60, presented by Youth Impacts in New York City on Thursday 22 – Sunday 25 April 2027, the opening speech is delivered in a chamber of approximately twenty delegates, which changes the arithmetic. With three committee sessions and a Global Plenary, everyone speaks several times, and the chair hears every speech in full rather than sampling a hall of two hundred.
The same five-part template is also the structure behind the gala voices. On the Saturday night, between four and eight delegates are selected to speak for sixty to ninety seconds in black tie at The Global 60 Gala; the formal speech time is kept under twenty-five minutes so that each voice is heard properly. A delegate who has practised hook, position, evidence, proposal and call to action in committee is already prepared for that stage.
No Model UN experience is required to apply, and speaking time is not affected by tier: no tier affects country assignment, speaking time, committee role, awards or recognition. The Assembly page explains how the three chambers run.
Where to go next
Write your next opening speech against the template above, time it, and score it with the checklist before your conference. For the rest of the committee, the free training curriculum covers caucusing and drafting, and the admission page explains how to request a place in one of The Global 60’s three chambers.
Frequently asked questions.
How long should a Model UN opening speech be?
Match the speaking time the chair sets, which is usually between sixty and ninety seconds for the general speakers list. Write for slightly under the limit so you finish before the gavel rather than being cut off mid-sentence.
How do you start a Model UN speech?
Address the chair and the committee, then open with a hook: a short image, a sharp question or a single well-established fact that frames your country’s view of the topic. Avoid starting with “Today we are here to discuss”, which tells the room nothing.
Should I memorise my opening speech or read it?
Neither entirely. Memorise the hook and the final line, and speak the middle from short cue notes. A fully read speech loses eye contact; a fully memorised one collapses when you lose your place.
What is the general speakers list?
The general speakers list, often shortened to GSL, is the running order of delegates who have asked to speak during formal debate. Your opening speech is your first turn on it, and you can add your name again once you have spoken.
Can I use statistics in my opening speech?
Yes, but only figures you can source to a named document such as a UN report or your country’s official statement, and only one or two. A speech built on numbers you half remember is more fragile than one built on a clear position.
What if I am nervous before my first speech?
Get on the speakers list early so the wait is short, write your first sentence out in full, and breathe out slowly before you stand. Most chairs are patient with a first speech; the room remembers what you said, not how your voice shook.
Youth Impacts is a Model United Nations organisation. Its flagship New York experience is The Global 60: sixty delegates, three small chambers, 22 – 25 April 2027, admission by application and interview. Youth Impacts Model United Nations (YIMUN) has run since 2025. Questions: info@youthimpacts.com. Published 19 September 2026.