Autor: Johannes Kienzler

Last weekend, the Tübingen NMUN Delegation sharpened this tool with the help of Dr. Marco Behrmann. For this, our Delegation teamed up in an intensive speech training session led by Dr. Marco Behrmann, founder and owner of X-Rubicon. Dr. Behrmann is an industrial and organizational psychologist with over 19 years of experience as a consultant and trainer with the focus on decision-making and negotiation strategies.

The training was meticulously designed to prepare our delegation for the upcoming NMUN conference in New York City, where we will have the honor of delivering speeches before a global audience. Recognizing the significance of this opportunity, we are committed to train our public speaking abilities to represent our university and the Republic of Albania with distinction.
The session commenced with Dr. Behrmann providing insightful guidance on the art of conveying a message effectively. He emphasized the importance of clarity, structure, and emotional engagement in speech delivery. But negotiations do not just contain of speeches: Negotiating and balancing between different positions is as important as beeing able to transport your message.

Following this input, each delegate crafted and presented their own speeches, receiving constructive feedback from both Dr. Behrmann and fellow team members. This iterative process of practice and refinement proved invaluable, enhancing and sharpening our confidence and competence in public speaking. Reflecting on the day’s activities, it is evident that the training significantly bolstered our communication skills, equipping us with the tools necessary to articulate our positions persuasively at the upcoming NMUN in New York.

In the realm of diplomacy and international relations, the efficacy of one’s message is not solely determined by its content but also by the manner in which it is delivered. As we continue our preparations for NMUN 2025, we remain mindful that the true impact of our contributions will hinge on our ability to convey our messages with clarity, conviction, and authenticity as well as beeing able to negotiate constructive solutions based on all given positions. At the speech training and at NMUN: communication is key!

A tap of the gavel and we’re off. Honorable chair, distinguished fellow delegates, we are so back!

The National Model delegation of Tuebingen, representing the Republic of Albania at the New York Conference 2025, met for their first formal training session last weekend on Saturday, December 30th, and Sunday, December 1st, as the best way to start this upcoming holiday season. Two full days of deep commitment to engage in the National Model’s practices and procedures in an immersive experience where each member of the delegation of Albania put themselves in someone else shoes. In this eagerly awaited event, the students simulated a General Assembly meeting and all of them were representing a different member state. You could really see any type of country, coming from all over the world, from Ghana to Jordan, from Argentina to, of course, Albania!

The session starts early at 10 am sharp. Delegates are asked to dress formally, more specifically “business attire”, and be careful of the shoes, they also need to be adequate for the occasion. Suites, ties and delicious snacks provided by the the Honorable Chair and the Rapporteurs (together addressable as the “Dias”) were the great companions of the weekend. After a cup of coffee, the agenda-setting speeches were the very first concrete step into the simulation of the day and delegates had to provide valid, strong arguments supporting their thesis. “Conflict and Food Security” won over “Displaced and Refugee Children” as the upcoming discussion topic. After the ASS was set, the state delegations had to find other fellow delegates to coalition with and work together on the draft of a possible resolution to deal with the topic. This is a very peculiar process that requires a lot of commitment and brainstorming, it could also take a lot of time but it’s always fun to share opinions and ideas. This type of task strengthens skills like working in a team and trains the ability to listen and cooperate, which are fundamental values ​​and qualities of a diplomat.

During the whole two days, the formal session was often asked to be suspended through points of motions raised by states to call for caucuses, which are break moments from the conference when the coalitions created before can make the most of the available time to develop and discuss opinions. Those periods are also great occasions to start writing down the draft resolution. Between each caucus, when the formal session is on, delegates will take the floor to expose their progress on each paper and will invite other states to support their work.

On Saturday midday, the fellow delegate of the Kingdom of Jordan ordered delivery pizzas for everyone to honor the famous diplomatic principle that says international cooperation with a full stomach of pizza is always better than an empty one!

Sunday lunch break, instead, has seen the set of the delegates‘ photoshoots where group pictures and individual ones were taken by the talented fellow delegate of Egypt.

The draft resolution can become the General Assembly Resolution during the last meeting section when delegates are asked to approach the voting procedures at the end of the two working days. In order to approve the paper, a few previous steps are required. At this point of the simulation, the fellow delegates are more than used to delivering speeches of any kind, so a discussion upon why each draft should be supported by states willing to sponsor it will start.

After carefully listening, delegates can choose to send amendments to the Honorable Chair. Amendments are comments on a specific paragraph of the draft sent by other groups. Let’s imagine there are two working papers sent as drafts to the Dias, in this situation, each draft could receive amendments from the other group. They can be friendly when everyone agrees on that, or unfriendly if even just one delegation says so. That was the case in this first simulation. During the voting procedures, one of the drafts became an official resolution, while for the other draft, it was a little less easy. At the end of the day, delegates were able to celebrate both drafts becoming resolutions!

This experience was extremely formative and let delegates get along with each other and have a good time together. Everyone is looking forward to repeat it soon!