In Model United Nations, a Director is the senior staffer who owns the substantive content and flow of a committee. The role is most common in crisis committees, specialized agencies, historical committees, and ad-hoc bodies, though some circuits also use the title for chairs of large General Assembly committees.
A Director's responsibilities usually include:
- Writing the background guide, including the committee's setting, character or country roles, and study questions.
- Designing the arc of the simulation — for crisis committees, this means plotting initial crisis updates, anticipated delegate actions, and contingency branches.
- Running committee in-room, calling on delegates, ruling on procedure (often jointly with a Chair or Moderator), and pacing debate.
- Coordinating with the crisis backroom (the staff team that processes notes and produces updates) to keep the storyline coherent.
- Awards deliberation, evaluating delegates on research, diplomacy, and crisis arc execution.
The exact division of labor varies by circuit. On the North American collegiate circuit (e.g., conferences hosted by Harvard, Penn, Chicago, McGill), the Director typically handles substance while a separate Chair or Moderator manages parliamentary procedure. At some conferences the Director is the single dais authority. On the THIMUN and many European circuits, equivalent functions are split between a President and Chair, and the "Director" title is less common.
Directors are usually upper-year undergraduates or graduate students with prior delegate experience. They are expected to remain neutral between delegates, enforce the conference's code of conduct, and ensure historical or factual plausibility in crisis arcs. A strong Director balances delegate agency — letting the room shape outcomes — against a prepared narrative that keeps committee engaging when debate stalls.
The role is distinct from a Secretary-General, who runs the whole conference, and from a Crisis Director (CD), who specifically manages the backroom rather than the committee floor, though in smaller committees one person may hold both titles.
Example
At Harvard National Model United Nations 2024, the Director of the JCC: Cabinet of Otto von Bismarck wrote the background guide, ran floor debate, and coordinated crisis updates with the backroom Crisis Director.
Frequently asked questions
A Director typically owns substance — background guide, crisis arc, awards — while a Chair runs parliamentary procedure on the floor. At some conferences one person holds both roles.
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