Off-Time Roadmap

In Model UN practice, an off-time roadmap is the working plan a delegate or bloc puts together during unmoderated caucus ("off-time") to structure what they will do once formal debate resumes. It is not a Rules of Procedure term — you will not find it in standard rulebooks such as those used by NMUN, WorldMUN, or Harvard MUN — but it is widely used informally in conference circuits to describe coordinated bloc planning.

A typical off-time roadmap covers four elements:

• Speaking order: which bloc members will take the next slots on the speakers list or in moderated caucuses, and on which sub-topics.
• Clause assignments: who drafts which operative or preambulatory clauses of the working paper, often divided by expertise (e.g., one delegate handles financing clauses, another humanitarian provisions).
• Merger strategy: whether to approach a rival bloc for a merger, and what red-line clauses cannot be conceded.
• Procedural moves: planned motions for moderated caucuses, extensions, or, near voting bloc, motions to divide the question.

The off-time roadmap is the practical bridge between informal lobbying and formal debate. Strong delegates use it to ensure that when the chair gavels back into session, the bloc does not waste speaker time repeating points or contradicting itself. Chairs and faculty advisors often advise delegates to spend the last two or three minutes of an unmoderated caucus consolidating a roadmap rather than continuing to negotiate, because disorganized blocs typically lose initiative to better-coordinated rivals once formal debate resumes.

The term is sometimes confused with a speech roadmap (the "I will address three points" preview that opens an individual speech). The two are distinct: a speech roadmap structures one delegate's remarks, while an off-time roadmap structures a bloc's collective behavior across the next phase of debate.