Yield to time is one of three standard yield options available to a delegate at the end of a substantive speech during a moderated session in most Model UN conferences using THIMUN or North American (Harvard/NMUN-style) rules of procedure. The other two yields are typically yield to another delegate and yield to questions; yielding to time returns the unused portion of the speaker's allotted time to the chair, effectively forfeiting it so the committee can move to the next speaker on the General Speakers' List or proceed to the next item of business.
Delegates use this yield when they have finished their key points early and do not wish to expose themselves to questions, do not want to share their platform with an allied delegation, or simply want to keep the debate moving. Because no further engagement follows, the chair recognizes the next speaker immediately.
A few procedural points worth noting:
- A yield must usually be explicit. If a delegate ends a speech without stating a yield, most chairs treat it as an implicit yield to the chair (functionally equivalent to a yield to time).
- Yields generally apply only to speeches made from the General Speakers' List or other formal speakers' lists, not to interventions in moderated caucuses, where time is fixed per speaker.
- Only one yield is permitted per speech, and yields cannot be chained (e.g., a delegate who receives yielded time cannot themselves yield it onward).
While strategically the least assertive of the three yields, yielding to time can be tactically useful: it denies opponents the chance to ask hostile questions and avoids appearing under-prepared if the delegate has run out of substantive material.
Example
At NMUN New York 2023, a delegate representing Norway in DISEC concluded their two-minute speech after ninety seconds and yielded the remaining time to the chair.