GENERAL ASSEMBLY Handbook
Dear participant, We hope you have had some very fruitful debates during committee work and that you are excited for the upcoming General Assembly; the exciting part. With this booklet, we want to help you in your preparation for this session element and hopefully take away some of the stress. We wish you all the best with your preparations and are looking forward to seeing your speeches and points tomorrow and Friday! Best wishes, The Media Team of Wiesbaden 2017
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TABLE OF CONTENTS EDITORIAL NOTE
2
BASICS OF SPEECHWRITING
4
INSTITUTIONS EXPLAINED
8
DO’S AND DONT’S IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
10
A GUIDE TO POST-ITS
12
TABLE OF CONTENTS | 3
BASICS OF SPEECHWRITING
A guide to good speeches
Every General Assembly follows the same pattern and always include the Defence, Attack and Sum-up speech. The key to a good speech during GA is to know the difference between them. In GA, the proposing committee is delivering two speeches, a defence and a sum-up speech. Both have the goal to encourage the audience to vote in favour of the proposed resolution, but use different methods to do so. Since the defence speech is being held at first, it is often used to refer to the committee topic as well as the basic lines that the resolution follows, to solve it. This is done by a rather unemotional, analytical type of speech, but may include a calling for people to vote for their resolution The goal is to convince by delivering logical argumentation and reliable facts. Contrary to the defence speech, the sum-up speech is often divided into two parts. The first half is then used to resolve final questions from the last round of open debate, the second half is a final emotional approach to vote in favour of the resolution and thereby secure undecided votes. The attack speech follows the proposing committees’ defence speech and can attack the resolution from two basic angles, a logical and an ethical or emotional side. This type of speech demands a good understanding of fairness and empathy, a speech that is too offensive will very likely be considered as negative as an inoffensive speech.
THE DEFENSE SPEECH The basis for the presentation of every Resolution is the three-minute-long defence speech. The speech is supposed to do three things: explain, argue and convince. A good start for a defence speech is a short reference to your committee’s topic, maybe underlined with a fact or statistic that shocks or surprises the listeners. From this point on, the speech should follow the listeners most probable thoughts, which firstly will be “how are they going to solve the issue?”. This is where the explanatory part begins. The easiest way of explaining your resolution is by going from the very general way you are tackling the problem into the key measures you propose in the resolution. Focus on specific operative clauses, which either contain the main measures or lack accuracy, don’t try to explain every clause, normally they should be self-explaining and speaking time is very limited. 4 | BASICS OF SPEECHWRITING
The listener needs to understand your main points in order to lead them to the second question “are those proposals sufficient to tackle the problem?” At this point you should have at least one minute of your speech left and start to argue in favour of your resolution. The easiest way is to follow the standard line of argumentation, going from the “weakest” solution to the best one, whilst you outline their specific effect on the problem. Focus on the core effects, side effects might be nice to have, but consume important time, which mostly is better used by taking small breaks in between the argumentations. All in all, your speech should be designed to convince listeners of your ideas as well as to create clarity about your way of tackling the problem. And, of course, it should convince the audience to have them vote in favour of your resolution.
THE ATTACK SPEECH
A resolution with an approach you disagree with fundamentally offers the possibility to attack the entire paper and then base the argumentation on your personal ethical or political understanding and use some of the clauses as examples for measures that lead in the wrong direction. An attack speeches has the goal to discourage people from voting in favour, which can be achieved through factual as well as emotional argumentation. The scheme of an attack speech strongly depends on the resolution you are going to attack.the best way is to argue against several clauses step by step. It is the easiest way to structure the criticism from the weakest to the strongest argument. Make sure to, no matter how wrong the resolution might seem to you, remember to respect and appreciate others work, whilst not being afraid of showing your personal disagreement
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THE SUM-UP SPEECH As explained above, the biggest difference between the sum-up and the defence speech can be found in the argumentation. How big the difference is depending on the specific GA procedure and the final round of open debate. In general a sum-up speech has, like the defence speech, three tasks: summarize the debate, resolve open questions and convince undecided voters. Usually the discussion summary is not longer than a few sentences and sometimes even left out completely, as it is has barely an influence on the voting results. At some sessions, the sum-up speech can be delivered by two speakers, which makes a division of the response to questions out of the open debate and the speech part useful. But if there is only one speaker, the ideal Sum-up speech is flexible. Is there, for example, no point from the final round of open debate that needs to be answered, a good speech would only shortly sum-up the debate and then continue with a longer emotional appeal. In any case the response to open debate should be held like the other responses and not be longer than one and a half minutes. The second part of the speech offers many possibilities. Of course, it can be based on a logical and factual argumentation like the defence speech, but also way different. A very creative approach is the “storyteller”. You can try to show the advantages of your resolution by telling a moving story like the story of a family that was not able to pay for Medicare until your resolution solved the problem. Or you can do it in the “politician style” and refer to the positive effects for your fellow delegates and the moral value of the changes you propose. Don’t be afraid of doing something crazy, the longer a GA lasts, the more special methods are needed to get the necessary attention.
TIPS ABOUT PUBLIC SPEAKING • • •
3 is the magical number that gives statements power: “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité”, “veni, vidi, vici” metaphors make a speech visual and lead to positive/ negative associations: “the straw that broke the camel’s back”, “shitstorm”, “broken heart” a great speech is a conversation, respond to the audience needs and feelings
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BASICS OF SPEECHWRITING | 7
INSTITUTIONS EXPLAINED
An overview of Brussels and Strasbourg
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT The European Parliament is an important forum for political debate and decision-making at the EU level. The Members of the European Parliament are directly elected by voters in all Member States to represent people’s interests regarding EU law-making and to make sure other EU institutions, like the European Commission, are working democratically. The parliament consists of 751 members, which are elected for terms of five years. Contrary to the Commission, the parliament does not have the right of legislative initiative.
COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION also known as The Council and The Council of Ministers
The Council of the EU is the institution representing the member states’ governments, its members are national ministers from each EU country which meet to adopt laws and coordinate policies. Besides the negotiation and adoption of EU laws, the Council is also responsible for international agreements, the confirmation of the EU budget, the coordination of policies and the development of the common foreign and security policy.
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION The Commission is a group of 28 Commissioners, which are each sent by one member state and get reappointed every five years.The EC is organised into Directorates-General (DGs), which are responsible for different policy areas. DG’s are comparable to national ministries. They are actively developing policies, managing funding programmes and deal with administrative tasks. Under the Commissions responsibility fall the proposal of new laws, the budget management, international representation and, in cooperation with the Court of Justice, law enforcement.
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THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL The European Council is the EU institution that defines the general political direction and priorities of the European Union. It consists of the heads of state or government of the member states, together with its President and the President of the Commission. The European Council sets the EU’s general direction, but has no competence to pass laws.
THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is the highest court in the Union. It has the task to interpret EU law and to ensure its equal application in all member states. The court has 28 judges, one from each member states. The most popular competence of the ECJ is the infringement procedure which can lead to penalties for member states who fail or refuse to fulfil EU Agreements.
THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank of the 19 member states who adopted the euro. The banks key objective is to maintain price stability; besides this it is supervising credit institutions in the Eurozone and other member states and responsible for the framing and implementing of EU’s economic and monetary policy.
INSTITUTIONS EXPLAINED | 9
DO’S AND DON’TS IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1. Not sorting your post-its We really recommend you to work with post-its during general assembly However, make sure that you sort them out before you stand up. Every GA features at least one delegate who stands up too quickly to make his point, resulting in a flurry of post-its around the unlucky delegate and his/her committee. Try not to be that delegate. 2. Funding Please, please, please don’t talk about funding all the time. There will be a lot of resolutions calling for additional funding for [random program], and asking where the money will come from doesn’t really add to the debate. It’s far more interesting to ask for the committee’s rationale behind their plans. 3. Don’t debate about vegetables The ‘European Onion’ doesn’t exist, and you might leave behind a bad impression if you pronounce ‘European Union’ like that. 4. ACHTUNG! Please pay attention to which speeches are given from the podium, and which speeches are given from the floor. Try not to walk up to the podium when you are not supposed to do so. 5. Direct Responses When you make a direct response, makes sure that it applies to the last point made. If it doesn’t, the board can cut off your direct response.
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6. Constructive Feedback Don’t straight-up insult people or their plans. If you tell a committee that they “obviously haven’t been paying attention during committee work”, you’re not helping anyone. 7. Practice! You shouldn’t care about what others think! No one is a speech expert at GA, and you can only learn to hold great speeches by practice! 8. Timing Try to use well-timed breaks in your speech. A silence of one or two seconds will improve the dynamic and center the attention on you as the speaker. If we do not reduce our carbon emission levels, climate change will lead to massive drought, flooding and famine. *two-second pause* But, we can still avert these disasters. 9. Clarity A clear speech structure is incredibly important to get your point across. You can, for example, start your speech with a personal anecdote, move on to one or two main points, and finish it with a nice quote, statement or one-liner. 10. Clarity When moving from one part of your speech to another, use signal words so that your listeners know that you’ve arrived at your next point. Firstly, (...) and that is why the EU should re-establish agricultural export subsidies. Secondly, (...) You can also do it like this: The EU should quickly act to increase the defense expenditures of its member states. Furthermore, it should encourage Member States to coorporate more closely regarding military matters. DO’S AND DONT’S DURING GENERAL ASSEMBLY | 11
HOW TO DO POST-ITS Make su have re you enoug h Postits
short t i p e Ke ple. m i s d an
Decorate your committee placard Wonder if would be you able to understa nd your post-it b efore passing i t
ame n r u o Put y -it, t s o p on the an’t c Chairs ds in read m
Always indicate which IC/ OC you refer to 12 | HOW TO DO POST-ITS
the Listen void to a debate ancies Only one redund post-it at a time
Don’t give PostIts to someone who is already speaking
Give the post-its to the speaker, don’t just stick them on his/her prep! Post-its should also be used to give a compliment or vate each ti o m r e ft a Clean other d e s U ! lf e rs you Post-its don’t belong on the ground
DO’S AND DONT’S DURINGHOW GENERAL TO DOASSEMBLY POST-ITS | 13
Booklet by the publishing squad Tom Cobbenhagen (NL) DaniĂŤl de Weerd (NL) Justyn Brockmeyer (DE) Luka Dzagania (GE)