The vocabulary you’ll hear on your first day that nobody explains out loud. Quick lookups only: each term links to the page that actually explains it in context.
| Term | Quick definition | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| Position paper | Written statement of your country’s stance, submitted before the conference | Before the conference |
| Quorum | Minimum delegations present for the committee’s decisions to count | Committee basics |
| Present and voting | A roll-call response that forfeits your right to abstain on substantive votes | Committee basics, Voting procedure |
| GSL (General Speakers List) | The default speaking order committee falls back to outside caucuses | Speeches and the GSL |
| Yield | What a speaker does with unused speech time, to the chair, to another delegate, or to questions | Speeches and the GSL |
| Motion | A proposal to change what committee does next | Motions |
| Moderated caucus | Chair-controlled short-speech format on a specific sub-topic | Motions, Caucusing |
| Unmoderated caucus | Free, unstructured negotiating time, where most real work happens | Motions, Caucusing |
| Lobbying | The informal negotiating that fills unmoderated caucus time | Caucusing |
| Table (a resolution) | Means “set aside” in American usage, “bring forward” in British usage, so check which your conference uses | Motions |
| Point of order | Flags a procedural mistake by the chair; the only point that’s real in the actual UN | Points |
| Point of personal privilege | Raised for your own ability to participate (can’t hear, room temperature, etc.) | Points |
| Point of parliamentary inquiry | A question to the chair about how procedure works | Points |
| Point of information | A question to another delegate about a speech they just gave | Points |
| Working paper | Informal, pre-resolution draft with no format requirements yet | Working papers and resolutions |
| Draft resolution | A working paper that’s cleared the sponsor/signatory threshold and dais approval | Working papers and resolutions |
| Sponsor | A resolution’s author, substantively endorsing its content | Working papers and resolutions |
| Signatory | Someone who wants a resolution debated, without endorsing its content | Working papers and resolutions |
| Preambulatory clause | A resolution clause providing context; starts with a participle, ends in a comma | Working papers and resolutions |
| Operative clause | A resolution clause stating what’s being decided; starts with a present-tense verb | Working papers and resolutions |
| Friendly amendment | A change every sponsor already agrees to, added without a vote | Amendments |
| Unfriendly amendment | A contested change that goes through debate and a full committee vote | Amendments |
| Procedural vote | A vote on process (agenda, caucuses); no abstentions allowed | Voting procedure |
| Substantive vote | A vote on content (amendments, the resolution itself); abstentions allowed | Voting procedure |
| Simple majority | More yes-votes than no-votes | Voting procedure |
| Two-thirds majority | A higher bar reserved for certain substantive decisions | Voting procedure |
| Roll call vote | A recorded vote where each delegation states its position aloud | Voting procedure |
Back to the delegate track overview.