Your country
Learn the country’s priorities, foreign policy and record at the United Nations.
Question to answerWhat has your country said and done about these issues?
NWMUN–Seattle 2026 · November 20–22
Get ready for Seattle
Start with the Delegate Preparation Guide and your committee’s Background Guide. Then research your assignment, write your position paper and learn how your committee works.
Read this first
Delegate Preparation Guide
The starting point for conference preparation: procedures, conduct and practical information for delegates and team leadership.
The separate committee background guides introduce the substantive topics and questions for your research.
01 / The other essential guide
Read your committee’s background guide
Find the guide for your assignment. It introduces the two topics, summarizes relevant UN work and offers questions to help direct your research. Use the guide’s research questions as a starting point, not as the limit of your research.
Choose your country to gray out committees it does not serve on.
Your committee:
General Assembly Plenary
GA delegates also simulate elections for non-permanent Security Council seats in Sunday's final committee session. These elections are not a third substantive topic or a position-paper topic.
Membership includes permanent members and observers; it does not indicate registration availability. Official country matrix ↗ · Checked October 25, 2026.
02 / Work on these in parallel
Four areas of preparation
You do not have to finish one before starting another. Research and procedural preparation reinforce each other.
Your committee
Know what your committee is responsible for and which decisions it can make.
Question to answerWhat can this committee accomplish?
Your topics
Use your background guide’s questions to investigate the issues and your country’s positions.
Question to answerWhat new approaches could address these issues, and what would your country support?
The procedure
Learn how debate, motions, negotiations, voting and committee documents work.
Question to answerHow can you participate effectively once committee begins?
TURNING RESEARCH INTO A PLAN
Write and submit your position paper
Your paper brings together what you have learned about your country and the committee’s two substantive topics. Explain your country’s positions, relevant past action and what it would like the committee to do. Your position paper also serves as the basis for your speeches during committee.
01
Research both topics
Use the background guide’s questions and look for reliable country and UN sources.
02
Write your paper
Follow the official Position Paper Guidelines and Example rather than guessing the format.
03
Save, then submit
Save as COMMITTEE_Country.pdf, then upload using the official submission form.
Submission details: The form accepts up to seven papers at a time; use it again for additional submissions. In GA, Security Council elections are a final-session simulation, not a third substantive topic. They should not appear as a separate position-paper topic.
04 / In parallel with research
Learn how committee works
Preparing is more than writing your paper. Review the rules and conduct expectations so you understand what happens when debate begins.
The Delegate Preparation Guide is the starting point. Open the specific resources below when you need the detail.
Rules of procedureMeeting flow, motions, speaking, voting and formal debate
Read the short form first for an overview; use the long form to check the full procedure.
Committee-specific proceduresSC / RSC addenda and GA Security Council elections
The two Security Councils use additional rules and rotating delegate chairmanships. General Assembly delegates also simulate non-permanent Security Council elections during their final Sunday session.
Working papers and outcome documentsWhat delegates produce and negotiate in committee
Review drafting guidance and templates as preparation for working with other delegates. A position paper is a pre-conference document; working papers and resolutions are part of committee work.
Delegate conduct and conference expectationsProfessionalism, respectful debate and practical essentials
Review the conduct section of the Delegate Preparation Guide, plus the current delegate code of conduct.
On the first day
Want a little practice before committee?
NWMUN offers a Delegate Preparation and Training Session before Opening Ceremonies. It is particularly useful for new delegates and people attending NWMUN for the first time, and is open to all delegates.
Friday, November 20 · 10:00–10:45 AM
Facilitated by experienced NWMUN staff members, the session is designed for delegates who are new to Model United Nations or to Northwest Model United Nations. We encourage all delegates who have not previously attended an NWMUN conference to join us. All delegates and team leadership, regardless of experience, are welcome.
Plan to stay for the full session, but if you can only attend part of it, please drop in and grab a seat!
The session will cover:
- How Model United Nations works
- Flow of debate, including formal session and suspensions (Informal Session and Moderated Debate)
- Committee output: Working Papers, Draft Resolutions and Resolutions
- Rules of Procedure: How formal debate actually works
- Voting Bloc
- Committee-specific rules
We hope to see you there!