General Rules

• Each committee will be afforded two Direct Responses per debate.
• A delegate’s wish to speak should be communicated to their Chairperson.
• The Chairperson has to raise their placard for their committee to be recognised.
• All delegates are encouraged to vote and refrain from abstaining unless they have a true moral conflict.
• Resolutions pass if they receive more votes in favour than against. Otherwise, they fail.
• Delegates should afford equal respect to all debates as if they were their own.
• The authority of the Board is absolute.

Procedure

Up to 45 mins per motion for a resolution.

• Reading out of the topic question (board)
• Delegates go through the resolution (2 minutes to silently read through the document)
• Defence speech by proposing committee (up to 3 minutes)
• Position speeches – either in favour or against the debated resolution by other committees (2 x 1.5 minutes or 1 x 2 minutes)
• Response to position speeches by the proposing committee (1,5 minutes)
• Rounds of debate:
  • 1st round of debate
  • 2nd round of debate
  • 3rd round of debate
• Summation speech by the proposing committee (2 minutes)
• Voting

Speeches

Defence speech

This speech is used by the proposing committee to explain the proposed resolution. It is used to explain the underlying goals and motives of the committee and to show how the current resolution is an efficient way to reach those goals. It is more factual and logical than emotional.

Position speech

After the defence speech, two committees will be recognised to deliver two proposition speeches: either in favour or against the proposed resolution. The speeches should support/disagree with the goals of the committee and/or the general direction of the resolution. They should not consist of a list of points.

Summation speech

The summation speech will be used to convince the Assembly to vote in favour of the proposed resolution.

Rounds of Debate

• There will be three rounds of debate.
• The board will recognise a varying number of committees to ask a question or make a point depending on time before returning to the proposing committee for a response.
• The Chairperson will raise their committee placard to indicate that they have a point.
• Committees may use their Direct Responses to jump the queue only in this portion of the debate.
• The Chairperson is responsible for ensuring the order of speakers within the committee.
• Delegates are encouraged to propose alternative solutions and enrich the debate, make it more constructive and help the proposing committee consider new perspectives rather than simply asking for clarification in the form of a question.

Placards

Direct Responses

This placard can only be used to directly answer a point of the Open Debate. The Direct Response should refer to the core of the last point made and not just be on the same topic. The Direct Response can only be raised once per debate per committee. If a Direct Response is misused, it still counts as used.

Point of Personal Privilege

This placard is used when a speaker was not audible by the committee, often due to microphone issues.

Point of Order

This placard is used when the board of the session commits a fault in the procedure, which usually happens when a committee or a speech is forgotten. It can only be raised by a chairperson.

Voting

• The votes will be collected by the Chairpersons.
• The Chairperson will raise their placard to indicate that all of the committee’s votes have been collected.
• The board will then call upon the Chairpersons to submit their votes.
• Votes will be submitted in the format: In favour, Against, Abstaining, Absent, e.g., 4,6,2,0