2 Days Before the Simulation: Delivering Your Opening Speech

Every day we can see more or less successful speakers. Like any other skill, writing a speech and public performance acquires time and experience. In this article it will be explained, how to write and deliver a successful speech. Have in mind that a good speech is one in which the content is written clearly but concisely and that makes impression on the audience, since the aim of speech is to persuade and convince the audience and not only to  bring the opinion.

There are several ways to prepare for the speech. Opening speeches are very short and take few minutes. Its purpose is to introduce the country and to give a very brief introduction to the issues that are to be discussed. The first step is of course to write out a speech in full ahead of the time and put it to memory, but it is not recommended to read from the paper. Audience will find speech that is literally read quite uninteresting and than will pay less attention. A good solution is to have some notes with the main points. Furthermore speaking “off the cuff” is necessary, especially during points of information. Such speechmaking achieve better interaction with the audience, whose interest will increase even more if you decide to use gesticulation and include intonation changes. The best speeches always contain thoughts so that the impact of the speech is long felt among the public.

The speech should be delivered in a clear and loud voice. Each speech must have and obvious beginning, for example: 

"Mr. President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Mr. Secretary-General of the United Nations, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,..." OR "Your Excellency the Secretary General, madam/mister president, honorable delegates..." OR "Mr. President, Mr. Secretary-General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentleman,...". 

Start the speech with:

• a quotation: a short quotation, proverb, saying, poem, etc. will often sum up the
• a startling statement.
• a rhetorical question, something that the audience knows the answer to. Beware of this approach. It can be a weak start.
• a specific example of the problem

It is important to know which are the main ideas you want to share with the audience and what do you want to achieve -  speech must have clear goal. What is of utmost importance is to explain your thoughts in the simplest way possible. Keep in mind that you will be listened by a large number of people and that your goal is that your message attract attention of the public. Therefore, you must be understandable. While preparing a speech, you have to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses as well, on the other hand be aware of the points to be made by others. While conveying your main idea to audience, you have to be careful not to fall into repetition of your main points. The same applies to the constant repetition of one and the same phases and ‘clichés’. In order to keep the attention of the audience:

• Demonstrate the extent of the problem. Use examples, statistics, and expert opinion.
• Demonstrate the effects of the problem. How does it affect the people? Use examples and facts.
• Demonstrate the causes of the problem. This might be difficult.
• Demonstrate how the problem affects the others. Be vivid.
• Present your solution 

We encourage you to complete your speech with a strong sentence that will affect the audience after you are finished. In case that you have read all your speech, then at the end it is time to make a quick stop, look up, keep your look on the audience and say the sentence for which you hope will be the final stamp of your grand speech.

To cut the long story short,  Charles Bukowski once said: “Genius might be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way.”

Aleksandra Đurđević

***

Sample Opening Speech:

Good Morning Chair People, delegates of the house. My name is ------ and along with ----------, I represent----------. We are here today, in another United Nations conference, such as the one that created our country.
            We hope that the present delegations will engage only to fruitful debates, in order to make this conference productive and relevant. Let’s all take wise decisions after considering every resolution. Bear in mind that the U.N. was created to make a better world and not to satisfy an individual will.
            We’d like to share with you, our preoccupation regarding ------- resolution. It is a fact that nuclear weapons are not yet proved to exist, however suspicions are strong. It is not acceptable that a country that can threaten the existence of another one to even have the slightest possibility of producing nuclear weapons. This is an outrage! 
            Nonetheless the -------- resolution wants nothing more than to protect all of us, so, -------- is in favor and supports this resolution that will, finally, request respect and consideration to all the people from the ----------.
            Let’s all have a wise purpose here!
                        Thank You for your attention!

Information have been found on the official site of Model United Nations: https://sites.google.com/site/hismun/

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3 Days Before the Simulation: Improve Your Negotiating Skills

In the light of waiting and preparing on Thursday's first GA session, we have written a series of articles on different topics.

Negotiations are a huge part of achieving your goals in the General Assembly. No matter how small the state you’re representing is – or how much it lacks power, you can always turn the negotiations for your benefit. As our professor Svetličič said last year at the lectures – “power isn’t just money. Power is also the ability to articulate and convince.”

But how well are you able to negotiate? We know that most of you have been through the lectures of “Negotiations” last year at the faculty, but maybe you will need to refresh your memory a bit? We collected some pieces of advice from experts on negotiating!

»Everything is negotiable. Whether or not the negotiation is easy is another thing.« (C. Fisher)

1. Preparation is key.

DEFINE YOUR GOALS
If you are negotiating with someone, you probably have a goal that you need to achieve. What is that goal? Define it well and look out of the box – is there some alternative goal that you could also go for if plan B is needed?

RESEARCH
Know your negotiating party well. Make a background check and get to know the other party's interests. You need to distinguish between your negotiating party’s interest in position. Position in something that he/she wants, something that he/she argues for. But WHY? What is the underlying motivation behind that position? To find that out you need to do an in-depth research.
Research is also important because knowing your opponent and his/her personality is key – what are his/her weaknesses, his/her strengths?

Keep in mind – your opponent might do the same. So make sure you also know your weaknesses and strengths. Try to avoid situations where your weaknesses might harm the negotiation process.

SCENARIO
Prepare a scenario of the negotations process and predict possible obstacles, opportunities and outcomes.

And most important – make sure all your preparations proceed in the language that will be used throughout the whole negotiation process.

“In business as in life, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.” (C. L Karrass)

2. Prepare your BATNA.

You need to determine your BATNA (Best Alternative To Negotiate An Agreement) before the negotiations start. With your BATNA you will measure how successful you were. You need to pick the best BATNA and you also need to know your opponent's BATNA. Do not tell your BATNA to your opponent until it is absolutely necessary – when the negotiations are stuck.

»Diplomacy: the ability to tell someone to go to hell so that he'll look forward to making the trip.« ;-)

3. Negotation process: Listen. Communicate.

»Half of negotiation is listening,« said our prof. Svetličič last year. Prove to your opponent that you are listening to him – repeat his words, ask him something. When talking, use less aggressive terminology. Instead of »suggesting« something, »offer a suggestion«. Deliver a compliment to ease up the atmosphere.

Try to listen to the opponent’s wishes and interests and see if they can meet with yours to make a compromise. Don’t forget: your goal is to leave the negotiations with a favourable agreement in your hands. And make sure the solution fits the opponent too, otherwise he/she might not want to implement it later.

Always negotiate on the basis of objective criteria.

And do distinguish between the problem and the person.

4. Evaluate.

Did you do well or could you do better? Were your goals achieved or did you compromise them too much? This is key to improve your negotiating skills. It goes without saying - we learn by making mistakes, so make sure you don’t repeat them next time!

We hope we’ve helped at least a little and made your way to achieving your goal in the GA easier. 

Set your goals high and don’t stop there!

Start achieving your goals on Thursday and… “Be the change you want to see in the world.” (Gandhi).

Are you wondering what we’ve prepared for you in the second sequel tomorrow? Aleksandra will inspire you, so stay tuned and check for new posts!

Tamara Kajtazović

Very brifely summarized from last year's lectures:
Svetličič, Marjan. 2011. Lectures: Negotiations. Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences.

Source of quotes: brainyquotes.com, leadership-quotes.com

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