Advisors
ALTMUN HS Preparation Timeline
ALTMUN High School Conference | November 11th -13th | Chattanooga, TN
This page should be used as the Club Advisor cheat sheet as it is the most reliable source of information. If you follow this timeline you should be prepared, informed and on time through out the conference preparation phase. Scroll down to view all our extra tips on hosting a successful club.
1. Recruitment!
Hit the ground running! Start recruiting for your club as soon as you can. The first steps of registration occur quickly in the fall. Make sure your students know to look over the Committee page (button below) and view this year's topics. Students should start familiarizing themselves with this page and be ready to pick their committees!
2. Review the Country Matrix
NEW and IMPORTANT! This year each country has a specific list of committee seats. Do not assume every country will provide all 8 committee seats. The "Country Matrix" is a table which indicates the country/committee distribution. It is important to review the Country Matrix and show it to your students. We know this may be a bit confusing, but it is an important part of the new online registration system. Please don't hesitate to reach out to your Under Secretary General of Operations, Michelle at usgops@altmun.org.
3. Gather Delegate Interest
After reviewing the country matrix, ask your delegates which countries and committees they are most interested in. Create a list of your clubs top 12 country choices based on your delegate interest. Also be prepared to state how many countries you want. You will need this list in early September. Make sure to also ask about their interest in Security Council.
4. Security Council Request
The Security Council is an advanced committee at ALTMUN 2023. This specialized committee has 5 permanent members and 10 that rotate, use the first link below to see countries for 2023. If your delegates would like seats in the SecCo committee, you must submit a request for one or more of these 15 countries. The window to submit requests via the form will occur from noon to noon on Sept. 6th and 7th. To learn more about how we assign these countries please preview the form at the second link below. Country Assignments will be distributed on Sep. 8th. Delegates attending the SecCo committee are required to stay at the hotel.
5. Sign up for myDais and create a School Profile
This year, due to the closing of MUN Manager, we will be using a new online system. We will use myDais for registration, document upload and more. Click on the button below for a step by step guide on creating a new account and logging in. Then you will be able to invite advisors/chaperones/delegates. Next follow the guide on creating a new school. Both of these steps are required before you can register for the conference and submit your (non-SecCo) country preference list. Make sure your do these steps BEFORE Sep 11th.
6. Register for ALTMUN
Using your myDais account, search for our conference and submit your registration! This is when you will need that list of your top 12 country choices. You will have a 5 day window to register for the conference. Unfortunately, while myDais does not provide automatic country assignments, we still do our best to honor "first come first serve." Therefore, those who register first are more likely to get their top country choices. Registration opens at 6 pm EST on Monday Sep. 11th and will close at 9 pm EST on Friday Sep. 15th. After registration closes we will review the submissions and make the assignments as quickly as possible. Once your school has been assigned countries, let your delegates know quickly!
**late registration is available between Sep. 18th and 29th**
7. Assign Your Delegates
Now that your school has been assigned countries, you need to add your delegates and fill those committee slots on myDais. We encourage you to fill all available seats. Determine the country and committee assignment of each of your delegates. Note that we do not allow partners to represent the same country/committee seat. I suggest keeping up with this information on a spreadsheet like the one below. Don't take too long to do this step! Otherwise you will shorten the amount of time your delegates have to research and write their papers.
8. Send your Payment
This year, as the needs of the conference continue to grow we have added a delegate fee. Our country fees will remain the same as last year at $65 per country. Delegate fees will be $130 per student. We can accept payment via check, credit card or direct deposit. All payments will go through Chattanooga State Community College, our professional partner. Payments are due Oct. 4th.
9. Reserving Hotel Rooms
We are extremely excited to announce that the conference this year will be held at The Chattanoogan Hotel!
10. Topic Guides, Research and Writing
The next step for your delegates is to read the Topic Guide for their assigned committee. Our Chairs work hard preparing these documents and they are imperative for a delegate's success. Next students can start researching the topic and their assigned country's position. With this knowledge they will write Position Papers (pp) and Resolutions (reso) for each topic. Only students who submit all their documents are eligible for awards.
11. Document Upload
We suggest you set an early internal deadline for your students. Some clubs even have a peer review stage. It is the responsibility of the club and the advisor to ensure there is no inappropriate content in these documents such as profanity, unnecessary foreign language or hate speech. Documents are to be reviewed and uploaded to myDais by Friday, October 27th. Each student should have one pp and one reso for EACH topic.
12. Delegate and Advisor Finalization
Wow we are almost done! We need parents to be involved in providing a media release for delegates, among a few other things and thus have created a separate form. Please tell your students to submit their Delegate Form found at the link below. The from can also be found on the "Delegates" page of the ALTMUN website under the tab "High School Conference." The last task to do as an advisor is to update your list of advisors and/or chaperones in myDais. This way we will know who's coming and have name tags ready for them! Both of these tasks are dues by Oct. 30th.
EXTRA TIPS
Check the Newsletter!
Our Media Team has created a new resource to streamline communication of deadlines! On this Newsletter you will find the most current updates, resources and deadlines. There is even a section that will state what you as an advisor should currently be working on. We hope by making the information quickly accessible we can minimize your need to search through past emails for important info.
Appoint a Head Delegate or Officers
We recommend you select motivated and passionate students to help run your club. This individual or team can help you with a great number of tasks including: running club group chat, collecting delegate interest data, submitting country requests, leading mock debates, teaching parli pro, reviewing delegate documents. Having a delegate be involved in the registration process can be very advantageous and help distribute the work load. Invite them to them to myDais!
Make a Club Group Chat
IMPORTANT! We recommend that you create a group chat for all the students in your club. Sometimes there is time sensitive information that can't wait for your next meeting to occur. With a group chat you can more easily communicate with your students and even send polls. Head Delegates or Club Officers can help send reminders about deadlines and club meetings.
Host Club Meetings
While every club is different, we recommend meeting at least twice a month. Those deadlines can sneak up, so meeting regularly helps stay on track. If you do not have club meetings, you must have some other form of communication with your delegates, like a group chat. Otherwise you will need to know their preferences and have no way of collecting them.
Host Mock Debates
Parliamentary Procedure is the set of rules that provide structure during debate. Have your delegates take some time to review our Parli Pro Guide, or make your Head Delegate teach it! Club mock debates are a great way for delegates to learn parli pro and practice these skills! It can also help new students get a feel for Model UN.
Check the Docket
Our Chairs will select a few submitted resolutions to comprise the docket. Resolutions in the docket will be the first to be debated in committee. Make sure your delegates check the docket, they could be on it! (Dockets posted by Nov. 1st)
Collect Fees Early
It can take sometime for your students to turn in their fees. We recommend you start to collect fees are least 2 weeks before the Oct. 4th deadline. Most out of Chattanooga schools create a budget that includes the travel and hotel expenses as well as the conference fees. The total is then divided amongst the students and collected all at once. Advisors have expressed challenges with collecting money from students at multiple intervals. So plan ahead and do it in late September.
Conference Dress Code
The dress code at ALTMUN is Western Business Attire (WBA). Make sure your delegates know what the means. The following garments fall outside of WBA and should NOT be worn: strapless, spaghetti strap, or deep cut shirts, jeans, gym shoes, shorts, mini skirts or mini dresses. WBA for men is typically at least slacks, a button down and a sports coat. WBA for women can be less clear, so to help out, here is a handy guide.
Consider Staying at The Chattanoogan Hotel
We have negotiated a fixed rate of $169 per night for either doubles or kings. If it is affordable for your club, we recommend staying in the Conference Hotel, even if you are a Chattanooga based school. While it is more work for advisors, being at the hotel provides a special experience and a sense of community amongst delegates. Please note, any Security Council delegate MUST stay at the hotel. Otherwise hotel stay at ALTMUN is optional.
Awards
In order to be eligible for awards, a delegate must submit their four documents, two position papers and two resolutions. Get familiar with our award structure by clicking the button below.