Opening Speech

Your opening speech is given at the beginning of committee session. You typically begin with a quote, statistics, or facts about your topic. Then, you go on to describe your country’s policy on the topic and your solutions.  Below is an outline for an opening speech with examples for each piece of the outline: 

• Begin by thanking the Chair and then cite a statistic, quote, or story about the topic in order to engage the audience
  • Example: “Thank you, Distinguished Chair.The government of [country] feels very strongly about the topic of ‘universal primary education.’ As Maria Montessori once said, ‘Averting war is the work of politicians, but establishing peace is the work of education.’ And right now, the international community is failing : to establish peace. Millions of children around the world lack access to primary education, and at our current pace, we will fail to achieve Sustainable Development Goal number 4 – quality and inclusive education by 2030.” (30 seconds)
• Continue by describing how the topic affects your country.
  • Example: “The government of [country] has made great strides to improve access to education, but the people of [country] still have a national literacy rate of 50%, and it is even lower in impoverished rural areas.” (IO seconds)
• Conclude by stating your country’s solutions to the topic.
  • Example: “The government of [country] policy is that more resources should be devoted to implementing national education programs in developing countries. [Country name] proposes holding a summit on Universal Primary Education before the end of next year as a call to arms for the international community to raise more funds to address this pressing problem. Thank you.” (20 seconds)