A committee takes its tone from the chair. How you speak, how you rule and how you carry yourself decide how the room behaves for the rest of the conference. Style is not decoration. It is most of the job.
Begin firm. Set the standard in the first ten minutes and hold it.
It is very hard to tighten up later. A room that has learned it can talk over the chair does not unlearn it. A room that starts formal and then relaxes a little on the last day is a room you still control.
Strict does not mean cold. You can be warm, welcoming and encouraging while still insisting on placards down, third person address and silence during a speech.
Speak loudly and clearly. Do not shout.
Face the house. Slow down. Delegates are listening in a language that many of them do not speak at home, in a room with poor acoustics, after a long morning. Say the important words twice.
When you rule on something, explain it to everyone, not only to the delegate who raised it. The rest of the room heard the ruling but not the reason, and next time they will make the same mistake.
Repeat every point back before you answer it. Half the house did not hear it.
Chairs make mistakes. When you get something wrong, say "the chair stands corrected" and move on.
Do not argue about it. Do not defend a wrong ruling because correcting it in public feels worse than keeping it. A chair who corrects themselves once keeps the room's trust. A chair who argues loses it.
Never yell at a delegate. Never mock one. Never use a tone that tells the room a delegate has said something stupid.
A delegate who is embarrassed in front of the whole house may not speak again for the rest of the conference. Your job is to get them speaking. That includes the nervous ones and the ones who are getting it wrong.
If you are unsure whether a comment is too sharp. Do not say it. Nothing you gain from a clever remark is worth a delegate who stops taking part.
The chair never says whether the thing being voted on is good or bad. Not with words, not with a face, not with a tone of voice.
A chair who signals an opinion will draw a point of order, and will deserve it. See Chair neutrality.
If a delegate asks what you think of a resolution. Say that the chair holds no position on the merits, and answer the procedural part of the question if there is one. Do not answer it as a joke either. A wink carries an opinion as clearly as a sentence.
Agree your approach with your co-chairs before the conference. Delegates talk to each other. If two chairs answer the same question differently, both answers stop counting.
Consistency also means consistency with yourself. If you allowed a follow-up point this morning, expect to be asked for one this afternoon, and have a reason ready either way.
Everything a chair does is visible. During a break, in the corridor, in the room while a co-chair has the floor. Delegates watch the chairs the whole time, including the ones who are not speaking.
Sitting at the front on your phone during your co-chair's speech tells the room that this part does not matter.
In MEDIMUN, chairs speak English at all times, in the committee and in the group, with the single exception of an emergency. See The chair language rule.
If a delegate cannot follow a ruling in English. Say it again, slowly, in shorter sentences. Ask whether another delegate of the same delegation can check they have understood. The chair does not switch language to explain it.
In MEDIMUN, a chair may not deviate from the Rules of Procedure, however sensible the deviation seems in the moment. See Chairs may not deviate from the Rules of Procedure.
If you are unsure of a rule. Ask the house to wait. Check with your co-chair. Look it up. If you still do not know, tell the house you will find out and come back to them. Then ask the secretariat. Never invent a rule to fill the silence.
Saying "the chair will confirm that and return to it" costs you nothing. Guessing costs you the rest of the conference. The delegate will quote your guess back at you days later.
Say "delegates", not "guys".
Say "the honourable delegate of France", not "you".
Say "Less Economically Developed Countries", not "Third World Countries".
Announce a break as a time. "We will resume at 12.30." Do not announce a length.
See Parliamentary language and decorum for the full list of what the house is expected to say and do.