Your chair has written a six-character code on the board and told the room to take out their phones. This guide is everything that happens next: how to join, how to take your seat, what the screen tells you, how to get on the speakers list, and how to chat, submit a paper and vote.
You do not need an account, an app or a download. Gavelling runs in the phone's browser, and the only thing you need is the code.
1. Join With the Session Code#
- Open gavelling.com/join, or scan the QR code your chair puts on the screen.
- Type the six-character session code.
- Choose Delegate.
- Pick your delegation from the list of seats.
Open seats are listed first. A seat someone else already holds is marked, with a plain line saying why you cannot take it. Choose your own delegation and nobody else's: every seat takes one phone at a time, so if you take France by mistake, the real French delegate is locked out until you leave.
At a conference
If your committee is part of a conference on Gavelling and you were given a country, your seat is reserved for you. You will be asked to sign in with the account the conference invited, so nobody else can sit in it. Once you are signed in, the join page takes you straight to your seat.
If the chair approves every join
Some chairs check every phone before it comes in. If yours does, you will see a waiting room: ask to join, and the screen says your request is waiting for the chair. When a chair approves it you are in. If you leave and join again, you ask again.
2. Mark Yourself Present#
If you are absent when you join, the top of the screen says so, with two buttons: Present (P) and Present & Voting (P+V). Present and voting means you will vote For or Against on the resolution and cannot abstain. If you are not sure which to choose, our beginner's guide to MUN explains the difference.
You can change your own status three times in three hours, and the screen shows how many changes you have left. Some chairs prefer to manage roll call themselves; then the screen says your chairs manage roll call for this committee, and you answer out loud when your delegation is called.
3. Read the Board#
Once you are in, your phone shows one scrolling board. At the top is your delegation's flag and name, and right under it the line that matters most: where you are on the floor.
- You have the floor: you are speaking now.
- You're on deck or You're up next: get ready.
- How many speakers are ahead of you, and about how long until you speak.
- Not on the speakers list: you are not queued yet.
Below that is the speakers list itself, with the current speaker at the top (press View all for the whole list), and a strip with your time spoken, speeches given and messages sent. When the committee goes into a caucus, the board shows the caucus name, its topic and its clock, so you always know how long is left.
4. Ask to Speak#
Press Request to speak at the bottom of the screen. The chair sees your request on their laptop and adds you to the general speakers list with one press. While it waits, the button says it is awaiting approval.
If the chair has not acted after a minute, you can ask again. If the chair turns the request down, you can ask again after fifteen minutes, and the button shows how long is left. While a caucus is running, the speakers list is paused and the button waits until the committee is back on it. Placards still matter: in a caucus, and whenever the chair asks the room, raise yours as usual.
Motions are raised out loud, the traditional way. The chair records yours and it appears on the floor with your delegation's name on it. Our guide to MUN motions covers which one to raise and when.
5. Chat With the Dais and Other Delegations#
If your chair has chat switched on, the Chat button opens your conversations: Everyone, the whole room; Chairs, the dais as one conversation; and every other delegation. You can also make a group, for example with the delegations in your bloc. Messages from the conference secretariat appear in Everyone.
Chat is for passing notes, not for privacy. A group shows only in its members' chats, but it is not encrypted or sealed, so write what you would be comfortable having read aloud. If chat is switched off, the button is not there, and notes go on paper.
6. Submit a Working Paper or Draft Resolution#
When your bloc has a text, press Submit document. Choose a working paper or a draft resolution, then add:
- the title,
- a Google Docs link, if you drafted it there,
- the PDF, if you have one,
- and the sponsoring delegations.
The paper goes to the chair for review and gets its code (WP 1.1, DR 1/1 and so on) automatically. Under View documents you can see every paper in the committee and where it stands: on the floor, now presenting, pending its vote, passed or failed. Some committees limit how many papers can be submitted; the screen tells you when the limit is reached. Our working paper guide covers how to write one the chair will accept.
7. Vote, and Stay Signed In#
In most committees the chair calls the roll for a vote and you answer out loud. If your chair uses device voting, a ballot covers your screen when the vote opens. Choose your vote and send it. Nobody sees how anyone voted until the chair reveals the result, and each delegation votes once.
If your phone sits untouched for an hour, Gavelling asks Still there? and gives you two minutes to press I'm here before it signs you out of the seat. It never does this while you have the floor or are waiting in a queue. If you are signed out, join again with the same code.
A few things you will never see: your score, your ratings and the chairs' notes. Those stay with the dais. What you do see is your own speaking history, with tips for what to try next.
That is the whole of it. For the debate itself, read our MUN delegate tips. And if you are the one running the room next time, set up a committee on Gavelling in a minute, free, from gavelling.com/sessions.
