Most of a Model UN session is people speaking in turn. The chair keeps a list, times each speech, takes the floor back at the end and calls the next name, and every so often the committee votes to switch into a caucus and the whole routine changes shape. On paper that is three lists, two stopwatches and a lot of crossing out.
On Gavelling it is one screen. This guide walks through the general speakers list, yields, right of reply and extra time, then each kind of caucus: moderated, unmoderated, Consultation of the Whole and Tour de Table. It assumes your room is already set up; if not, start with how to set up a committee on Gavelling.
1. Build the General Speakers List#
When you press Begin Session after roll call, the room opens on the general speakers list (GSL). The list sits in the sidebar on the left of the chair page, and the floor, with its clock, fills the middle. There are three ways to put a delegation on the list:
- Type it.The field under the floor says "Add to speakers list...". Type the first letters of a delegation and press Enter.
- Click it. Every present delegation in the sidebar is one click away from the list.
- Approve a request. Delegates press Request to speak on their phones. The request reaches the dais as a card, and one press adds them.
An absent delegation is never added: Gavelling refuses and shows a short card instead, because attendance is changed only through roll call. To reorder the list, drag a row by its grip. The order you leave is the order every delegate sees on their phone, along with how many speakers are ahead of them and roughly how long until they speak.
The speaking time sits beside the clock. Pick one of the presets or type your own number of seconds. Our guide to the general speakers list covers what a sensible speaking time is and why the GSL matters.
2. Run Each Speech in One Tap#
With a list in place, the first delegation is shown on the floor as ready to speak, at the full speaking time. Nothing has started yet. Recognise them, then press Start.
"The chair recognises the delegation of Brazil. You have ninety seconds."
Under the floor sit the four speaker buttons. They are always in the same place:
- Start and Pause. The countdown itself is a button too, so a tap on the clock pauses and resumes it.
- Next records the speech and calls the next delegation on the list. When nobody else is waiting, it becomes Finish, which records the speech and leaves the floor empty.
- Restart puts the clock back to the full speaking time, for a false start.
- Add time gives the speaker extra seconds without stopping the clock.
Every speech is logged with its length the moment you press Next, so the scoreboard and the session record fill themselves in. A few seconds before time runs out, the chair's laptop plays a double knock of the gavel. It is on by default at 15 seconds left, and you can change the moment or switch it off in Settings.
If you would rather the clock started by itself, turn on auto start in Settings. Next then calls the next speaker with the clock already running, which suits a long list of short speeches.
Adding delegations, starting the clock and calling the next speaker, one tap at a time.
3. Yields, Right of Reply and Extra Time#
Yields
When a speaker finishes early and wants to give their time away, press Yield. The panel shows how much time is left to yield and offers two choices:
- Next speaker. The next delegation on the list gets their own time plus whatever is left.
- Another delegation. Pick any delegation in the room and they speak for the time left, timed in the same panel.
A yield can only give away the time the speaker still has, never more. A yield to the chair needs no button at all: press Next and the remaining time is simply gone.
Right of reply
A Right to Reply opens as its own small timer over the floor, with its own clock. It never touches the speakers list and never moves the current speaker, so when the reply is over the debate carries on exactly where it was. Gavelling records that the reply happened, and nothing else. Our right of reply guide explains when a chair should grant one at all.
Extra time
Add time adds seconds to the speaker on the floor. In a moderated caucus the extra time is capped by what is left of the caucus, so a generous chair can never run the caucus over.
Right of reply, yields and extra time, each in a press or two.
4. Run a Moderated Caucus#
A caucus starts as a motion. Open Motions in the top bar, raise a moderated caucus for the proposing delegation, and fill in the topic, the total time and the speaking time per delegate. As you type the times, the form tells you how many delegates can speak, and how long the last one gets if the numbers do not divide evenly. When the committee votes it through, press Accept.
What fits
A 10 minute caucus at 60 seconds a speaker fits 10 delegates. At 45 seconds it fits 14, with the last speaker on 15 seconds. Gavelling does that sum for you, so you can tell the room before the first placard goes up.
The caucus has its own queue, separate from the GSL. Add speakers with the field under the floor, to the end of the queue or straight to the front. When the caucus has no time left for another speaker, the field stops accepting names and a card says the queue is full. Speakers run with the same buttons as the GSL.
Two clocks run: the speaker's and the caucus total. The total counts speaking time, so when a speaker's clock reaches zero the total stops with it, and the time between speakers is not lost. The last speaker is never given more time than the caucus has left. Press Extend if the committee agrees to more time, or End caucus to close it early.
For the procedure itself, what to say and when, see how to run a moderated caucus.
Set the topic and the times, and the speaker count is worked out before the caucus begins.
5. Run an Unmoderated Caucus#
An unmoderated caucus is a countdown and nothing else: no queue and no floor. Raise it in Motions with its total time and accept it. The clock runs on the chair's screen and on every delegate's phone, so nobody has to ask how long is left while they are drafting at the back of the room.
When the room needs more time, press Extend and choose how much. When it is over, the room returns to the general speakers list. The unmoderated caucus guide covers what delegates should be doing in that time and what the chair should be watching.
6. Consultation of the Whole and Tour de Table#
Consultation of the Whole
A Consultation of the Whole runs like an unmoderated caucus on one countdown, with one difference: the chair taps whichever delegation holds the floor. Each delegation is credited with the time it actually held the floor, measured on the caucus clock, so the scoreboard still knows who spoke in a debate with no list.
Tour de Table
In a Tour de Table every present delegation speaks once, for the same time. When you raise one, choose the speaking order:
- A to Z, with the proposer speaking first.
- Z to A.
- Room Order, where the chair calls each speaker by where they sit. The queue holds numbered turns instead of names, and every delegation present is credited with one speech when the tour ends.
The form shows how many delegations will speak and the approximate total before you accept. After that the queue is filled for you, and Next walks round the room. Read our Tour de Table guide for when the format earns its time.
Consultation of the Whole and Tour de Table, with the timer and the speaking order handled for you.
7. What Delegates See on Their Phones#
Delegates follow everything above without the chair saying a word about it. Their phone shows who has the floor, the queue in order and their own place in it: up next, on deck, or how many speakers are ahead. During a caucus it shows the caucus name, its topic and its clock. They can ask to join the speakers list from the phone; while a caucus runs, that button waits until the room is back on the GSL.
The guide for delegates walks through their side in full, and when you are ready for motions, documents and votes, carry on with how to handle motions and voting on Gavelling. If you have not opened a room yet, you can start one free in about a minute.
