<aside> 💡 Student officers, chairs, heads of committees - however you call them, they are in charge of keeping the debate flowing.

</aside>

The role of a Student Officer is to chair the debate. Student Officers are the heads of committees, councils and commissions and they are in charge of keeping the debate flowing and making sure that delegates are being constructive in regard to the resolutions that are being debated.

The Student Officers hold the responsibility of preparing Research Reports, also referred to as Chair Reports before a conference to help delegates with their research on an issue. Student Officers are expected to encourage delegates during a conference to help amend resolutions, contribute to debate etc. Student Officers are in charge of what happens in their particular committee, and so, they must address delegates who are not behaving, and they must confront problems within the committee. In simple terms, chairs are like the regulators of a committee.

Usually, a single committee as 2-3 chairs, with one chair serving as the ‘president’ of the committee. All chairs should be specialising on a specific topic within the committee, which they will write their chair reports on.

Chair reports

Chair Reports are written by the Student Officers (of a committee) before the conference in order to aid delegates with their preparation and research for a conference. The report is compiled of:

• An Introduction and Overview of an Issue
• The Definition of Key Terms
• Major Parties Involved
• Timeline of Events
• Official Documents and Treaties about the Issue
• Previous Attempts to Resolve the Issue
• Suggestions on How to Resolve the Issue
• Bibliography

Chair reports are a great starting point to ones research on an issue as it provides a general view of the issue and provides factual and relevant information to issue giving you an excellent support with writing your resolution.

<aside> 🚨 Delegates should not rely upon their availability - you should practice researching an issue independently, as it would give you more information that some delegates may not have, which will enhance your debate skills.

</aside>