Students must research the country they will represent and carry on negotiations as delegates from that country during the conference. At the University of Pennsylvania Conference, Juniata students represented the countries of Bolivia, Mali, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. At the McGill University Conference, Juniata students represented the country of Papua New Guinee. Within each team students must choose an area of specialization. Each student delegate has the goal of pressing his or her country's issues before the committee and influencing its proceedings and output.
Most committees attempt to pass resolutions in a standard format.
These resolutions approve some actions to try to solve problems existing in the selected countries. The complexities of many issues as well as international negotiation itself provide many obstacles to Model U.N. delegates. The accomplishment of achieving one's own goals in a resolution or in getting one country's own point across in debate is what attracts so many students to the Model U.N. experience. The only higher education institution to have a contractual agreement with the United Nations, Juniata College instituted its Model United Nations Club in Fall 1997 under the direction of Emil Nagengast, assistant professor of political science.