16 July, 2009
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to invite you and your students to attend the tenth annual Georgia State University National College Debate Tournament, to be held in Atlanta, September 18-21, 2009. This invitation contains all the information you will need to register, including hotel info.
We have made some major changes.
Changes:
**** We are moving to 7 prelims this year in Open, with doubles on Sunday night. This will give put us in line with emerging community norms, and will make for a much more humane Monday elim experience. We will maintain 6 prelims in Novice and JV.
**** Although we were generally happy with the banquet last year, we are moving to a different model. We are providing dinner on campus Sunday night after round 7, and will then have awards immediately following doubles. Key benefits of this model are that it will substantially reduce the cost of the tournament (for both you and us) and that, hopefully, it will allow us to get done earlier on Sunday night.
**** We are providing lunch on campus on Sunday.
**** Smaller judging commitment. We experimented last year with additional judging commitments and were very happy with the subsequent improvement in preference. We are only asking for 4 rounds of judging per team this year. The move to 7 prelims allows us to maintain higher preferences without asking teams to bring an extra judge.
**** New tab software. We are happy to announce that we are planning to be one of the first big tournaments to use the new debateresults.com tab software. Dr. Michael K. Davis (CEDA big shot) will continue to head up our tab room. The awesome Dr. Jon Bruschke has also kindly agreed to attend the tournament personally to help out in the tab room and ensure the smooth functioning of the new system.
**** Time limits on judging. Judges will have 2:45 (from the start of the round) to complete decisions in prelims and 3:00 in elims. We are reasonable people and will happily take things like late start times into consideration. In elims, we will allow at least 15 minutes for post-round discussion.
**** 100-point speaker point scale in all 3 divisions. We will provide extensive pre-tournament information on this to assist judges unfamiliar with the 100-point scale.
We’ve maintained:
**** Our historic commitment to providing a high-quality, friendly experience for your entire team in all three divisions.
**** The same tournament hotel, same room rate, same low cost internet access.
**** Last year’s improved commitment to the case list, including a team of assistant coaches from across D6 to help with information-gathering and a fee structure that rewards early compliance.
HOTEL INFORMATION
The tournament hotel is the Marriott Atlanta Century Center, 2000 Century Boulevard NE, Atlanta, GA, 30345, (404) 325-0000. Their web site is http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/atlne-atlanta-marriott-century-center/. You might remember that this is the hotel Emory used to host the NDT a number of years ago. Since that time, it has been completely renovated. The Marriott Century Center is about a 10-15 minute drive from campus, and is easily accessible from I-85.
We have secured a $99 per night rate for double-doubles. For reservations, go to http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/ATLNE?groupCode=GRGGRGA&app=resvlink&fromDate=9/18/09&toDate=9/22/09 or call (800) 228-9290 and ask for the GSU Debate event. For schools who wish to claim a tax exemption, the hotel prefers to receive a copy of the tax exempt form, a purchase order, and to receive payment via Government issue credit card or state check. Feel free to call the information number at the Marriott for details about this issue - the hotel is eager to work with you.
INTERNET ACCESS AT THE HOTEL
Internet access will be a maximum of $12.95 per room (our contract specifies that numerous computers may be used in a single room without accruing additional charges).
The hotel has recently started providing free wireless access in the main lobby area. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, the hotel will be providing space for tournament participants to gather and use wireless access at no additional charge. We’re hoping that this will help restore some of the social aspect of the activity, as well as making it easier for teams with multiple researchers to be productive.
TOURNAMENT ENTRY
We are using Dr. Jon Bruschke's online tournament entry system. This system can be accessed at http://www.debateresults.com. Please enter your teams and specify your judging by midnight Tuesday, September 15. Please contact Joe Bellon if you are planning to enter more than 6 teams in the Novice or JV division.
FEES
Make checks payable to “GSU Debate.” Our FEID# is: 58-1845423. Address: PO Box 4000, Atlanta, GA 30302-4000
For Open teams, the fee is $150 per team. However, if a team has their 1AC case list information in to us or posted on the Wake Forest Wiki by registration, then we will charge only $120 for that team. For more information on what constitutes an acceptable caselist entry, see the specific section on the caselist, below. If one or more of your teams doesn’t have a complete caselist entry by registration, we will still provide you a $30 refund per team if their caselist entry is complete by the start of round 1. After that, no refunds.
Entry fees are $100 per JV or novice team.
We are also charging $20 per person food fee. This will not cover our entire food expense (we are providing 4 meals), but it will prevent us from actually losing money on the tournament. So, if you have two teams in Open and two judges, your total fee would be $420. However, if both your teams have their case list information in on time, your total fee would only be $360.
JUDGING REQUIREMENTS
Schools must supply 4 rounds of judging for every team, regardless of division. If this requirement is going to create a serious financial hardship for your team, please contact Joe Bellon (joe.bellon@gmail.com) so we can discuss possible alternatives.
IF A JUDGE FULFILLING YOUR SCHOOL'S OBLIGATION DOES NOT SHOW UP for an assigned round, we will assign another one of your judges (our choice) to adjudicate an additional round beyond their original obligation. This is true even if we are able to replace your absent judge with someone other than a judge from your school.
All judges are obligated to judge through octafinals, or one round after their school's last team exits the tournament, whichever comes later.
We cannot guarantee that we will be able to provide hired judging, so if you have needs in that area, please contact us with as much lead time as possible. We expect each school to cover their own judging obligations, and we strongly encourage teams to bring judges whose reputation will allow them to judge their entire commitment of rounds. If you are willing to be hired beyond your obligation, please contact Bellon immediately - it is likely we will want your services.
Judges will have 2 hours and 45 minutes from the start of every prelim round to turn in a decision. In elim debates, judges will have 3 hours.
We expect all judges at the tournament to make a decision at the end of the round signifying that one team has won and the other team has lost the debate, and to fill in appropriate speaker points and ranks. Ballots attempting to award a double win or loss will be adjusted to this procedure by use of a coin toss.
CASELIST
The e-mail address for case list information is gsucaselist@gmail.com. We ask that by registration each and every team provide us with adequate 1AC case list information. What does that mean?
1) An exact plan text. If you don’t have a plan text, give us your advocacy statement. If you don’t have an advocacy statement, supply information that explains what the point of the 1AC is and how it relates (or doesn’t) to the resolution.
2) An outline of the 1AC, including tags for each piece of evidence. If you don’t have a traditional outline, provide the tags for all the cards you’re reading. If you’re not reading cards, list the major arguments you will be making in the 1AC, plus any published sources you will be referencing.
3) We reserve the right to decide that your information is not adequate if we think you’re being unreasonable. If your team doesn’t run traditional arguments, just ask yourself: if you were about to hit your own aff in round 3, what kind of information about it would you want? If that doesn’t help, imagine you run disad-counterplan, then ask yourself that question again.
Please, please send us your 1AC information as soon as you have it. The information you provide us prior to the tournament will be kept absolutely confidential until Round 2 is underway (to avoid punishing early compliance).
CASE LIST GOON SQUAD
Alysia Davis will be returning to head up our case list team. Her efforts will be supplemented by graduate assistants from GSU and several of the larger D6 schools. These schools (who we will publicly thank when all the names are in) have each agreed to devote the entire efforts of one of their assistant coaches to the case list.
We expect to have a goon squad of at least 5 experienced folks constantly roaming the tournament, making sure that we get complete information for every team on both aff and neg. It would be really nice if you cooperated with them by sending information about every major position your run on both the aff and the neg to our gsucaselist@gmail.com address or by posting your info directly to the Wake Wiki (http://opencaselist.wikispaces.com/home).
TOURNAMENT ADMINISTRATION DETAILS
We will debate the official CEDA resolution. Any student meeting AFA eligibility requirements may enter the open division. The JV and novice divisions will be restricted to students who meet the relevant AFA requirements. Hybrid teams will be accepted AND will be allowed to debate in elims. 9-3-6, 10 minutes prep. There is a possibility that GSU teams will enter the tournament in one or more divisions. If that happens, those teams WILL be allowed to break. Neither the Director nor any other GSU representative will make judge placement or other critical tab decisions for GSU teams unless it is absolutely necessary. If it is necessary, we will endeavor to make decisions that benefit the other team in the debate more than the GSU team.
We are seeking CEDA and ADA sanctioning, and will enthusiastically implement CEDA policies on sexual harassment and other kinds of discrimination.
We will use ordinal judging preferences and the RKS 100-point speaker point scale. The first two prelim debates will be preset randomly. We will pair rounds 3 and 4 off the results of rounds 1 and 2, high-low within brackets. We will pair round 5 off the results of 1-4, high-low within brackets. Debates after that (rounds 6-7) will be individually power matched high-low within brackets. If time allows, we may individually power-match rounds 3 and 4. Clearing teams and speakers will receive awards. We will not break brackets in elimination rounds. Sides in elims will be determined by pre-existing constraints (when available) or a coin toss; we will not use side equalization.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Registration, Marriott Century Center Hotel
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
7:30 - 8:30 Breakfast and pairings available at GSU Campus
8:30 ROUND 1
11:00 ROUND 2
1:00 Lunch on your own
3:00 ROUND 3
5:30 ROUND 4
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
7:00 - 8:00 Breakfast and pairings available at GSU Campus
8:00 ROUND 5
11:30 ROUND 6
1:00 Lunch (provided on campus in the courtyard between GCB and Sparks)
3:00 ROUND 7*
5:30 Dinner in the courtyard between GCB and Sparks
6:15 Awards Ceremony in the courtyard between GCB and Sparks
Pairings and panels for doubles in Open announced. Teams clearing to additional elims in JV and/or Novice announced.
8:00 Double octofinals in the Open division (General Classroom Building)
* Elimination rounds in the JV and Novice divisions may begin during round 7, depending on the size of the division and our judging constraints. If necessary, additional JV or Novice elim rounds will be held on Monday, on the same schedule as Open (since doubles will be held on Sunday night).
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
7:30 am Pairings available, Marriott Century Center Hotel
8:30 Octofinal round in Open. JV and/or novice elimination rounds as necessary
Rest of elimination rounds to follow, through finals.