30 July, 2011
Contact us at: joe.bellon@gmail.com
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to invite you and your students to attend the thirteenth annual Georgia State University National College Debate Tournament, to be held in Atlanta, September 16-19, 2011. This invitation contains all the information you will need to register, including hotel info.
IMPORTANT FEATURES
**** Three divisions. Bring everyone who wants to debate.
**** We are maintaining 7 prelims in Open, with doubles on Sunday night. Novice and JV will stay at 6 prelims.
**** We will provide breakfast AND lunch on Saturday and Sunday, and will once again provide dinner on Sunday after Open round 7. Basically, the only meals you will need to provide while at our tournament are any meals on Friday, dinner on Saturday, and breakfast on Monday. We are also working to support the goals of the Healthy Debate Initiative.
**** 30-point scale with tenths of a point.
**** Dr. Jon Bruschke will once again be helming our tab room, with a D6 coworker TBA.
**** 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.
**** 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 BoulevardNE, Atlanta, GA, 30345, (404) 325-0000. Their web site is http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/atlne-atlanta-marriott-century-center/. 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, call (800) 228-9290 and ask for the GSU Debate Team event. You can make online reservations here: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/atlne?groupCode=gsdgsda&app=resvlink&fromDate=9/16/11&toDate=9/20/11. 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.
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 14. 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 $130 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 $20 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 a $30 per person food fee. This will not cover our entire food expense (we are providing 5 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 $480. However, if both your teams have their case list information in on time, your total fee would only be $440.
JUDGING REQUIREMENTS
Schools must provide 4 rounds of judging for each team in the Open division, with the following exception: if you are bringing only 2 teams to the tournament in Open, you are only required to provide 7 rounds of judging total for those 2 teams. This exception assumes you are only bringing teams in Open. The idea is that you can bring 2 teams and 1 judge and be covered.
Schools must provide 3 rounds of judging for each team in the JV and Novice divisions.
As usual, we are also looking to hire judges to help improve mutuality and the overall quality of the pool. 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
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 Aaron Hardy's new debate Wiki (opencaselist.paperlessdebate.com).
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.
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. Clearing teams and speakers will receive awards, recognition, or both. 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 16
6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Registration: Room 1508, Marriott Century Center Hotel
Saturday, September 17
7:00 - 8:00 a.m. Pairings & food available at GSU Campus (GCB 5th floor)
8:00 ROUND 1
11:00 ROUND 2
1:00 p.m. Lunch will be provided (GCB 6th floor)
3:00 ROUND 3
6:00 ROUND 4
Council of Tournament Directors Meeting (GCB 527)
Sunday, September 18
7:00 - 8:00 a.m. Pairings & food available at GSU Campus (GCB 5th floor)
8:00 ROUND 5
11:30 ROUND 6
1:30 p.m. Lunch will be provided (GCB 6th floor)
D6 meeting during lunch break (GCB 527)
3:30 ROUND 7*
5:30 Dinner will be provided (GCB 6th floor)
6:00 The awards ceremony will occur in the courtyard/plaza between GCB and Sparks.
• Pairings for elims will be distributed at the end of Awards
8:00 Double Octa-final debates in Open*
Teams clearing announced on edebate and at the tournament hotel
* Elimination rounds in the JV and Novice divisions will begin during Open round 7. They will continue during Open Double Octa-finals. If necessary, final rounds in JV and/or Novice will take place during Open Octa-finals on Monday.
Monday, September 19
7:00 - 8:00 a.m. Pairings available, Marriott Century Center Hotel (lobby)
8:00 Open Octafinals begin
??? Rest of elimination rounds to follow, through finals