WSDC 2007 videos available online

Videos from certain preliminary rounds of Korea '07 are available online at www.ParliDebateCoach.com, thanks to Ian Yovdoshuk who taped them. He writes:

This site originally started out as a means to communicate with my students but it seemed quite natural to open the site to the greater community once the WSDC 2007 videos were uploaded.

It is my hope that some of you would like to become moderators (Coaches) of your own forums or of those already created. I would also like to receive applications for Chief Adjudicator and 3 DCAs to help manage the community with administration privileges.

Furthermore it would be wonderful if you would announce and link your national/regional debate associations so that way we can build a directory (with a cool drop-down menu) for anyone to use.

World Council minutes

The minutes from the World Council Meeting in Seoul last summer are now available on the website, as are an up-to-date copy of the Rules following the last wave of amendments.

Videos from Korea '07 available for purchase

Justin Reznick writes:

Greetings from Korea!

I met many of you when you came to Korea last July and am happy to share some long-awaited news about video footage from the last WSDC.

The sponsor of WSDC 2007, YBM/Sisa, has packaged and released a set of DVDs (along with transcripts of the debates) that are now available for sale. The product description is in Korean, but even if your browser cannot handle Korean text, you can still find pictures of the DVD package and two URLs for streaming video samples.

Note that you will not be able to order from the above site unless you are in Korea. You can view an online video sample.


If you are interested in buying the set--it's 15 DVDs, all the elimination rounds--I have been told that you should contact Mr. D. H.
Hong (dhhong@ybmsisa.com). He said that YBM can deliver the DVDs directly, even overseas, as long as they are able to confirm the orders by email beforehand.

Also, last fall, I uploaded all the WSDC 2007 videos that I had access to, but I did not make any public announcements because I was concerned that I might be violating an agreement with our sponsor. I'm no longer concerned about (my videos are low-res and include only one round that overlaps with the those on the released DVDs), and I hope other teams have videos that they can share as well. I recommend Google Video's Uploader applet for getting your digitized videos online. (And Alive Video Converter if you have big videos you need to compress to put online.)

If you want to see the debates I put online (all the ones with team Korea), try a video.google.com search for "WSDC Korea." I hope that any other people with video footage from the last WSDC will contact Claire Ryan so that any other videos that are out there can be announced and more freely circulated. Also, please contact me if you'd like any messages posted on the WSDC Seoul site's message board. That site will remain up and online for at least another year or two.

I hope to see you all again soon!

Justin Reznick
Korea Forensics League
+82-11-9294-8973

Korea 2007 - Individual speaker tab

The corrected Individual speaker tab is now available.

And debate goes on...

Not a very appropriate title, I just had to use it for something. The latest newsletter is published by the organisers of Seoul 'o7.

Proposals for Rule changes

Mark Gabriel writes:

The 2007 meeting of the World Schools Debating Council will be held in Seoul on the morning of 11 July (prior to the Grand Final of this year's World Schools Debating Championships that afternoon).

Each country which sends a team to this year's World Schools Debating Championships shall be entitled to send one official delegate to the meeting, plus a few additional observers (both delegates and observers will have speaking rights at the meeting, though only the official delegate for each country will have voting rights).

The World Council must be informed of any motions to amend the WSDC Rules one month in advance of the meeting. Such motions will then be discussed at the meeting and shall require a two-third majority of delegates voting in favour of them to be adopted into the WSDC Rules.

The Executive Committee is proposing six amendments to the WSDC Rules to be considered at the World Council meeting:

- Proposal E1: Incorporation of World Schools Debating Championships
- Proposal E2: Eligibility of competing nations
- Proposal E3: Code of Conduct
- Proposal E4: Team managers and team coaches
- Proposal E5: Dealing with complaints about judges
- Proposal E6: Guidelines for determining ability to judge debates

Details of these proposals can be found in the documents linked below.

Additionally we have been informed that New Zealand, Canada and Singapore intend to propose changes which are included in the documents.

Delegates from countries who have entered teams in at least two of the last three World Schools Debating Championships will be entitled to vote on motions to amend the WSDC Rules. Delegates from countries who have not entered a team in at least two of the last three championships will be entitled to vote on any other matters raised at the meeting, but not on motions to amend the Rules.

Regards,

Mark Gabriel
Secretary
World Schools Debating Council Executive Committee

• Proposed Rule changes
• Code of Conduct
  

Newsletter & waiver form

The latest newsletter from the Korea Championships has been released. Note that the organisers are asking all under-18s attending the tournament to bring with them a "Consent and Acknowledgement of Risk" form, signed by parents, which is available for download from the WSDC 2007 website.

This form is prepared by the organisers of the 2007 competition in accordance with local law (Alberta, Canada). If you have any questions about it, the Executive recommends you take your own legal advice to check its effect on your rights.

Update, 13th July: The organisers have revised the form in light of comments received. See the new version.

Update, 15th July: And again! See the newer version.

Motions released

Mark Gabriel writes:

The Motions Selection Committee for the 2007 World Schools Debating Championships has finalised its selections for the prepared motions to be debated by the teams at this year's championship is Seoul. They are as follows:

PRELIMINARY ROUND PREPARED MOTIONS

- This House believes that free trade harms the developing world

- This House believes that Holocaust denial should be a crime

- This House believes that the United States should withdraw from its military bases in Asia

- This House would make the development of clean industry a condition for receiving non-emergency aid

GRAND FINAL MOTION

- This House would abolish the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Teams should arrive in Seoul prepared to debate both the Proposition and Opposition sides for each of the four preliminary round prepared motions.
The draw (listing which teams will be debating each other in each round, which teams will be in proposition and opposition for each debate, and the order in which the prepared motions will be debated) will only be released shortly before the start of the championship.

Whilst preparing for the debates, teams are strongly advised to read through the WSDC Guidelines on Defining Motions & Constructing Cases.

OTHER ROUNDS

All teams involved in the championships will participate in eight preliminary round debates - four of which will be prepared debates on the motions listed above,* and four of which will be impromptu debates for which the motions will be released only one hour in advance. The octo-finals, quarter-finals and semi-finals will also be impromptu debates.

(* Note: If the total number of participating teams is an odd number, one team will sit out each preliminary round and instead participate in a 'bye-round', so four teams will debate only three of the prepared motions if that is the case.)

For impromptu rounds, the team members will be kept in preparation rooms during the hour running up to the debate, and will not be allowed to consult with their coaches during that hour. Under the WSDC Rules, teams may not bring any published or handwritten materials into their preparation rooms for impromptu debates, except for one English Language dictionary, one bilingual dictionary, and one single-volume encyclopaedia or almanac. They are also not allowed to bring in any devices that are potentially capable of accessing information from outside the preparation room, such as mobile phones, laptop computers, pagers, PDAs, BlackBerries, etc.

Motions for all rounds of the competition are selected by the Motions Selection Committee, which consists of five members elected by the World Schools Debating Council and two members selected by the host organising committee. For 2007, the members of the Motions Selection Committee are: Mark Gabriel (Singapore), Andrea Coomber (Australia), Albert Fornis (Greece), Noel McGrath (Ireland), Christopher Bishop (New Zealand), Jumin Lee (South Korea) and Joshua Park (South Korea).

If you have any questions regarding the rules or format for debates at the championships, please feel free to e-mail me for clarification.

Best of luck with your team's preparations for the competition.

Regards,

Mark Gabriel
Chair, WSDC 2007 Motions Selection Committee /
Co-Chief Adjudicator, WSDC 2007 /
Secretary, World Schools Debating Council Executive Committee

Korea set for record turn-out

It looks like the following teams are definitely coming to WSDC 2007 in Seoul:

Australia, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Canada, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Kuwait, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mongolia, Montenegro, Pakistan, Peru, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, USA, Wales

And the following are 'probable':

Argentina, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Philippines, Romania

with Brunei and Lesotho also possibilities.

The record for a WSDC tournament is 36 countries (Wales, last year) - South Korea is on course to set a new one!

Sponsorship for WSDC '07

The South Korean organisers have confirmed a deal with a title sponsor for WSDC 2007: the English language publisher YBM/Si-sa. Read more about them in the latest newsletter.

The registration deadline for the 2007 tournament has now passed. Please contact Norman Leach if you have any questions about registering.

Registration for WSDC 2007 in Korea

Norman Leach writes:

Please note that the registration deadline is quickly approaching for Korea 2007. The deadline for all teams to register is May 1, 2007.

For more information either contact Maritza Meneses at maritsam@telusplanet.net or go directly to www.globaldebatesecretariat.com and register on the Korea page.

Two week WSDC workshop in USA

The prestigious World Debate Institute, run by Alfred "Tuna" Snider at the University of Vermont every summer, has announced that it will focus exclusively on WSDC format this year. Their experienced coaching staff will include Peejay Garcia (South Korea coach), Bojana Skrt (Slovenia coach) and James Probert (England adjudicator).

Tuna writes:

"Date: July 20 - August 3, 2007

This two week intensive program is designed to prepare students for competition in the World Schools debating format, used for the World Schools Debating Championship, the world title for high school debate, and also by more and more schools and countries. Over 35 countries are currently debating in this format.
The format combines debating on prepared topics with preparing extemporaneously. Three person teams debate each other in a rigorous fashion that focuses on the heart of issues, not the periphery.

Students from all over the world are welcome, but a special welcome is given to American students interested in qualifying for being a part of Team USA at the 2008 World Schools Debating Championship which will be held in Washington, DC.

Faculty will be selected from the top tier of debate trainers internationally, other international teams along with leading authors of major debate textbooks.

Learn to debate like the world champions do!

This workshop uses the format of the World Schools Debating Championship (WSDC). Well over 35 countries now attend this championship and a number of debating experts from around the world have named this format as the best."

Read more at the World Debate Institute website.

WSDC Korea '07: Newsletter published

The organisers of this summer's World Championships in South Korea have released a newsletter. Details of note include:

• The registration fee (460 USD or 920 USD if you want a single hotel room) covers breakfast, almost all dinners and some lunches.
• Sponsorship: the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is a major supporter of the tournament; the National Youth Commission may have an 'increased role'; the national newspaper JoongAng Ilbo has expressed a 'strong interest' in sponsoring; and the Canadian Ambassador to Korea has offered 'facilities and assistance'.
  
• Venues: three venues have been confirmed for hosting debates.
• Hotel: the Imperial Palace Hotel, voted the best business hotel in Asia, has been confirmed as the tournament hotel.

Read the newsletter or check out the official WSDC 2007 website.