This Blog has now moved to idebate.org/worlddebating - all future posts will be made there!

13 January 2007

IONA rankings

For the past couple of years a ranking of teams on the UK & Irish circuit has been in development on the Britishdebate list. This now seems to have received formal acceptance and has moved onto the britishdebate website.

http://www.britishdebate.com/universities/results/rankings/index2.asp

It's not really a ranking of the UK & Irish circuit as the results from Worlds are included so several teams are in the list even though they never took part on the circuit. In addition many of the colleges who take part in weekly IVs aren't acknowledged in the rankings as they haven't performed well enough to be considered important enough to be ranked. Also the organisers of the list often have difficulty getting all the IV tabs. This is currently being discussed on the mailing list so I'm sure some agreement will be reached.

However it's an interesting view of which teams are doing well in UK & Ireland and hopefully it will evolve over time to give fair credit to the smaller teams. I know when I first put a Worlds Ranking on my site it went through 5 or 6 versions as I had considerable feedback from the smaller teams that the only fair way to acknowledge teams was on the points they earn before the break. In this way the more successful teams still move to the top and don't get an unfair boost from rounds that the smaller teams can't take part in
.

Asians 2007 Registration

A Reminder that registration for the All Asian Intervasity Debating Championships opens on Monday 15th January. Please see http://asians2007.cau.ac.kr/ for more details.

And Pre-registration for the Asian University Debate Championships 2007 is currently open until Feb 6th. Please see http://sef-itb.org/register.php for more details.

12 January 2007

BPP Open

BPP is proud to announce the BPP Open - A full day of debating, discussing, deliberating and drinking on the 24th of February.

The competition is open to everyone so expect to see lots of old faces who are no longer on the circuit. This is the perfect opportunity to defeat former foes, resurrect old grudges and seek vengeance!!

There will be four rounds and break to final. In addition to this we have hired out one of the nearby bars and guarantee to provide you with lots of free food and drink!!

Our CA is former BPP Student, convenor of Cambridge IV and best speaker at an Oxford IV final, Jolene Tan, and our DCA is former MACE finalist Usman Ahmed.

Registration is now open at a cost of £30 per team. As it is an Open anyone can attend but with regards to Universities we will be imposing a cap of 4 teams per institution and asking for you to abide by the n-1 rule for judges where possible.

The open will be held at the BPP Building in Holborn with directions and a map to follow nearer the time.

To register please email bppdebating@bpplaw.co.uk.

11 January 2007

Assumption Worlds DECEMBER 2007.

There seems to be some confusion today in India and South Asia about the next World Championships in Assumption, Thailand. Apparently there is concern that it has been delayed until December 2008. This is not the case.

Worlds happens December to January each year. This year in UBC it started in late December 2006 and finished early January 2007. Hence it is the 2007 Championships. Assumption Worlds 2008 starts December 2007 and ends January 2008.

Update: The timetable on the Assumption Worlds Website is the source of the problem. The website hasn't been updated in almost a year so I suspect it was just a typing error at the time of the bid. I've sent them an e-mail asking them to check the timetable.

10 January 2007

Audio files from UBC

Roel Mehlkopf (Tilburg A) has some audio files from UBC. He has the Final, a Semi Final and an Octo Final.

http://homepage.uvt.nl/~s694448/octos.mp3
http://homepage.uvt.nl/~s694448/semies.mp3
http://homepage.uvt.nl/~s694448/finals.mp3

No videos of debates at UBC

I've had a few queries about the possibility of posting a video of the finals from Worlds. I don't have a video of any debates from UBC.

If anyone reading this blog has a video of the finals and can post it on line please let me know.

Worlds: A European perspective

Lars Duursma has posted a review of Worlds and in particular Worlds Council from a European perspective. You can view the e-mail here.

9 January 2007

YouTube videos

The CUSID.ca message board had some videos from UBC.

Public Speaking Winner: Michael Imeson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o-ugsZYJbE

Comedy Winner Wilard Foxton Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ghl7kwsq7w & Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU6agxjj2TI

Also
A Public Speaking Finalist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhLt1HtP3j8
A Comedy Night Finalist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSq19gVDLZk

And one apparently of two participants at worlds called Jon and Anna killing time, and themselves, between rounds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD-SsKVWUEI

And not related to UBC but I did a search for World Debating Championships and found some videos of the CA (Logan) and ACA (Praba) from MMU Worlds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIlOjDkA3yQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjgmn0A-cgU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R-VovXMt70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ynno4WxFYM

And a promotional video for EUDC 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlBBKiEOpDo.

Glasgow Ancients

e-mail from Glasgow

Dear all,

I hope that everyone has enjoyed the festive period, and had a good worlds if you were there.

I am emailling to remind everyone that the Glasgow University Union's Ancient Universities debating championship is on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th of February of this year.

Registration is 45 pounds, and this includes 5 rounds of debating, plus semis and final, food for the weekend (including our famous black tie championship dinner), as much drink as you can shake a stick at on the Saturday night, and yakka-fueled ceildih dancing into the early hours of Sunday morning.

Coupled with this we also have one of, if not the best, judging panels on the circuit, this year lead by Alex Deane, worlds winner and DCA at worlds in Vancouver.

Visit www.glasgowancients.co.uk for all details and to register for the competition.

See you then!

Jonny Hardman

Convenor of Debates

Glasgow University Union.

World Schools DVD

You can still buy a commemorative DVD of the 2006 World Schools Debating Championships, by visiting www.wales2006.com and following the link. The region-free DVD costs £12 and is available in both PAL and NTSC formats.

8 January 2007

Galway IV

The Galway IV will be held on February 9th & 10th. If you wish to attend visit http://student.nuigalway.ie/~litndeb/ for contact details.

Update 8th Jan: Just to confirm that reg is open for the Galway Open (or the National Law Debates as it is formally known).

Teams can be institutional, composite or just plain random. Please E-mail entries to nationallawdebates@gmail.com and state whether you request crash. Look forward to seeing you all in February for the weekend which reminds us all what a proper session feels like. CA's for the competition are Messers Dave Whelan and Morgan Shelley.

Regards to all,
John Moriarty-Convenor