WSDC Blog

Draw videos online

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:07:00 +0000

Hi everyone,

The draw videos are now online! They are available at http://www.youtube.com/wsdc2010#g/p

I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the draw process. In particular, I would like to thank the draw supervisors -- Irene McGrath (Group A, Dundee), Sixto Ramos (Group B, Peru), Jess Price (Group C, Cape Town), Pardip Chopra (Group D, Calgary), Gaurav Keerthi (Group E, Singapore), Taimur Bandey (Group F, Lahore), Effie Giannakouri (Group G, Athens) and Chris Erskine (Group H, Doha) -- as well as Claire Ryan and Dr Hayat Maarafi for their welcome messages. Chris and I have been very happy with the entire draw process, and we are satisfied that all draw participants have followed the requirements of the "draw explanation" document that we circulated last week.

I would also like to thank Joshua Milch for the many hours that he has volunteered for editing and formatting.

We hope that you enjoy the videos!

Simon Quinn
Co-CA, WSDC 2010

The draw is now released

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:25:00 +0000

Hi everyone,

Greetings from Education City, Doha -- where, half an hour ago, the draw for WSDC 2010 was completed. The draw is attached as are the draw labels

As you know, the draw explanation, draw structure and pre-tournament ranking were released last week, expressed in terms of team codes. The selection of teams to match those team codes has been done in eight cities around the world, supervised by some of the most senior members of the WSDC community, and done in such a way that none of the people in those cities yet know any of the other draw results.

The draw video clips are currently being formatted and uploaded to YouTube. We will e-mail as soon as the link is available; given the file sizes, we expect this to be some time in the next 24 hours. The clips are great to watch, and we hope you will enjoy them!

Simon Quinn and Chris Erskine
Chief Adjudicators

Annual General Meeting and related documents

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:01:00 +0000

All,

The WSDC Ltd. charity's AGM will be held in Qatar at 9am on 16 February 2009, prior to the annual Council meeting. In this regard, please find attached the following:

1. The notice of the Charity AGM doc and the notice of the Council meeting including the agendas.
2. The Directors' report for your consideration (including Annexes A, B and C
3. A call for nominees for the position of Director for 2010-2013

Please note that each nation sending a team to Worlds in Qatar is eligible for membership of WSDC Ltd. The Directors will shortly confirm acceptance of those countries which have applied for membership since Athens and are participating in Qatar.

In the event that your country has corporate membership or has applied for corporate membership of WSDC, the governing documents require that you confirm the name of your authorised representative to the AGM in writing prior to the meeting. Please do this by sending an email message to the Director's nominated chair for the charity's AGM in Qatar, Asher Weill at debasher@netvision.net.il

Best,

Andrea Coomber
Chair, Board of Directors
WSDC Ltd.

Proposed rule changes for WSDC

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:45:00 +0000

Greetings everyone.

Here are the proposals for rule changes for voting at the Council meeting at Doha, Qatar on 18 February 2010.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan
Chairperson
Executive Committee
WSDC Ltd

South Africa bids for WSDC 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:32:00 +0000

Greetings everyone.

South Africa is bidding to host WSDC 2012. The bid is the only one received for 2012and will be voted on by the World Schools Debating Council at the Annual General Meeting in Doha.

I have great pleasure in enclosing the bid documents.
1. Intention to bid letter
2. Sponsorship letter
3. The bid document

Members of the South African organising committee will be present at Doha, will be happy to answer any queries and will make a presentation of their bid on the evening of 16 February 2010 before the vote takes place on 18 February 2010.

Kind regards

Claire Ryan
Chairperson
Executive Committee
WSDC Ltd

Important information on the dress code for Qatar

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:35:00 +0000

Dear all

Attached is a document outlining the appropriate dress code for the forthcoming World Championships in Qatar. We kindly request that all participants read it carefully and choose their attire for WSDC accordingly.

With thanks

Beth James

On behalf of the WSDC Executive Committee and approved by the organisers of WSDC Qatar 2010.

Blogging and twittering

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:12:00 +0000

I'll be blogging again from WSDC this year and tweeting/twittering as well.

See you on this site or @tautoru

All other bloggers and tweeters feel free to join in.

Prepared motions for WSDC 2010 now released

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:19:00 +0000

Greetings everyone.

On behalf of Qatar, the host of WSDC 2010, I hereby announce the the motions at WSDC 2010;
(a) for the prepared preliminary debating rounds (4 in total)
(b) for the Grand final.

First, I wish to thank the Motions Committee which has worked very hard in order to bring you the motions earlier than two months prior to the start of the championships.

The Motions Committee members are:
Chris Erskine (chair)
Sherria Ayuandini (Indonesia)
Taimur Bandey (Pakistan)
Russell Courts (Greece)
Jim McElroy (Ireland)
Loucia Isaac (Qatar)
Simon Quinn (Qatar)

And now.....the motions.

PRELIMINARY ROUNDS

(forgive the capital letters; the Motions Committee is not trying to shout, but the convention is to write motions in capitals)

THAT WE SHOULD SUPPORT MILITARY INTERVENTION IN SOMALIA

THAT EVERY COUNTRY SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO POSSESS NUCLEAR WEAPONS

THAT DOCTORS SHOULD REPORT EVIDENCE OF MARITAL ABUSE TO THE POLICE

THAT TERRORIST SUSPECTS SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL IN CIVILIAN COURTS

GRAND FINAL

THAT GOVERNMENTS SHOULD NEVER BAIL OUT BIG COMPANIES

Until the draw is announced, teams will not know whether they will be proposition or opposition for the 4 prepared preliminary rounds, so they should begin preparing both sides.

The remaining four preliminary rounds will be on motions announced to the teams one hour before the debate begins, as will all the break round debates (the octo finals, quarter finals and semi finals).

REGISTER BY 8 DECEMBER 2009.

Finally, I hope you have already registered for WSDC 2010 and if not, that you do it now. NOW!!! Places are at a premium and I understand that the deadline of 8 December 2009 will need to be enforced.

I understand that the cap is 40 member nations and 10 new nations. However, any extra new nations can fill any places that are not taken up by the 40.
So far an overwhelming number of new nations has registered but an underwhelming number of member nations/returnees.

I hope that people don't leave it too late. It will be sad if a dithering returnee nation leaves it until after 8 December in the fond hope that it won't matter, because it will.

Good luck, please register NOW - and happy preparing.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan
Chairperson,
Executive Committee,
WSDC ltd

The final countdown

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:26:00 +0000

It's the final countdown to the registration deadline of
8 DECEMBER 2009.

If you want to be part of WSDC 2010 in Doha, Qatar in February 2010, please register now before it's too late. Registrations after 8 December 2009 cannot be accepted, I'm sorry.

Remember also that 8 December 2009 is the day the motions for the prepared debates at WSDC 2010 are released so get your team ready for that! The draw won't be released until about a week before the championship begins.

To register, click here.
If you have any questions, email me by clicking here.

See you in Doha!

Claire Ryan,
Chairperson,
Executive Committee,
WSDC Ltd

2nd newsletter for WSDC 2010 out now.

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:51:00 +0000

Click here for the newsletter.

Registration closes on 8 December 2009.
Doha - will you be there?

Registration for WSDC 2010 now open

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:01:00 +0000

Greetings everyone.
I am delighted to let you all know that registration for WSDC 2010 is now open. To register and surf the WSDC 2010 website, click here

The site is vibrant and easy to navigate, packed with information not only about registering but also about debating, WSDC, Qatar, the schedule for 2010, visas, Qatari embassies around the world, accommodation, transport...you name it!!
Happy surfing!

For a brief summary of WSDC, its requirements and procedures, click here.
However, this is only a summary. WSDC is governed by its rules and if by chance they do differ from the summary, the rules prevail. I invite you to read and be aware of the rules. You will find the rules here.

Bring on Doha and the battle of minds!!

Kind regards.

Claire Ryan,
Chairperson, Executive Committee,
WSDC Ltd

WSDC 2010 registration opens 8 October 2009.

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:03:00 +0000

Hello everybody. Exciting news: registration for WSDC 2010 in Qatar will be opening on or about 8 October 2009, so only a month away now. The Qatar Debate website registration page will be up and running around that time.

The second newsletter will be coming out about then with detailed information about the tournament including visas, dress requirements, schedule, timetable, events and so on. The newsletter will be available on the Qatar Debate website, on this blog and sent to the emails of representatives of current member nations of WSDC as I know them. (So if your email or representative has changed, let me know before then!)

It will also be sent to all those who have subscribed to the WSDC mailing list. Have you subscribed? It's easy; go to the menu at the top of this page, click on "Mailing list" on the right hand side and follow the instructions.

If you belong to a nation which wishes to participate in WSDC for the first time, we warmly welcome you and invite you to contact our two Executive members who are assisting new countries. They are Sherria Ayuandini and Taimur Bandey

For any other queries before 8 October, contact me.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan,
Chairperson,
Executive Committee,
WSDC Ltd
(one behalf of the Executive Committee
Beth James, Geetha Creffield, Sherria Ayuandini, Taimur Bandey, Hayah Eichler, Karin Kase, Irene McGrath, Dick Wafer)

Sponsored adjudicators for WSDC in Qatar 8-18 February 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:20:00 +0000

Simon Quinn and Chris Erskine, Chief Adjudicators for Qatar, write:

Hi everyone,

We have, in consultation with the Chief Adjudicators' Panel, now decided the 30 adjudicators who will receive sponsored positions at next year's World Schools Championships. We attach the list.

Principles for the decision

We would like to thank everyone for applying for these positions. We received 141 applications from 38 countries, and the standard of applications was generally outstanding. Of the 141 applicants, 65 have adjudicated previously at WSDC, of whom two have served as Chief Adjudicator, five have been members of the Chief Adjudicators' Panel and more than a dozen have judged grand finals or semi-finals of the championship. The final decision was therefore a very difficult one.

You will recall that we earlier circulated a summary of the "principles for assessing applications for sponsored adjudication positions", which we attach again now. That document set out a three-step procedure for selecting the 30 adjudicators, designed to balance two criteria: choosing the most experienced and competent judges, and choosing judges to reflect cultural and other diversity within the championships. The three-step procedure was: (i) we decided whether an applicant was likely to be assessed as suitable to judge from Round One; (ii) we ranked adjudicators according to proven adjudication experience and demonstrated competence, and selected the first 10 on that list; and (iii) we assigned the remaining 20 places on the basis of the same list, but so that no applicant was selected from a country already represented in the list. This procedure was followed without exception.

In assessing "proven adjudication experience and demonstrated competence", we were closely guided by objective measures of adjudication experience --- for example, experience as a Chief Adjudicator of WSDC, experience as a member of the Chief Adjudicators' Panel of WSDC, experience in judging finals rounds at WSDC, other experience at WSDC, outstanding experience at other debating tournaments, etc.

In the case of applicants eligible to be associated with more than one country, we took an applicant's own preferred affiliation as the relevant affiliation unless the applicant's background showed a significant affiliation with another nation as well as, or instead of, the applicant's preferred affiliation. This approach was already set out in the selection principles. In applying this principle, we decided that (i) an applicant would be entitled to claim affiliation with his or her country of nationality, and (ii) an applicant would also be considered eligible for a different country only if the applicant had a significant and ongoing relationship with debating in that country. Several applicants listed countries of affiliation that, in our opinion, did not meet this second test; in that case, we nonetheless considered the application, under the applicant's country of nationality. Several applicants were eligible for affiliation with more than one country.

Should a sponsored adjudicator withdraw before the tournament, we intend -- with the Chief Adjudicators' Panel -- to apply similar criteria, as far as possible, in order to select a replacement.

An invitation to Qatar

Even though we were not able to select everybody who applied, almost all applicants were assessed as likely to be able to judge from Round One in Qatar. We would, therefore, like to encourage everybody to come to Qatar as adjudicators for national delegations. Please remember that QatarDebate intends to pay for the full registrations of eight people from each country, which will include debaters, coaches and adjudicators. In addition, QatarDebate intends that any unused registrations from a country will be pooled and made available to additional adjudicators from other countries. If you are eligible for free registration, you will therefore need only to pay the airfare.

We were particularly impressed by the large number of applications from recent participants who were keen to return to the championship and to continue their contribution to it. While many of these applicants may not currently have the proven experience of some applicants who were selected, we would like particularly to encourage them to adjudicate in the championship in future years, including in Qatar.

Next steps

The 30 adjudicators chosen for sponsored positions will be contacted in due course by QatarDebate to organise details for flights, etc. Please let us know as soon as possible if you have been chosen for a sponsored position but are unable to attend; please also let us know if you change your e-mail address.

General registration for the tournament -- including registration for adjudicators --will open soon, once the tournament website is launched. We will look forward to contacting you again once this is ready.

And, most importantly, we look forward to seeing you in Qatar!

Regards,

Simon Quinn and Chris Erskine (Chief Adjudicators, WSDC 2010)

WSDC 2010, 8-18 February 2010.

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:41:00 +0000

The 22nd WSDC championships will be held in Qatar from 8 to 18 February 2010.

For further information, click here

To read the latest newsletter, click here

And the winner is.....

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:37:00 +0000

Scotland which will be hosting the World Schools Debating Championships from 16 to 26 August 2011 in and around Dundee. Congratulations to Irene McGrath and her hardworking team.

For breaking news, click here.

And for a preview of Dundee, click here.

Scotland bid for 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:07:00 +0000

Irene McGrath from Scotland writes;

Dear All

As promised, here at last is our revised bid document. It was sent to the Executive at the weekend and will require to be voted on fairly soon as the university residence is pressing us to pay a deposit.

We have been able to change the dates to 16th - 26th August 2011 and hope that these will find favour with everyone. The changes are to be noted on the front cover, on p19 and on p24. We have also deleted the now unnecessary reference to Eid on p18 and remain conscious that the tournament will take place during Ramadan.

There is one other change which we require to bring to everyone's attention. Diana Gotts has decided for personal reasons to step down as Chief Adjudicator. We are very pleased to be able to announce that she has been replaced by co-CAs Beth James and Andrew Marshall. You will find reference to this on p15.

I'm afraid you will just have to imagine the tartan ribbon this time, and me doing my best to hand these out individually at breakfast! You will no doubt be advised of the voting procedure in due course and in the meantime I hope you will have time to read this through.

Best wishes to everyone.

Irene

Note: A postal ballot will be emailed to all members about this on or about 13 April 2009 with a short time for the return of voting papers, firstly because it would have been done immediately at an AGM, secondly because all nations have had the bid document for some time and the only changes are to the dates and the Chief Adjudicators and thirdly because Scotland has to pay the deposit to secure venues on or by 20 April 2009. Watch this space - and your inboxes. Claire

Invitation to join working groups

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:35:00 +0000

Greetings everyone.

As you know, the Executive members of WSDC Ltd facilitate working groups in areas the WSDC Council has deemed important and the work in those groups is done through e-discussion lists.

The Executive therefore invites interested members of the WSDC community to join one or more of these lists and bring to the group or groups your experience and enthusiasm so that you can firstly help WSDC progress and secondly, have some good recommendations and proposals for the Council Meeting in Doha in early 2010.

Some of you may already belong to a working group. If so, there is no need to resubscribe. Some of you may soon receive an invitation via netpals or because you were your nation's voting delegate in Athens. So I'm sorry if you end up receiving the invitation to join a working group many times but at least you will have received it!

Before you (hopefully) say yes, here are a few pieces of information for you.

The e-discussion working group lists are run through a website called "topica" ( http://lists.topica.com/) and joining the list involves a process of applying to join plus being approved to join so that only people from the WSDC debating community end up being part of the lists, not some random spammer or flamer.

You will need to be someone who is not at secondary school (or younger!) or is not in a national schools debating team for 2010. You will probably find the working groups most helpful if you are someone eligible under the rules to judge or coach at WSDC . You will also need to subscribe. Do so simply by sending an email to the subscribing address below of the group(s) you want to join.

You will then receive an email from topica asking you to confirm your subscription. Just follow the instructions and click the link. You're almost there!

You will then receive another email saying your request has been sent to the list owner (none other than WSDC's renowned sage and IT icon Trevor Sather) for approval.

He'll review your request (to make sure you aren't some random spammer or flamer!) and you'll soon receive the email saying "Welcome to WSDC x group (ie whatever group you've joined.)" This means that you've finally been admitted to the engine room of World Schools Debating and your life will never be the same again!!!!!!

You can then send a post to the group saying who you are and where you are from and start receiving hundreds of posts from hundreds of debaters all over the world at hundreds of hours.

So are you up for the challenge? Say yes and subscribe to one or more of the following working groups:

**Adjudication Working Group (chairs: Hayah Eichler, Dick Wafer).
To subscribe to this group, click here or mail to
wsdc_adjudication-subscribe@topica.com

**Draw Working Group (chairs: Geetha Creffield, Karin Palo).
To subscribe to this group, click here or mail to
wsdc_admin-subscribe@topica.com

**Hosting Working Group (co-chairs: Beth James, Irene McGrath).
To subscribe to this group, click here or mail to
wsdc_hosting-subscribe@topica.com

**Language and New Countries Working Group (co-chairs: Sherria Ayuandini, Taimur Bandey).
To subscribe to this group, click here or mail to
wsdc_lang-subscribe@topica.com

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, just email me here

Have fun joining and working with our WSDC groups.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan

Chairperson,

Executive Committee, WSDC Ltd

Administration and other boring matters......

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:52:00 +0000

Executive Committee 2009-2010
Claire Ryan (New Zealand) chairperson
Beth James (Wales) vice chairperson
Geetha Creffield (Singapore) secretary

6 committee members;
Sherria Ayuandini (Indonesia)
Taimur Bandey (Pakistan)
Hayah Eichler (Israel)
Irene McGrath (Scotland)
Karin Palo (Estonia)
Dick Wafer (Ireland)

The following working groups are led by committee members:
Adjudication - Hayah Eichler, Dick Wafer
Draw - Geetha Creffield, Karin Palo.
Hosting - Beth James, Irene McGrath
New Countries - Sherria Ayuandini, Taimur Bandey

Motions Committee
Sherria Ayuandini (Indonesia)
Taimur Bandey (Pakistan)
Russell Courts (Greece)
Chris Erskine (Australia)
Jim McElroy (Ireland)
Two more to be named by Qatar.

Complaints Committee
Roger Hatridge (Republic Korea)
Beth James (Wales)
Two more to be named by Qatar
and other members to be co-opted.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WSDC LTD
Andrea Coomber (chair)
Peejay Garcia
Andrew Goodman
James Probert
Yuri Romanenkov
Claire Ryan
Jimmy Soriano
Asher Weill

Speaker and team ranks

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:59:00 +0000

HERE they are at last, everyone....
the final team positions
breaking team ranks,
the top 50 individual speakers,
ESL team positions
top 20 ESL individual speakers
EFL team positions
top 20 EFL individual speakers.

Click here to see them.

The attached rankings are correct as of 5 April 2009, but differ slightly from those previously released after receipt of some further minor corrections from coaches and team managers.

Thanks to James Probert and his adjudication team and congratulations to all of the speakers.

EFL best speaker

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 06:12:00 +0000

DO HYEONG KWON from the Republic of Korea.

ESL best speaker

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 06:04:00 +0000

JANICE YOON from the Republic of Korea!

Top ESL team 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 05:33:00 +0000

Reclaiming their 2008 title, TEAM GREECE!

Top EFL team 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 02:12:00 +0000

THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA!

Dan the man

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:10:00 +0000

The top 10 speakers for WSDC 2009 are (hopefully accurate, as I hastily scribbled the names):

10. Melanie Pope (England)
9. Lee Jia Wei (Singapore)
8. Iqbal Kassam (Canada)
7. Ben Woolgar (England)
6. Jack Gamble (England)
5. Anish Hazra (Singapore)
4. Teoh Ren Jie (Singapore)
3. Christopher Bissett (Australia)
2. Maria English (New Zealand)
1. DANIEL KALISKI (South Africa)
(seen here just after receiving his award to a standing ovation)

Top 50 speaker tab, team tab and EFL/ESL awards coming soon...

And the winner is.........

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:49:00 +0000

NEW ZEALAND!!! 6-1

Whaia e koe ki te iti kahurangi; ki te tuohu koe, me maunga tetei
(Seek the treasure you value most dearly: if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain.)