WSDC 1999: London, England
It is proposed that the English-Speaking Union headquarters in London host the Eleventh World Schools Debating Championships in February 1999. The tournament would be administered by the ESU Centre for International Debate and Communication Training, with all the worldwide influence and resources of the English-Speaking Union available as support.
Venues As always the majority of debates would be staged in schools, across the London area. We would however have one 'Away Day', taking teams to one of Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, Bristol, Birmingham or Brighton. Travel As those of you at the 1992 Worlds will appreciate, organizing group travel across London is virtually impossible. Again we will be issuing participants with complimentary travelcards allowing free use of Underground, trains and buses for the week. Clear instructions and guides will be given for travelling to debates. Buses will take debaters on the Away Day. Room & Board We intend to host all participants in one hotel for the duration of the tournament, allowing unprecedented levels of gossip. Breakfast will be available free of charge here. As usual, most other meals would be provided, either at host schools or at dinners at Dartmouth House. Events We would want competitors to have the opportunity at receptions to meet the patrons of the tournament (who were Princess Anne and Lord Hailsham at the 1992 Worlds). The ESU Chairman, the Baroness Brigstocke, would invite competitors to the official launch at the House of Lords. There would be an informal supper at Dartmouth House on the evening of the Individual Competition, and a Championship Banquet after the Grand Final.
Administration The Centre for International Debate and Communication Training is one of the best-placed organizations in the world for running such a tournament, combining extensive experience of administrating debating events with a wide network of volunteers and the international and sponsorship links of the English-Speaking Union. Currently we run five major tournaments: the national Schools Debating Competition, involving over 500 schools in England and Scotland; the Schools Public Speaking Competition with 450 schools in England and Wales; the Universities Debating Competition, with 150 teams from all over the UK and Ireland; the Universities Mooting Competition for 70 legal societies; and the annual International Public Speaking Competition. The International Public Speaking Competition is perhaps the most relevant, as we attract competitors from 22 countries many of which are not currently involved in the Worlds. Our contacts in this field mean we could include several new countries; we have already solicited interest from Romania and Finland as well as engineering Lithuania's presence here in Bermuda. We have full-time secretarial staff available for planning and running the World Championships, as well as support from our International and Corporate Departments. Finally, all tournaments need adjudicators and we have a large number of qualified and experienced judges in England. Obviously we would hope for as many international judges as possible, but coping with a shortfall would be a negligible administrative problem for us. The Centre has excellent relationships with a number of large corporations, such as the Guardian Media Group, Prudential UK, Lovell White Durrant, Coopers & Lybrand and HSBC Holdings, among others. We currently attract over £50,000 a year in sponsorship for our debating activities alone. In addition, the English-Speaking Union raises hundreds of thousands of pounds for other events such as lectures, conferences and banquets. We are ambitious to make our tournament a comfortable, enjoyable and memorable one, and are fully aware of the costs accruable. Accommodating the participants in hotels is a major expense that we wouldn't suggest were we not confident of covering it. Our Board of Trustees share our confidence and they have already guaranteed to underwrite the Championships for £35,000. We would intend to raise far more than this in sponsorship. As well as major sponsors, we propose a system of 'associate sponsorship' whereby each team is given one local sponsor irrespective of any funding obtained in its own country. This money would finance the tournament rather than come directly to the team, but we would encourage some contact between team and sponsor at one or more of the debates. Each sponsor would give a small but equal amount of money and no sponsor would be accorded special exposure or treatment.
The ESU Centre administers the UK national debating tournament for 16-18 year-olds, which involves teams from over 500 schools in England and Scotland. The competition has run for 40 years thanks to support from the Observer, and more recently Prudential Assurance, and is named after the solid silver Mace awarded to the champions. The winners of national tournaments in Wales and Ireland are invited to join our competition at semi-final stage. Known for over forty years as the Observer Mace, in 1994 the ESU universities debating competition was renamed in memory of the late Leader of the Labour Party who won the Mace in 1962. The competition continues to be sponsored by the Observer and each year attracts over 150 teams from universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Every autumn since 1922, two university debaters have been selected as the British National Debate Team, travelling to colleges across the United States, giving exhibition debates in a British parliamentary style across a range of political, economic and humorous topics. Two of the best student debaters in America undertake a similar tour of universities in Britain every spring and often undertake debating workshops at schools where they explain the American style of debate. The ESU offers a range of workshops for young persons who wish to learn or develop their public speaking, debating or communication skills. The workshops are presented by experienced public speakers and debaters and are offered both nationally and internationally. Recent courses have been run in Argentina, Portugal and Georgia. Our mooting competition, encouraging advocacy skills for legal students, involves 67 of the 72 law societies in Great Britain. Recent finals have been adjudicated by the Lord Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls. This tournament is intended as an introduction to speaking skills for 14-15 year-olds. Over 450 schools in England and Wales take part and the rules are tailored to complement modular requirement for the GCSE English qualification. The English-Speaking Union
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