Mcill Winter CP Tournament

Dear Coaches and Debaters,

On behalf of the McGill Debating Union, we are pleased to invite you to the 3rd annual ‘McGill Winter Debating Bonanza.’

Date: February 6th – 7th, 2015

Location: McGill’s downtown campus in Montreal

Registration Fee: $125 per team (deposit of $80 required by the registration deadline) Registration Deadline: Please send in your deposits by January 17th, 2015. After this date we cannot guarantee that we will be able to accommodate your school.

Team Cap: There will be an 80 team cap at this tournament, filled on a first-paid, first-served basis. Each school has a tentative 10 team cap, after which additional teams will be placed on a waitlist, to be confirmed after the registration deadline. Hybrid teams are allowed to compete. We will consider expanding the team cap if there is sufficient demand.

Format

The tournament will consist of six rounds of Canadian Parliamentary (CP) impromptu debate. There is no prepared resolution. There will be two rounds on Friday night, and four rounds on Saturday. The sixth round will be a hidden-quarter final and the tournament will break to open semi-finals.

PM: 7 minutes MO: 7 minutes MC: 7 minutes LO: 10 minutes PM: 3 minutes

Points of information are expected and are allowed from the 1st to the 6th minutes of each of the 4 main speeches.

We will have a junior break at the tournament if enough teams register, and we will be recognizing the top junior speaker and the top junior team at the tournament. To be considered a junior team, both debaters must be in 9th grade (or below). Please indicate any junior debaters when you register.

Registration

In order to be considered registered we must receive a deposit of $80 per team by the registration deadline. Please note that all deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable: if a registered team drops out, their deposit cannot be refunded or used to pay for the remaining balance for other teams. Please register only as many teams as you intend to send.

Finally, as per the attached tentative schedule, please not that registration closes at 4:00pm on Friday February 6th. This means that you must sign in at the registration desk on the 4th floor of the Shatner building before 4:00pm. It is very important that we run on time Friday night, as we only have the building reserved until a certain hour. As such, we will drop teams who are late.

Please contact Denizhan Uykur at 514-970-0041 on the day of the tournament if you are running late.

Accommodation

We have arranged a group rate with the Best Western Hotel at Peel and Sherbrooke. Rooms with one or two queen beds are available. Rooms with one queen bed are $105 a night plus taxes, rooms with two queen beds are $119 a night plus taxes. The rooms have been blocked off until January 28th. To make a reservation please call 1-800-361-7791 and tell them you are booking from the McGill Debating Union block of rooms. Reservations can also be made online, in which case the reservation code is “DEBAT.”

Meals

We will provide dinner on Friday October 24, and breakfast and lunch on Saturday October 25. There will also be a reception for coaches on Saturday afternoon at which refreshments will be served. Please provide us with any information relevant to special dietary requirements in advance.

Clothing Orders

We will be selling a wide range of zesty and fashionable McGill Debating Union clothing, as we have at previous tournaments. If you or anyone from your school is interested in purchasing anything please complete the attached form and mail it along with your registration deposit.

How to Register

Please make cheques payable to the “McGill Debating Union” Please mail cheques (containing a deposit of $80 per team) to:

Valentin Litvin

McGill Debating Union c/there o SSMU Front Desk 3480 McTavish Street

Montreal, QC

H3A 1X9

The remainder of the balance can be paid at the registration desk on Friday, February 6th. To complete your registration, please send us an email at winterbonanza2015@gmail.com.

Please put the name of your school in the title of your email, and provide us with the following information:

· School Name:

· Number of Teams:

· Name of Coach or Contact Person: · Email:

· Phone Number:

As soon as possible (i.e. at the time of registration, if known), and by January 17th, 2015 at the latest, please provide us the following information:

· Names of all debaters, please indicate which debaters are “juniors”,(in grade 9 or below):

· Number of vegetarians debaters and other dietary restrictions

Judging

Kiana Saint-Macary, Alex Beaumont and Jessie Ouyang will act as Co-CAs for the tournament. They will be setting straight motions that will cover a wide range of accessible topics.

Seminars

Continuing with past practice, we will be offering a variety of seminars over the course of the tournament. Optional seminars will be offered in between rounds, catering to debaters of all experience levels.

We look forward to seeing you in February!

Alyson Duff and Jesse Barstoff Tournament Directors

Tentative Schedule

Friday

2:00 – 4:00 Registration (4th floor of the Shatner Building) 5:00 – 5:30 Debater’s Briefing

5:30 – 5:45 Round 1 Pairings

5:45 – 6:45 Round 1

6:45 – 7:45 Dinner/Seminar 7:45 – 8:00 Round 2 Pairings 8:00 – 9:00 Round 2

Saturday

7:45 – 8:30 Breakfast/Registration 8:30 – 8:45 Round 3 Pairings

8:45 – 9:45 Round 3

9:45 – 10:15 Seminar

10:15 – 10:30 Round 4 Pairings 10:30 – 11:30 Round 4

11:30 – 12:15 Lunch

12:15 – 12:30 Round 5 Pairings 12:30 – 1: 30 Round 5

1:30 – 1:45 Round 6 Pairings

1:45 – 2:45 Round 6/Hidden Quarter-Final 2:45 – 3:00 Semi-Finals Announcement 3:00 – 4:00 Semi-Finals

4:00 – 4:15 Finals Break Announcement 4:15 – 5:15 Grand Final

5:15 – 5:45 Awards