Selecting the date, grades, etc.

1- Date, time and facilities: The first steps are to decide on the date, time, size and an grade range for the tournament. So far as the date is concerned, bear in mind that all senior highs and some middle schools have exams in late January and that some private schools have exams in December. Friday nights and Saturdays mean that Jewish schools cannot attend and Sunday mornings can be tricky, but not impossible, for Christian schools. Generally you should assume that each round will take 50 minutes to an hour, that registration will take 20 minutes, that the judges briefing will take 30 minutes and that it will take you thirty minutes to calculate the results and present the awards. Thus a 2 round tournament will take roughly 3 hours and a 3 round tournament will take 4 hours. If your tournament is a very small one (e.g. 10 teams), it will take less time. All of the teams debate in each round so you need one room for every two teams. You also should have a spare team, often called the swing team, in case an odd number of teams appear. You also need a large area to have the judges briefing at the start of the tournament and to present awards at the end. If you are going to have a debaters briefing, you will need a second suitably large room at the start of the tournament. Finally, you will need an area where the debaters and judges can register, i.e. give their names and schools and pick up any information that you have for them.

2 -- Size and grades: The size of your tournament is up to you. A small 2 or 3 school event is easier to run but lacks the excitement of a larger event and does not involve as many students. The maximum size is determined by your facilities since you need one room for every two teams and it is wise to have a couple of rooms unassigned in case there are any additional teams whose registration forms somehow got lost. If you invite all of the MSDA members, you will get a maximum of roughly 16 schools for a junior event (grades 6 to 9) and 14 for a senior event (grades 10-12). You decide whether you want your tournament to be junior or senior or some other arrangement (e.g. grades 9 and 10). In the initial invitation you can put a cap on the number of teams per school with an option for them to register more if you find that there is space after the deadline. As host it is quite reasonable for you to have a few more entries than the initial cap.

3 - Type of debate and resolutions: In Manitoba we normally do parliamentary debate at the junior level and either parliamentary or cross-examination debate at the senior high level. It should be noted that cross-ex rounds take longer and you should allow 60 to 70 minutes for each cross-ex round. You can use some other format if you wish to but you should make rules clear in the invitation. It is easiest just to use the MSDA rules. If you are using parliamentary debate, you should specify whether you are allowing heckling and/or points of information. Heckling is usually a very bad idea at the junior level. You must also decide whether to use a prepared or an impromptu resolution. A prepared resolution is sent out with the invitation. It can be issue related (e.g. the drinking age should be raised), general (e.g. we should slow down) or off beat (e.g. Canada is a Hamlet not a Hercules). Teams do both sides of a prepared resolution, i.e. one side in the first round and the other side in the second. Impromptu resolutions are announced at the tournament and the students are usually given 30 minutes to prepare (this will add significantly to the length of the tournament). After 10 minutes the government must tell the opposition what the definition is, after which they have the remaining time (20 minutes) to finish preparing. If the opposition does not accept the definition, they can appeal to the organizer or someone that the organizer designates to deal with definitions. Usually students have a different impromptu resolution for each round. Sometimes they are given a choice of 2 or 3 resolutions with one team choosing the resolution and the other team then choosing the side. Finally in either impromptu or prepared resolutions you need to decide if you want to allow unusual (squirreled) definitions or if you want to limit the teams to straight definitions, i.e. what a reasonable person would take the resolution to mean. The rules are available by following these links: MSDA Parliamentary rules , MSDA Cross-Examination Rules. Some resolutions are available at the following site: MSDA resolution list