Western Canada High School641 – 17 Avenue SW, Calgary, AB T2S 0B5 t | 403-228-5363 f | 403-777-7089 | WesternCanada@cbe.ab.ca

November 19th, 2018

Dear Coaches and Participants,

We are pleased to invite you to the second event in Western Canada High School’s 2018-2019 Great Debates Series, to be held on Monday, December 10th, 2018. For this second tournament, we invite debaters to compete in two rounds of Cross Examination Style debate on the theme of Contemporary Feminism.

Part of the mandate of the Great Debates Series is to act as a forum for experimentation on the conventional debate tournament formula. This experimentation will show itself in numerous ways at this tournament: a return to SH Cross-Examination debate; a guest speaker who will present on historical and contemporary feminism and be available to answer questions before the tournament begins; electronic draws and ballots sent directly to participants’ and judges’ email accounts; and a different registration format. On this last point, Tabroom.com will be used to register and manage the tournament. Tabroom is an initiative of the U.S. National Speech & Debate Association, and is used regularly across the US for major tournament management. Select Canadian events, such as the 2017 SH/JH National Debate Championships at West Point Grey Academy (Vancouver), have also used this software. This includes debater registrations, judge registrations, distrubting draws and judge assignments, and stats entry during the tournament via smartphone, tablet or computer. Our event will be Alberta debating’s first foray into using Tabroom. We, the tournament organizers, shall therefore also be learning to use the software; we forewarn that hiccups may occur, despite general familiarity. Through the experience, though, we will also seek to evaluate its potential for regular use to the community in the future. A summary of how to use Tabroom to register teams is included below. If coaches, participants or judges are unable and/or unwilling to register via the Tabroom platform, we advise that other forthcoming ADSA events will feature the usual registration and judging setups. Of course, coaches are invited to contact us to ensure their registrations were properly received and ask for general guidance if the directions below and experimentation with the platform prove insufficient.

With regards to the Cross-Examination style, the tournament will follow the structure below.

1st Proposition Constructive 8 min1st Proposition cross-examined by 2nd Opposition 4 min1st Opposition Constructive 8 min1st Opposition cross-examined by 1st Proposition 4 min2nd Proposition Constructive 8 min2nd Proposition cross-examined by 1st Opposition 4 min2nd Opposition Constructive 8 min2nd Opposition cross-examined by 2nd Proposition 4 minBreak 4 minReply Speech by 1st Opposition 4 minReply Speech by 1st Proposition 4 min

Students and coaches are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the style via numerous online videos. While we will offer both Beginner and Open categories, it is intended that this tournament will serve debaters with substantial debating experience, both by its use of the Cross-Examination style and as well via the advanced impromptu motions debated during the tournament. Coaches are asked to exercise reasonable discretion and register only teams that are suitably prepared for the level of this event.

Judges for the event should bring their own smartphone or tablet device and be able to receive emails to that device during the tournament. Judging assignments will be sent directly via email at the beginning of every round.

The tournament will cost $60 per team, and each school should bring one cheque payable to Western Canada High School. The cheques will be collected at registration on December 10 th. Provisionally, we expect to accept a maximum of 32 teams, with an initial cap of three teams for school.

DATE / TIME: Monday, December 10th, 20184:00pm-10:15pm

LOCATION: Western Canada High School641 17 Ave SW, Calgary T2S 0B5(Park in the back lot off of 5A St SW)

COST: $60 / teamDinner provided for teams, judges and coaches

JUDGES: 2 technologically-equipped judges per teamREGISTRATION: Due Wednesday, December 5th, 2018, 11:59pm via Tabroom.com

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Guillaume Laroche, convenor, at: gularoche@cbe.ab.ca

Tentative Schedule: 4:30 pm – 5:15 pm --- Registration of teams, coaches and judges in Main Foyer. Teams must

arrive by 4:50pm at the latest; judges must arrive by 5:15pm at the latest. 4:45 pm – 5:00 pm – Overview of Cross-Examination style for debaters 5:00 pm - 6:15 pm --- Guest Speaker & Dinner in the Cafeteria 5:15 pm – 6:00 pm --- Judges Briefing in the Library 6:15 pm – 6:30 pm --- Round 1 motion announced, preparation 6:30 pm - 7:45 pm --- Round 1 7:45 pm – 8:10 pm --- Dessert in the Cafeteria 8:15 pm - 8:30 pm --- Round 2 motion announced, preparation 8:30 pm - 9:45 pm --- Round 2 10 pm --- Awards and Closing Announcements in the Cafeteria

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A GENERAL OVERVIEW OF TABROOM.COM – how to register

1. Go to Tabroom.com. Coaches who have never used the platform for registrations before should create an account. See “Sign up” at the top of the page. You are not as NSDA or PKD coach, so follow the longer registration procedure on the bottom half of the page.

2. Once registered, log in (top). In the right side column near the bottom, under “Your Account” look for a yellow tab: “Create new school/team”. Click. Follow the instructions.

3. Once you have set up your school account, return to the main “Dashboard” page by clicking on your email address at the top. Look for the “Competitors” tab. Then, on the right hand column, look for a dark blue button, “Add a new student”. Individually create a profile for each debater you wish to register using this button, saving each student before creating another profile. (You will create teams from these individuals later in the process.)

a. Email addresses are not required for a debater, but if entered, debaters will receive emails with their room/position directly while at the tournament.

b. Please enter any dietary restrictions in the field for that purpose in the student’s profile. Tournament organizers will have access to this information once the debater is registered.

4. Return to the “Dashboard” page. Look for the “Judges” tab. Then, on the right hand column, look for a dark blue button, “Add a new judge”. Individually create a short profile for each judge you wish to register using this button, saving each judge before creating another profile.

a. Email addresses are strongly encouraged for judges, as this will allow tournament organizers to directly send judging assignments and an electronic ballot via email. Alternatively, a phone number can be entered and text messages will sent instead.

b. Please enter any dietary restrictions in the field for that purpose in the judge’s profile. Tournament organizers will have access to this information once the judge is registered.

5. Return to the main index page by clicking on the large Tabroom.com logo in the top left corner. Scroll down the list of tournaments and find Western Great Debates 2 Feminism. Click. A “Register” tab will appear in the central area. Click on Register. Many new tabs will appear.

6. Confirm the Coach’s (your) information in the “General” tab. To register a team, use the “Entries” tab. On the right, choose the category from the “Add Entry To…”. Once selected, menus will appear below, prompting you to select two debaters from the profiles you created at Step 3. Select the two debaters for the team you are registering. Finalize by clicking “Add Entry”. Repeat with additional teams/debaters until all teams are registered.

7. Once teams are registered, add judges via the “Judges” tab. Again, look to the right, select a name, and on at a time add all judges to your registration roster (“add judge”). In Tabroom, judges are affiliated with a school in general, not a specific team.

8. Congratulations! You’re done! You can send an email to Guillaume at gularoche@cbe.ab.ca to confirm everything was correctly received on his end, but confirmations will be sent out on Friday December 6th.

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