Invitation as a PDF
Schedule and Directions
Event Guidelines (PDF)
KO Public Speaking Ballots

Dear Members and Friends of DANEIS,

We cordially invite you to attend the 2020 Kingswood Oxford Public Speaking Tournament on Sunday, February 9 in West Hartford, Connecticut. Each school may register up to eight speakers. Every speaker must compete in two rounds of two events, meaning that each speaker will compete in two events in a total of four rounds:

I) After Dinner Speaking or Persuasive Speaking
II) Impromptu Speaking or Ethical Dilemmas

Our goals in departing from the traditional three single-round events followed by finals are the following: to encourage students to prepare one event really well, to offer more opportunity for learning over the course of the day, and to balance out any potential anomalies by determining awards based on two sets of scores. Guidelines for all of the events are attached. Also attached are copies of all the ballots we will be using along with sample ethical dilemmas. If you require further information about any of the events, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We ask that each school entering bring at least one adult judge for its first four entrants and one additional judge (who may be either an adult or a senior with public speaking experience) for any additional entrants. Student and adult judges will work together; neither will judge any speakers from their own schools.

Although there will not be separate advanced and novice divisions, we will award distinguished younger speakers competing in their first public speaking tournament. Awards will be given to the top three speakers in each individual category, the top three overall speakers, and the top three schools. In order to be eligible for a school award, a team must consist of at least four speakers.

Please RSVP as soon as possible to Heather Wayne. At that time, please let us know how many speakers you plan to bring, whether they will be entering After Dinner Speaking or Persuasive Speaking, Impromptu Speaking or Ethical Dilemmas. The deadline for entering is January 31. The registration fee of $20 per competitor (payable to Kingswood Oxford School) should be paid by check at the door. We look forward to seeing you on February 9.

Sincerely,

Michelle Schloss, Heather Wayne, and Ted Levine, Forensic Union Coaches

Download Full Invitation as a PDF
Tournament Schedule and Format
Directions to Choate Rosemary Hall

The Choate Rosemary Hall Debate Team cordially invites you to the Choate Invitational Tournament on January 19, 2020. In both the novice and advanced division, the event will feature three rounds of parliamentary extemporaneous debate with straight resolutions. Because we are a world qualifier, we will give priority to league members and keep a running list of additional schools who are interested. If we have enough space, these schools will be contacted and invited to attend the tournament.

Initial registration is limited to 3 four-person teams per school. Each school must register at least one team in both the novice and advanced divisions and must provide one judge per four-person team. Choate will be unable to supply judges. Our tournament will not have timers, so encourage your debaters to bring a self timing mechanism.

Registration fees are $75 per four-person team and $20 per observer. To register, please RSVP to Kenadi Waymire at kwaymire22@choate.edu by December 20, indicating how many observers and teams (novice/advanced) you plan to bring. For further inquiries, email Kyra Jenney at kjenney@choate.edu or Jack Miley at jmiley20@choate.edu.

On the morning of the tournament, please call our team adviser, Neil Shimmield, at (203) 843-7743 between 8 AM and 10 AM to let us know you are on your way.

Sincerely,

Neil Shimmield, Debate Adviser
Kyra Jenney, Debate Advisor
Jack Miley ’20, Tournament Chair
Will Flamm ’21, Tournament Vice Chair
Kenadi Waymire ’22, Tournament Associate Vice Chair

Download Full Invitation as a PDF
Schedule of Events and Format of the Debates

2019 Tournament Distributed Packet
2018 Tournament Distributed Packet
2017 Tournament Distributed Packet

Sample DANEIS 100 point policy Cross-Ex Debate Ballot

Directions to Loomis Chaffee
Loomis Chaffee Campus Map (PDF)

Fellow Debaters,

We are pleased to invite you to the 38th annual Loomis Chaffee School Debate Tournament to be held Sunday, January 12, 2020. A schedule of events, including the time and place for registration, is provided in the full invitation above and on the DANEIS website. The tournament is one of several sponsored throughout the year by various members of DANEIS (The Debating Association of New England Independent Schools). Schools will be limited to a maximum of two four-person teams in each division. We can accommodate up to 50 four-person teams. We have frequently been at or near capacity. This tournament serves as a qualifying tournament for DANEIS competitors for the world championships.

All competitors will, over the course of the day debate both sides of a policy resolution which will be released the morning of the debate shortly after the close of registration (see schedule). We will supply each debater and judge a packet of information and articles (approximately 10 to 12 pages) relevant to the resolution (see samples from 2017 and 2018 above). Debaters will have one hour to work together in teams/schools with the packet before the rounds of debate begin to prepare cases. However, once the resolution is announced debaters cannot access any other research materials other than the prepared packet – any use of the internet to conduct research can result in disqualification. Thus, teams have access to exactly the same information, so the debates will be assessing how well debaters can work with the given information to produce & defend cogent, persuasive arguments on both sides of the issue. After the one hour preparation period, the debate competition will begin with each team debating both sides of the resolution. The first two rounds will be assigned (one round on each side) – on the third round the side will be decided in the room by coin flip if there is not mutual agreement.

The affirmative side has an obligation to define the terms at the start of the debate, but, of course, in a way that allows for good debate to take place. Since this is most likely a policy change debate the affirmative case should include a sketch of a plan to implement that change. For a more complete discussion of affirmative and negative responsibilities please refer to the judging overview at the end of this document.

Please note, again, that the tournament is a switch-side tournament, meaning that over the course of the day each 2-person team will debate on both sides of the resolution. Each 4-person team will consist of one 2-person team which debates the first round on affirmative and the second on negative, and another 2-person team which debates the first round on negative and the second on affirmative. Sides for the third round will be decided by coin flip.

In both the Novice and Advanced divisions the format of the debates will be 6-minute constructive speeches, 3 minute cross examinations, and 4-minute rebuttals. The fees for entering the tournament will be $75 for each four-person team entered (max of 2 in each division) – there is no additional fee for observers. Every school should bring a judge for each 4-person team they enter. We have no objections to experienced, upper level student debaters serving as judges in the novice division, but adults should judge in the advanced division. We make NO promise to supply extra judges.

While there is great value in researching a topic over a long period of time and working to refine arguments over several weeks, we think there is also plenty of value in the skill needed in this tournament to quickly analyze and process a limited body of information in order to build an argument that’s grounded with evidence that had just become available to you. Over the course of the day, in debating both sides of this issue, you get the chance to refine your thinking on the topic. We expect that while some may miss the opportunity to do extensive, prolonged research, many others will probably appreciate not having the research burden in the middle of January. In short, we hope that this format preserves much of what is positive in prepared, switch-side, cross-ex tournaments while easing the sometimes difficult research burden at this busy time of year.

For our planning we ask that you let us know by January 6 how many four-person teams in each division you’ll be entering so that we can have reasonably accurate numbers in planning for the dining services and room allocations. We ask that the names of the debaters and judges be sent to us by January 9.

Curt Robison, Adviser to the Debate Society
The Loomis Chaffee School
Windsor, CT 06095

office phone: 860 687 6122 (feel free to leave a voice mail day or night)
cell phone: (860) 796 4120

e-mail: curt_robison@loomis.org (preferred form of communication)

View Invitation as a PDF

Dear DANEIS Debate Coaches,

The Buckingham Browne & Nichols School Speech and Debate Team invites you to our combined speech & debate tournament on Sunday, December 8, 2019.

Each school may register up to two four-person teams. Berths in the tournament will be given on a first-come, first served basis, with preference given to DANEIS member schools through our RSVP date of November 25th.

The cost will be $75 per four-person team. There will be an additional $20 fee for any observer to offset food costs. Each school needs to bring one judge for each four-person team entered. Per DANEIS league rules, student judges will not be permitted to judge advanced rounds. Parents of students competing in the advanced division should judge only novices. We also ask that any students judging in the novice division be experienced speakers/debaters who have competed in DANEIS tournaments at the advanced level. Please be sure to brief your judges thoroughly before the tournament.

There will be two rounds of debate, one round of impromptu speaking, and one round of interpretive reading (in that order).

Registration will be open from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. in the main entrance to the school, and brunch will be available in the Commons at that time. Briefings for judges and debaters will begin at 11:30. Dinner, drinks, and snacks will be available after the final round. A single briefing for both judges and debaters will follow the registration in the theater. Dinner for DANEIS coaches will be served after the final round as part of their winter DANEIS coaches’ meeting; dinner for everyone else will be served simultaneously in the Commons.

The scoring of the debate and the standings in each division will be announced in the theater immediately following the coaches’ meeting.

Please RSVP no later than November 25 via email to sgetchell@bbns.org with the number of teams you would like to enter. Early RSVPs are welcome; please send along the names of your debaters as soon as possible.

Directions can be found on our website at http://www.bbns.org/about/contact-us-directions.

We look forward to seeing you in Cambridge!

Geoffrey Goose, Rémy Lacchia, and Chong Hong, BB&N Senior Debate Captains
Sarah Getchell and Zoe Balaconis, BB&N Debate Coaches

Download Full Invitation as a PDF

Fellow Debaters:

The St. Paul’s School Debate Team cordially invites you to attend our Tenth Annual Invitational Debate Tournament in Honor of Secretary of State John F. Kerry, to be held on Sunday, November 17, 2019.

The tournament is open to both advanced and novice teams, and you are welcome to enter no more than four teams total (two four-person teams in each division). You must also provide one judge for each four-person team. In accordance with the DANEIS rules, only those who have participated in no more than six previous interscholastic tournaments, or those who have not debated in the last fifteen calendar months, may compete as novices. We do ask that coaches use their discretion.

The tournament will be Oregon-style Prepared, and will consist of three rounds. Pairs will debate on the same side of the resolution for all three rounds. The resolution is:

Resolved, that the United States government should implement a plan to transition to 100% clean energy by 2030.

Please note that the above resolution should not be taken to invoke the full House Resolution 109, the Green New Deal. We have deemed the latter far too complex to debate in this format and thus have arrived at the more circumscribed formulation in the above resolution.

Again, each team shall consist of four students, accompanied by a judge. While experienced advanced debaters are acceptable as judges in the novice division, advanced teams must have an adult judge. We regret that we are unable to provide judges. ALL student and adult judges should be thoroughly prepared in order to ensure a fair and constructive tournament.

Registration fees are $70 per four-person team (including judge), with a $10 charge per observer to offset meal costs. Please let us know by October 27th how many advanced teams, novice teams and observers you plan to bring, emailing this information to Andrew Gray, agray@sps.edu. Once we hear from you and closer to the tournament date, we will send you a request for the names of participating students to enter into our scoring system.

If there are any changes in the number of teams, names of participants, or positions they are debating (affirmative or negative), please contact us as soon as possible prior to the tournament. If the changes are last minute, on the morning of the debate, it is imperative that you call my cell phone (617-800-7903) before you leave your school, so that the schedule of debates, and/or the appropriate information in our scoring database, can be adjusted in time for a smooth start. Please keep in mind that the creation of a successful schematic for the tournament is a complex task, and that while the organizers understand that illnesses and other unexpected events occur, last minute changes can present great challenges on the day of the tournament and potentially delay its start.

We hope that you can join us and look forward to greeting you on November 17th.

Sincerely,
Celis Lee, Andrew Kapadia, and Daniel Choi, Debate Captains
Andrew Gray, Dave Camden, and Bob Gile, Coaches

ST. PAUL’S TENTH ANNUAL INVITATIONAL DEBATE TOURNAMENT
IN HONOR OF SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN F. KERRY ’62

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Resolved, that the United States government should implement a plan to transition to 100% clean energy by 2030.

Schedule of Events:

10:00 –11:00	Registration, Coit Common Room
10:00-11:00	Brunch, Coit Upper Dining Hall
11:00-11:30	Joint Debaters’ and Judges’ Meeting, Coit Upper Dining Hall Timers’/Runners’ Meeting in Coit Common Room
11:45 – 1:00	Round One
1:00 – 2:15	Round Two
2:15 – 3:30	Round Three. Note: After Round Three snacks will be available back at Coit Upper Dining Hall.
4:15 – 4:30	Awards Ceremony, Coit Upper Dining Hall

Oregon Style Prepared:

1st Affirmative constructive	7 minutes
2nd Negative cross-examination	3 minutes
1st Negative constructive	7 minutes
1st Affirmative cross-examination	3 minutes
2nd Affirmative constructive	7 minutes
1st Negative cross-examination	3 minutes
2nd Negative constructive	7 minutes
2nd Affirmative cross-examination	3 minutes
1st Negative rebuttal	4 minutes
1st Affirmative rebuttal	4 minutes
2nd Negative rebuttal	4 minutes
2nd Affirmative rebuttal	4 minutes

CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS TO ST. PAUL’S SCHOOL