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Directions
Dear Fellow Debaters:
The St. Sebastian’s Debate Team cordially invites you to participate in our eleventh NOVICE Parliamentary Extemporaneous Debate Tournament on Sunday, February 17, 2019. The tournament will consist of three rounds of Parliamentary debate. We will be debating straight resolutions and using only points of information (no points of order, personal privilege or heckling). Each school may register one or two four-person novice teams (teams should include a judge as well; St. Sebastian’s will not provide judges). Schools may register by e-mail to: michael_nerbonne@stsebs.org. Please respond by Friday, February 8. Fees for the debate are $75 per four-person team and $15 per observer. Checks should be made payable to St. Sebastian’s School. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call us at 617-462-3651. We also request that you call us at 617-462-3651 on the morning of the tournament, between the hours of 8:00 and 10:00, to report any changes in your final registration.
The schedule for the day is as follows:
| 10:00 – 11:00 am | Registration in the front foyer of the Birmingham Academic Building |
| 10:00 – 11:30 am | Brunch served in Ward Hall. Dinner will be available after 3:00 pm |
| 11:30 – 12 noon | Judges’ and Debaters’ Meeting in Ward Hall |
| 12:00 – 1:00 pm | Round One |
| 1:00 – 2:00 pm | Round Two |
| 2:00 – 3:00 pm | Round Three |
| 3:00 – 4:15 pm | Dinner in Ward Hall |
| 4:15 – 4:30 pm | Presentation of Awards in Ward Hall |
The maximum length and order of speeches are as follows:
| Prime Minister | 5 minutes |
| First Opposition Speaker | 8 minutes |
| Minister of the Crown | 8 minutes |
| Leader of the Opposition | 8 minutes |
| Prime Minister’s Rebuttal | 3 minutes |
A 30-second grace period will be allowed for each debater, after which the speech will be terminated. The Government will be given 2 minutes to define the terms in the room with the Opposition and the judge, followed by a 10-minute preparation time for both teams. The Government Team should repair to the hallway for the preparation period. Debaters are strictly forbidden from consulting any reference materials during the preparation period or during the debate. Violation of this rule will warrant disqualification from the tournament.
Directions to St. Sebastian’s can be found on our website. Please note that registration, meals and all of the debates will take place in the Academic Building.
Information on rules, scoring, points of information, etc. can be found in the rules section of our league website at www.daneis.org. Please see the five PDFs under the heading “DANEIS Parliamentary Debate with POIs.” We ask that your debaters and judges be thoroughly familiar with all of this information prior to the tournament as we will have just a short time for the judges’ and debaters’ briefing on the day of the debate. There are also a couple of helpful videos in the members’ section of the website.
We look forward to seeing you on February 17, and express our appreciation for your participation.
Michael P. Nerbonne
Debate Coach