Dear all,

Please note that *it is still possible to register for EUDC *at our
website www.eudc2008.eu. We currently have 160 teams on the list, but in
case of cancellations we will be able to accept next teams from the
waiting list. At this point all registrations will appear in the waiting
list, where you will be upgraded from according to availabilities. An
automatic invoice is generated at registration, but you will not have to
pay it until we have confirmed your place by e-mail. The institutional
team cap of 3 and the n-1 rule for judges still apply.

In addition, I am very glad that many of you have followed my last call
and have logged in to the EUDC website to enter additional information
about their arrival and preferences. Thank you. I hope everyone who has
not been able to do so will find 5 minutes for this before next
Thursday, 15 May, when Phase 3 closes. And I am still available at
info@... if anyone needs a new password for logging in.

Since Monday there has also been *a new feature in the intranet - The
Book.* Everyone who has been to the intranet must have noticed that it
is possible to upload a photo of yourself and also write a short
introduction, which will eventually find their way into the tournament
book. We encourage everyone to use this opportunity - it will surely
make the championships book more fun to look at later on. After logging
in you will also be able to see the photos and introductions everyone
else have added so far. Go check it out and make a contribution!

Thank you all for your cooperation and we are looking forward to greet
you all in Tallinn in only 46 days.

On behalf of the EUDC Tallinn team,

Maarja Teder
Communication Director
EUDC 2008 Tallinn
info@...
http://www.eudc2008.eu

Dear members of the European Debating Society,


Koç Debate Club – the hosts of EUDC 2007 and the prospective hosts of WUDC
2010 – proudly presents another great debating event this summer: Istanbul
2008!


The first requirement of a good tournament is, of course, quality adjudication.
In order to ensure this,
Our Chief Adjudicator will be Samir Deger-Sen (2008 Worlds Champion, 2007 Euros
Semi-Finalist, 2007 Oxford IV DCA),

We will announce our DCAs later as soon as possible.

Almost as important as – or even maybe more important than – debating in a
debate tournament is the fun part: Socials! In order to maximize the fun you can
get from Istanbul 2008, we will be providing free alcohol in our amazing parties
and legendary Bosphorus cruise as usual. You may always expect some surprises
from our socials team that has created miracles in Euros last summer.


With top-quality food from the Koç University Divan Cafeteria and accommodation
in the university dorms as in our previous tournaments, Istanbul 2008 will take
place between 4 and 7 August 2008. The registration fee for this fantastic
tournament with 6 rounds, team cap of 72 teams and 4 different outstanding
parties – with free alcohol in each one – will be € 90.


If you have experienced the legendary Euros 2007 and want to experience
something similar again; or if you haven’t experienced it and want to see what
it is like to be in a top-quality summer tournament; or if you are just curious
about what the prospective hosts of Worlds 2010 are preparing for you in their
last debating tournament before the Christmas of 2009, you should definitely
come to ISTANBUL 2008!!!

You can visit www.istanbul08.com  for further information. Registration will be
open on May 20.


Cemil Dinmezpınar, Convenor
cdinmezpinar@...

Dear EUDC participants,

EUDC 2008 Tallinn is quickly approaching and we thank everyone who has
contacted us well in advance with a request for a visa invitation. We
are nevertheless growing increasingly worried about the non-EU teams
that we have not heard anything from, but who most probably need a visa
to enter Estonia. Please note that *the visa application process may
take up to 30 days and before that we must send you an invitation,* so
time is starting to run out!

It is urgent that debaters and judges from the following countries (who
have not contacted us yet) contact us ASAP:
1. Albania
2. Serbia
3. Turkey
4. Ukraine
5. Russia

In order to obtain a visa invitation, please send an e-mail to our visas
coordinator Mrs Katrin Viru at viru@... with the following
information and documents:
1) a scanned copy of the page of your passport with personal data (where
the photo, passport number, birth date etc are visible)
2) your home address,
3) which Estonian embassy you will apply to.

Note that the official inviter is the Estonian Debating Society, the
official name of the event is EUDC 2008.

Thank you for not making your own lives difficult.

Kind regards,

Maarja Teder
Communications Director
EUDC 2008 Tallinn
info@...
http://www.eudc2008.eu

Dear all,

Registration for EUDC is in its final stages. So far our strict team cap
policy, which we have also been criticized for, has served its purpose
well, as we have been able to guarantee participation for as much as 78
different institutions, most of them with more than one team. However,
it seems that by now all the institutions interested in participating
have exhausted the available places and due to several cancellations in
the past few weeks we are left with a few more available places until
the general team cap of 160 is reached.

Therefore, *we will be accepting additional teams to the tournament to
fill the available places*. The institutional team cap of 3 no longer
applies, meaning that even institutions that already have 3 teams are
able to apply for one additional place. The n-1 rule for adjudicators
does still apply. *The available team places will be allocated by lot*.

The procedure shall be as follows:

    1. This time registration will not happen through our website, like
       in earlier phases, but via e-mail.
    2. All institutions that are interested in sending one more team to
       the tournament (even if it is their 4^th team) must send an e-mail
       to register@... <mailto:register@...>. The subject
       line of the e-mail must read: “EUDC additional registration” and
       the message contain the name of the institution, name of the team
       (if possible, also names of debaters) and a confirmation as to
       whether an additional n-1 judge is required and will be registered.
    3. Registration via e-mail opens *Wednesday at midnight, i.e. 21 May
       at 00:00 GMT*.
    4. *Registration will stay open for 24 hours*. We shall accept and
       take into account only e-mails received from 21 May midnight GMT
       until 22 May midnight GMT.
    5. All e-mails that are received will be given an automatic reply by
       e-mail. If you do not receive such receipt confirmation, you must
       contact info@... <mailto:info@...> immediately and
       definitely before the end of registration on 22 May midnight. Any
       complaints received after this time will not be taken into account.
    6. *The available team places will be allocated by lot, not in the
       chronological order of receiving e-mails*. This method was chosen
       for several reasons. Firstly, in this way the possibility to get a
       place is not dependent on the speed of your e-mail server.
       Secondly, you will not be deprived of the possibility to get a
       place because your computer’s clock happens to be half a minute
       behind. Thirdly, it would be quite impossible to choose between 10
       teams whose e-mail was sent at exactly 00:00 with a difference of
       maybe a few seconds. Fourthly, allocation of places by lot is a
       suitable option considering that only very few institutions will
       be able to register a fourth team, so it really is a sort of a gamble.
    7. On 23 May the organizing committee will print out all received
       e-mails with a request for sending another team and put each
       e-mail in an envelope. The Representative of the Organising
       Committee of EUDC will thereafter blindly choose the appropriate
       number of envelopes and the available places will be allocated to
       institutions whose e-mail is contained therein.
    8. The teams chosen will be announced on 23 May at 10 p.m. GMT
       through EUDC and BD lists and on EUDC website, all these teams
       will also be contacted individually by e-mail.
    9. If your institution has been chosen to send an additional team to
       EUDC 2008 you will be contacted by our Registration Coordinator
       Liina Naaber, who will instruct you as to payments etc.
   10. In case of further cancellations, the available places will be
       allocated to institutions according to the same method.

If you should have any questions as to the procedure or any other
aspects, do not hesitate to contact our Communications Director Maarja
Teder at info@... <mailto:info@...>

Good luck to everyone!

Kind regards,

EUDC 2008 Tallinn team

Dear debaters,

The following six teams have been chosen by lot from among the 10
institutions that sent us a request for an additional team.
1. University of Warwick (Warwick D) + n-1 adjudicator
2. Trinity College Dublin University Historical Society (TCD Hist A)
3. Mykolas Romeris University (MRUni A)
4. Bristol University (Bristol D)
5. The Cambridge Union Society (Cambridge D)
6. Tilbury House Debating Society (Tilbury D)

These teams shall be contacted within a few days to organise payment etc.

However, we have today received information about further potential
cancellations, so the remaining four institutions (some of them, if not
all) can probably expect a call to the tournament within the next weeks.
In case of cancellations, we will organise an additonal draw and inform
the lucky teams individually.

Kind regards,

EUDC 2008 Tallinn team

Dear participants of Tallinn EUDC 2008,

the org comm of the upcoming Tallinn Euros competition has appointed a
committee to check the eligibility of teams to compete as "English as
a second language" (ESL).

Under the constitution, ESL teams compete in a separate competition
(the "ESL-break") in addition to the main competition ("main break"),
whereas teams without the ESL privilege can only compete in the main
break.

Unlike WUDC, in EUDC there is no "English as a foreign language" (EFL)
category, so teams will either compete as "Main break only" or as
"ESL".

All teams that wish to compete in the ESL-break must apply for the
ESL-status to the committee. The only way to apply is through the
website http://esl-committee.blogspot.com. For the sake of clarity, no
previous application and/or communication regarding ESL can be taken
into consideration.

On the page http://esl-committee.blogspot.com, you will find further
information as to the criteria that under the EUDC-constitution and in
our eyes mark the distinction for ESL-teams.

The survey on that website is designed to somewhat measure your
English speaking abilities. Please try to provide as much relevant
information as possible. Teams that do not wish to apply for
ESL-status do not need to answer the survey. All information provided
will be kept confidential and used for evaluation purposes only. The
decision whether teams compete as "ESL" or "main-break only" will be
publicised.

The deadline for ESL applications is June 20th, 6 p.m. GMT. We would
welcome it however if you could apply as soon as possible.

We will soon release a list with our decisions on the classification
of teams. The classification will be either "ESL", "Main break only",
or "Interview". The list will be made available through
http://esl-committee.blogspot.com, so please check it regularly.

All teams termed "ESL" on that list are eligible for the ESL-break
without further necessary steps. "Main break only" are all the teams
that did not apply for the ESL-status. "Interview" are all the teams
that have applied for ESL, but we are unsure about and would like to
talk to personally in Tallinn.

Interviews are scheduled to take place at Hotel Olümpia on June 22nd
and the morning of June 23rd before pre-Council. We will release more
detailed information on this prior to the start of the competition.

All teams that are dissatisfied with the committee's decision have a
right to appeal to pre-Council. Pre-Council is the only instance of
appeal.

All teams arriving after pre-Council will still have a chance to be
interviewed. These teams however will unfortunately not be able to
appeal the committee's decision whatsoever.

Please direct all your inquiries regarding ESL to
esl.committee@.... This is the only e-mail-address we will use
for any question concerning ESL matters. Before you ask us however,
please make sure to check http://esl-committee.blogspot.com - that
site contains comprehensive information already. Also, please do not
contact us regarding other questions of registration. We only get
provided the reg data from the org comm, so if you are unsure about
your registration, please contact org comm directly.

According to the EUDC org comm, the e-mail-addresses provided through
the EUDC website registration are still incomplete. Thus, all official
communication concerning ESL will only be distributed through the
listservs EUDC and BD as well as published on
http://esl-committee.blogspot.com. Please forward this message to your
national and club listservs to make sure that people can apply for ESL
in time. Thank you.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Tallinn!

Branka Marusic, Giles Robertson and Jens Fischer
EUDC 2008 ESL committee

Dear EUDC participants,

The last - and we really mean THE LAST - opportunity to provide
information regarding your travel details, accommodation preferences,
food allergies and other vital information we as organisers need to know
is *Friday, 30 May, at noon (12 p.m.) GMT.* We still have too many of
those participants, who have not given us any information whatsoever,
and the last thing we need is listening to their complaints during the
tournament. This is why we are giving this last chance.

If you have already entered the information, we thank you and remind you
that any changes made now will not be traced or taken into account. We
will only look for new information from the system by those people who
have not provided us anything yet.

Those who have not given us the required information by 30 May will not
be given any special consideration by the org comm, meaning they will
have to eat what everyone is eating (which is of course fine as long as
you are not vegetarian, kosher, allergic to something etc), will have to
find their own way to the hotel upon arrival, can't choose your
roommates etc.

Passwords, if still missing, will be sent upon request if you write to
info@....

Regards,

EUDC 2008 Tallinn team

Dear members of the European Debating Society,

We are proud to announce that registration  for Istanbul2008 is now open! In
order to register, visit our website www.istanbul08.com .

As we announced before registration per participant (including judges) is €90.
Deadline for registration is July 15th.

If you have experienced the glorious Euros 2007 and want to experience something
similar again; or if you haven’t experienced it and want to see what it is
like to be in a top-quality summer tournament; or if you are just curious about
what the prospective hosts of Worlds 2010 are preparing for you in their last
debating tournament before the Christmas of 2009, you should definitely come to
ISTANBUL 2008!!!

Don't hesitate to contact us for any querries.

Cemil Dinmezpinar
Convenor
cemildinmezpinar@...

Dear assorted debaters,

One of Newcastle's Judges for the upcoming euros in Tallinn has had
to pull out due to unforeseen circumstances and with very little
notice we have been unable to find someone to fill the place despite
exhaustive efforts.

We are still comfortably in excess of N-1 and after discussion with
the tournament staff, no refund can be secured and we are free to
offer the place to others who may wish to take it up.

Therefore I am freely offering the place to judge at euros to whoever
may want it. We don't necessarily need payment (since we're not
getting our money back anyway) though if people want to pay we
wouldn't say no, similarly with payments in kind.

If anyone wants the space they will have to sort their own travel as
we don't have anything transferable.

If anyone has any interest please do get back to me ASAP as I don't
really don't want to see the space go to waste.

My email is debates-@...
my number is +447900698116
You can also find me on facebook.

Thanks,

Oskar Avery
Convenor of debates
University of Newcastle upon Tyne

• Adjudication.
• Finance & Procurement.
• Registration & Communications.
• Equity.
• Logistics
• Hospitality and Transport. 
  

Dear participants in EUDC 2008,

this is just to remind all ESL teams that in order to compete as ESL
they need to complete the form posted on our website
esl-committee.blogspot.com. On that page, we have also released a list
of all teams that so far applied for ESL status. That same list can
also be found below. Should you find a team that is not yet on that
list, but should be, please forward this message to that team. Also,
please distribute this message to your national lists.

We hope to publish a list of our decisions by tomorrow evening.

Please keep in mind that the deadline for applications is June 20th, 6
p.m. GMT. Also please remember that only complete application can be
considered - this actually amounts to some work for us, so sorry for
any delays.

We'll see you all in Tallinn!


Best,

the ESL committee.



Teams that applied so far:


Bar Ilan A
Bar Ilan B
BDU A
BDU B
Belgrade A
Belgrade B
Belgrade C
BGU A
BGU B
Bonaparte A
Bonaparte B
Bonaparte C
Deree A
Deree B
GSU A
GSU B
Haifa A
Haifa B
Helsinki A
HSE A
HSE B
HSoG A
HUni B
HUni C
IDCH A
IDCH B
ISKRAN A
KNTSU A
Koc A
Koc B
Koc C
Leiden A
Leiden B
Ljubljana A
Ljubljana B
Ljubljana C
LMU A
LSE A
Manchester B
METU A
METU B
MGIMO A
MGIMO B
MLU A
MSU A
MSU B
Rijeka A
SOAS B
SSE Riga A
SSE Riga B
Tartu B
Tartu C
Technion A
Tel Aviv B
Tel Aviv C
Tilbury A
Tilbury B
Tilbury C
Ulit A
UNYP A
VU A
Warwick A
Zagreb A
Zagreb B

INTERNATIONAL DEBATE ACADEMY SLOVENIA 2008

THE BEST IN WUDC/BP DEBATE INSTRUCTION
23-30 NOVEMBER 2008

MANY WAYS TO PARTICIPATE:
∑ Full program for university students – instruction, tournament.
∑ Tournament for university students – tournament in Maribor.
∑ Full program for trainers, teachers, coaches, club leaders, judges at
any level in any debate format.

SPECIFIC DATES:
∑ Arrive in Ormoz, Slovenia November 23 2008
∑ Instruction in Ormoz November 24-28 2008
∑ Transfer to Maribor afternoon 28 November 2008
∑ Tournament in Maribor evening 28-30 November 2008

FACULTY

∑ Loke Wing Fatt, Singapore: Legendary debate trainer, WUDC breaking
judge, honorary professorship North-Eastern University China, SAID
Singapore, 4th IDAS.
∑ Jens Fischer, Germany: Berlin Debating Union, Chief Adjudicator at
Europeans, 3rd IDAS. Invited.
∑ Sam Greenland, UK/Hong Kong/Australia: WUDC semifinalist for Sydney,
Hong Kong world schools coach, 3rd IDAS.
∑ Neil Harvey-Smith, UK: President Worlds Council, Chief Adjudicator
Europeans 2008, US Universities 2009, WUDC finalist, 2nd IDAS.
∑ Steve Llano, USA: Professor at St. John’s University NY, NE USA
Director of the Year, USA National Champion coach, 3rd IDAS.
∑ Branka Marusic, Croatia: President Europeans Council, IDAS Finalist,
2nd IDAS.
∑ Rhydian Morgan, UK: Chief Adjudicator and Finals judge at numerous
tournaments, Welsh Debating Federation, World Debate Institute faculty
2008, 2nd IDAS.
∑ Uve Poom, Estonia: Europeans EFL Champion, IDAS Finalist, Euros 2008
organizer, 2nd IDAS. Invited.
∑ Alfred Snider, USA: Professor at University of Vermont, Director World
Debate Institute, USA Coach of the Year, six recent debate textbooks,
6th IDAS.
∑ Bojana Skrt, Slovenia: Director ZIP, twice WSDC EFL Champion coach,
6th IDAS.

Curriculum:
Students: Each Instruction day features a main lecture, exercise and
drill sessions, and two complete critiqued practice debates. Many
elective classes offered. Many training preparation sessions offered.
Judge evaluation and training offered.
Trainers: Special track created based on the needs of attending
trainers. All welcome.

Tournament:
Sponsored by IDAS, ZIP and hosted by Debate Club University of Maribor
Faculty of Law. Six preliminary rounds and semifinals in the WUDC
format. No team caps as of now. Faculty will serve as adjudication core
and administration for the tournament.

Accommodations:
Rooms and full meals provided in Ormoz and Maribor. Social activities
organized each evening.

Fees:
Includes all meals, double rooms, instructional materials,
transportation from Ormoz to Maribor, and social activities.
200 Euros for full program, 50 Euros for tournament.

Scholarships:
We hope to offer substantial scholarships to needy applicants. We are in
negotiations with sponsors now and hope to be able to offer substantial
scholarship assistance. Get a scholarship form at the website.

Applications and information available:
APPLICATION DEADLINE 30 OCTOBER 2008
SOON AT THE WEBSITE http://debate.uvm.edu/idas.html
Questions? Ask Bojana Skrt, bojana.skrt@...

Peter Mesarec, Assistant Director
Helena Felc, Social Director
Zlata Subinski, Tournament Host

Website: http://debate.uvm.edu/idas.html
Blogsite: http://internationaldebateacademy.blogspot.com/
More about ZIP: http://www.ljudmila.org/debata

We look forward to working with you at IDAS 2008!

-Bojana & Tuna

--
Alfred C. Snider aka Tuna
Edwin Lawrence Professor of Forensics
University of Vermont
Huber House, 475 Main Street, UVM, Burlington, VT 05405 USA
Global Debate Blog http://globaldebateblog.blogspot.com
Debate Central http://debate.uvm.edu
World Debate Institute http://debate.uvm.edu/wdi/
World Debate Institute Blog http://worlddebateinstitute.blogspot.com
802-656-0097 office telephone
802-656-4275 office fax

All of our European brothers and sisters are invited to the 2009 US
Universities Debating Championship to be held at the University of
Vermont 3-5 April 2009.

European teams can WIN the tournament, but the top rated USA team will
be named USA Champ.

Please see our website at http://debate.uvm.edu/debateblog/usu/Welcome.html

Help us spread the word, please.

ACS

--
Alfred C. Snider aka Tuna
Edwin Lawrence Professor of Forensics
University of Vermont
Huber House, 475 Main Street, UVM, Burlington, VT 05405 USA
Global Debate Blog http://globaldebateblog.blogspot.com
Debate Central http://debate.uvm.edu
World Debate Institute http://debate.uvm.edu/wdi/
World Debate Institute Blog http://worlddebateinstitute.blogspot.com
802-656-0097 office telephone
802-656-4275 office fax