Blog

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Novice In-House

CDS is having our novice in-house tournament this Saturday, October 16th. We'll be sending out an email in advance asking you to register. If you have a partner, great. If not, no worries; we'll pair you up with another novice. We ask every team to have at least one case between the two of you, preferably more. If you have any questions about a case, feel free to email any of the board or come to office hours (those will be announced soon).

The In-House will essentially be a very abridged take on a normal APDA tournament. We'll have three rounds, with breaks for novice finals. Gov/Opp will be assigned randomly, though no one will have to Gov more than twice. Teams are paired randomly the first round, high-low within brackets afterward. So if you win your first round with speaks of 26 each and you're the highest-speaking team within the 1-0 bracket, then you'll hit another 1-0 team the next round who had the lowest combined speaker points for the 1-0 bracket. Your judges understand if you're still learning the ropes or adjusting to the format, and they should offer you some constructive feedback afterward.

Results, including top speakers, will be announced at a party later in the evening. The party is fun. Don't miss it.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

CDS During O-Week

First years & novices,

CDS offers several opportunities during O-Week for you to learn more about CDS, parliamentary debate, and the lovely people who make up the team.

RSO Open Houses
These take place Thursday and Friday (23/24) in the Reynolds Club and Barlett Hall. Exact locations for each RSO should be in your O-Week packet. This is a good way to interact with RSO leaders and members in a casual way. Come and ask any random questions that might be on your mind.

Student Activities and Resource Fair
On October 1st from 3:00-5:00PM, you will see a lot of tables on the quad. This would be the actual humongous RSO fair. You should come because there will be lots of free food (candy, popcorns, cupcakes, etc), and almost every legitimate RSO and then some will be present. CDS will have a table somewhere; look for a big sign that says "Chicago Debate Society" and attractive, friendly, generally awesome-looking people manning the table. Come to get some basic info, say hi, ask a quick question, or just enjoy the sunshine and free food while it lasts.

CDS Showcase Debate
Want to know what parliamentary debate looks like? Around O-Week every year, we hold a big showcase debate with four members of the team. In between speeches, our VP of Operations will also explain what exactly is going on (for example: why is that guy standing up and holding a hand behind his head?). This is a really good way to see in person, up-front how a typical debate round will proceed. It's also a good way to get to know some of our varsity debaters. This year's will be held in Harper 140 at 3:30PM on Sunday, October 3rd.

Try to go to at least one of these, especially the showcase debate. Don't be shy. We're a friendly bunch.