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23.2.2 Space Requirements
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In addition to a certain number of debating rooms, which was discussed in the previous section, the following are some of the additional space requirements that a tournament host needs to provide: a central gathering area, a registration area, a ballot distribution area, and a tabulation room.
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23.2.2.1 Central Gathering Area A central gathering area is needed for all but very small tournaments because it provides a place for pre-tournament competitor and judge trainings, as well as a place for the announcement of topics and posting of the “draw.” The draw shows how the teams are matched for each round, including the names of all four teams, their positions in the debate, the names of the judges, and the room in which the debate will occur. The draw may simply be a sheet of paper posted with the listing of the debates for any given round, or it may be an electronic posting that is projected onto an overhead screen. The draw must include the names of each team and their position in the debate, as well as the names of the judges and the assigned rooms for each debate. A large central gathering location (like a lecture hall or an auditorium) provides enough space for everyone to read the draw for each round, and to sit during the announcement of the motion and during the times between rounds.
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23.2.2.2 Registration Area The tournament requires a registration area that is positioned very near the central gathering area. It should contain enough tables to comfortably accommodate several volunteers who will conduct the registration. At tournament registration, at least three volunteers will be needed to assist with the registration process. Those volunteers will instruct each school to verify the number of teams and judges entered in the tournament and the accuracy of the participants’ names.
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23.2.2.3 Ballot Area An area needs to be provided for judges to pick up their ballots prior to each debate and return the ballots when the debate is completed. The tables used for registration can also be used for the distribution of ballots to the judges. The volunteers at the ballot distribution table will collect the ballots and take them immediately to the tabulation room. The ballots must be delivered to the tabulation room as soon as they arrive at the ballot table. If the volunteers wait to collect all the ballots before delivering them to the tabulation room, the tournament can be seriously delayed.
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23.2.2.4 Tabulation Room A tabulation room, also called a “tab room,” is an essential and important space requirement. Tournaments of all sizes require a quiet and centralized room for the tabulation of results. This room is a space for the tabulation director and the tabulation assistants to record the results of all debates. The tab room is also the place where important tournament documents, such as the schedules for each debate and the ballots for judges, will be printed. The tab room does not need to be a large space, but it should have enough room to accommodate a staff of four, a computer, and a printer. Competitors are not allowed in the tab room during the tournament in order to avoid the disclosure of tournament results (such as the top speakers) prior to the awards ceremony.
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23.3 Personnel and Their Responsibilities
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For a tournament to run effectively, a good staff is essential. No single model will work for every tournament, but some staff roles will be common to most events. This section will consider the most important staff and their roles.
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23.3.1 Tournament Host and Tournament Director
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The Tournament Host is responsible for advance planning and general hosting. The Tournament Director is responsible for the activities that occur when the tournament actually begins. In many cases, one person manages both of those two roles. If the roles are divided between two people, the Tournament Host needs to clearly spell out the obligations of each of the two people, and this information should then be clearly communicated to the Tournament Director. The Tournament Host and Director are responsible for overseeing all facets of the tournament—registration, topic selection, venues, tabulation, and presentation of awards. The Tournament Host usually has the final say on all questions related to rules and procedures, and should be prepared to step in to assist with any aspect of the tournament throughout the event. Some tournaments also have an Assistant Tournament Director to help with the Tournament Director’s various responsibilities.
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The Tournament Host is responsible for organizing the event and sending appropriate information to all of the participants and judges. The Tournament Director also needs to prepare and send out the tournament invitations (see Appendix B—TOURNAMENT INVITATION TEMPLATE for an example) well in advance of the event.
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Sometimes Tournament Hosts will decide to use topic areas for the tournament. Topic areas are general categories of subjects that help narrow the range of the motions to be used at the tournament so that debaters can conduct some research in advance. In some debate formats, particularly where participants have a limited amount of time to prepare after the motion is announced, debaters find that topic areas are useful to narrow the tournament to a central theme. The following statement illustrates how topic areas could be presented in an invitation to participants:
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The tournament will feature debate motions focused on the following five general topic areas: rural development, education, medical care, the environment, and space exploration.
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Even broad topic areas, such as in the above example, give students an idea of where to focus their research and studies in advance of the tournament so that they can bring some knowledge and evidence to the debates.
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Tournament Directors also must prepare a list of specific motions for the tournament. In Worlds-Style debate, a different motion is needed for each preliminary round and for each elimination round at the tournament. At some tournaments, a motions committee consisting of a group of faculty members and possibly some advanced debate students is formed for the task of creating a list of motions for a tournament. If such a committee is used to craft the motions, a good practice is to involve some university officials in the process. Any students who serve on the motions committee should not be allowed to debate at the tournament because of the advantage they would gain from having advance knowledge of the topics.
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23.3.2 Tabulation Director
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The process of collecting results and determining the total ranks for each team and the speaker points for each debater is called tabulation. Tabulation should occur in a secluded room to provide a quiet space for the tabulation team. Tabulation of the tournament should be the responsibility of a small group, with the Tabulation Director as the leader.
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The Tabulation Director, another key member of the tournament staff, is appointed by the Tournament Host or Tournament Director. In some cases, either the Tournament Host or Tournament Director may also serve as the Tabulation Director. The Tabulation Director is responsible for all of the issues related to tabulation, including entering information about teams, judges, and rooms; matching each of the debates; printing ballots; and, recording results at the conclusion of each debate. Most tournaments also have one or two Tabulation Assistants, who are available to help the Tabulation Director with the recording of results. Tournaments should have at least two individuals to record results for each debate so that one individual can read the scores while the other inputs the scores into the tabulation program. This makes tabulation more efficient and helps create a double check to avoid errors.
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For smaller events, two people can probably handle the tabulation of results, but for a larger event, a group of four will be needed for the task. That tabulation group must post the draw for each debate, assign the judges, record the results, and determine which teams advance to elimination rounds. The tabulation group will also be responsible for keeping an accurate list of the names of all of the competitors, as well as tracking any changes during the tournament. See
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Appendix C for a complete list of the responsibilities of the tabulation group.
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A variety of computer programs are available to run tabulation for Worlds-Style debate, and the Tabulation Director should train the other members of the tabulation staff in the use of such programs in advance of the tournament. Those computer programs not only assign rooms for debates and judges for each room, but they also determine the positions that each team will debate, and attempt to create fairly matched debates for each round. While the methods might vary slightly across different computer programs, all programs track position constraints (to ensure that a team gets to rotate through different speaking positions throughout the tournament) and provide some level of power-matching (pairing of teams that have similar scores based on their previous rounds). Links to some of the tabulation computer programs used by the authors of this text can be found at http://willamette.edu/cla/china_debate/curriculum/index.html.
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23.3.3 Chief Adjudicator
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Some tournaments, particularly large international events like the China Open and the World Universities Debate Championships, may also appoint a Chief Adjudicator or CA. The Chief Adjudicator is responsible for overseeing the process of writing motions, leading judge-training sessions, and identifying judges who are suitable for use as Chairs. The Chief Adjudicator will also judge some debates at the tournament, and should be the first person to whom any questions or complaints about judging issues are addressed. To assist with those duties, some tournaments appoint a Deputy Chief Adjudicator, or DCA.
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