Minnesota Debate Institute Holiday Invitational

MDI offers an affordable, equity-oriented summer camp for Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Congressional debate.

To offer Minnesota varsity debaters an affordable opportunity to debate in December before sections and state, we're hosting a tournament open to all. Our tournament will offer LD, PF and — for fun! — impromptu speaking. 

Tournament date: December 21, 2019.

Formats:

Open/varsity Lincoln-Douglas.

Open/varsity Public Forum. NOTE: Public Forum will follow MDTA rules — sides are set by tab (a coin flip is NOT used).

Location: University of Minnesota—Twin Cities. Blegen Hall.

Tab, judges lounge, and student commons are in the Carlson School of Management (321 19th Avenue S Minneapolis, MN, 55455). Buses may drop students off on 4th Street. The tab room (tournament headquarters) is in room L-122 in the basement of Carlson.  

NOTE: We are in Carlson!! We are NOT in Blegen Hall like we have been for past MDI-hosted tournaments. 

Topics:

Lincoln-Douglas — Resolved: States ought to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.

Public Forum — Resolved: The United States should end its economic sanctions against Venezuela.

Impromptu speaking

Topic three can be a stressful time, so we'll be offering three fun rounds of impromptu! Speech length plus prep time will be five minutes. 

Judges:

You must provide one judge for every two entries in LD or PF.

ALL JUDGES MUST HAVE (1) A TABROOM.COM ACCOUNT LINKED TO THEIR EMAIL AND (2) A DEVICE THAT CAN ACCESS THE INTERNET.

Please ensure your judges arrive on time so that we can keep the tournament on schedule. It'll be a cold day in mid-December; we all want to debate and then go home. Teams that arrive without their full complement of judges may be charged for hiring of additional judges or asked to drop entries. Please email us with any questions about your judge commitment! :)

A portion of judges after rounds 3, 4, and 5 will be assigned to judge impromptu speaking. 

Registering students:

We will accept registrations on tabroom.com. Our site is mdiholiday.tabroom.com.

Registration is due by 10:00 PM on Tuesday, December 17th. Drops can continue on tabroom.com until 8:00 AM Saturday morning.

Fees:

$12.50 per LD competitor.

$12.50 per PF team.

Please send checks, made out to the Debate Access Initiative, to:

Andrew Urevig & Celisia Stanton

2741 Pillsbury Ave S #202

Minneapolis, MN, 55408

Schedule: 

Round 1 starts at 8:30 AM. We will have 5 rounds of debate for LD and PF, aiming to wrap up with awards by 4:00 PM at the very latest.

Discrimination and harassment policy

Please review our discrimination and harassment policy, adapted from the policy wording released by the National Speech and Debate Association, with your students and judges prior to the tournament. Together, we can create an inclusive atmosphere to support all attendees! 

Food:

Due to the small size of the tournament, we will take pizza orders rather than run a concession stand. There are great drinking fountains at the U of M, so encourage kids to bring a water bottle and STAY HYDRATED. 

CHECK-IN OCCURS FROM 7:30 AM TO 8:15 AM. COME TO CARLSON L-122.