Training and Briefing Day at WUDC

Training in the morning.

Logan and I did training sessions in the morning. A huge (130+) group showed up. I did rebuttal and argument criticism and it seemed to go well.

Masters Rounds

They occurred. There seemed to be a shortage of venues so one even took place in the bar off the lobby. R1 THW require those with plastic surgery to disclose it before having children. R2 THBT robots are winning.

Lunch and the Food

The food selection is huge and very tasty. An entire separate buffet for vegetarians. Such a difference from the bad sandwiches and all at Cork. Huge salad and dessert bar as well. Lots of Turkish sweets. Always a good mix of food including fish.

Common Briefing

Because it was send through email it was limited so we saved a lot of time. It was full of other added ideas that I also liked, such as:

No room is a bin room. Best adjudicators will be rotated throughout the bracket.

If you show up late you will be dropped from the tournament.

Anyone, especially adjudicators, who show up drunk will be dropped from the tournament AND their institution not allowed to break. This seems to be the enforcement against problems I have been concerned about from free alcohol.

Equity issues were discussed reasonably.

Can Okar discussed free speech issues as regards Turkish secularism and "Turkishness."

The adjudication briefing was held. It was long but quite good. Steve Llano got a video of it and it is available at

http://globaldebateblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/wudc-2010-adjudicator-briefing.html

Practice Debates

A number of people had some warm-up rounds, including Ljubljana, Vermont, Oklahoma, Iraq, China, Japan and others.

Pre-Council Meeting

Pre-Council meeting went on under the able direction of Adiba Shareen. Lots of talk about reforming registration and expanding the break. Also about who will run to direct the council.

Opening & Party

This was a truly spectacular event. If you are thinking about hosting WUDC, this would have changed your mind. It was simply too good to compete with. The entire pavilion was decorated as a huge tent, gold lame bunting all over the place, crystal lights with candles at all tables, laser lights all over, bars, table service, a short welcome, excellent dinner, lots of meeting and greeting and photoing, and then a live band with dancing (and a pretty good live band as well). It raged well into the morning.

It was a great start.