Just saw some of the rule changes for GPS for this year. Prep times/speaking times appear to be the same as last year, much to my dismay given how badly almost every week the juniors overlapped into seniors as a result of 45 minute prep. Often debates had senior teams walking in while juniors were still going. Though part of that is also cracking down on teams in getting into and out of prep. One round one a debate was delayed by almost 15 minutes trying to work out where one of the teams went (worse still the home team).
Anyway, rule changes (the 2015 ones. The rest you might find are actually from 2014):
Topic Distribution for Years 7-9 in 2015
- As a trial in 2015, Years 7 - 9 will have a list of three published topics per Topic Area. These topics will be released early in the week of the round. Debaters will be told on the night which topic is to be debated.
- Year 10 and Senior topics will be released on the evening, as previously.
Notes and Phones in Preparation
- No notes/fact sheets may be taken into preparation rooms, although a dictionary is allowed (Host co-ordinators may check this). No phones or internet connected devices are permitted in preparation rooms.
Affirmative/Negative
In 2015, we return to a coin toss to determine Aff/Neg. The side who wins the toss will affirm in the As/Cs & 1st/3rds and negate in the Bs & 2nds/4ths. There will be a first coin toss at 6:45pm for the junior debates and a second coin toss at 7:30pm for the senior debates,
I find the topic change a bit odd. Like I get why they've gone for that option but the solution is probably to have a better discussion with the CA/topics committee (if GPS has one) about accessibility of topics then to resort to a quasi prepared system, esp given the level of coaching available, its just going to be kids throwing out uni debater arguments they dont understand.
I think the reintroduction of the coin toss isnt a good idea either as it means teams can have a disproportionate number of aff/negs. less importantly, it makes it harder for us to track motion balance as was the case with ISDA finals.
Thoughts of other people?
Also any other thoughts about the upcoming comps?
Also Round 1 of CAS and SDN are this friday. GPS starts next week.