Univeristy of Auckland Debating Society

NZ Women’s Tournament

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 03:30:07 +0000

This weekend (11th – 12th September) is the NZ Women’s British Parliamentary Debating Championships! Please email Steph at exex@debating.co.nz if you’d like to debate. Teams are in twos; you can find a partner yourself or get us to find one for you. Beginners are most welcome. The tournament will be chief adjudicated by Desley Horton and you can expect to get some fantastic feedback over 7 rounds of debating. Registration is FREE although please bring $20 for a BYO dinner on Saturday night. There will also be a Women’s forum on the Sunday.

Get excited girls!

Auckland Australs – final tonight!

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:11:13 +0000

Hey all,

As you would have read in my email, Auckland 2 have made the Australs final and will be debating tonight at 6pm at Sky City Theatre against Victoria University of Wellington 1. Well done to Akif Malik, Steph Thompson, and Kathy Errington. Best of luck to them – and if you are in the club, please come along and watch!

Max

Backwards debate and pub quiz

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:48:59 +0000

Hey everyone,

I hope you’ve enjoyed a good week so far before the mid-semester break. Thanks for those who attended the Ladies’ Liquid Luncheon, which by all accounts was a great success – thanks also to Nupur Upadhyay, our Women’s and Minorities’ Officer, for organizing.

As we noted last Thursday, there will be a “backwards debate” this week at 6pm on Thursday (tonight!), in a lecture theatre on campus. We need a big enough lecture theatre to cater for Pool A and Pool B debaters, so we are still finalising where this will be held. Please keep checking your email, and I will send out a short message to inform you of the location once we hear back from those in charge of rooms at the university. I will also post the room on the website. It is likely to be a Clocktower or Engineering lecture theatre. The backwards debate is an exciting comedy debate, which begins with an adjudication – and ends with the first affirmative! Basically the adjudicator and later speakers talk about what has “already happened” in the debate, creating funny and unpredictable situations that the later speakers have to comply with. In past years we have seen songs, rhymes, raps, and many other amusing incidents. Look out for more similar funny moments, involving the Society’s funniest debaters!

Just after 7pm we will be heading over to the Cap and Gown lounge, below Shadows, to have a pub quiz to finish off this mid-semester. Bring your ID and a gold coin to get in at the door. Get into teams of 5-8 and enjoy a relaxed evening that will finish earlier than usual to allow you to head home for Easter.

There will be no debating this week, and we do not meet in the Thursdays during the mid-semester break. We’ll be sending teams down to Easters (or University Games) and we’ll keep you posted of how we do there! We’ll be back with another round of the First Semester tournament, now sponsored by Russell McVeagh, on Thursday 22 April.

Cheers – and see you Thursday!

Max

Debating this week – and the Republican Debate

admin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:25:36 +0000

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a good weekend. We had our “Easters” trials on Saturday and Auckland now has a good contingent being sent down to Invercargill to challenge the other universities at University Games.

Plenty more coming up this week at the Debating Society. First up, on Wednesday evening there will be a public debate organised by the Republican Movement Aotearoa New Zealand in association with the Debating Society on whether New Zealand should become a republic. There will be some guest speakers, including Keith Locke of the Green Party, as well as speakers from our own Society. The debate will start at 6.30pm in Clocktower 032.

Secondly, on Thursday we will be having Round 2 of our Internal Tournament. Apologies for the waiting times last week: it was the first week we’d tried and the new format, and it proved more complicated than we’d expected. We have drawn up a list of revised teams, and I will be sending this out in a separate email. These teams have been put together based on who showed up last week, and who put in details on the online forms. Note that there are lots of people who have entered the online form who are not in this list. That does not matter. You can still come along and form a team from this round onwards. We will form further teams this Thursday that will last for the rest of the semester, but we have decided that it is better to form teams on the night than online, because many people do not show up.

Some important notices about this Thursday:
- If you are in Pool A, you need to RSVP by 5pm on Thursday if you are coming to debate. This means we can run to time and announce the Pool A moot at 5.45pm. You can RSVP if you are in the team list or if you are not.
If you do not RSVP, please come to Pool B at 6.30pm. You will not need to RSVP for Pool B debates; we have time during coaching to put the draw together.
- Pool A: please meet in Stone at 5.30pm. Pool B will meet this week in Northey (downstairs from Stone, ask anyone for directions) at 6.30pm
- The coaching topic for this week will be “Debates on Economics, International Relations, and Human Rights”, starting at 6.30pm for Pool B and 7.30pm for Pool A, with a basic and an advanced session as was the case last week. We have revised our coaching programme, and decided that you will need to attend five coaching sessions, not six, to get a Certificate of Debating Proficiency.
- If you are interested in trainee adjudicating, we cannot guarantee that you will be able to trainee for each round – we have too many numbers and this means debates last too long. We’d encourage you to debate, and we may be able to have you traineeing once every two weeks. Apologies for this.
- Finally, this weekend on Sunday 28 March there will be the Women’s Day, or “Ladies’ Liquid Luncheon”, organised by Nupur, our Women’s and Minorities’ Officer. You’ll have received more about this if you’re a female member of our Society, but it should be a great chance for female debaters to meet each other and to see some of the top women debaters in action! To those who aren’t female, to give some explanation of why we have events like this: debating has been traditionally, and still is, a male-dominated activity. Over the years we have brought more women into debating through events like these, and so we are continuing to try to encourage gender equity in the Society.

Anyway, look out for another email from me – and see you on Wednesday, or Thursday at 5.30pm (Pool A) or 6.30pm (Pool B)!

Cheers,

Max

This Week at Debating – Race Relations, Round 1, and Easters Trials

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:32:33 +0000

Hey guys,

Great to meet a lot of you this past Tuesday and Thursday. If you haven’t been able to make it yet, don’t worry – it’s not too late to come along this week and introduce yourself to us all! Well done to Aria Newfield, who won the First Year Rep election on Thursday and now joins us on the executive. She is the person to go to if you are a first year and you have any ideas/comments; her email is arianewfield@gmail.com. Thanks to everyone for standing, and to the other candidates that did not win, please stay involved with the club.

Three things coming up this week: first, on Wednesday, we have the Race Relations Debate in the Business School, Room OGGB5 at 6.30pm. We have some awesome speakers, including the Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres, Vicar of St Matthew’s in the City Glynn Cardy, Tayyaba Khan, Political Studies lecturer Stephen Winter, and our very own Akif Malik and Sam Bookman. The debate will be judged by Labour MP Jacinda Ardern. It is on the topic “This House would ban religious hate speech” (see poster attached). If all of that isn’t enough to whet your appetite, there will also be free nibbles and some drink after the event! We look forward to seeing you there.

Secondly, on Thursday, we have Round 1 of our First Semester Tournament, along with the start of our regular coaching sessions. As we explained on Thursday, we will split everyone into two pools: pool A at 5.30pm and pool B at 6.30pm. Meet at the Law School in both cases. There is no difference in quality between the pools: they just allow us to divide up numbers. Pool A debaters will meet at Law School at 5.30pm, have the topic of their debate announced at 5.45pm, debate at 6.15pm, and have coaching begin at 7.30pm (and go until about 8.30pm). Pool B debaters will meet at Law School at 6.30pm, have coaching until 7.30pm, then have their topic announced at 7.30pm, and debate from 8pm until 9pm. Coaching will be hugely valuable, and as we indicated on Thursday, if you complete six weeks of coaching, we will provide you with a Certificate of Debating Proficiency. Coaching will be split into two tiers: a basic level coaching course, and a higher level coaching course. If you don’t want coaching, you can take the opportunity to watch a debate.

To sign up for the tournament, we need you to fill in the following form: http://bit.ly/a680tt. You need to fill this form in whether you have team members to debate with or you want to be placed in a team. It is very important that you get this form back to us by Wednesday at 12pm. That way we can announce pools on Wednesday evening so that you know when to turn up on Thursday. Please note that we can only guarantee you a debate if you fill in this form. If you do not fill in this form we will try to match you with speakers on Thursday night, but cannot guarantee in anything. If you don’t have a team, just tell us that you are keen to be in the tournament and we can sort you into a team. (The tournament does not require you to show up every week, though the top teams will be chosen from their best four results, so it does help!) We will also do our best to put you into your preferred pool, but we may have to alter some preferences to ensure an even balance.

Finally, this Saturday 20 March at 9am we will be holding trials for Easters or University Games (until about 3pm). This involves impromptu debating (5 minutes preparation time) and is not for the faint-hearted! But if you are keen to trial for the tournament, which is in Invercargill over the mid-semester break, then please reply to this email to register your interest. We will be sending down five teams of two to Invercargill (a total of ten speakers), and the tournament is likely to cost between $300 and $500 when flights, accommodation and food are added together. Please consider this before sending your email through.

Cheers everyone!

Max

PS: if you are reading this announcement on our website, and have not been getting our emails when you should have been, please email us at exec@debating.co.nz. (This is likely because we may have incorrectly entered your email address from our sign-up sheets to our email.)

Debsoc in 2010

admin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:26:38 +0000

Debsoc’s back and better than ever!

Our tournaments aren't all about the debating

Thinking about joining?

We cater for all abilities, from beginner to expert, so if you’re interested, there are lots of ways to sign up. Come to Opening Night or our first debating night. Email us at exec@debating.co.nz. Visit our stand near the quad - we’ll be there during Freshers’ Week from 9am – 5pm, and during O Week from 8am – 5pm. We’ll even have a stand at Law School, 11am – 3pm during O Week. Remember, if you were a member last year you’ll still need to re-join this year.

Opening Night

Some say Opening Night is the biggest event on the Debsoc calendar. They’re probably right. So come along on Tuesday 9th March at 6pm to hear what Debsoc has to offer you. You can watch some of our best speakers argue it out in a debate, mix and mingle with the Debsoc crowd and enjoy some drinks and nibbles – on us. Oh and by the way – the venue is TBC, but it will be on campus. All the more reason to join us.

Tush, Bri and Craig demonstrate just how much fun there is to be had at Opening Night

Thursday 12th March

This is when it all begins. Take part in a training seminar, watch a How to Debate video or try your hand at debating itself with other speakers of a similar ability. We’ll of course top it off with some friendly drinks at a nearby bar afterwards.

Debsoc’s back. Get excited.

2009 Prize Winners

admin — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:44:24 +0000

End of Year Dinner 2009

Thanks to everyone who came to the End of Year Dinner. It was a fantastic night and it was great to see you all. Thanks too for the kind words. At the dinner we handed out a number of awards for 2009, which are summarized below:

Oratory Competition – 3rd Place:
Briony Bennett

Oratory Competition – 2nd Place:
Sam Bookman

Oratory Competition – 1st Place:
Max Harris

Amatuer (weekend) BP Tournament – Best Speaker:
Alex Kirch

Amatuer (weekend) BP Tournament – Winners:
Chuan-Zheng Lee and Charlotte Forster

Auckland University BP Open – Best Speaker:
Nupur Upadhyay

Auckland University BP Open – Runners Up:
Hank Bao and Alex Chiu

Auckland University BP Open – Winners:
Sam Bookman and Gretta Schumacher

Most Promising Female Speaker:
Gretta Schumacher

Most Promising Male Speaker:
Sam Bookman

Best Speaker:
Max Harris

Shield for Contribution to the Club:
Glenn Riddell

Life Membership:
Life Membership of the Society was awarded to Desley Horton and Brad Ward

AUBPO Results and Break Details

admin — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:02:01 +0000

Debating: it's what we do.

Hi all,

After 8 competitive rounds we are happy to announce the results and break for the AUBPO contest in 2009.

1. Before we get to those results however, please take note of the special arrangements for this Thursday:

There will be a semi-final held at 6pm this Thursday (instead of a regular ‘Pro Debate’);
There will be a Grand Final straight afterward (when the second round normally occurs);
General debates will be at the special time of 6pm (so in the first time slot) so people can watch the final if they wish to;
If you want to participate in a general debate you must therefore arrive at the special time of 610pm;
People are welcome (and encouraged) to watch the semis and finals!

2. Top Eight Teams (in order):

Below are the top breaking teams in order of results. Teams were ranked first by their ‘win points’ and then where necessary by their speaker scores. Where teams had debated more than 5 times, their top 5 results were counted.

These people are happy because they can't wait to be at the AUBPO final!

1. Brad/Nupur (not eligible to break)

2. Gretta/Sam

3. Benedict/Mark

4. David/Jesse

5. Hank/Alex

6. Charlotte/Chuan-Zheng

7. Ashton/Verity

8. Aritra/Andrew

9. Kate/Kirsty

These 8 teams (including Kate and Kirsty because my team will not be continuing) will be text over the next few days to confirm their availability for the finals. Congratulations to those teams and to everyone else who competed!

3. Top Ten Speakers (in order)

Below are the top ten speakers in order. Note that speakers were ranked if they had debated at least three times. Scores were taken individually, so people who did not have consisted teams were not disadvantaged.

Some of our members. A happy bunch. We dress well.

1. Brad Ward

2. Nupur Upadhyay

3. Mark Tush

4. Sam

5. Gretta

6. Ed Brownlee

7. Charlotte Forster

8. Ashton Goatley

9. Benedict Tompkins

10. Tim Conder

4. Special Thanks:

Many of you will have debated against me during the preliminary rounds. It’s been good to have an opportunity to debate alongside you all rather than simply judge you each week. Because the tournament is about you however, my team will not be progressing in the tournament. On that basis, I would like to pay special thanks to my partner in crime, Nupur Upadhyay, who misses out on an opportunity to compete in the finals as a result. Nupur has been a strong debater and her individual speaker ranking reflects that; I’m sure on any other team she would have otherwise been in the final so my thanks and congratulations go to her.

Thanks also to everyone who has competed, debated and adjudicated throughout the semester. It’s been a great tournament and I hope you have all enjoyed it.

5. Weekly ‘Best Speaker’ awards:

You will recall that each week we have been awarding the best speaker in a randomly drawn room a prize. That prize has been a free ticket to our end of year dinner (see below). Not all weekly winners have been announced on the night, so check below for your name. Winners are:

This is me congratulating the AUBPO winners.

Round 1: Tracey Hu
Round 2: Charlotte Forster
Round 3: Chantelle Butler
Round 4: TBC (see below)
Round 5: TBC (see below)
Round 6: TBC (see below)
Round 7: Rupert Nelson
Round 8: Jesse Hart

Apologies that I do not have the winners recorded for Rounds 4,5 and 6. I don’t have the results with me and would prefer to get this email out to you all as soon as possible. If anyone can help fill me if they remember receiving a prize that would be appreciated, otherwise I will be in touch with the other 3 recipients when I track down the mark sheets!

End of Year Dinner (23 October)

admin — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:58:22 +0000

Come and have dinner with us!

The annual Debsoc End of Year Dinner is being held next Friday! This is an event not to be missed and you MUST RSVP if you want to come. Ticket sales may be limited, so get in quick! Details are:

When: Friday 23 October, from 6pm.

Where: Shochiku Japanese Teepan Yaki Restaurant – 460 Queen St

Cost: $20 per person

Food: Price includes a set dinner menu. There is a choice between chicken, beef and a vegetarian option. Dinner includes rice, salad, fried dumplings, miso soup, sushi, katsu and more!

Drinks: The Society will be putting on half a bottle of wine free per person. Given that some people will not drink, this will probably work out to slightly more than half a bottle per drinker in practice. We are investigating what we can do for non-drinkers and will announce something closer to the night. The restaurant is BYO with corkage waived, so you can bring extra wine should you like! There is a bottle shop right next door to the restaurant, so you will be able to pop next door during the evening if needed.

What happens: We’ll have dinner, drinks, make some short speeches and give out some awards. Then we’ll hit town. It’s a big night and a good way to celebrate the end of debating and the end of classes. Don’t miss it.

Payment: We will not be taking cash on the night, so you must RSVP and pay in advance. There are three ways to pay:

In person this Thursday at Debsoc;
Text me on 021 2344612 and meet me somewhere at uni this week;
Bank transfer us us the cash (preferred option);

Bank Details:

Account Name: University of Auckland Debating Society;
Account Number: 38-9008-0327404-00

Get in quick and email us if you have any questions!

Brad

Debsoc 15 October

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:53:57 +0000

Meet Akif this week at Debsoc

Hi all,

1. AUBPO Continues this Thursday 15 October
Rather than hold the AUBPO break rounds this week we have decided to hold those next week and hold another general AUBPO round to let teams have one last hit at reaching five debates. That means all teams can enter/attend as usual and we will have be having casual debates for people not in teams as well. We will be in Stone this week. A Pro Debate will start at 6pm so arrive anytime before 6:45pm to register for the general rounds. The topic for that round will be released at 7:15pm.

This is instead of a catch up round tomorrow.

2. So the AUBPO Final is Next Thursday 22 October
The break to the final debate in the AUBPO Competition will be announced this Friday and a final will take place next Thursday. More details will follow on Friday

3. End of Year Dinner Next Friday 23 October
The End of Year Dinner and Prize-giving is shaping up for next Friday 23 October. We have something pretty cool in mind and will announce the location and pricing details tomorrow or Thursday. In the meantime, just keep that night free for some Debsoc fun!

4. NZBP This Novemeber
The NZ BP Champs take place next month on 21/22 November in Wellington. The competition is open entry – so ANYONE can attend. Better yet, you get to select your own team! Auckland Debsoc always sends a large contingent along and we expect at least 25-30 of us will make it down this time too. More details can be found here. It’s going to be an excellent way to finish the year, so we encourage everyone to think about attending!

If you didn’t email in last week, do email in and let us know if you wish to attend!

That’s all,

Brad