[eDebate] GSU Tournament Invitation

[Joe Bellon]

Please make sure to read the hotel information, as we are using a 
different hotel this year!



22 July, 2004

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to invite you and your students to attend the fifth annual 
GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY NATIONAL DEBATE TOURNAMENT, to be held in 
Atlanta, September 25-27, 2004. Last year our tournament drew over a 
hundred teams from across the country. This year, we will work even 
harder to make Georgia State a regular start-of-the-season destination 
for your debate teams. This invitation contains all the information you 
will need to register, including hotel info.

We are committed to providing you and your students with a wonderful 
debate experience. We have moved to a hotel location that is closer to 
campus and accessible via public transportation with rates under $80 a 
night, kept registration costs low, and kept the entire tournament 
centrally located within a single building complex on our campus.

Here are some of the major tournament FEATURES I hope will entice you 
to visit us in Atlanta:

****  A FULL SERVICE tournament. Open and JV divisions (assuming enough 
JV teams register). 8 prelim rounds in Open and 6 in JV, with elims for 
both divisions. We normally break to a full doubles bracket in Open and 
semis in JV. If fewer than 70 open teams register, however, we may move 
to modified doubles.

****  High QUALITY COMPETITION. We expect to equal our national draw 
from last year. Most of the best programs in the southeast have 
committed to attend, often with their top teams. We are eager to 
welcome programs from around the nation to attend our tournament.

****  A full and COMPREHENSIVE tournament CASE and argument LIST 
provided for all teams.

****  A TAB ROOM staff that reflects the DIVERSITY of our CIRCUIT, 
dedicated to making all participants feel welcome, regardless of their 
program's historical commitments to either the old CEDA or NDT 
circuits. This year, Mike Davis will be running our tab room. We're 
committed to enthusiastically implementing CEDA policies on sexual 
harassment and inclusion. We are seeking placement on the official CEDA 
calendar, and commit to implement all the policies necessary to have 
the tournament accredited for inclusion in the CEDA and NDT rankings 
processes.

****  An ongoing COMMITMENT TO HOSPITALITY. We will offer breakfast and 
extensive snacks on Saturday and Sunday, including high quality coffee 
all day long. The tournament is located within one block of Underground 
Atlanta, a subterranean mall with a major food court that makes lunch 
cheap and convenient both prelim days.

****  Great FACILITIES. We've reserved rooms to accommodate 100 teams 
in ONE MAJOR CLASSROOM COMPLEX, so as to minimize room moves. No 
cross-campus hikes! Additional rooms will be added if necessary.

**** ON-LINE TOURNAMENT ENTRY. We will be using Jon Bruschke's on-line 
tournament entry system, making it easy for you to add and revise teams 
and judges.

****  WELCOME TO ATLANTA. A wonderful international city, Atlanta 
underwent major citywide improvements in anticipation of the 1996 
Olympics. Great hotels, wonderful restaurants and nightlife, easy to 
get around, tons of great things to do within an easy drive from campus 
or the tournament hotel. Oh, and the parties don't stop til 8 in the 
mornin. They actually shot that video across the street from the 
location of our prelim debates.

****  Typically GREAT FALL WEATHER. September usually offers wonderful 
early fall weather. Last year, the weather was perfect. A recent check 
of the long range weather forecasts for our tournament weekend shows 
temperatures projected in the low 70's.

Information about the other logistics of this event are enclosed. 
Please move quickly to secure your reservations at the Renaissance 
Atlanta Hotel Downtown.

Please join us in Atlanta this September!

Sincerely,


Dr.Joe Bellon
Director of Debate

Department of Communication
Georgia State University
University Plaza
1 Park Place
Atlanta, Georgia 30303

office: 404-651-0860
fax: 404-651-1409
tournament e-mail: gsudebate at mindspring.com
non-tournament e-mail: jbellon at mindspring.com


IMPORTANT INFORMATION

HOTEL. The tournament hotel is the Renaissance Atlanta Hotel Downtown, 
located at 590 West Peachtree Street, NW, in Atlanta. We have reserved 
a block of 100 rooms at the tournament rate of $79 per night for 
double-doubles. For reservations, call 1-888-391-8724 and ask for the 
"GSU Debate" group reservations. Please make your reservations as soon 
as you reasonably can.

This hotel is remarkably well located. It is about a 5 minute drive 
from campus, and is accessible via MARTA?s North Avenue station. It is 
also within walking distance of a number of restaurants, including 
Atlanta?s famous Varsity restaurant, the largest fast-food 
establishment in the world. The hotel offers high-speed internet access 
as part of its normal phone usage fee. You can self-park your vehicle 
unless it is a large van, in which case you must valet park. In either 
case, the fee is only $10 per day, which is amazing for downtown 
Atlanta.

For schools who wish to claim a tax exemption, the hotel prefers to 
receive a copy of the tax exempt form, a purchase order, and to receive 
payment via Government issue credit card or state check. Feel free to 
call the information number at the Renaissance for details about this 
issue - the hotel is eager to work with you.

DIRECTIONS TO THE HOTEL. The hotel's web site is:
http://marriott.com/property/propertyPage.mi?marshaCode=ATLBR

This web site includes a "driving directions" option which will give 
you excellent directions to the hotel.

TOURNAMENT ADMINISTRATION DETAILS. We will debate the official CEDA 
resolution. Any student meeting AFA eligibility requirements may enter 
the open division. The JV division is restricted to AFA eligible 
students in their first or second year of intercollegiate debate. Given 
the earliness of the season, hybrid teams will be accepted AND will be 
allowed to debate in elims. 9-3-6, 10 minutes prep. We will use 
existing side constraints and flip-for-sides procedures in the 
elimination round debates. The first two prelim debates will be preset 
randomly. We will pair rounds 3 and 4 off the results of rounds 1 and 
2. We will pair rounds 5 and 6 off the results of 1-4. Debates after 
that (rounds 7-8) will be power matched high-low within brackets. 
Clearing teams and speakers will receive awards. We expect all judges 
at the tournament to make a decision at the end of the round signifying 
that one team has won and the other team has lost the debate, and to 
fill in appropriate speaker points and ranks. Ballots attempting to 
award a double win or loss will be adjusted to this procedure by use of 
a coin toss. We will not break brackets in elimination rounds.

ALL JUDGES are obligated to judge through octafinals, or one round 
after their school's last team exits the tournament, whichever comes 
later.

CASE LIST: We ask that at registration you provide us with an exact 
plan text for the case each of your teams is running, plus the 1AC 
outline and 1AC citations. In fact, we would really appreciate it if 
you could e-mail us this information earlier in the week preceding the 
tournament, but we understand if you're not able to comply. We are 
collecting this information for the purpose of producing a 
comprehensive case list given a small support staff. The information 
you provide us will be kept absolutely confidential, and will not be 
released to tournament participants until the morning of the second day 
of prelims.

FEES: Entry fees of $100 per Open team and $85 per JV team. Schools 
should supply 1 judge for every two teams, regardless of division. 
Contact Joe Bellon if you need to hire judges, with as much lead time 
as possible. We expect each school to cover their own judging 
obligations, and we strongly encourage teams to bring judges whose 
reputation will allow them to judge their entire commitment of rounds. 
Judges are obligated through the octafinal debate, or one round beyond 
the elimination of their teams. If you are willing to be hired, please 
contact Bellon immediately - it is likely we will want your services.

ENTERING: We are using Dr. Jon Bruschke's online tournament entry 
system. This system can be accessed at 
http://commweb.fullerton.edu/jbruschke/web/index.aspx. Please enter 
your teams and specify your judging by midnight Tuesday, September 21. 
Please contact Joe Bellon if you are planning to enter more than 6 
teams in a single division. REGISTRATION: Will occur at the Renaissance 
Atlanta Hotel Friday from 6:00 - 9:30 p.m.


TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24

6:00 - 9:30 p.m.    Registration, Marriott Century Center Hotel

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25

7:30 - 8:30     Pairings available at GSU Campus
8:30     ROUND 1
10:30     ROUND 2
12:30     Lunch on your own
2:30     ROUND 3
5:00     ROUND 4

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26

7:00 - 8:00     Pairings available at GSU Campus
8:00     ROUND 5
10:30    ROUND 6
12:30     Lunch on your own
2:30     ROUND 7*
5:30     ROUND 8*
Teams clearing announced at the tournament hotel

* Elimination rounds in the JV division may begin during rounds 7 and 
8, depending on the size of the division and our judging constraints. 
If necessary, another JV elim round will be held on Sunday, during the 
second elimination round in the Open division.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27

7:00 - 8:00     Pairings available, Marriott convention center
8:00     First elimination round in open
AWARDS ASSEMBLY TO FOLLOW the first elimination round.
Rest of elimination rounds to follow, through finals.
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