MDI Invitational

MDI offers an affordable, equity-oriented summer camp for Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Congressional debate. We're excited to host a tournament for the MN debate community. Money raised from the tournament will support our efforts to serve Minnesota debate, including need-based scholarships for our annual summer camp. 

Tournament date: November 2, 2019.

Formats:

Lincoln-Douglas (novice, varsity; JV if enough entries) — $12.50 per debater

Public Forum (novice, varsity; JV if enough entries) — $12.50 per team

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

Congressional debate (novice, varsity) — $7.00 per debater

Location: University of Minnesota—Twin Cities (West Bank).

Student commons, judges lounge, and tab room are all in Blegen Hall (269 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55455). Rounds will take place in Blegen Hall, Hanson Hall, the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and the Carlson School of Management. (See the University's website for a campus map.)

Blegen is not directly accessible from the road. Buses may drop students off on 4th Street (heading north from there brings you to Blegen Hall) or in the drop off circle outside the Humphrey School (a quick trek east will bring you to Blegen). Please email with any questions regarding location. 

Topics:

Lincoln-Douglas — Resolved: The United States ought to eliminate subsidies for fossil fuels.

Public Forum — Resolved: The benefits of the United States federal government’s use of offensive cyber operations outweigh the harms.

Congress — Legislation will cover topics including Hong Kong, education, reproductive health care, fossil fuels, universal basic income, and voting age. See the full legislation packet here. 

Rounds

We anticipate that numbers will be high, so we will be flighting the tournament: LD and PF will have 4 rounds each. Congressional debate will not be affected. 

Judges:

You must provide one judge for every 4 entries in LD. 

You must provide one judge for every 4 entires in PF. 

You must provide one judge for every 5 entries in Congress.

Please note that your judge obligations are rounded up. In other words, for example, suppose you have 5 entries in LD. In that instance, you'd be responsible for providing 2 judges so that the math works and we can run the tournament. 

Please ensure your judges arrive on time so that we can keep the tournament on schedule. Teams that arrive without their full complement of judges may be asked to drop entries. 

All balloting in LD and PF will be online, so please make sure your judges have a tabroom.com account! Congress critiques will be on paper. 

Judges, coaches, and tournament volunteers will receive complementary food in the judges lounge. 

Registering students:

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

Registration is due by Tuesday, October 29 at 6:00 PM. Drops can continue on tabroom.com until 7:30 AM Saturday morning. If you cannot access tabroom or it is after 7:30, please text any changes to Andrew: 612-839-9198.

Fees:

$12.50 per LD competitor.

$12.50 per PF team.

$7 per Congressional debater

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

Celisia Stanton & Andrew Urevig

2741 Pillsbury Ave S #202

Minneapolis, MN, 55408

Schedule: 

Round 1 starts at 8:00 AM. We will aim to wrap up with awards by 5:00 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! 

Laptop sharing

If you have students who would like to use a laptop but who do not have their own device, please refer to our tech access page. 

REGISTRATION OCCURS FROM 7:15 AM TO 7:40 AM.

Food: We will sell concessions. Please email us with any questions or concerns about food for your students.