Dear Debaters,
IMPORTANT NOTICE!!
The XXth World Universities Debating Championship has been MOVED to start on TUESDAY 4th of JANUARY and finish with the grand final on Tuesday 11th, with accommodation provided until 12 noon on Wednesday 12th of January.
This decision has been based on our research into the price and availability of flights into Sydney directly before New Year's Eve from many parts of the world. Many flights into Sydney are already booked out with people arriving for the new millenium. Prices are already prohibitive and set to rise as we approach that date. Our new dates will enable you to fly to Sydney AFTER New Year (and the first of January!), which should solve these problems. This does NOT remove the NEED TO BOOK EARLY. Australia seems to be an extremely desirable destination this summer, and the travel agents expect flights to be booked out close to that date.
Quite a few people also communicated with us a wish to spend this special New Year's Eve with loved ones back home.
We understand that this move may cause some people difficulties, and we apologise for this. We felt, however, that the date change was the lesser of two evils. We will endeavour to render all assistance possible to overcome these difficulties. In the past, the tournament has been held even later in January.
If you still wish to celebrate the new millennium in Sydney, do not fear. We will still be offering a package of accommodation and informal social events starting from the 27th of December. We will still be having a NYE party and all of you are most welcome to come and join us. This will provide you with the perfect opportunity to have a real Sydney summer holiday in the sun, and enable you to be relaxed and refreshed for the start of the tournament.
There will be no shortage of things to see and do during this period, Sydney will be full of action and excitement as well as places to relax and get a good tan. You may even wish to visit other parts of Australia first. We will endeavour to assist you to plan a trip to suit your desires. You can stay at Sydney Uni (in our cheap college accommodation - other accommodation will be extremely expensive) any nights you require from 27th December.
More information giving further details of our tournament will follow very soon. Our website is now up at http://www.worlds.usyd.edu.au/, and will shortly be updated to reflect the date change.
You should direct any queries arising from this email to me, Peter Nicholas, the Communications Director for Worlds 2000 at the email address comms@worlds.usyd.edu.au.
In general, please use your regional email addresses for all other enquiries. We have now appointed two people to co-ordinate communications with specific regions.
For Europeans emailing to europe@worlds.usyd.edu.au, your queries will now be answered by Belinda Yeo, who recently adjudicated at the Manila Worlds.
People resident in North or South America should use america@worlds.usyd.edu.au. This will reach Ed Sexton.
All others should use
africa@worlds.usyd.edu.au
aust-nz@worlds.usyd.edu.au
asia@worlds.usyd.edu.au
which will be answered by me.
If you are no longer a debater or in contact with your university, please forward this to the relevant person. We would also appreciate it if you could advise us of their contact details.
You may also get this email more than once. I apologise if this has occurred.
I hope you understand our concerns, and will still be able to see us in Sydney come January next year. Again, if you have any queries or problems, please reply to me or your regional co-ordinators.
Yours Sincerely
Peter Nicholas
Communications Director
For the Sydney Worlds 2000 Executive
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 June 1999
Dear Debaters,
You are receiving this email because, according to our records, you are
interested in the World Universities Debating Championship. If this is not
the case, please reply telling me so, and we will remove you from our list.
If this is so, we apologise for disturbing you.
I hope that all of you now realise that dates of the XXth World Universities
Debating Championship, to be hosted by the University of Sydney Union, have
been changed . Sydney Worlds 2000 will now start on the 4th of January 2000,
and the Grand Final will be on the evening of 11th of January, meaning that
accommodation lasts until noon on the 12th. This move was unavoidable due to
the restricted availability and excessive pricing of flights prior to
January 1st into Sydney. If there are any further questions arising from
this change, please feel free to ask me.
Preparations for Worlds are now well advanced and we are looking forward to
greeting you all in Sydney.
----------------------
TIMETABLE
----------------------
4th January
* Registration
* Opening ceremony
* Opening night party
5th January
* Worlds Masters
* Training seminars
* Adjudicator evaluation
6th January
* Debate rounds 1, 2, 3
* Party [Glasgow (next year's hosts) Night either tonight or tomorrow]
7th January
* Debate rounds 4, 5, 6
* Party
8th January
* Debate rounds 7, 8, 9
* Break night party
9th January
* Free day
* Worlds Council
10th January
* Octo- and Quarter-finals
* Championship Dinner (Darling Harbour)
11th January
* Semi-finals
* Grand Final
* Final night party
12th January
* Bye
----------------------
ACCOMMODATION
----------------------
Rego costs include all accommodation from the night of 4th of January till
the noon on the 12th of January.
Accommodation will be in the on-campus residential colleges of Sydney
University in single or double rooms. The colleges are 5 minutes' walk from
the debating venues. The university itself is a 10 minute bus trip from the
city centre and harbour. Accommodation will include breakfast each day, and
most other meals will also be provided.
Accommodation will be available before the tournament from the 27th of
December, and for a fairly flexible amount of time afterwards. Again, this
will include breakfast. Extra accommodation will cost A$40 per night. We
will endeavour to meet to everyone at the airport, given sufficient notice
of your flight details. Some help with travel after the tournament will also
be available.
New Year's Eve in Sydney will be sensational, as Sydney has been recognised
as one of the best three or four venues in the world for the end of the
millennium. (That's why flights are so difficult before New Year's! So book
early, i.e. now, if you're arriving before then. Several airlines are using
sliding scales to jack prices up month-by-month.) We will be providing for
whoever can make it. Our plans for this night are still being finalised, but
a big party will very much be the order of the day.
----------------------
SOCIAL
----------------------
We'll be hitting many of Sydney's top nightspots. The venues will range from
the harbour, to the city, to historic venues within Sydney University
itself. (100% guarantee against the use of basketball courts). The socials
are designed to cater for the diversity of interests that are the world
debating community as well as cater for cross-cultural common denominators
of food and drink. They will include live bands, DJs, night-clubs, open air
venues and our harbour. Everyone is flocking to Sydney in 2000 for its
nightlife. (Not the fact they heard that there was going to be a debating
tournament on, funnily enough). The university itself is situated in the
heart of Sydney's student district, and the surrounds are full of cheap and
cheerful multi-cultural restaurants, bars and cafés. But never fear, for
those of you who grew fond of the Manila MegaMall experience, we have a mall
of our own (though admittedly smaller) on one edge of the university.
---------------------
DEBATING AND ADJUDICATION
---------------------
The tournament promises the highest standards of adjudication and debating.
We have recently hosted the Australasian debating tournament, and the same
people are back again to make sure Sydney Worlds 2000 runs just as smoothly.
The debating tradition at Sydney University is extremely strong, with over
100 debaters regularly attending debates, and a proud record over the
history of Worlds itself.
Adjudicators will be subjected to rigorous testing and evaluation. Our Chief
Adjudicator, Rebecca Graham, has had extensive Worlds experience, and will
be assisted by our two Deputy Chief Adjudicators Ben Foss and Andy Hume,
from America and the UK respectively. We aim to ensure the highest ever
standard of adjudication at a Worlds through our new programme of
accreditation, which is similar to that used for the Australasians
tournament.
---------------------
ADJUDICATOR-TO-DEBATER RATIO
---------------------
Current Worlds regulations state the each university must send one less
adjudicator than the total number of teams ("n-1"). Therefore, if your
university wishes to send 4 teams, it must send 3 adjudicators, if you wish
to send 2 teams, you must send 1 adjudicator.
There will also be a team cap of six teams per university. If this creates
difficulties for any reason, please contact us now.
------------------------
REGISTRATION DETAILS AND DEADLINES
------------------------
You need not pay us until October, but if now is easier, we can invoice you
and process your payment now.
Registration will be charged in Australian Dollars (currently around 62 US
cents). Registration for each debater will be $A550 Australian Dollars, and
$A525 per adjudicator (on the basis that they sit our accreditation test). A
late fee will apply after November 1.
Payment may be made by cheque or money order to "The University of Sydney
Union", direct transfer or credit card. For any payment enquiries, please
email Laila De Melo, our Finance Director, on finance@worlds.usyd.edu.au and
cc your email to me at comms@worlds.usyd.edu.au
------------------------
WORLDS MASTERS
------------------------
We will be continuing with the Worlds Masters tournament that began in
Manila. (This tournament is designed to lure previous megastars back as
adjudicators). Representation will be by nations, with each nation sending
up to two teams of two people. The national intervarsity debating body is
responsible for naming teams.
As you may have deduced, the format has been changed to regular Worlds style
rather than four per team, but two teams may enter from each nation.
The knockout rounds will be conducted on the 5th of January and the final
will be later on in the week. Expressions of interest in Worlds Masters
should be made to you national body and then to myself.
------------------------
COMMUNICATIONS
------------------------
While I am the overall Communications Director for Worlds
(comms@worlds.usyd.edu.au), we have appointed regional co-ordinators who
will be dealing with your day-to-day concerns directly.
These are
North America: Edward Sexton
america@worlds.usyd.edu.au
Europe: Belinda Yeo
europe@worlds.usyd.edu.au
If you are from either of these regions, Ed or Belinda should be your first
point of contact.
I will be co-ordinating Asia, Africa and our own region, and can be reached
on
* asia@worlds.usyd.edu.au
* africa@worlds.usyd.edu.au
or
aust-nz@worlds.usyd.edu.au.
I am also available over ICQ (UIN 13530418) or AOL instant messenger
("Dasher PJN")
Please also check our soon-to-be-updated website,
http://www.worlds.usyd.edu.au for further details. We will post all
newsletters there in future.
From our website, you can join one of two Worlds eGroups (sydworlds-announce
or sydworlds-digest) to make sure you're emailed either general
announcements or more detailed information about the tournament. Please do
this, particularly if you're the contact person from your university.
We would also advise that you start looking into buying tickets to Sydney
soon. We are still working on several airlines for discounted rates and will
update you if any deal does eventuate.
I hope to be in touch with you all soon.
Cheers,
Peter Nicholas
Communications Director
Sydney Worlds 2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8 September 1999
Dear Debater
This is another email concerning the XXth World Universities Debating Championship. If you no longer wish to receive any information about this tournament, please reply to us now.
The XXth World Championships are only four months away and we at Sydney University are getting really excited about Worlds. The debates community on campus is becoming even more active than ever. We've got over 100 Sydney University students debating in Worlds style at the moment and many of them will be organising and adjudicating at the tournament. We've also recently confirmed the Governor General of Australia (our de facto head of state) to be the patron of the tournament.
We're pleased to announce that the website has finally been updated to include more registration information. This includes the registration deadline of the 31st of October 1999. Later registration may incur a substantial late fee. Those who have not settled all debts with us by the 4th of January , which is the first day of the tournament, will be unable to participate.
The website contains some useful travel links for Sydney and Australia. It also includes the rules of the tournament and will soon be updated again with more adjudication and social information. Socially the tournament promises to be one of the best yet which some crazy events like harbour cruises, free day trips to the beach, a formal dinner at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre (an Olympic venue) and parties at some of the city's most prestigious pubs and clubs.
Also, it would be useful at this stage if you could update your regional co-ordinator with a new estimate of how many people are coming from your university and whether you need a formal invite for your institution or help with sponsorship letters. Any flight information and requests for accommodation outside the tournament dates would also be appreciated.
Lastly, it would be useful if you could send me the most up-to-date postal address for your institution's debate society for my records . Our registration forms will be available on our website in the next fortnight, but if you'd prefer, you can ask us to post them to you instead.
Cheers
Peter Nicholas
Communications Director
Sydney Worlds 2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
26 September 1999
Dear Debaters,
This is another update from the Sydney Worlds 2000 Executive. If you would
no longer like to be informed about Worlds, or have received this in error,
I apologise, and ask you to reply so that I can remove you from my list.
We are pleased to announce that the registration forms can now be downloaded
from the website from the 'registration' page
http://www.worlds.usyd.edu.au/registration.htm. Please note that the
registration deadline is the 31st of October. Universities registering after
this date do so at their own risk, as Sydney will be an incredibly busy city
in January 2000 and we need to finalise our accommodation needs as soon as
possible. Consequently, we are not guaranteeing participation in the
tournament to those registering after this date. Payments made after the
31st may also incur a 25 dollar late fee at the discretion of the finance
director. If you have any difficulties with this, contact us now.
Moreover, those wanting accomodation before the tournament from the 27th of
December should contact us immediately. We can accommodate everyone as long
as we have **plenty** of notice - again, if you ask us late, we may not be
able to help you. You should email your regional contact person soon if you
do require this accommodation (unless you have already) and confirm it by
sending in your registration forms by fax or mail.
We are also happy to announce that in order to aid your preparation for the
tournament, and further the high standard of debating, a Worlds-style
training video and commentary has been prepared by the Chief Adjudicator.
This video will be distributed to all universities who will attend Sydney
Worlds on a request basis.
If you are in the UK or North America, the video will be distributed through
the Deputy Chief Adjudicators, Ben Foss and Andy Hume, in conjunction with
the relevent regional body. Videos will be distributed at the various autumn
Debating Competitions. For more information on this, contact Rebecca Graham,
our Chief Adjudicator, at
chief.adjudicator@worlds.usyd.edu.au
If you are in any other region, we will be directly in charge of
distribution. Please email me at comms@worlds.usyd.edu.au to request a
copy.
In other exciting news, for all those who have not yet booked flights we are
in the final stages of arranging a flight deal with Qantas. The details are
still being finalised, but international flights may be discounted by about
10 per cent if you are able to find a group of 10 people who are
intending to travel on the same flight and you are travelling within 7 days
either side of the tournament. I will email you the complete details when
they are finalised later in the week.
Furthermore, for all those cricket fans out there, we have managed to secure
tickets for the India-Australia Test match for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of
January. If you will be in Sydney during this period, please let us know
if you want tickets so we can get some idea of how many tickets to put
aside.
I hope to see you all in Sydney
Cheers
Peter Nicholas
Communications Director,
Sydney Worlds 2000.
www.worlds.usyd.edu.au
comms@worlds.usyd.edu.au
previous updates can be viewed at
http://www.worlds.usyd.edu.au/bulletins.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19 October 1999
WORLDS TRAINING VIDEO/ QANTAS
Dear all,
This is a reminder notice about the Worlds Video Sydney University is making available to all institutions. If your institution would like a
copy of this video, you have until October 31st to let us know so we can copy the videos and distribute them, allowing adequate time for interested competitors and adjudicators to watch the video before the tournament.
Below is detailed information about the video to enable you to decide whether you want a copy. If you have any more questions, feel free to contact the Chief Adjudicator, Rebecca Graham, at chief.adjudicator@worlds.usyd.edu.au.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORLDS VIDEO
What is the video?
It is probably best to start by outlining what this video is not. This video is NOT an adjudication accreditation video. It is a training video. It is specifically suited to adjudicators (judges) trying to improve their knowledge and understanding of British Parliamentary Style debating. However, it may also be of interest to debaters training for the competition.
What is on the video?
The video is of a British Parliamentary style debate staged at Sydney Uni earlier this year. The competitors are unfortunately mostly Australian, due to the lack of debaters of other nationalities in Sydney.
What comes with the video?
The video comes with an Information Pack including:
* The Worlds Rules
* An Introduction to the video and to Worlds-style debating
* Notes to read during the debate
It is the last of these three items, the notes to read during the debate, which is the most important. These notes comprise a commentary on each speaker. They look at the various components of the speech (eg positive matter, rebuttal, points of information) and enunciate the positive and negative things speakers did in each of these areas. These notes should enhance your understanding of what teams and speakers are meant to do in a Worlds-style debate and better equip you to judge a debate.
Are there any other formalities (eg accreditation or testing) that adjudicators should know about?
Adjudicators will be tested at Worlds on January 5, the day before debating starts. The test will involve all adjudicators watching another video-taped debate and writing a one page outline of how they awarded the debate and why. We intend to screen this video on Jan 2, 3 and 4 as well and encourage adjudicators to watch it as soon as they get to Sydney.
_____________________________________________________
The universities from outside the UK and North America that have ordered
the training video so far are as follows.
ADFA
Macquarie
UTS
University of Santo Tomas
NUS
Nanyang
Bandung Institute of Technology
Institut Teknologi Mara
Hebrew University Israel
Rhodes
Stellenbosch
MEDUNSA
University of Cape Town
If you believe you have already ordered the video and are not on
this list,
please email comms@worlds.usyd.edu.au now.
FLIGHT INFORMATION
Qantas Airways has been appointed the Official Airline for the World Universities Debating Championships to be held in Sydney, 4-11 January 2000. Under this arrangement Qantas offices in all parts of the world will be pleased to discuss with you or your travel agent any special travel requirements and itineraries, and will explain airfare structure for the most economical travel to suit your needs. Please quote the reference code CIC*461/200
Qantas reservations telephone numbers you should call are:
UK/Europe
Amsterdam: 683 8081
Geneva: 0848 888 747
Germany: 0180 3250630
Paris: 803 846 846
Rome: 06 5249 1525
Stockholm: 0824 2502
United Kingdom:0345 747 767
Zurich: 01 211 4411
North &South America-
Canada: 1800 227 4500 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1800 227 4500 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
USA (inc Honolulu):1800 227 4500 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1800 227 4500 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Buenos Aires: 4320 6688
Santiago: 232 9562
South Pacific
Auckland: 357 8900
Rest of NZ: 0800 808 767
Nadi: 72 2880
Noumea: 28 6546
Papeete: 43 06 65
Port Moresby: 321 12 00
Asia:
Bali: 288331
Bankok: 636 1747
Beijing: 6467 4794
Ho Chi Minh City: 842 4950
Hong Kong: 2842 1438
Jakarta: 230 0277
Kuala Lumpor: 267 6188
Manila: 812 0607
Mumbai: 282 8794
New Delhi: 332 9027
Seoul: 777 6871
Shanghai: 6279 8128
Singapore: 839 7788
Taipei: 2522 1001
Tokyo: 3593 7000
Rest of Japan: 0120 7020
Africa:
Harare: 751228
Johannesburg: 784 5300
Furthermore, we are looking forward to receiving your registration by October 31. If you are having difficulties, please contact us now.
Cheers,
Peter Nicholas and Rebecca Graham for the
Sydney Worlds 2000 Executive
comms@worlds.usyd.edu.au
www.worlds.usyd.edu.au
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 November 1999
WORLDS 2000 FINANCE DETAILS
Dear Worlds Debaters,
The bank account details for wire transfers have been changed to deal with
the huge influx of funds. Future bank wire transfers should be directed to
To: University of Sydney Union
Bank: National Australia Bank
Branch: Wentworth Building, University of Sydney
State Code: 082
Branch: 372
Account No: 50945 3758
Universities who have already wired money to the old account
will receive individual confirmation of this as soon as possible.
Laila de Melo, the Finance Director, can be reached at
lademelo@hotmail.com if you have any finance queries. Finance emails can
also be cc'd the me at comms@worlds.usyd.edu.au
Laila would also like to stress the importance of filling out the finance
form page of the registration kit. Anyone who has sent the other
registration forms, but not a finance form should contact Laila
now by email to explain how you are going to pay.
REGISTRATION.
Although the deadline for worlds registration has passed, we still have
plenty of places available in the tournament for any interested
parties. We would appreciate you contacting us very soon if you are still
interested in coming to worlds.
Your first point of contact should be your regional directors
America: Edward: america@worlds.usyd.edu.au
Europe: Belinda europe@worlds.usyd.edu.au
The rest of the world: myself at asia@worlds.usyd.edu.au
aust-nz@worlds.usyd.edu.au
africa@worlds.usyd.edu.au
comms@worlds.usyd.edu.au
Tournament details are readily available at our website,
http://www.worlds.usyd.edu.au
If you know of anyone who you think does not know about the tournament,
please send me their contact details ASAP.
To gain exemption from the $25 late fee, please contact Laila at
lademelo@hotmail.com and explain your situation.
We will all endeavour to answer your emails as soon as possible,
but please bear in mind that we are currently doing our end-of-year exams
most of which will be finished by the 19th of November.
ACCOMODATION
Pre-tournament accomodation is almost at capacity. Therefore we would
encourage anyone arriving earlier who has not already booked accomodation
with us on the registration forms or by email to look into finding their
own accomodation in hostels. This may also be substantially cheaper than our
college accomodation rate as dorm rooms can be booked for around
$20 a night. If this proves impossible, further college accomodation may be
available, although there may be a price rise for people who book late.
some useful websites include,
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~hotels/mainlist.htm
http://www.users.bigpond.com/funkhouse/
http://www.nomads-backpackers.com/venues/dwn_t.html
http://www.planetbackpack.com.au/default.asp
also maybe Millett's Budget Accomodation may be helpful
milcrist@webmail.com.au
phone + 61 2 9 283 6599 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting + 61 2 9 283 6599 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
fax +61 2 9262 9705
or Forest Lodge Backpackers' which is near the University can be phoned on
+612 9660 1872 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +612 9660 1872 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
(These people have indicated to us that they will not start taking bookings
until December.)
Another hotel close to university is the Vulcan, 500 Wattle St, Ultimo NSW
2007, phone +612 9211 3283 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +612 9211 3283 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, Fax +612 9212 7439. (although don't tell these
people you are attending worlds as we have recently declined their offer to
accommodate participants during the tournament.)
Post-tournament accomodation can be booked now, but we would
prefer if this was done during the tournament. At that stage we will be
able to
offer you a range of different packages that will suit your individual
needs.
Furthermore, more than two nights of post-tournament accomodation in the
colleges may not be feasible at this stage. There should be a
huge amount of accomdation available in Sydney at that time after the New
Years Eve crowd has moved on.
I would also like to add that the response to this year's Worlds has been
tremendous. The tournament will consist of at least 700 people
and includes many new regions and debating soceties that have never
participated before.
Everyone at Sydney University have become increasingly excited about the
tournament and we have 100 students already signed up as helpers.
The second wave of video orders were also addressed and mailed out
personally by the Chief Adjudicator earlier this week.
Best of luck with your preparations
regards,
Peter Nicholas
Communications Director for the
Sydney Worlds 2000 Executive
4th-11th January 2000 at the University of Sydney
comms@worlds.usyd.edu.au
www.worlds.usyd.edu.au
+61 417 672 603 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +61 417 672 603 end_of_the_skype_highlighting (Mobile)
Fax + 61 2 9563 6109
Mailing Address:
Worlds Committee, Access Centre,
Level 3 Wentworth Building,
University of Sydney NSW 2006,
AUSTRALIA
ICQ: 13530418
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