2nd World Debate Forum January 2012‏

Greetings friends,

I'm happy to announce that we will be organizing the 2nd World Debate Forum (WDF) this year, from the 4th to 7th January 2012 at Ateneo de Manila University (immediately after Manila Worlds). I'd like to invite those of you coming for Worlds to extend your stay and those of you who are not coming to Worlds, to come for the World Debate Forum.

What is the WDF?

Our plan is to bring together different groups of debate enthusiasts, people who love this activity but from different perspectives. To some of us, debate is first a competition, a way to hone our persuasive skills, develop our intellect, expand our horizons. To others is an amazing educational tool, an activity that challenges students, develops their perspectives and gives them ownership over knowledge. Others believe debate is most importantly a tool of advocacy, a way to develop open societies, to empower people's voices, to help increase understanding and tolerance. 

Debate is all three. By working together and not past each other, we can make the entire community stronger and increase the impact of debate.

The 1st WDF forum attracted almost 40 people from 16 countries. Our target this year is to have 100 attendees. You can learn more about last year's forum by downloading the report from the front page of our website.

Forum Format

The format is simple and modeled after TED Talks. Each topic area (Competitive Debate, Debate Education and Debate Advocacy) will be allocated 4 20 minute presentation slots. At the end of these 4 slots, there will be an hour long open forum on the topic area, with a moderator and these four presenters. This - 4 presentation and 1 open forum - is one session.

There will be 4 sessions

5th January

- Morning Session : Competitive Debate

- Afternoon Session : Debate Education

- Evening : Coffee & Networking

6th January

- Morning Session : Debate Advocacy

- Afternoon Session : Open Forum

- Evening : Coffee & Networking

Visit here for a full schedule (http://worlddebateforum.org/schedule) and to find out more about presenting at the forum (http://worlddebateforum.org/share)

Forum Details

Check in the evening of the 4th and checkout 7th morning. The 75 USD reg fee will give you 3 nights accommodation, breakfast, lunch and snacks. We will be staying at Great Eastern Hotel (http://www.greateasternhotelmanila.com/) and the forum itself will be held on the Ateneo de Manila campus. (For more, visit http://worlddebateforum.org/registration)

Registration for Presenters : 15th September to 20th October 2011

Registration for Participants : 15th September to 10th November 2011

The forum is hosted by Ateneo de Manila University and organized by the Ateneo Debate Society in cooperation with IDEA. (For more, visit http://worlddebateforum.org/organizers)

Why should you care?

We don't debate enough about debate. Sure, specific debates are discussed and results disputed until the tab runs dry, but we don't debate enough about the value of our activity and its impact. 

Often there just isn't enough time at debate tournaments and frankly not everyone is interested (which is absolutely fine). Meeting old friends and making new ones take priority over the different forums already being squeezed into Worlds, and that's what international tournaments are about.

But as we speak, debate programs are taking root in Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Azerbaijan, Kyrgystan, Rwanda, Venenzuela and many other places. Debate is being introduced as a subject in highschools in Romania, a university in Korea makes it compulsory for all freshmen to learn debate and an NGO in Australia is teaching refugees debate skills.

More people are doing debate this year in more places in more ways in more languages than they were last year, and even more will do so next year. Contribute to this growth of debate. Help shape it and learn from it. 

Debates don't make a difference, debaters do ;)

For more information, visit www.worlddebateforum.org or email info@worlddebateforum.org . Please spread the word.

Cheers

Logan