Dear all,
After a while of radio silence, we are proud to present the statistical analysis of the Amsterdam Open (AO) 2009. This is an initiative from last year's AO CA-team and we are happy to continue it as we believe it increases transparency of judging results and hopefully helps fighting the good fight against the infamous motion-bias.
We are happy to inform you that there was no significant bias in this year's Amsterdam Open as a whole, although some motions showed an inclination to bias. The full analysis can be found here in a google doc. We hope you'll enjoy reading it.
With kind regards,
The Amsterdam Open 2009 CA team
Leela Koenig, Jonathan Leader Maynard, Kirsty Russel, Ross Reid McGuire and Anne Valkering
Showing posts with label Tabbing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tabbing. Show all posts
15 July 2009
1 July 2008
Tabbie results from Euros
The detailed tab output results of Euros can be found here: http://www.smoothtournament.com/showcase/eudc_2008
Also very interesting: http://www.smoothtournament.com/showcase/eudc_2008/results_by_position.php I think these are some of the most equal scores I've seen on any tournament.... kudos for the CA &DCAs
regards,
Klaas
Also very interesting: http://www.smoothtournament.com/showcase/eudc_2008/results_by_position.php I think these are some of the most equal scores I've seen on any tournament.... kudos for the CA &DCAs
regards,
Klaas
3 June 2008
Tabbie Developers Wanted
Tabbie, the World's Tab program is looking for developers. Tabbie is Debating Tabbing Software that is being used in the Worlds (WUDC) and many other tournaments. It was used in Singapore (2004), Vancouver (2007) and Bangkok (2008). It will be used at the Tallinn Euros and Cork 2009.
Tabbie is Open Source. This means anyone can download it for free edit the sourcecode for their own purpose, or help out in its development. We're currently looking for people. This may include the project maintainer.
If you know how, you've already thought about making, or made, your own Tab program. Consider the benefits of joining the Tabbie project instead:
* Many customers, including Worlds. 750 downloads past year. You'll get feedback, thanks and respect.
* Joint effort, other developers to talk to.
* Here to stay, since 2004. Your efforts won't be in vain.
* Most of the work is done, pick anything that you need or that's fun to do and do that.
There's an additional benifit for people other then you:
* Transparancy. A fair tournament reveals how it's pairing up it teams. It would be nice if
Tabbie is the only program around that provides this option.
Yes, I know you think you're smarter than any of us and would much rather start off with a clean sheet. So did all the others whose programs were tossed out when they left the uni. So... consider.
We currently have (as for features):
* The world's best draw algorithm (uncontested for a year now, http://tabbie.wikidot.com/silver-line )
* The worlds most fancy adjudicator allocation (though hard to comprehend for non-techies).
Open work
* User interface.
* Easier packaging (it's a webserver)
* Extending to non worlds-style debates
* Extending to non-worlds rules draws and allocations.
* Further discussion on the pros and cons of various power pairing techniques from a more mathematical perspective.
* Anything you deem useful
Contact Klaas (klaas@vanschelven.com) for more info on joining. See also http://tabbie.wikidot.com/.
Tabbie is Open Source. This means anyone can download it for free edit the sourcecode for their own purpose, or help out in its development. We're currently looking for people. This may include the project maintainer.
If you know how, you've already thought about making, or made, your own Tab program. Consider the benefits of joining the Tabbie project instead:
* Many customers, including Worlds. 750 downloads past year. You'll get feedback, thanks and respect.
* Joint effort, other developers to talk to.
* Here to stay, since 2004. Your efforts won't be in vain.
* Most of the work is done, pick anything that you need or that's fun to do and do that.
There's an additional benifit for people other then you:
* Transparancy. A fair tournament reveals how it's pairing up it teams. It would be nice if
Tabbie is the only program around that provides this option.
Yes, I know you think you're smarter than any of us and would much rather start off with a clean sheet. So did all the others whose programs were tossed out when they left the uni. So... consider.
We currently have (as for features):
* The world's best draw algorithm (uncontested for a year now, http://tabbie.wikidot.com/silver-line )
* The worlds most fancy adjudicator allocation (though hard to comprehend for non-techies).
Open work
* User interface.
* Easier packaging (it's a webserver)
* Extending to non worlds-style debates
* Extending to non-worlds rules draws and allocations.
* Further discussion on the pros and cons of various power pairing techniques from a more mathematical perspective.
* Anything you deem useful
Contact Klaas (klaas@vanschelven.com) for more info on joining. See also http://tabbie.wikidot.com/.
27 May 2008
Bubble rounds
Klaas van Schelven (the man behind tabbie) has written some of thoughts on a "bubble round". People interested in tabbing may like to read it. http://tabbie.wikidot.com/discussion-of-folding
4 April 2008
Tips: Tabbing your tournament
If you are running a tournament then the one piece of technology you need and which can completely destroy your event is the tab system. I'm not going to go into the technical mathematical aspects of running a tab. Ten years ago a discussion on tabbing required this because tournaments were tabbed manually (or at best by excel). Now there are systems that handle all that and you just plug in the data.
There are many systems out there and it does vary according to style of debate. Coming from a Worlds Style (BP) format the two I use most often are Tabbie and Cragie tab. Tabbie is a stand alone system which was first developed for Worlds in Singapore and has been used at a number of Worlds and major championships since then. I think it is the best option. However it needs firefox and other programmes installed on your PC. Sometimes that isn't possible. In that case I would always have Cragie tab as a fall back. It is an excel based system so you need excel installed on your pc to run it.
Tabbie Tab System
Cragie Tab
I have had experience running tabs at a number of competitions and if it is your first time using a system then the best advice is to sit down days before the tournament and just play with it using sample data. This is the fastest way to learn.
On the day when running your tournament some tips I have learned (often the hard way)
- If possible have someone sitting at the registration desk to enter the details into the tab system as people arrive.
- All the systems rely on ranking judges. There will be judges you don't know. Make sure they all fill out forms detailing their experience at registration. Also make sure they hand them in. If they take them away from registration you will get about 50% of them back and will be left with several judges you don't know how to rank.
- The system will pair teams based on power pairing (and sometimes brakets) and previous positions. Let it do its thing. Generally it works out over the full length of the tournament and most teams are happy. If someone gets two first props in round one and round two then the best way to drive the system mad and cause a third later on is to move them.
- The system will pair judges based on balanced panels and on avoiding conflicts (i.e. teams meeting their own judges). The two best ways to get conflicts are to start manually moving judges around after the system had done it's thing and hormones. Murphy's law 1 dictates that if a judge and a debater end up together at one of the social events the tab system somehow detects this and puts them into the same room the following day. Make sure to announce every morning if there are any updates to conflicts. It might get a few giggles but it's far less embarrassing than the inevitable walk of shame up to the front of the room after the draw has been posted.
- Running the tab. The key thing is to make sure the tab sheets get back as quickly as possible to the tab room. Also make sure your tab sheets only contain the information you need to enter the results. Extra boxes and form filling only confuses adjudicators and delays returning the ballot.
- At a tournament spanning several days there is a temptation to run and finalise the tab the night before to "speed things up" the following morning and prove how efficient you are. Murphy's Law 2 states that when you do this at least one team and several judges will fall ill and won't be able to make the first debate of the day resulting in manual intervention in the draw.
- Tab systems run quickly but the Murphy's Law 3 states that they always take twice as long to run as you allow on the schedule. Make sure the debaters have something to do to keep them entertained. Show DVDs. Family Guy seems to be a popular favourite.
I'm sure there are other tips and suggestions out there but this article was mainly intended to give an overview (and allow me update the Tabbing link on the right hand side). If anyone wants to post their experience please feel free to comment.
Finally there are other tab system versions out there and I'll list some of these below. However if you are running a Worlds style event then Tabbie is my main recommendation.
Other links
Singapore 04 Tab System
Toronto 02 Tab System
Glasgow 01 Tab System
Sydney 00 Tab System
Manila 99 Tab System
Mark Summers Tab System
Smart Tournament Admin (US)
Sample Tab Sheets (Excel)
EDC Tabbing Forum
Wu Meng Tan's Site
Rich Edwards (US)
There are many systems out there and it does vary according to style of debate. Coming from a Worlds Style (BP) format the two I use most often are Tabbie and Cragie tab. Tabbie is a stand alone system which was first developed for Worlds in Singapore and has been used at a number of Worlds and major championships since then. I think it is the best option. However it needs firefox and other programmes installed on your PC. Sometimes that isn't possible. In that case I would always have Cragie tab as a fall back. It is an excel based system so you need excel installed on your pc to run it.
Tabbie Tab System
Cragie Tab
I have had experience running tabs at a number of competitions and if it is your first time using a system then the best advice is to sit down days before the tournament and just play with it using sample data. This is the fastest way to learn.
On the day when running your tournament some tips I have learned (often the hard way)
- If possible have someone sitting at the registration desk to enter the details into the tab system as people arrive.
- All the systems rely on ranking judges. There will be judges you don't know. Make sure they all fill out forms detailing their experience at registration. Also make sure they hand them in. If they take them away from registration you will get about 50% of them back and will be left with several judges you don't know how to rank.
- The system will pair teams based on power pairing (and sometimes brakets) and previous positions. Let it do its thing. Generally it works out over the full length of the tournament and most teams are happy. If someone gets two first props in round one and round two then the best way to drive the system mad and cause a third later on is to move them.
- The system will pair judges based on balanced panels and on avoiding conflicts (i.e. teams meeting their own judges). The two best ways to get conflicts are to start manually moving judges around after the system had done it's thing and hormones. Murphy's law 1 dictates that if a judge and a debater end up together at one of the social events the tab system somehow detects this and puts them into the same room the following day. Make sure to announce every morning if there are any updates to conflicts. It might get a few giggles but it's far less embarrassing than the inevitable walk of shame up to the front of the room after the draw has been posted.
- Running the tab. The key thing is to make sure the tab sheets get back as quickly as possible to the tab room. Also make sure your tab sheets only contain the information you need to enter the results. Extra boxes and form filling only confuses adjudicators and delays returning the ballot.
- At a tournament spanning several days there is a temptation to run and finalise the tab the night before to "speed things up" the following morning and prove how efficient you are. Murphy's Law 2 states that when you do this at least one team and several judges will fall ill and won't be able to make the first debate of the day resulting in manual intervention in the draw.
- Tab systems run quickly but the Murphy's Law 3 states that they always take twice as long to run as you allow on the schedule. Make sure the debaters have something to do to keep them entertained. Show DVDs. Family Guy seems to be a popular favourite.
I'm sure there are other tips and suggestions out there but this article was mainly intended to give an overview (and allow me update the Tabbing link on the right hand side). If anyone wants to post their experience please feel free to comment.
Finally there are other tab system versions out there and I'll list some of these below. However if you are running a Worlds style event then Tabbie is my main recommendation.
Other links
Singapore 04 Tab System
Toronto 02 Tab System
Glasgow 01 Tab System
Sydney 00 Tab System
Manila 99 Tab System
Mark Summers Tab System
Smart Tournament Admin (US)
Sample Tab Sheets (Excel)
EDC Tabbing Forum
Wu Meng Tan's Site
Rich Edwards (US)
28 November 2007
Smooth Tournament
Smooth Tournament, a site for online Tabbing using Tabbie, has been extended with overviews and statistics of past tournaments. For participants, this means they can see a overview of the entire tournament - who did you meet in every round, who took which position in round 4, how many speakers points did everyone get and what's the name of that Chair that gave us that undeserved win again?
Take a look for yourself: http://www.smoothtournament.com/showcase/yaleiv07/team_overview?team_id=14
For Bangkok Worlds, we'll be hosting the results of the preliminaries as soon as the embargo is lifted ( i.e. right after all the prizes have been handed out). We expect to offer results for previous year's Vancouver Worlds in a couple of weeks as well.
Depending on the approval of the CA's (per tournament) we also want to disclose the "Motion Fairness" of various tournaments, per motion (Motion Fairness reflects the amounts of times the different positions in a debate take firsts/seconds/thirds/fourths. (In fact, many 'unfair motions' turn out to be pretty balanced after inspection of statistics)
The main site for Smooth Tournament can be found at http://www.smoothtournament.com/
Take a look for yourself: http://www.smoothtournament.com/showcase/yaleiv07/team_overview?team_id=14
For Bangkok Worlds, we'll be hosting the results of the preliminaries as soon as the embargo is lifted ( i.e. right after all the prizes have been handed out). We expect to offer results for previous year's Vancouver Worlds in a couple of weeks as well.
Depending on the approval of the CA's (per tournament) we also want to disclose the "Motion Fairness" of various tournaments, per motion (Motion Fairness reflects the amounts of times the different positions in a debate take firsts/seconds/thirds/fourths. (In fact, many 'unfair motions' turn out to be pretty balanced after inspection of statistics)
The main site for Smooth Tournament can be found at http://www.smoothtournament.com/
5 November 2007
Update on Tabbie
We've released an "All In One" version of Tabbie 1.3.1 for Windows. It contains an Apache server and MySql, needs no configuration and can be installed simply by unzipping and clicking the icon - which makes installation as simple (or simpler) than most desktop programs.
Tabbie is Tab Software for British Parliamentary Debating Tournaments. It calculates the fairest possible draw for you, based on the official WUDC rules. It has an easy to use Web Interface, allowing input from multiple computers. Tabbie is very stable - it's been around since the NTU Worlds 2004 and is the software of choice for Bangkok Worlds 2008. Tabbie is Free (Open Source) Software.
More info on Tabbie can be found at http://tabbie.wikidot.com/
Tabbie can be run online (zero installation) at http://www.smoothtournament.com/
Tabbie is Tab Software for British Parliamentary Debating Tournaments. It calculates the fairest possible draw for you, based on the official WUDC rules. It has an easy to use Web Interface, allowing input from multiple computers. Tabbie is very stable - it's been around since the NTU Worlds 2004 and is the software of choice for Bangkok Worlds 2008. Tabbie is Free (Open Source) Software.
More info on Tabbie can be found at http://tabbie.wikidot.com/
Tabbie can be run online (zero installation) at http://www.smoothtournament.com/
9 October 2007
Tabbie Update
We've just released Tabbie version 1.3. This is pretty much the version as it's going to be used at the Worlds in Bangkok and also coming weekend at the Haifa Nightly Tournament (we trust that Tabbie is now stable enough to be operated by drunks)
New in this version:
Adjudicator Allocation has been completely redone. It takes into account the following:
- University - Adjudicator conflicts ('scratches'),
- Team - Adjudicator conflicts ('scratches'),
- Better adjudicators should be chairs
- Better debates get better panels
- Adjudicators should avoid previous co-panellists
- Adjudicators should avoid previous adjudicated teams
Overview page made more clear - only currently possible options are shown
Layout:
- Removed big "Tabbie" header to clear up some space
- Personalized Adjudicator Sheets in smaller font for longer names
- Removed confusing "settings" option
Technical:
- Removed the website from the codebase to separate host
- GPL Licence header added to all code files
General Tabbie Information: http://tabbie.wikidot.com/
Online demos: http://www.smoothtournament.com/
Downloading: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=199347
What is Tabbie?
Tabbie is Tab Software for British Parliamentary Debating Tournaments. It calculates the fairest possible draw for you, based on the official WUDC rules. It has an easy to use Web Interface, allowing input from multiple computers. Tabbie is very stable - it's been around since the NTU Worlds 2004 and is the software of choice for Bangkok Worlds 2008. Tabbie is Free (Open Source) Software.
Klaas Van Schelven
1 October 2007
Introducing Smooth Tournament
Introducing Smooth Tournament: Your Private Tabbie Installation Online
Smooth Tournament (http://www.smoothtournament.com/) allows you to get your own password protected installation of Tabbie BP Debating Tab Software online. If you like the idea of running the most stable and fair Tab system around but couldn't get to installing it locally, this may be for you. Or, you can simply use it to check out the latest developments in Tabbie - data for a 150 team demo tournament is available. Simply use one of the open demo's on the site, or install your own in less than a minute. We're currently in Beta testing, so don't use it for a tournament in the coming few weeks, but further than that should be fine.
Don't know what Tabbie is?
Tabbie is Tab Software for British Parliamentary Debating Tournaments. It calculates the fairest possible draw for you, based on the official WUDC rules. It has an easy to use Web Interface, allowing input from multiple computers. Tabbie is very stable - it's been around since the NTU Worlds 2004 and is the software of choice for Bangkok Worlds 2008. Tabbie is Free (Open Source) Software. More information on Tabbie itself can be found on the new website: http://tabbie.wikidot.com/
Smooth Tournament (http://www.smoothtournament.com/) allows you to get your own password protected installation of Tabbie BP Debating Tab Software online. If you like the idea of running the most stable and fair Tab system around but couldn't get to installing it locally, this may be for you. Or, you can simply use it to check out the latest developments in Tabbie - data for a 150 team demo tournament is available. Simply use one of the open demo's on the site, or install your own in less than a minute. We're currently in Beta testing, so don't use it for a tournament in the coming few weeks, but further than that should be fine.
Don't know what Tabbie is?
Tabbie is Tab Software for British Parliamentary Debating Tournaments. It calculates the fairest possible draw for you, based on the official WUDC rules. It has an easy to use Web Interface, allowing input from multiple computers. Tabbie is very stable - it's been around since the NTU Worlds 2004 and is the software of choice for Bangkok Worlds 2008. Tabbie is Free (Open Source) Software. More information on Tabbie itself can be found on the new website: http://tabbie.wikidot.com/
31 July 2007
Tabbie, BP Debating Tab Software, Version 1.2 released
Hello debaters,First of all, sorry for cross posting. I think the subject of the mail actually does cross the different lists and can be justified as such.
In this email I'd like to:
- Introduce Tabbie BP Debating Tab Software
- Introduce its history
- Call to participate and share
- Claim the best current draw algorithm in the world
- Announce Tabbie 1.2
Tabbie is web based BP Debating Tabulation Software. It can be found and freely downloaded at: http://tabbie.sourceforge.net/ . Promo snipplet of properties:
- Official. It uses the official WUDC rules to calculate its draw.
- Safe and stable - It's been tried in practice at a tournament as large as NTU Worlds 2004 with great success.
- Fair. Tabbie currently has the best known implementation worldwide of the draw algorithm, giving the most balanced distribution of positions in the debate to the teams. (More info)
- Scalable for large tournaments: It is web based, you can use multiple computers for inputting data.
- Easy. Things like customized adjudication sheets for the tab can be created in one click.
- Open and Free. Its source code is freely inspectable. You can inspect any file (like the Draw Algorithm), and modify or add anything you like. Download is free.
- Alive. As of July 2007 changes are being made to make it work even better.
History, State of the art, Uniting Tab Software
I found Tabbie on Flynn's site when looking for a piece of software to run the IDC tournament we had last week and which ran very smoothly, partially thanks to Tabby (this message is strangely unrelated to IDC's bid for Euros today). I was looking for something stable, adaptable ( i.e. open) and cool (nice forms etc.). Tabbie turned out to have these properties, though installing it required more than average computer skill (i.e. fixing the whole thing up).
Looking around I noticed the following: The amount of different pieces of Tab Software that are produced once by some wizard and then left by the roadside after the wizard leaves is unfortunately quite high. As far as I know (based on googeling and flynn.debating.net) the current state of the art is such:
- Cragie Tab - Excel - used a lot. (I personally don't want to mess around with excel)
- Tournaman - Delphi - used a lot in Germany. (I didn't want a closed source system)
- Zorro - online system - I have no idea how to get in...
other systems seem even less maintained. However, I may miss some important systems here and would love to have them pointed out to me (and the community). In general, there are a lot of important tournament of which I have no idea which software they are using.
Tabbie seemed to fit into the "left by the roadside" pattern - it dates back to the NTU / Singapore Worlds 2004. I have no idea if anyone used it since. (I would like to thank Colm Flynn for preserving this excellent piece of software, when the original source had already long gone.) Anyway, I've dusted it off, provided some easier installation module and changed some things to my liking / understanding. The result can be inspected (live) at http://tabbie.sourceforge.net/run/
More importantly, I'd like to try to finally break this pattern of "use once" tab packages. This has been a bit of a spare-time activity and I am definitely not planning on monopolizing development. I have, therefore, created a repository at sourceforge.net (an open source platform). Anyone who wants to join - send me a mail and I'll put you on the developers list.
Participation - Specifically
Specifically, there is a lot that can still be done:
- I'm very interested to hear who is actually using Tabbie. Feedback of all kinds is very welcome.
- Tell us how easy/hard Tabbie was to install on your system. (Since Tabbie is Web Based, installation is more complicated than downloading an excel sheet or exe file. An installation guide is provided, but I would very much like to hear if people have trouble installing to get into contact with me so we can have a truly easy to install system.)
- Report any bugs
- Fix any bugs
- Request a feature
- Add nice pictures and colours
- Add stuff that you use in mail-merge like ways (powerpoints, pdf's etc)
- Add a feature yourself, and upload it
- Become a developer
As you can see, many of these things do not require either a long time commitment, or much programmers knowledge, so join in....
The Draw Algorithm:
To open up the debate I would like to claim the following: Tabbie currently possesses the best algorithm world wide that complies to WUDC rules. More about this claim can be found at http://tabbie.sourceforge.net/draw_algorithms.php (high technical level). I would like to invite anyone with a better algorithm to present it to the debating community. Also, I know that there are algorithms out there that are specifically not WUDC but could be interesting for some users. I'd love to see their source code.
Version 1.2.:
Specific changes for the newest version.
- The print module has been reorganized (cleaned up)
- The live demo now supports "one click pdf": ( http://tabbie.sourceforge.net/run/rest.php?result_type=pdf&function=adjudicator_sheets¶m=1)
regards,
Klaas van Schelven
27 July 2007
Updates on the Tabbie System
Klaas van Schelven has left a comment on the post "Tabbie system" but I thought it was worth a post by itself.
The newest version (1.1.1) can be found on the project's homepage.
This version supports
* An overview page for peace of mind in stressful tab rooms.
* An integrated one-click backup module
* Adjudicator sheets can now be generated with one click as a PDF (no mail merge required)
* The official WUDC rules to calculate its draw. (as before)
More info: Tabbie British Parliamentary Debating Tab Software
The newest version (1.1.1) can be found on the project's homepage.
This version supports
* An overview page for peace of mind in stressful tab rooms.
* An integrated one-click backup module
* Adjudicator sheets can now be generated with one click as a PDF (no mail merge required)
* The official WUDC rules to calculate its draw. (as before)
More info: Tabbie British Parliamentary Debating Tab Software
8 July 2007
Tabbie system
Klaas van Schelven has contacted me about developments with the Tabbie Tab System (the system used at NTU Worlds in 2004).
If anyone is interested a short description of the "new Tabbie" can be found at http://tabbie.sourceforge.net/
A working demo can be found at http://tabbie.sourceforge.net/run
Update 08/07: The link to the demo has been changed to http://tabbie.sourceforge.net/run
If anyone is interested a short description of the "new Tabbie" can be found at http://tabbie.sourceforge.net/
A working demo can be found at http://tabbie.sourceforge.net/run
Update 08/07: The link to the demo has been changed to http://tabbie.sourceforge.net/run
24 March 2001
24 March 2000
WUDC Sydney 2000: Tab System
Both the way results are processed and the rules for doing so will be different at Sydney Worlds. We are currently developing a program for processing the results with Richard Edwards of Baylor University in the US, who has written a comprehensive program for American styles of debating called Tab Room. Worlds 2000 will be run by a new version of Tab Room, and will be fully automated, which should mean a much faster draw for our participants.
Because of the opportunities offered by a fully automated process, we have decided to rethink the rules by which the tab is operated.
At Sydney Worlds:
The draw will still be power-paired, so you will be debating teams on the same or a similar number of points.
The formation of debates within each pool of teams on the same number of team points will be random - so there will be no power-pairing of teams within pools based on speaker points.
Promotion from lower to higher pools will be random. That means that if there are, say, 7 teams on 12 points, the team that is promoted - to make a total of eight teams - will be randomly chosen from those teams on 11 points.
We can thereby process the draw without collecting speaker points, which will make it substantially faster. Speaker points will still be collected and used to separate teams in the ultimate break and to award Best Speaker prizes.
The computer will automatically adjust teams' speaking positions within each debate based on the previous rounds. This should mean that the distribution of speaking positions over the 9 rounds is as close to even as possible.
We believe that the randomisation of these processes, which were previously based on speaker points, will not punish teams unduly, and resolves ongoing debates about which of a number of alternating systems is fairer. In addition, at the top and bottom of the draw in particular, there should be more variety in the match-ups that are produced. You will also appreciate that our capacity to complete the draw without entering speaker points will greatly reduce the delay between debates.
The program will be available for free over the Internet.
Dominic Knight
Tournament Director
Because of the opportunities offered by a fully automated process, we have decided to rethink the rules by which the tab is operated.
At Sydney Worlds:
The draw will still be power-paired, so you will be debating teams on the same or a similar number of points.
The formation of debates within each pool of teams on the same number of team points will be random - so there will be no power-pairing of teams within pools based on speaker points.
Promotion from lower to higher pools will be random. That means that if there are, say, 7 teams on 12 points, the team that is promoted - to make a total of eight teams - will be randomly chosen from those teams on 11 points.
We can thereby process the draw without collecting speaker points, which will make it substantially faster. Speaker points will still be collected and used to separate teams in the ultimate break and to award Best Speaker prizes.
The computer will automatically adjust teams' speaking positions within each debate based on the previous rounds. This should mean that the distribution of speaking positions over the 9 rounds is as close to even as possible.
We believe that the randomisation of these processes, which were previously based on speaker points, will not punish teams unduly, and resolves ongoing debates about which of a number of alternating systems is fairer. In addition, at the top and bottom of the draw in particular, there should be more variety in the match-ups that are produced. You will also appreciate that our capacity to complete the draw without entering speaker points will greatly reduce the delay between debates.
The program will be available for free over the Internet.
Dominic Knight
Tournament Director
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