Wollongong Australian British Parliamentary Debating Championships 2024

Our proud sponsor, Speaking Schools Australasia, is recruiting new coaches!

They are looking for people to work in person in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as online - so coaches in other states can apply too! They have flexible work arrangements around uni schedules, with holiday work and term available.

Find out more and apply at this link: https://speakingschools.com.au/work-with-ssa/

All applicants must be Australian residents and have a valid Working With Children Check.

A brief message from one of our tournament's sponsors, Speaking Schools Australasia!

Speaking Schools Australasia has been sponsoring the new ABPDC since its inception and we’re very grateful to have them back again this year to help make the event possible!

SSA is raising the educational bar by providing children with the soft skills and resilience they need to confidently navigate a constantly changing world.

They facilitate this through offering the best possible public speaking and debating programs to as many students as possible, regardless of background.

By providing students with fun, welcoming and safe learning environments, they aim to improve students critical thinking, communication and teamwork skills, all the while helping them build confidence, empathy and resilience.

SSA runs classes in person in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as online! They’re always looking to hire new coaches too!

You can read more about the organisation on their website: https://speakingschools.com.au/

ABPDC GRAND FINAL AND AWARDS

A massive congratulations to all the finalists, award recipients, and Oscar and Nicola from USU for winning ABPDC 2024! And thank you to everyone who came to watch the final and the awards ceremony!

Photos from the Grand Final and Awards Ceremony are attached to this post.

We are so thrilled to have hosted you all this weekend, and truly grateful for all the kind messages and support throughout the entire bidding and hosting processes and really hope we've done this tournament justice.
We'd like to thank everyone who's been a part of organising this tournament including our Convenors, Adj Core, Tab Team, and Equity Team.
Once again, it's been an absolute honor to host you all and hope to see you all in Wollongong for something major soon 👀.

You can catch the Grand Final now on the ADC YouTube channel, with more recordings of debates from the tournament coming in the near future: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8171ZLG9Zus

We are aiming to stream a few of the outrounds today!
You can find them all on this page.
Quarter-Finals 10:00
Semi-Finals 1:00
Grand Final: 4:00

INFO ABOUT ARRIVING SATURDAY

Our convening room for this weekend is Building 14.
The closest carpark is P8 (and parking is free on weekends). Getting from the carpark and the front of the university (Northfields Avenue) to Building 14 is fairly straightforward, but there will be directions up from P8.
Briefings will start at 9:30 sharp, so please be there on time!
Check in will close at 9:45 and if you aren't there on time, you will be cut from round 1!
If you have any questions or concerns about finding your way or where to go, let us know by messaging one of the convenors or using the tournament Discord.

TOURNAMENT DISCORD

Throughout this competition, we will be using a Discord server to keep track of everything including information, announcements and draws. This will be the place to direct your questions.
You would've received the Discord link with an email from Tab last night. It will also be shown during briefings this morning.

We're less than a day away, but still haven't received payment from a few people:
- Thomas Godfrey
- Annika Wang
- Udai Kamath
- Mia Freeland
Please pay and send us your proof of payment ASAP because it's already well overdue!
If your whole team hasn't paid by briefings tomorrow, you will be cut from round 1 (and any rounds until you have fully paid)!

Reminder of bank details:
BSB 641800
Account Number 201004849
UOW Debating Society

ABPDC SOCIALS

Saturday Night - Beach BBQ
To bring a close to day one of the competition, we will be holding a beach barbecue! Provided that the weather nices us, we plan on making the most of our beautiful setting in Wollongong. We can promise it'll be fire 🔥(iykyk)!

Sunday (Break) Night - Humber Rooftop Bar
For break night we've secured one of Wollongong's hottest bars, Humber; a rooftop bar based right in the CBD!
Dinner will be a catered pasta bar at UOW in time for the conclusion of round 6, and then we've allowed plenty of time to freshen up before drinks and the break announcement at Humber. We have a significant bar tab for this night, so get keen!
Dinner will be available on campus from 6pm (the time R6 should wrap up), and you can head to Humber in time for Break Announcement at 8:00.

Monday Night - UOW UniBar
Following the conclusion of the Grand Final and awards ceremony, we will be holding our social at the UOW UniBar, directly across from where this will be.
There'll be plenty of food available and this falls on the UniBar's 'Kings and Cues' Night, so come along for a night of good vibes and Drag King Bingo to end ABPDC 2024!

SCHEDULE

We're only a few days away from ABPDC and couldn't be more excited!

On Friday will be both ADC Pre-Council and POC Pre-Forum held online before the tournament begins 9:30 on Saturday morning! We will be starting briefings at 9:30 sharp on Saturday morning so BE THERE ON TIME! Check-in will close at 9:45 and you will be CUT if you're not there on time!

You can also find the other times for rounds and councils on each day. To streamline things, we are starting at 9:30 each day to allow plenty of time for rounds and so on.

Can't wait to see you all in a few days' time, let us know of any issues or questions!

CONFLICTS FORM

Please fill out the conflicts form ASAP for any relevant conflicts. This form will only be seen by Equity Team, and only then relevant conflicts may be shown to the Tab Team.

Conflicts form https://forms.gle/uyYixgVfWMogfkDV8

You can find the participant list here https://abpdc2024.calicotab.com/abpdc2024/participants/list/

The Wollongong ABPDC Judge Test is due Wednesday at midnight!!

Make sure to get this in ASAP and allow plenty of time to complete it. This is incredibly important for forming judge allocations for the tournament!!

Link: https://forms.gle/T2PUAc9RgQLdZPw59

If you can please share this to your contingents to make sure everyone completes this.

ABPDC Judge Test This is the judge test for ABPDC 2024. Please fill it out by 11:59pm Wednesday 4th September. If you have any questions, please contact any member of the CAP. If you are unsure about how judging BP, below is link to the Worlds University Debating Championships Judging Manual. Importantly, we would d...

Registration closes tonight!!

All you have to do to confirm your spot at ABPDC is fill out the quick rego form!!

If your whole team hasn't registered by tomorrow night, your team will be CUT OFF!
* Only exceptional circumstances will be taken into account for late registrations.

There's still a lot of people who haven't paid, please do so ASAP!!

USU and UQ are still not D/4 compliant!
USU needs 4 more judges!
UQ needs 1 more judge!
Otherwise, teams will be CUT!

I've attached a list of people still to register and/or pay.

Reminder of payment details:
BSB 641800
Account Number 201004849
Account Name UOW Debating Society

3 DAYS LEFT TO REGISTER

ABPDC's quickly approaching, but we're still waiting on a lot of people to pay and/or register!

For judges, the judge test will be released soon!

Some institutions are still not D/4 compliant!!!
USU: 6 judges short
UQ: 1 judge short
Please provide the number of judges above or these teams will be cut (in this order)

LIST TO CUT:

USU:

Jules and Neva
Jack Story and Jez
Arywn and Lilah
Will Ryan and Jack Glass
Chris Ye and Lucia Tang
Bibi and Jade
Kevin Lee and Olly Chow
Sam Trotter and Udai Kumath

UQ:

Yani and Simho

Registration form: https://forms.gle/57HVj2dq3rp1wcEX7
Registration & D/4 tracker: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1N85KAGLDFobAIeIkcZ8rgIWKrmNX7F7RlKN-7i2xkNQ/edit?usp=sharing
Invitation form: https://forms.gle/z4BXiuKBQFeoJUBn9