Overview
The Monash Association of Debaters (MAD) is excited to be
bidding to host Easters in 2022. We hope to offer an affordable and inclusive week and provide an unforgettable experience.
We’re especially looking forward to inviting you to Melbourne
after we were forced to transition Australs online in 2020.
Key Details
•
Dates: Monday 18
th– Friday 22
ndApril (common vacation week)
•
Registration Fee: $395 – $420, depending on tournament size
•
This is a conservative estimate, actual costs are likely to be lower (see detailed slide).
•
Team Cap: 110
•
Convenors: Peter Drew and Travis Barton
•
CAs: Deepak Manchikanti and Kat Cheng
•
Tab Director: Rob Barrie
About Monash Association of Debaters
Established in 1962, the Monash
Association of Debaters (MAD) is one of the oldest clubs at Monash University, with a diverse membership base.
MAD regularly holds tournaments,
including Chairman's Cup, Mad Mini and Funtastical. MAD’s recent debating
successes include several breaks at recent Easters and Australs.
Our Team
Peter Drew
Convenor
Peter is in his fifth year of university and has attended and assisted with several Easters and Australs. Most notably, he was indispensable during Monash Online Australs 2020.
Peter has also taken a very active duty in arranging and convening many Victorian minis, so he is familiar with what it takes to run a successful debating tournament. He brings years of university club management experience, including as Secretary and Member Training Officer of multiple clubs and is currently the President of MAD.
In addition, he brings five years of experience managing robotics events around Australia in secondary education.
It is not an exaggeration to say there is no one more suitable for the art of convening a tournament in all of Australia.
Travis Barton
Convenor
Travis has been a sucker for debating organisations since year 11 when he founded the Debating Political Issues Friday Activity in his high school.
He is now in his third year of university debating, having done both the pro and novice experience at Easters while also attending an Australs. Together with all the minis Travis went to that distracted him from his actual responsibilities, he is aware of what makes a tournament successful.
Travis has also undertaken numerous organisational positions, convincing MAD to reintroduce Funtastical IV, the iconic meme tournament, and then convening it to astounding success.
Previously as MAD’s Sponsorship Officer, Travis has a wealth of liaison experience and contacts. He is currently MAD’s Member Training Officer putting together all ofMAD’s weekly trainings.
WithTravis’s history of hard work and enthusiasm for the debating circuit he is sure to help deliver an unforgettable Easters.
Deepak Manchikanti
Chief Adjudicator
Deepak is a fourth year student studying a double degree in Economics and Philosophy, which he affectionately refers to as his Walmart PPE course. He has a wealth of experience as a Chief Adjudicator at Chairman’s Cup (Victoria’s largest mini) on two separate occasions (2019, 2021) and Funtastical IV (2020). He also has an impressive number of breaks as an adjudicator, most notably his break to ESL Quarter Finals at EUDC 2020.
Much to his surprise as well as everyone else’s, he also has been incredibly successful as a debater, most recently being the fourth Best Speaker of Easters 2021 and breaking to Octo-Finals. Before that, he has broken to PDOs of Australs 2020 and has amassed countless top ten speaker awards at various minis, and even Overall Best Speaker and Champion of UNSW IV 2021.
DespiteDeepak’s attestations that all he can offer is his love, Deepak has a lot to bring to the table. You can be assured that Easters will have high quality motions from having such an enthusiastic and well-versed Chief Adjudicator. In his first year, Deepak was unsure if he would ever break at a major, let alone CA one, but is now brimming with pride at being chosen to be one of the faces of the Monash Easters 2022 bid.
Kat Cheng
Chief Adjudicator
Kat laments the fact that debating has wholly consumed her entire uni life such that she no longer gets invited to Friday night outs because all her mates know she’s got debating work on. Starting in the humble UNSW10 at Easters 2018, she quickly went on to break as an adjudicator to the open quarter-finals of Malaya Australs 2018. From then on, she’s been an Easters grand-finalist and semi-finalist, a two-time Australs finalist and judged the 2019 AWDC quarter final.
Most recently, Kat was the 4th best speaker at Easters 2021 and 20th best speaker and 6th best reply speaker at Australs 2020. In a strong effort to avoid awkward weekend family dinners, Kat has also broken at over 15 minis and has been the CA of 7 tournaments around the world. We’re hoping that being a CA of Easters would mean that Kat can finally stop bemoaning her missed career opportunity as a chess grandmaster and just accept that she is a massive hack and here to stay (but hopefully not long enough to be considered old and washed up).
Rob Barrie
Tab Director
Rob has been around the Australian debating circuit for a number of years now and has accumulated a wealth of various experiences that will serve him well as Tab Director for Easters 2022.
Rob was on the tab team of Easters 2019, under the guidance of the wise and powerful Viran. He has also tabbed at over a dozen Western Sydney, UTS and Macquarie tournaments as well as filling in on occasion at Sydney. He has also tabbed multiple schools tournaments both here in Australia and abroad.
In fact,Rob’s biggest tab related asset is his experience tabbing in the dark old days, having tabbed tournaments using Excel and Tournaman (Rob will fight anyone who criticizes the powerhouse software that was Tournaman). So, if for some reason Tabbycat crashes and Easters converts to BP, Rob will be ready to go.
Not only does Rob have the experience– he also has the qualifications! Rob has a Certificate II in Information Technology from Campbelltown TAFE, so can handle all your level 1 helpdesk requests.
In addition to tabbing, Rob has debated and adjudicated at a great many tournaments, so has a lot of experience extensively looking over tabs for hours and hours – so I guess this means if nothing else he knows what one should look like.
Rob has also served terms of office on the Australian Debating Council, AIDA Council and the Worlds Council. He has read every constitution and helped write parts of them too. He has been on equity teams, language teams, org comms and advisory roles, so is well placed to join this bid as Tab Director.
Bid Advisers
Ben Jackson Catherine Zhou Jessica Musulin Oliver Cummins
Tournament
Information
Tentative Schedule
Monday 18
thApril
• Arrival & hotel check in
• Wom*n’s Night Social (Melbourne CBD)
Tuesday 19
thApril
• Buses to Monash
• Rounds 1-3 (Monash Clayton)
• Day 2 Social
Wednesday 20
thApril
• Buses to Monash
• Rounds 4-6 (Monash Clayton)
• Buses to city
• Championship Dinner & After Party
Thursday 21
stApril
• Octo & Quarter Finals
• Semi Finals (Chambers of Parliament)
• Grand Final
• Final Night Social
Friday 22
ndApril
• Check out
DCA Appointments
Four or five Deputy Chief Adjudicators (DCAs) will be appointed, taking into consideration:
-
Debating and adjudicating CVs
-
Answers to questions on the application form
-
State and institutional diversity
-
WGM and POC diversity
-
Feedback received from the community
Applications will open in August – September 2021. Following a period of feedback,
appointments will be announced in October.
Debate Venues
Monash Clayton
The Learning and Teaching Building was recently opened in 2018 and features 55 tutorial rooms.
The building contains large open spaces and shared study zones with ample space for teams to prepare. All rooms are accessible with lifts and are less than a 3 minute walk from the briefing room.
Debate Venues
Finals
The Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council of Victoria’s Parliament House were built in 1856 with the colonial grandeur of gold-rush era Melbourne. Having been used as the meeting place of the Victorian Parliament since 1856, excluding 26 years
between 1901 and 1927 when it was home to the Australian
Parliament, the chambers have hosted countless political debates of national significance. Located in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD, the Victorian Parliament will continue that tradition by hosting the semi finals of the tournament.
We are currently negotiating with venues for the other finals.
Accommodation
We are currently finalising negotiations with The Great Southern Hotel and the ibis Styles Kingsgate Hotel. Both hotels are located in the
heart of Melbourne’s CBD and only a five minute walk apart.
Depending on tournament size there are also options for a third hotel of comparable quality nearby.
Some rooms will require the sharing of a queen or king bed, however
all institutions will be allocated at least some rooms with single beds.
Socials
We have a week of great socials planned with Wom*n’s Night, the Day 2 Social, Champ Dinner, Champ Dinner Afterparty and the Final Night Social.
All socials will be in or around the CBD, right next to the
accommodation. The Melbourne Free Tram Zone means it is easy to move around the CBD.
Non alcoholic drinks will be available and dietaries will be catered
for.
Registration Cost
Due to uncertainty relating to Covid-19 and tournament size (there were 50 teams at Online Easters for example) we are
providing registration cost estimates for various tournament sizes, to better reflect distribution of fixed costs.
These are conservative estimates which we expect will represent maximum registration costs and hope to significantly beat.
With a 110 team cap we also hope to have a large and vibrant tournament that
spreads fixed costs as much as possible.
Number
attendees 300 360 400 440
Number
teams 75 90 100 110
Approximate registration
cost
$420 $410 $400 $395
Under 18s
Monash University has recently implemented a policy that
prevents under 18s from participating in most overnight events.
We hope to makes Easters as inclusive as possible and are
investigating whether we are subject to this policy.
Covid-19
Covid-19
•
It is our goal to run Easters in person so long as it is feasible based on current restrictions in April 2022. At all times our response will be flexible and based on expert advice.
•
All current information suggests that all Australians will be eligible for vaccination by April 2022. The Federal Government has also indicated that international
border restrictions will not be relaxed until sufficient vaccination rates are achieved.
•
Further, state governments’ responses are now more granular and widespread
lockdowns and border closures are now not preferred. This is illustrated by the
response to recent cases in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide.
Contingencies
• We will prepare online contingencies prior to the tournament using our knowledge from hosting Australs Online 2020 and incorporating improvements in technology and
processes since then.
• If at least three months before the tournament there is evidence of likely long term restrictions we will make an assessment about transitioning to an online format and recovering costs.
• If restrictions in Victoria or multiple other states prevent the tournament from operating with short notice we will transition to a fully online competition. We will then make an assessment about recovering costs, possibly through a postponed physical tournament.
• If border closures prevent one or a few states from attending we will run a hybrid tournament.
