Year: 2020

Workshop full. Others TBA.

OSDU is pleased to announce the first session in our Fall Workshop Series, Intro to Debate and British Parliamentary Style. This workshop will take place on Tuesday October 13th from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm, and will take place via Zoom meeting. A zoom link will be sent to only registered participants the day of the workshop.

Workshop Description:
This workshop is geared to newer debaters who are interested in learning about how debate works, and want to get started with the British Parliamentary Debate Style. This workshop is a great resource for students interested in participating in the OSDU Provincial BP Championships, to take place October 31 – November 1, 2020. This workshop will cover the basics of debate and an intro to the BP style via a more structured presentation, which will then be followed by an opportunity for debaters to practice and ask questions of the workshop leaders.

Workshop Leaders:
This workshop will be led by Nicole Ratti and Violetta Nikolskaya, with additional support as needed depending on the size of the workshop and registration levels. Nicole is a former British Parliamentary National Champion, and has been the President of OSDU for 7 years, serving as Tournament Director or judge at dozens of British Parliamentary provincial and national events. Violetta has served on the executive of the OSDU Board for over 5 years, and competed at the high school and university debate level, is a former President of the McMaster University debate team, and has broken as a debater and judge at many tournaments. They are eager to share their experience with new debaters, and those interested in honing their skills in British Parliamentary debate! As life long friends, their energy and excitement for debate will make this a fun workshop for all!

Please note, this workshop will be limited in size to 60 students, and will provide one instructor per 20 students so that small group sessions and practice is possible. Once the event is full, registration will close. If there is still interest in the event, OSDU will work to host a second event shortly afterwards for all those who were not able to attend.

There is no cost associated with this workshop.
A chaperone is not required, however parent consent is needed as part of the online registration process.

If you feel this workshop isn’t for your students, additional workshops will be offered in October including Coaching a Team, How to Run an Online Tournament, and Advanced Debate/BP Style. Later in the Fall, OSDU will be offering more workshops tailored to CNDF Debate Style in preparation for Regionals. If you have any suggestions for debate workshops please do not hesitate to contact us directly!

We have received several very valid questions over the summer as to if and how OSDU plans to operate this year, if membership will be collected, and what the format of events might look like. To summarize – yes, OSDU will be operating debate tournaments and workshops this year through an online platform, and registration is now open!

How do I register?
Please fill in the registration form at the link below for your member school (adult representatives are to fill in the form). OSDU will reach out within 24-48 hours to provide an invoice for further payment of the registration fee.

What is the cost to register?
Due to the online nature of all events this year, OSDU registration will be a one-time fee of $50 per member school. OSDU plans to offer the majority of its events at no additional charge this year, or at a significantly reduced cost where required.
Deadline: Friday, November 20, 2020

Please click here for more information about OSDU membership and benefits.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Nicole Ratti at osdupresident@gmail.com directly and we look forward to welcoming you and your students back to debate in the coming months!

As we begin to discuss how the current climate will impact debate in the coming year, we are excited to announce that the National Seminar will be moving online for Fall 2020! As a result, please find attached the application to the Seminar which will take place online from September 24 – 27, 2020.

For those who are not familiar with it, the National Seminar is a non-competitive debate seminar which includes a debate tournament, model parliament event, and debate workshops. The exact schedule and events are not yet available as the event adapts to an online platform. This is an event tailored to newer debaters, or those wishing to hone their skills – it is not an event recommended for advanced or highly competitive debaters. We encourage debaters to seize the opportunity to participate in this event tailored to improving skills at a lower cost and time commitment than it may otherwise be when taking place in person! This is a fantastic opportunity!

If a student wishes to attend, they must follow the process outlined below – please note this is an individual event, and your application does not guarantee you a spot, the OSDU Board will be selecting its delegation based on strict criteria established by the host, which may include diversifying students across multiple schools, regions, and language categories.

1. Fill out the attached application, and send it to osdupresident@gmail.com by 9:00 pm on July 10, 2020. Please select in which language category you are most interested in attending. Note that students willing to participate in French or Bilingual may be given priority.
2. The selection committee will review all applications, and will select a limited number of students divided amongst the english, french, and bilingual categories. We will inform you of our decisions by July 20th, 2020.

Students interested in applying must be in Grades 9-12 as of September, 2020, and may not have attended a National Championship event, or the National Seminar in previous years.

Please note that at this time, only up to one student per school will be selected. This may be subject to change depending on the delegate pool and available spots for Ontario.
Download Application