<p>The Cal Poly Debate Team would like to invite you to the first ever United States Universities Western Region Championship at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in California on March 21 &amp; 22, 2015. The purpose of this tournament is to draw universities from around the western USA to determine who is the best in the west at BP debate prior to the United States Universities Debate Championship. Participation is not bound by region; schools from anywhere are invited to participate. The tournament will feature six preliminary rounds of British Parliamentary Debate debate followed by two out-rounds. Should a team from outside the western region be crowned Western Region Tournament Champion, the team hailing from a school situated anywhere from the Rockies to Hawaii that advances furthest in the competition will be crowned Western Region Champion.</p> <p>Highlights</p> <ul> <li>Our CA team is comprised of Megan Towles, Co-Chief Adjudicator at this year&rsquo;s US Universities Debate Championship in Alaska, and Josh Martin, 2013 USUDC Co-Chief Adjudicator and five time breaking WUDC adjudicator, so your teams will debate high quality, well thought out motions.</li> <li>A professionally lead tournament that is designed to run on time.</li> <li>Pretournament training seminars targeted at both novice and advanced debaters.</li> <li>A picturesque setting in the heart of Central California&rsquo;s beautiful coastal wine country.</li> <li>In-N-Outs located in neighboring Arroyo Grande &amp; Atascadero</li> <li>A historic Spanish mission for history enthusiasts and Catholics.</li> <li>A killer food, beer, and wine scene.</li> <li>Weather that is likely to be in the mid-6os to mid-70s.</li> <li>Completely non-tournament sanctioned happy hours with John Patrick in historic Downtown San Luis Obispo</li> </ul> <p>Tournament<br /> The tournament offers British Parliamentary debate, the format used at the WUDC and USUDC tournaments, and will be following the international guidelines for WUDC competition including consensus judging, individual preparation and the international 4-team 8- speaker format. If you&rsquo;re new to WUDC debate we hope that you consider attending, the format is easy to learn and inclusive. You can read about WUDC style debate here: http://debate.uvm.edu/</p> <p>Also, the tournament offers a judge and debater briefing before it begins to give all parities a chance to ask any clarifying questions. Please email me in advance if you need more information.</p> <p>Tournament Registration and Fees<br /> You can register for the tournament at forensicstournament.net. Registration is open now through March 19, 5pm PST. Each two person BP debate team will cost $50, uncovered teams will cost and additional $40 for a total of $90. We&rsquo;ve tried to keep fees as low as possible. We can only accept cash or check.</p> <p>Judging<br /> Each school must provide (N-1) judges where N is the number of teams entered. We are also looking for judge volunteers and may have some money available for the hiring of judges. If that interests you, contact the Tournament Directors&mdash;Chris Skiles (<a href=\"mailto:cskiles@calpoly.edu\">cskiles@calpoly.edu</a>) or John Patrick (<a href=\"mailto:jopatric@calpoly.edu\">jopatric@calpoly.edu</a>, 562.243.4770).</p> <p>Lodging<br /> There are tournament rates for lodging at Quality Suites, $179/room, 805-541-5001. There are also many other motels and hotels near Cal Poly, all of which are centrally located and near downtown.</p> <p>Directions<br /> Cal Poly is located at 1 Grand Ave. San Luis Obispo, CA 93407. From the 101 Freeway, exit on grand. If traveling north, make a left. If traveling south, make a right from the freeway exit and an immediate left onto Loomis. Follow Loomis to Grand and make a right.</p> <p>Awards<br /> We will have speaker awards for the top five individual speakers and recognize the top ten. We will also have awards for all the participants in the final round debate, and recognize all teams in the eliminations rounds. Ballots and results will be distributed electronically.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Tournament Schedule</p> <p>Friday, March 20&nbsp;<br /> General Assembly will be in Agricultural Engineering Building,&nbsp;Room 123<br /> <span style=\"line-height:1.6em\">4:00pm Training Seminars (topics TBA)</span><br /> <span style=\"line-height:1.6em\">6:00pm Training Seminars (topics TBA)</span></p> <p>Saturday, March 21<br /> 8:00 Check-In and Registration (Agricultural Engineering Building, Room&nbsp;123)<br /> 8:30 Briefing, Judges and Competitors<br /> 9:00 Round 1 Motion, Debate<br /> 11:00 Round 2 Motion, Debate<br /> 1:00 Lunch Break, Off Campus<br /> 3:00 Round 3 Motion, Debate<br /> 5:00 Round 4 Motion, Debate<br /> 7:00 Go downtown and amuse yourselves.</p> <p>Sunday, March 22<br /> 8:30 Roll Call (Agricultural Engineering Building, Room 123)<br /> 9:00 Round 5 Motion, Debate<br /> 11:00 Round 6 Motion, Debate<br /> 1:00 Lunch Break, Off Campus<br /> 3:00 Semifinal Motion, Debate<br /> 5:00 Final Motion, Debate<br /> 7:00 Go downtown and amuse yourselves.&nbsp;</p>