Announcing the Fall 2011 Allstate CDL Varsity Invitational

The overview of the Fall 2011 Allstate CDL Varsity Invitational — one of the most prestigious and competitive events on the CDL Season Calendar, this year taking place at the beginning rather than the end of the season (when other events of parallel significance take place) — is pasted below.

The event schedule runs from 8:00am until 5:30pm on one day, Saturday, October 15th, 2011.

The Fall 2011 Allstate CDL Varsity Invitational will take place at the:

Allstate Corporate Headquarters
3100 Sanders Road
Northbrook, IL

This event will bring together our top Varsity teams from all four Conferences in competition with each other, and interaction with some of the CDL’s most invested and enthusiastic supporters.

The Fall 2011 Allstate Chicago Debate League
Varsity Invitational
October 15th, 2011

OVERVIEW

The Fall 2011 Allstate CDL Varsity Invitational is an opportunity for the some of the most accomplished Varsity debaters to compete across Conferences in a smaller, special early-season tournament setting with motivating prestige imparted by the League’s premier sponsor.

The Fall 2011 Allstate CDL Varsity Invitational will be hosted by Allstate in Northbrook and will also feature an opportunity for volunteers and executives from the CDL’s Premier Corporate Sponsor to become directly involved with the debaters and coaches of the CDL in an engaging tournament format.

Team Selection

The CDL administration will invite 20 Varsity teams by September 12th. Coaches should nominate up to two of their Varsity teams by sending an email to cdc@resources.chicagodebates.org by September 8th, with a description of (a) their readiness to debate in this prestige event, and (b) the value it would have either to their development, your school’s development, or both.

Teams will be selected from each Conference – no more than 7 teams, and no fewer than 3 teams, will be selected from each Conference. No more than 2 teams will be selected from any school and preference will be toward selecting qualified first-team applicants from a school – second-team applicants should be especially qualified.

The three criteria for selection will be based on a review over the past 12 months of:

• Team Competitive Record
• School Tournament Participation Record
• Potential Developmental Value for the Debaters and the School’s Debate Program
• Coach Professional Development Commitment

Coach Incentives

Each school will receive a $500 coach incentive for each team selected to participate.

Coach/Judge Obligation

Each team is required to have one coach/judge at the event, throughout.

Transportation

The event will take place Allstate Insurance corporate headquarters – 3100 Sanders Road, Northbrook. Each school will receive $250 to spend on transportation or anything else debate-related for their program. Each school is responsible for arranging its own transportation to and from the event.

Schedule and Competition

The event will begin with breakfast and registration, 7:30am – 8:15am, followed by an Opening Assembly, four rounds of debate, then a reception and awards ceremony, ending at 5:30pm.

The rounds will be paired as follows. Round I will be high-high, based on a pre-tournament seeding of all 20 teams by the CDC (i.e., 1 will meet 2, 3 will meet 4, etc.). The pairings (without judges listed) for this first round will be released in advance of the event, on October 12th. Round II will be random, with the proviso that teams from the same Conference cannot debate each other. Round III will be high-low within brackets, based on the first two rounds. Round IV will be high-low within brackets, based on the first three rounds.

Each round will have two judges: one CDL judge and one Allstate Volunteer. The CDL will be hiring judges to supplement those provided by the schools; these hired judges will be as experienced as we can find.

Check the full event schedule for more details.

Participation Credit

Schools will receive tournament participation credit for participating at the 2011 Allstate CDL Varsity Invitational.

Awards

Awards will be based on the eight ballots from the four rounds.

Each student will receive a participation medal. The awards for the top ten speakers and the top ten teams will be especially handsome, befitting the investment of our sponsor.

Additionally, each debater on the First Place team will win a college scholarship of $1,000. Each debater on the Second Place team will win a college scholarship of $500. Each debater on the Third Place team will win a college scholarship of $250. These scholarships can be used for a university debate institute, if the winning student is not a senior.

Theme: “Preparing for Professional Success”

Though debating competition will be the primary focus of the teams participating, the event will also feature the theme “Preparing for Professional Life.” Debaters will have the opportunity to interact with Allstate employees and compete within the corporate offices of one of the Chicago-area’s largest corporations. They will also take part in a “Preparing CDL Debaters for Future Professional Success” Reception, which will include Allstate and other corporate supporters of the Chicago Debate League.