We would like to invite the entire community to add the 2019 National Round Robin to your schedule as you plan your budgets for the 2018-2019 season.

The 2019 National Round Robin will be held on the campus of the University of California-Berkeley, March 2-3, 2019. Please join me in thanking the students involved with Parli Debate at Berkeley for their generous offer of hospitality.

As expected, the tournament will feature:

2 days of intense competition. Saturday/Sunday with built in time to enjoy the delicious accommodations of downtown Berkeley.

Your best 2 teams. Any college/university may be represented by a maximum of 2 teams, no qualification or previous partnership records required. The entry fee should remain around $100 per team (might have to be slightly adjusted based on Cal Parli’s room rental costs).

No Topic Areas. Preparation for The National Round Robin takes place over the course of the year using the final preliminary topic from 6 regular season invitational tournaments. In 2018, the tournaments were Jewell, Rice, Berkeley, L&C, UCSD, Washburn. Previous tournament attendees will have the opportunity to vote to rotate topics among tournaments by region. However, usage of the tournament host’s regular season tournament will remain a fixture of the topic selection process. The final prelim topic from GGI (October 27-28) will certainly be used as a NRR preliminary debate topic.

Cross-Examination. The National Round Robin features true cross-examination time after every constructive and dedicated in-debate prep-time for each side.

Debater-Designed Elim Resolutions. The NRR’s “bring your own resolution” elimination round format allows students the freedom to construct their own resolutions for the elimination debates— flip for side/topic choice.

Tournament Structure. Appropriate preliminary debates with 2 judges (either 6 prelims or 5 prelims + a “Debate-In” round for bubble teams). Based on ballot count, 6 teams advance to a true round-robin on Day 2. The second day of the NRR is likely the most rigorous single day of competition that you will find throughout the entire competitive season. Any format changes are democratically decided at the tournament or shortly before. If changes are made to the tournament schedule/policies, out-round elimination process, etc. attending schools will be democratically consulted and a “1 vote per squad” vote will be held. We have had great luck with real-time, open democracy for the tournament in both 2017 and 2018.

Prefs and Tabulation. A-B-C MPJ with appropriate strikes. We anticipate that Konrad will tab the 2018 NRR once again.

Equity. Since the NRR is not “owned” by an extroverted organization, the tournament meets the demands of the host institution related to enforcement of campus policies/procedures with respect to Title IX, sexual harassment, equity, substance abuse policy, smoking, etc. We expect the community to show deference to Parli Debate at Berkeley related to any requests for judge credentialing, program accountability, etc.

In the first two years, the NRR Tournament has become a premier parliamentary debate event in terms of rigor, variety of styles, research, and depth. Any team can win any debate. Upsets are a feature. For anyone considering adding this tournament to your schedule, it is worth mentioning that only 2 individual teams advanced to Octofinals at the 2018 NPDA National Tournament representing colleges or universities who did not attend the National Round Robin in 2017 or 2018 and 6 of the 10 teams competing during Day 3 of the 2018 NPTE featured at least one debater who competed at the NRR in 2017 or 2018. The NRR is absolutely a premier event in our activity. We look forward to seeing everyone in Berkeley during the first weekend of March 2019.