Meet the Organizers
November 1, 2008
Organization Committee: These are the folks who will make your experience in Geneva exceed all of your expectations, both in terms of debating and just having fun.
| Convenor |
Eric
Barnes |
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| Tournament Director |
Dan
Maguire
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Dan is the current president of the HWS Debate Team and he proved himself to be extremely capable at the 2009 RR as the tournament’s Chief of Staff. Dan will definitely run a tight ship, making sure no details are left unattended. |
| Transportation Coordinator |
Buzz
Klinger |
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Tournaments are no good if you don’t get where you need to be. Buzz is going to make sure that everyone gets to where they need to be while they are our guests. |
| Party Coordinator |
John Monaghan
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John is a junior who is worked on the parties for the 2009 round robin, so he knows what he’s doing. He’s working on some very unique activities to keep everyone very entertained. |
Advisory Committee: These are the folks who we consult to make sure that our decisions are as well-informed and sensitive as possible to traditions and practices from around the world.
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Naomi Oreb won top speaker at the 2009 World Universities Debating Championship in Cork, Ireland. She is a student at Sydney University, and has won numerous Australian and international competitions. Naomi is very active in the world of Australian and international debating. |
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Rory Gillis will serve as the Deputy Chief Adjudicator of the World Debating Championships in Ireland in 2008. Rory is currently a student at Yale Law School and the coach of the Yale Debate Association. While an undergraduate at Yale, Rory was the top speaker at the World Championships and two North American Championships, as well as the top speaker or winner at 11 other tournaments. Rory was the President of the Yale Debate Association in 2005 and a member of the American Parliamentary Debate Association Executive Board in 2005-2006. A native of Canada, Rory was the top speaker and winner of the Canadian National Championships in high school. |
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Neill Harvey-Smith is Chair of the World Debating Council, a former World Championship grand finalist, World Masters Champion and winner of the John Smith Memorial Mace in both England & Wales and Scotland. He was Chair of the Grand Final at the 2004 World Debating Championships in Singapore, having previously adjudicated the Grand Finals of Worlds, the European Championships, the International Mace. As a student he won around 25 inter-varsity debating competitions. |
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Logan Balavijendran served as chief adjudicator for Worlds 2005 in Malaysia and will reprise that role for Worlds 2011 in Botswana. His international accomplishments are far too many to list, but he is among the most widely respected and well-liked people in the international debating community. |
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Ian Lising served as the Chair of the World Debating Council from 2002 until 2008. He is a six-time Grand Finals Adjudicator at the World University Debating Championships. He has also coached both the Ateneo and La Verne teams at the WUDC. His teams have become World Octofinalists, Quarterfinalists, Semifinalists, and Grand Finalists. Professor Lising was the co-Founder, Chair and Coach of the Ateneo Debate Society from 1991-1998. He coached the 1st Asian Debate Champion team at the inaugural event in 1995. In 1999, he served as the Championship Director of the WUDC. Later that year, he coached the University of La Verne to the Grand Final of the Oxford Union International Intervarsity Debating Championship. |
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Helina Loor was the Convenor of 2008 European Debate Championship in Tallinn and the Tournament Director of the 2008 IDEA Youth Forum. Helina has been involved in the Estonian debate movement for the past 8 years as a debater, organizer, tournament director and, most recently, as training manager. She graduated from Tallinn University in 2006, with a degree in adult education. She is now pursuing a masters’ degree in the same field. Helina has been organizing and running tournaments in Estonia (domestic and international) for 6 years, including being tournament director of the Youth Forum in 2007. |
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Justice Motlhabani is the current coach of the Botswana Schools National Debating Team. He has been involved with Botswana debating since 2000 both as a debater and administrator. In 2006-2007, he was Africa’s representative at World Council. He runs numerous debating workshops in schools around Botswana. In 2006 he was the Tournament Director of the Botswana High School Championships with over 150 teams. In 2006 he helped found the Botswana Debating Council and was its first Public Relations officer. He has debated and run debates in Lesotho and Swaziland. In December 2006, he represented Botswana in the UN World Youth Forum in Hong Kong. Justice has worked as a freelance journalist and columnist for newspapers in Botswana, and written articles about debating in Africa for the Monash Debating Review. He has been vigorously working to bring WUDC to Africa since 2006, leading and presenting Botswana’s bid twice at World Council. |
Selections Committee:
The selections committee will choose which applications will be awarded at-large bids and which judges will be invited. This committee will consist of three people: Eric Barnes (Round Robin Convenor), Derek Lande (Chief Adjudicator at Worlds 2009), and a representative from IDEA.