Coach Development Conference
Please stay tuned for the 2024 Conference announcement — this page will be updated with more details once the Board finalizes plans for 2024.
2023 NDCA Professional Development Conference
The National Debate Coaches Association is excited to invite you to the NDCA Professional Development Conference, which will be hosted online on May 20th, 2023. This year’s theme is "Work-Life Balance" with the goal of discussing ideas, norms, and suggestions for coaches, and students, to maintain a healthy balance in their debate lives.
This is open to all debate coaches (not students/current competitors). We had nearly 500 participants register last time and received so much positive feedback about the schedule, online format, and various presentations. We'd love to see the same turnout this year, so please share widely in your networks.
Here is the schedule:
8:00 – 9:00 AM PST
Community Conversation: Gender and Work-Life (Im)balance
Jyleesa Hampton, Jasmine Stidham, Allie Chase, Carolyn Cook, Rosie Valdez Block
Drawing on our collective experiences as female program directors and experienced coaches we want to center gender in the lack of work-life-balance in debate. Speaking on some of the causes, scope and often asymmetrical impacts the panel hopes to enrich conversation on self-care, well-being and healthy boundaries for coaches.
Panelists include:
Jyleesa Hampton, ABD, Speech and Debate Director, Presentation High School
Allie Chase, Ph.D., Associate Director of Debate, Greenhill School
Carolyn Cook, Director of Debate, Shawnee Mission South High School
Rosie Valdez Block, Director of Debate and Forensics and Communication Department Chair, Little Rock Central High School
Jasmine Stidham, B.S., Debate Coach @ Michigan State University, NDCA Executive Board
9:30-10:30 AM PST
Presentation Description: Compensation & Support: 2023 Research on the Work of Speech & Debate Professionals
Kyle Hietala
Panel Description: Reimagining core files for students and teachers.
Sara Sanchez
Like many debate organizations around the country NAUDL and our league partners put together a core file set each year for our students. Over time we've recognized a number of ways core files can create a barrier to student learning and new coach engagement and retention. This session will discuss some of those findings and share innovative ways urban debate leagues are working to combat these problems in our core file set development and distribution.
Sara Sanchez is responsible for national public debate initiatives and debate programming for NAUDL. She serves as the Urban Debate National Tournament Director and manages all social media platforms and communication efforts for NAUDL. Sara brings 15+ years of debate coaching and program experience to her role. She was previously an assistant debate coach at Rowland Hall St. Mark’s Upper School in Salt Lake City and the Director of Debate at both Lexington High School in Massachusetts and Glenbrook South High School in Illinois. She is a Barkley Forum Key Coach, has served as a board member of the National Debate Coaches Association, and is currently a member of the Tournament of Champions Policy Advisory Committee.
In addition to her expertise in debate, Sara is passionate about public education and baseball. She spent seven years as a classroom teacher, three years as a research analyst at the Utah Foundation, working primarily on education issues, and held the role of Managing Director of Policy for Educators 4 Excellence, a teacher advocacy organization in Chicago. In her spare time you can find her in the Wrigley Field bleachers gathering information for her Cubs writing or tinkering with her fantasy baseball teams.
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST
Panel Description: Generative AI and Debate: How Will New Technologies Transform Argumentation?
John Hines, Stefan Bauschard, Devin Gonier
Advances in generative AI, including large language models that can generate coherent paragraphs of text, are poised to impact many areas of education and communication dramatically. One domain that may be particularly affected is competitive debate. This panel will explore how generative AI may influence debate at both the college and high school levels in the coming years. The panel will discuss topics such as:
• How generative AI may help debaters research and develop arguments more efficiently.
• Ways that generative AI could generate responses during debates in real-time.
• The ethical implications of using AI in competitive debate and argumentation.
• How debaters and coaches can anticipate and prepare for these technological changes.
The overarching question that will guide the panel discussion is: How can we ensure that the introduction of powerful new AI tools improves debate rather than diminishing the human element at its core? Please join us for what is sure to be a fascinating conversation exploring the cutting edge of technology and argumentation.
Panelists include:
John Hines, Director of Debate at The Head-Royce School and CEO of DebaterHub. John has 25 years of experience as a debate coach and director and currently runs DebaterHub.com which develops generative AI technologies for use by debaters and coaches.
Stefan Bauschard, Stefan recently co-edited a 650-page volume featuring 32 authors with expertise in education, technology, and the law on the impact of generative ai and education and has run many webinars and classes teaching students and teachers about generative artificial intelligence tools.
Devin Gonier is the Chief Technology Officer at DebaterHub and WageUp. Both companies specialize in developing tools that leverage machine learning for different solution sets. He is completing his master’s degree at Columbia University in Machine Learning and has an undergraduate degree from Austin College in Philosophy and Religion.
Other panelists TBD with relevant experience in debate, communication, and AI.
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST
Community Discussion: Will we ever take Regionalism seriously?
Julie Roos
What is “Regionalism” in debate? Is it a concept, defined mostly by being Not the National Circuit? Is it a soft definition that describes tournaments that draw only from their region? Or describes programs that only travel within their region? Is it a hard, organizational rule? When state organizations place restrictions on teams traveling outside of their state or region? How big is a region?
Whatever the definition, Regionalism has been discussed widely in the debate community, in relation to health and wellness, financial obstacles of tournaments, student participation, etc. Some program directors on the National Circuit have talked about Regionalism as a solution to the decline of debate that can be linked to the marathon of the National Circuit. Yet, despite discussion, little concrete action has been taken. Raising the question – will we ever take Regionalism seriously?
This Community discussion is meant to bring together widely divergent viewpoints and experiences to begin a dialogue on this topic. It is intended to be a moderated discussion, rather than a presentation or panel, where everyone is invited to express their opinions. Some questions to think about and discuss:
• Is the national circuit for debate sustainable?
• What are the different time commitments to compete on different circuits?
• What are the different costs to compete on different circuits?
• How do you promote regionalism?
• What is the best level to promote regionalism – state organizations, schools, teams, or
tournaments?
• If regionalism has to be enforced, what are the downsides to enforcement?
Julie Roos: Julie Roos has been the District Chair of Golden Desert Speech & Debate Association, covering Southern Nevada (and fewer and fewer portions of Southern Utah), since 2019. She is a 1- Diamond Coach and has been coaching Speech & Debate since 2009, primarily at Title I schools with limited travel budgets. She has co-chaired World Schools Debate at Nationals for the past 3 years. In high school she debated for HoF coach Peggy Madden in the Pittsburgh District, where she always assisted in the organization of her team's tri-state, regional, invitational.
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM PST
Community Discussion: Tournament Director’s Zoom
Christina Tallungan Phillips
During the first summer of the Pandemic, Tim Mahoney and Christina Phillips sent out a zoom meeting invitation to tournament directors, where we would meet to wrap our heads around the concept of online debate and COVID precautions. These meetings were Invaluable to the community, both reassuring us and preparing us for what was to come. These have become a semi-regular reoccurring event. Although the topics have varied, these are wide ranging discussions of the issues facing us where everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate.
Christina Tallungan Phillips - Director of Debate at Notre Dame High School (Sherman Oaks, CA). Has run regional and national tournaments for the last 20 years. 3-Diamond NSDA Coach, TOC Policy Advisory Board Member, IPPF Topic Committee and Advisory Board Member and former NDCA Board Member.
2021 NDCA Professional Development Conference
Thank you for another great NDCA Professional Development Conference!
Our 2021 theme, A Path Forward: Lessons Learned from Covid-19 & Crisis Competition, brought together nearly 200 community members. We sparked meaningful conversations that will continue into next season and beyond.
2020 NDCA Professional Development Conference
We hope this message finds you safe and healthy.
The NDCA 2020 Professional Development Conference will be held next weekend, May 16–17. With over 150 participants and counting, it will be the largest virtual conference for speech and debate professionals in history!
This year’s theme is "Refresh & Renew: Health, Wellness, and Longevity in Competitive Speech & Debate," with the ultimate goal of establishing community norms and best practices in both virtual and traditional settings. Our stellar line-up of presenters will share their expertise with coaches like you, offering guidance on the 2020–2021 season and beyond.
Presentations will cover a wide range of topics, from curriculum planning and community building, to novice retention and minority engagement. The conference will also feature a series of timely discussions, led by panelists with unique experience in online instruction, virtual competition, and administrative leadership to help sustain your program in the wake of COVID-19. For more information, please refer to the event schedule, which appears in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
Participation is FREE! All events will occur in real time, and access is restricted to registrants only. To receive your unique passcode to the virtual conference, please complete the registration form before 5PM EDT on Wednesday, May 13. In the meantime, feel free to spread the word about this exciting opportunity, with general information available on the NDCA website.