NDCA Board Meeting – April 8th, 2017
Meeting called to order by Shunta Jordan at 11:05am.
Members Present:
Aaron Timmons
Adam Torson
Chris Theis
Christina Tallungan
Dave Weston
Shane Stafford
Sheryl Kaczmarek
Shunta Jordan
Members not Present:
Ed Williams (Arriving later tonight)
Business
I. NDCA Tournament Awards Ceremony
A. Dave, Shunta, and Tim have planned it
B. Adam, Sheryl, and Dave will set up the trophies (Sheryl and Dave ended up taking care of this because Adam was judging Rounds Three and Four).
1. Verify that all trophies are present. Change the nameplate on the PF trophy.
C. Awards Program:
1. Shunta: Opening
2. Remarks from Omar of Weber State
3. Chris: Rising Star Award
4. Christina: World Schools Awards
5. Shane: Public Forum Awards
6. Aaron: LD Awards
7. Dave: Policy Awards and Tournament Host of the Year Awards
8. Shunta: Service Award and Educator of the Year Award
9. Adam and Ed: Trophy Distribution
10. Sheryl: Photographs
II. NDCA Waitlist Procedures
A. The sense of the Board is that the current date to release teams from the waitlist (April 1st) is too late, and that teams getting off the waitlist don’t have an opportunity to arrange reasonably priced travel.
B. Sheryl moves and Aaron seconds that we amend the NDCA Tournament Procedures to let teams off the waitlist beginning on March 1st. The motion passes unanimously.
1. The sense of the Board is that there are few tournaments in March that substantially contribute to qualifying points, and that any teams on the cusp of qualifying should be registered anyway.
2. The sense of the Board is that we can make special exceptions for anyone disadvantaged by exceptional circumstances as a result of this change.
III. Formulas for Season-Ending Awards
A. The sense of the Board is that the regional diversity multiplier in the formula for season-ending awards and qualifying points should be the same across events. Nobody is certain why the formulas were different in the first place.
1. Shunta moves and Adam seconds a motion that the regional diversity multiplier should be set at 2.0 for all events. The motion passes unanimously.
B. The Board discussed whether the NDCA Tournament should count toward which teams win the Baker Award, Dukes and Bailey Award, and the season long Public Forum Award.
1. The Board researched the legislative history of his change.
a. In March of 2015, Tim proposed the change in the hopes that it would induce top competitors to enter the tournament and compete seriously, and to generate more excitement for the tournament in general, especially in LD. The impetus was a student who showed up to the tournament to accept the award but either did not debate or did not compete seriously.
b. On March 29, 2015, Josh Clark made a motion to amend the tournament procedures accordingly, and that motion was unanimously passed.
c. On April 8th, 2015, another motion was passed to apply the same procedural change to Dukes and Bailey Award points.
d. It is unclear whether the Board intended for that change to take affect for the 2015 tournament or the 2016 tournament. If the former, the Baker Award recipient may well have been different.
2. The sense of the Board is that the NDCA Tournament should not count toward season-long awards. It should be a reward for season-long excellence, and doing well at the NDCA Tournament is an independently sufficient reward for teams that succeed at the tournament. The tournament procedures should be amended to reflect that change taking effect in the 2017-2018 season, and the procedures should expressly indicate that the NDCA Tournament does not count toward the Baker Award, Dukes and Bailey Award, or the season-long Public Forum award.
IV. NDCA Conference
A. Continuing Education Credits
1. Christina has been in touch with the NSDA about certifying Continuing Education Credits for conference attendance. She will provide the NSDA with a schedule of events and any other information they request to get the conference certified as NSDA Workshop hours.
2. Because every state has different requirements for certifying continuing education time, the NDCA will provide certification on a case by case basis upon the request of attendees.
B. Alternative Forms of Debate
1. Christina is going to coordinate with the Reagan Foundation and Bickel and Brewer in the hopes of establishing a sponsorship relationship in exchange for time at the conference to present on alternative debate formats.
C. Awards Ceremony Advertisement
1. Christina will announce the conference at the NDCA Awards Ceremony and encourage attendance.
2. Christina will create a flyer advertising the conference to be distributed at the NDCA Awards Ceremony.
D. Hotel
1. Aaron and Shunta confirm that the hotel is arranged and will provide satisfactory accommodations and facilities at a reasonable price.
E. Schedule
1. The Board reviewed the conference schedule.
a. The Board made changes to the schedule to prevent PF and LD sessions overlapping.
b. The Board combined Ed and Jonathon’s sessions to accommodate giving sponsor’s their own dedicated session on alternative debate formats.
F. Advertising
1. The sense of the Board is the conference should be further advertised through email, Facebook messages on multiple threads, and if possible forwarded by Board members to regional and state organizations and NSDA districts.
G. Technology
1. The sense of the Board is that we should once again attempt to live stream the conference. We will ask Mike Bietz to help again this year with the technology required to do so.
2. Aaron will bring two projectors to the conference.
3. It appears as though we paid a technology fee to the hotel of $30 last year, which seemed inappropriate given that we provided our own technology. It is unclear whether this charge was for the use of their screen. Given that the amount is de minimus, the Board elected to take no further action.
H. Diversity presenters
1. The Board discussed who we should ask to present on the diversity panels in the conference schedule.
a. For the panel on Gender Diversity in debate, the Board decided to ask if Cindi Timmons and Sandy Berkowitz would present given that they have been researching and writing about these issues. The Board also discussed the possibility of including a discussion of issues relating to transgender and transsexual students and judges, and including a speaker with expertise in these areas on the panel.
b. For the panel on Racial and Socioeconomic Diversity in debate, the board discussed asking Eric Emerson to participate, or possibly to contact the Dallas UDL.
c. The Board further discussed whether this session should be focused on how to navigate racial identity debates in light of the strategies deployed in the NDT final round. The Board discussed the possibilities of Elijah Smith and/or Michael Antonucci leading this session.
V. NDCA Tournament Director – Mahoney
A. Shunta moves and Aaron seconds that Tim Mahoney be appointed as the NDCA Tournament Director for the 2017-2018 season. The motion passes unanimously.
1. Shunta indicated that Tim does an excellent job and takes care of many things behind the scenes that are essential to the smooth and successful operation of the tournament.
VI. Policy Topic Committee Meeting
A. The NDCA sends a representative to the meeting, which this year will take place August 2nd through August 4th.
B. Shunta indicated that she would attend if nobody else wanted to. Dave said it might be possible for him to attend as well. The two agreed to work out for whom it would be easiest to make the meeting.
VII. Increasing Interest in the Organization
A. The Board engaged in brainstorming about how to increase interest in the NDCA and how to describe it’s mission in light of several of our initiatives being adopted by the NSDA.
B. The following ideas were mentioned as part of the discussion:
1. Reach out to state organizations and local NSDA leaders.
2. Advertise the NDCA Tournament, Disclosure Wiki, Open-Evidence Project, Novice Packet, and Conference.
3. Emphasize that the NDCA is a place for coaches’ voices to be heard.
4. Create a curriculum exchange system where coaches can post their curriculum to the NDCA website.
5. Create a flyer for upcoming membership pushes via email and at state meetings.
6. Continue moving the tournament to different venues to attract new participants.
7. Continue to brainstorm ways to expand into the Public Forum community.
a. In particular this should involve advertising our new season-long PF award, and perhaps giving it a name.
8. Provide Information about the tournament and season-long awards to debate camps, especially PF camps.
9. Ask Chris Palmer to program into tabroom a feature that automatically sends an email notifying people when they qualify for the NDCA tournament.
10. Create more media
a. Livestream Tournament Final Rounds
b. NDCA Youtube Channel, and Links on our webpage
c. Livestream Awards Ceremony or Publish Pictures
d. Monthly Podcast ala HS Impact
11. Send letters to schools congratulating teams on strong performances at the NDCA Tournament and/or qualification to the NDCA tournament.
12. Chris is going to redesign the website
VIII. Novice Packet
A. Shunta has been in contact with Whit Whitmore and Scott Phillips about working on the packet. Scott submitted a significant layout of what he wanted in the packet.
1. Scott is skeptical of including the States Counterplan and Federal DA in the packet, but the sense of the Board is that those positions should be included in the packet.
Meeting Adjourned at 1:06pm
