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SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL SCHOOLS

DEBATING CHAMPIONSHIPS FUNDING PROPOSAL The National Schools Debating Championships is an annual competition which brings

together the best high school debaters from each province in South Africa to compete

for the title of national champion. It is a week of engagement, discourse and incredible

insight from the best young minds in the country. SANSDC Organising Committee 2013

4/22/2013

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CONTENT 1. Executive summary

2. Background information

3. Nationals 2013

4. Expected outcomes

5. Sponsorship packages

6. Event and sponsorship management

7. Budget

8. Provisional programme

9. Contact us

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The National Schools Debating Championships is an annual competition which brings together

the best high school debaters in South Africa to compete for the title of national champion.

Most provinces send several teams to participate in the junior (Grade 7-9) and senior (Grade

10-12) categories.

The purpose of debating as an activity is to promote critical thought, confidence and a focus on

finding solutions. In an attempt to promote this, the debating community of South Africa hosts a

national tournament every year, which acts not only as a medium for school debaters to master

their skills, but also promotes additional engagement within provincial structures.

Our aim this year is to make this annual tournament more accessible than ever before. We will

create an environment that has the highest concentration of experienced judges and speakers in

the country, and from past experiences, the continent. We want to hone participants' debating

skills at this tournament, but also provide them with life skills that will remain useful to them for

the rest of their lives.

As the economic hubs of the country, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape are

always well represented at debating tournaments. A very different story is told by the other six

provinces. The North West Province, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape have not competed

in many years, if ever; while the Free State, Eastern Cape and Limpopo rarely send competitive

teams. Due to the fact that debating is a labour intensive activity, it requires many hours from

the children as well as their coaches. Most coaches involved with debating are ex-debaters and

their gratitude for the skills they have received is the only driving force behind their

participation. Thus it is no surprise that finding good quality coaches and adjudicators is quite a

struggle. Other than the time involved, one of the biggest drawbacks is that it costs most people

money to be involved with coaching or judging debating. More than just the coaches, 50% of the

participants from each province are development speakers. This means their education and living circumstances do not give them access to any of the resources available to non-

development speakers. It is mandatory that each squad is made up of 50% development

speakers; thus, funding these children often becomes incredibly difficult and causes the burden

to often fall on the coaches or privileged speakers. The cost of being involved in debating often

prohibits more active involvement. Clearly, funding is one of the biggest obstacles that the SA

debating community faces, which is why we would like to invite you to be part of the group of

people seeking to improve school education in this country.

We have three different sponsorship packages to offer, each with its own benefits to sponsors.

Our budget for the entire tournament is R600 000. This will cover food and accommodation for

all participants and adjudicators (about 250 people), as well as allowing us to run a smooth and

memorable tournament.

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION Debating has a rich history in the world and South Africa. World championships are held

annually at various levels and with several streams. South Africa has one of the strongest

schools debating systems in the world. It produces high quality debaters, who consistently rank

among the best in the world. The most recent Schools Worlds happened in Turkey and South Africa was ranked 4th in the world. This shows that the way we run debating matches the

standard of the best speakers in the world. It is also incredibly accessible and widespread, and is

an important tool for critical engagement and social discourse among the youth in our country.

Debating is run at a national level by the South African Schools Debating Board, and at a

provincial level by various provincial bodies. The National Championships are run by a delegated

organising committee based in the host province. This year is Gautengs turn. The first National tournament was held in 2000 but was preceded by provincial structures.

Over the past decade the tournament has been running and expanding successfully.

Debating is incredibly important to the youth in South Africa. It enriches their lives in the

following ways.

General knowledge and engagement with current affairs: students debate social, political and economic issues at an incredibly high level, and are very engaged thinkers.

Critical thinking and questioning attitude: all propositions and assertions are analysed to the fullest extent and a stance is taken only once a substantiated argument can be made

for it.

Focus on solutions: if a debate is centred around the implementation of a policy or a stance (as they most often are), simply picking apart the idea is not enough. An

alternative always has to be offered. This counteracts the resignation that often

accompanies critical thinking and is what our country needs to become part of the first

world.

Persuasiveness and confidence: debating skills give you the edge in business. Pitches and proposals become strategic and insightful, a notable improvement since most people

worry about their lack of public speaking experience.

Interest in politics, economics, current affairs, the legal system and the environment: in order to be a successful speaker or adjudicator, you need to have a keen interest in how

the world works and what is currently transpiring in all fields. If engaging with this

information occurs for a significant amount of time, it inspires a passion for knowledge

and encourages debaters to be cognisant of a variety of sectors.

Open-mindedness: debating allows you to see the good and bad in everything. This is the driving force behind our liberal society and the promotion of what is right rather than what is merely ordinary.

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The above has been proven by various former debaters excelling in their respective fields.

Eusebius McKaiser, Ingrid Cloete, Emma Webber, Daniel Kaliski, Kameel Premhid, Matthew

Butler-Adams, Joe Roussos, Michael Fargher and many others have attended internationally

acclaimed universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and MIT. There is also a large community of

debaters who are currently employed by McKinsey and an array other reputable companies.

An annual national tournament plays a significant role in making sure that these examples are

the norm and not the exception. It is a place where like-minded people are able to meet and

discuss futures that often pertain to the pursuit of excellence that changes society.

Debating starts at the level of individual schools. A club has to be formed and run, usually by a

teacher. Schools then generally compete in a provincial tournament and after that individuals are

chosen to represent the province. A national tournament promotes this process in three ways:

1. The speakers have something to work towards. They can see how well they fare against the best that the country can offer. This is in conjunction with the fact that these tournaments are always a great deal of fun and

inspire students to persevere and hone their skills to the best of their abilities. The

National Championships find and reward the brightest learners we have.

2. Schools and provinces are empowered by a higher structure. Schools are more likely to provide resources and funding to their students and staff if

they know that it will feed into an established and beneficial structure. Without national

guidance, many provinces and schools would not have the support to develop debating.

This is especially prevalent in the provinces where debating is not accessible. Currently,

there is not enough of a national presence in the debating community. We have the skills

and opportunities to help struggling provinces, but we lack the funds to reach them. It is

of no use to have a national tournament that some provinces cannot attend because

they do not have the financial means for doing so. Schools in these regions are also less

privileged and less likely to invest in debating if they know that it is going to be a huge

burden on their finances.

3. Speakers who have gone to Nationals can return to their homes and spread the experience they have gained.

Many school societies are run by the students without coaching or teacher involvement.

This remains successful because of the willingness of talented individuals to share their

knowledge and skills with others. Debating is considered a team activity, thus the only

way for speakers to return to tournaments year after year is to work with their less

fortunate peers and teach them as much as they possibly can. In this way, the

tournament caters for a few hundred people, but its benefits reach many more children.

A further element of competition is making a South African team. After every Nationals, trialists

are selected to go to SA trials. There they compete for a spot on the national team. This year

sees a pilot project which stipulates that all trialists will attend an international tournament

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irrespective of whether they make the national team. All the benefits of a national tournament

extend to international tournaments, but without Nationals, the best team cannot be chosen.

In the past, very few development speakers were able to make it to SA trials. A second stream

for participants was therefore created: "development speakers", being underprivileged school

speakers who have low access to debating opportunities. At Nationals, the best development

speakers are chosen to participate in the SASDB Academy. This is a training camp and

tournament meant to provide high quality training and resources to those who cannot afford

them. These speakers are chosen on merit and on leadership their ability to take what they learn at Nationals and the SASDB Academy back to their schools, and to share their knowledge

and skills with their peers.

Debating at a national level thus plays a crucial role in the development of personal and

professional skills of the children who will probably be the leaders of their generation.

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NATIONALS 2013 Each province will be invited to send 6 teams of 5 speakers to the tournament. 4 of these teams

can be made up of senior speakers (grade 10-12) and the other 2 teams must be made up of

junior speakers (grade 7-9). The tournament will be held from 6 12 December 2013.

One of the most important features of this tournament is that there is a compulsory

development quota: 50% of the speakers sent must be from priority or development schools. The implementation of this policy lacks the negative connotations normally associated

with quotas. The development speakers are not simply put in one team and forgotten about.

Instead, almost all the provinces participating fully integrate development and non-development

speakers across teams. In 2012, Gauteng won the Best Province award and all 6 of its teams contained both development and non-development speakers. This is testament to the fact that

integration works and that it is only going to become more of a focus in years to come. Debating has traditionally been an elite activity, but this has changed in South Africa, for the

better. We aim to make SA debating as accessible, widespread and diverse as possible.

One of our main goals is to have funding available to cover the costs of the adjudicators'

participation at the tournament. Adjudication is incredibly important. We aspire to make sure

the tournament is judged fairly and that speakers can learn from their judges in every debate. As

mentioned before, if professionals are expected to spend their own money to provide a service

to the tournament, there will not be the highest calibre of judging. We aim to fix this by making

Nationals a free tournament and possibly subsidising the travel costs of adjudicators. This is

particularly important because most of the adjudicators are students and thus do not have much

money to spend on these tournaments, even if they are willing to give up their time.

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EXPECTED OUTCOMES We hope to achieve the following at Nationals 2013:

Set the precedent of hosting affordable, high quality tournaments

Allow for more provinces to be represented (through lower costs, higher accessibility, online training and SASDB cooperation)

Higher quality of judging

Host a successful tournament in terms of efficiency of organisation

Create an engaging and educational environment for the top debaters in South Africa

Maintain lasting relationships with sponsors to ensure the continuity of the event

Allow for the selection of trialists for the South African team

Allow for the selection of development speakers for the Academy

Create structures, protocols and guides for future Nationals' organising committees

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SPONSORSHIP PACKAGES This event presents a unique opportunity in two ways:

1) Children and students from all around the country will be gathered here. This allows you to access a bigger market, as well as a very specific target market, which enhances the chances of successful advertising.

2) These children and students are some of the most dedicated and intelligent individuals in the country. Logical and accurate marketing will work perfectly on them and thus it will be easier to

promote a superior product to them.

There are three broad categories of sponsorship for this tournament.

MAJOR AND TITLE SPONSORS

Title or major sponsors are individuals or companies who would fund all or most of the needs of the

tournament. They would be major partners and significantly involved in all aspects of tournament

preparation and the event itself.

Major sponsors would garner the following specific benefits:

Opportunity to speak at the opening and closing ceremonies

Opportunity to provide named trophies or prizes

Invitations and special guest status to all functions

Welcome packages and other distribution of advertising/promotional materials

Branded stationery, lanyards etc.

Prominent brand placement in all media and advertising of the event (title sponsors have naming rights, for example the X Company NSDC 2013, as well as logo placement on all materials)

Prominent online logo placement and online ads on all SA debating social networking pages and websites

Brand exposure to the brightest young minds in the country (including the ability to meet and canvas for employees/interns/scholars, and access to contact details)

Further CSI opportunities in any of the provinces, or nationally

AREA-SPECIFIC SPONSORSHIP

It is also possible to sponsor a specific event, good or service. For example, you could fund a social or

function, or you could help us fund our stationery and printing costs, or you could help us cover the

registration fees of development speakers. This type of sponsorship is possible through a monetary

donation (covering the costs) or a direct donation (for example, buses, free use of a venue, water

bottles).

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Sponsor a social or function: catering, venues, lighting and sounds etc. Opportunity to speak at function

Naming rights (The X Company Mayors Cup)

Welcome packages and other distribution of advertising/promotional materials

Branded gifts/stationery/materials/products

Help sponsor a specific need: stationery, printing, accommodation, catering, travel, judge costs, training costs, venues, prizes and trophies. It is also possible to donate towards covering

the registration fees of development speakers or learners from a specific region.

Major branding in the area of the sponsorship

Further partnership opportunities with SA and Gauteng debating

All Inclusion in welcome packages and the opportunity to distribute advertising/promotional

materials

Brand placement in media and advertising of the event

Contact details of participants and partners

Online logo placement and online ads on SA debating social networking pages and websites

Brand exposure to the brightest young minds in the country (including the ability to meet and canvas for employees/interns/scholars, and access to contact details)

Further CSI opportunities in any of the provinces, or nationally

OTHER SPONSORS

If you are unable to commit to any of the above options, it is still possible to contribute. Every little bit

helps us make this event a reality!

Sponsors can access the following benefits:

Brand exposure to the brightest young minds in the country

Inclusion in welcome packages that can include printed material

Branded stationery/lanyards

Advertising on our social network pages/website

Further CSI opportunities in any of the provinces, or nationally

Opportunity to distribute materials

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EVENT AND SPONSORSHIP MANAGEMENT There is an organising committee in charge of running the tournament and facilitating all the benefits that

stem from it. As a team, we can provide you with consistent breakdowns and more detailed budgets so

that you can be sure we are using your money in the best possible way.

The team is made up of:

The convenor, in charge of managing the committee and entire event (Debby Nixon)

The director, in charge of the daily running of the event (Jolandi Swanepoel)

Two accommodation and catering officers, in charge of finding and managing hospitality

Two social officers, in charge of running the events

A PR officer, in charge of the website, social media, and media liaison

A contingency officer, in charge of emergencies, logistical problems and safety/security

A chief adjudicator and deputy chief adjudicators, in charge of training, judging, formulating the topics, and running the debating content

In addition, the committee reports to and is overseen by the South African Schools Debating Board, the

national body overseeing schools' debating. More information about this institution is available at

debate.org.za.

The organising committee will send regular reports and updates to all sponsors, as well as a thorough

evaluation after the event.

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BUDGET Below we have outlined two possible budgets: a best and a worst case scenario. The worst case scenario

includes funds raised by charging the participants a registration fee. We would particularly like to avoid

this, as registration fees are prohibitive to development speakers' participation, and we would like South

African debating to be progressive and offer equal opportunities.

Best case scenario

Worst case scenario

*If a R500 per person registration fee is charged then we can raise R125 000,00 for this expense.

Item Description Expenditure

Accommodation

and food

R1500 x 250 people R375 000

Transport at

tournament R5000 x 4 busses x 2

events

R40 000

Subsidising of

judges transport where needed

R1 000 x 50 judges R50 000

Socials 2 formal + 4 informal R90 000

Printing and

stationery

Ballots, rubrics,

programmes,

welcome packs

R10 000

Contingency Emergencies and

breakages

R35 000

Total R600 000

Item Description Expenditure

Accommodation

and food

R1500 x 250 people R325 000*

Transport at

tournament R5000 x 4 busses x 2

events

R40 000

Subsidising of

judges transport where needed

R1 000 x 50 judges R50 000

Socials 2 formal + 4 informal R50 000

Contingency Emergencies and

breakages

R35 000

Total R500 000

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PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2013 ARRIVAL DAY 10.00 16.00: Registration 16.00 18.00: Room allocation and buffer period for unforeseen late comers 18.00 21.30: Opening function with formal dinner and guest speaker CONCURRENTLY:

17.00 19.30: Adjudicator test

SATURDAY 7 DECEMBER 2013 DEBATING DAY 1 08.00 11.45: Training 11.45 12.15: Lunch 12.15 14.45: Round 1 15.00 17.30: Round 2 18.30 22.00: Social

SUNDAY 8 DECEMBER DEBATING DAY 2 08.00 08.30: Briefing 08.30 11.00: Round 3 11.15 13.45: Round 4 13.45 14.30: Lunch 14.30 17.00: Round 5 18.00 22.00: Social

MONDAY 9 DECEMBER DEBATING DAY 3 08.00 08.30: Briefing 08.30 11.00: Round 6 11.15 13.45: Round 7 13.45 14.30: Lunch 14.30 17.00: Round 8 18.00 22.00: Break Party

TUESDAY 10 DECEMBER BREAK ROUNDS 08.00 08.30: Briefing 08.30 11.00: Senior Quarter Final 11.15 13.45: Junior Semi Final 13.45 14.30: Lunch 14.30 17.00: Senior Semi Final 18.00 22.00: Social

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WEDNESDAY 11 DECEMBER FINALS DAY 08.00 12.00: Educational tour (museum) 12.00 12.30: Lunch 12.30 13.00: Transport participants and spectators to the final venue 13.00 14.00: Junior finalists prepare while spectators go for a tour of the venue 14.00 15.00: Junior Final (senior finalists to prepare) 15.15 16.15: Senior Final 16.15 16.45: Transport to final function 18.00 22.00: Final function (black tie)

THURSDAY 12 DECEMBER DEPARTURE DAY 06.00 10.00: All participants depart

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CONTACT US Our major form of correspondence is email, as all of us are volunteers and tend to work during

office hours. Our email address is info@sansdc2013.com.

If you need to contact us by phone, you can contact the tournament convenor, Debby Nixon at

0829671734. She is also available via email at debby.nixon747@gmail.com.

The tournament director, Jolandi Swanepoel, is available at 0730637008 and

Jolandi.swanepoel@gmail.com.

The South African Schools Debating Board is available at sasdbinfo@gmail.com.

SANSDC 2013 also has a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/sansdc2013) and a Twitter

account (@SANSDC2013).