PARTICIPANTS GUIDE

LSE Forum 2015

22nd February (Sun)

CONTENTS

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2
3
4
5
6
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Introduction
Aim
Itinerary
Format
Rules
Best Speakers
Judges

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9
10
11
12
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Judges Criteria
Social Lunch
Others
Travelling Information
Maps and Directions
Contacts

INTRODUCTION

AIM
By bringing together some of the brightest minds amongst our
peers, we hope to raise the awareness of students across the UK on
both global and local current affairs.

WHAT IS LSE FORUM?

The LSE Forum is one of the flagship events of the
LSESU HKPASS Society where students from
universities across the UK gather at the LSE to
participate in the annual debating competition.
Through rounds of friendly yet heated debates,
participants are encouraged to put forward and to
defend their propositions on some of the most
controversial global and local current affairs. It
has always been an anticipated occasion for
students to showcase their argumentative talents,
as well as an opportunity to meet and socialize
with students from various universities.

The motions chosen by the LSE Forum committee of 2015 are

designed to allow participating teams to learn about some of
the most contentious issues of our time, thus in turn gain a
deeper understanding of the society that we are living in.
The LSE Forum also acts as an interactive platform for
participating teams to learn from each other in terms of their
articulation and persuasive speaking skills. Moreover students
will be kindled and inspired through being exposed to a
latitude of perspectives of hotly-contested issues.
It will also serve as a perfect opportunity for participants and
members of the audience to exchange ideas and mingle with
fellow students from different universities.

Itinerary

DATE: 22nd February 2015 (sunday)

10:00 - 10:30
10:30 - 11:00
11:00 - 11:55
11:55 - 12:00
12:00 - 12:55
12:55 - 14:15
14:15 - 14:30
14:30 - 15:00
15:00 - 15:55
15:55 - 16:00
16:00 - 16:30
16:30 - 17:30
17:30 - 18:00
18:00 - 18:30

Arrivals and Registration

Welcome Brieng
Round 1
Break
Round 2
Social Lunch
Afternoon Session Brieng
Prep Time
Round 3
Release of Grand Final Motion
Prep Time
Grand Final
Judges Discussion
Closing Ceremony

TIME: 10:00 am - 6:30 pm

VENUE: Clement House, LSE

FORMAT

MOTIONS RELEASE
TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE
Debates will be conducted in Cantonese.
Each team will consist of three or four debaters, including the
captain, rst speaker, second speaker, (and closing speaker).
For teams of three, the captain will make the opening and
closing speeches.
The competition will include three preliminary rounds and
one Grand Final.
All teams must participate in all three preliminary rounds,
after which the two teams with the most number of wins will
enter the Grand Final.
If the teams have the same number of wins, the team(s) with
the highest total scores will enter the Grand Final.
The draw, including the sides on which each team will debate
and their opponents in each round, will be released on 11
February 2015 (Wednesday).

Round 1

Motion and sides released 1

week before the debate.

Round 2

Motion and sides released 1

week before the debate.

Round 3

Motion released 30 minutes

prior to the debate.

Grand Final

Motion released 30 minutes

prior to the debate.

STRUCTURE

Captain of Afrmative
Captiain of Opposition
1st Speaker of Afrmative
1st Speaker of Opposition
2nd Speaker of Afrmative
2nd Speaker of Opposition
Free Debate
Floor Time
Closing Speaker of the Opposition
Closing Speaker of the Afrmative

PRELIMINARY ROUNDS

GRAND FINAL

4 minutes
4 minutes
3 minutes
3 minutes
3 minutes
3 minutes
4 minutes
----3 minutes
3 minutes

5 minutes
5 minutes
4 minutes
4 minutes
4 minutes
4 minutes
8 minutes
9 minutes
3 minutes
3 minutes

RULES

GRAND FINALS ONLY

POINTS OF INFORMATION
Point of Information (POI) can be
raised by any opposing team member
to the speaker after the rst 30
seconds and before the last 30
seconds of the current speech.
The opposing team member should
stand and offer a POI within 15
seconds, otherwise it will be halted by
the speaker.
The speaker can choose to either
accept or decline the POI, but should
accept at least one POI during the
speech, if any.
The chair reserves the right to decline
any POI irrelevant to the current speech
or the overall argument of the team.

FLOOR SPEECHES
In the nal round, the afrmative and
opposition teams will answer three
questions from the floor in turns.
Each question should be less than 30
seconds and answer should be less
than 1 minute. The floor speaker can
designate a specic debater in the
team to answer the questions.
The floor speaker should not be from
the same university as the team
which he or she raises questions to.
The chair reserves the right to
choose the floor speaker if there are
more than one from the audience.

FREE DEBATE
Each team will be given a total of 2 minutes
in the preliminary rounds (4 minutes in the
nal round) to deliver their speech.
Speaker from each team will deliver a
speech in turns until the teams use up their
given time. Only one speaker (from either
of the teams) is allowed to deliver his or her
speech at a time.
Teams are encouraged to strategically
divide the given time into several speeches
for rebuttals.
The chair reserves the right to impose
mark penalty for over-time speeches after
the given time of a team.

BEST SPEAKERS

TEAM BEST SPEAKERS

After all three preliminary rounds, the speaker with the highest aggregate
speaker scores in each team will be awarded Team Best Speaker.
In order to be eligible, the winning speaker must have debated in all three
preliminary rounds.

BEST SPEAKER
The speaker with the highest individual score in the Grand Final
will be awarded Best Speaker

FAVOURITE SPEAKER
The audience will vote for the favorite speaker of the Grand Final
through an online voting system.

JUDGES

UNIVERSITY JUDGES
CHIEF ADJUDICATION PANEL
The panel of judges will be chaired by a Chief
Adjudication Panel will be drawn from experienced LSE
debaters, who will reserve the nal right of
interpretation for rules and judging criteria.

GRAND FINALS JUDGES

The nal round of debate will be adjudicated by two
guest judges and three other judges voted within the
panel of judges from all participating universities.

Each participating university is recommended to nominate two student

representatives, preferably knowledgeable in global and local current
affairs and experienced in debating and/or in participating in LSE Forum
in previous years, as members of the panel of judges in the Forum.
All Adjudicators are required to ll in the Adjudicators Registration Form
(http://goo.gl/g8Biip). This enables us to gauge the relative levels of
experience of external judges.

PRELIMINARY JUDGES
The preliminary rounds will be adjudicated by three judges
randomly selected from the judging pool. Judges will not be
able to adjudicate debates involving their own university.

JUDGES criteria

scoring range
The benchmark of an average speech at the tournament will be 70
points. The marking range will be between 60 points and 80 points.

SCORING CONSIDERATIONS
The performance of each team will be judged according to the
content of speeches, the role performed by individual debaters and
other criteria listed in the following:
Quality of Argument
Style
Strategy
Judges should carefully observe how arguments are developed,
supported and sustained by each team, and make a holistic
judgment by the end of the debate.
In the adjudication discussion, judges should share their
preliminary vote, and then discuss strengths and weaknesses of
both teams as well as arguments they found ambiguous. After the
discussion, judges should vote again to determine the nal result.

score range

description

75 - 80

Strong argumentation demonstrating

sophisticated knowledge of current
affairs, comprehensive rebuttal and a
clear, charismatic style of speech.

70 - 74

Average argumentation demonstrating

relevant knowledge, effective rebuttal
and a clear style of speech.

65 - 69

Weak argumentation demonstrating

some knowledge, selective rebuttal and
a coherent style of speech.

60 - 64

Very weak argumentation with little

knowledge, lack of rebuttal

SOCIAL LUNCH
The LSE Forum brings together some of
the brightest minds across the UK.
The social lunch will be an excellent opportunity to meet
people from leading universities, as well as to relax before
another round of heated debates and intellectual discussion.

OTHERS

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FACEBOOK GROUP
Debaters from all participating teams will be invited to join our
ofcial Facebook group prior to the Forum.
All ofcial documents including the participants guide, judges
guide, rules and research pack will be uploaded to the Facebook
group, supplementary to emails sent to all participating teams.

REMINDERS

Live updates of results and scores will also be available on the

Facebook group after each round of debates.

All participants are required to dress in business attire.

Personal digital devices such as smart phones, tablets and
laptops are allowed to assist the preparation of debates.
However, the preparation should remain independent within each
team without any external assistance.
All participants must adhere to the rules of LSE Forum 2015 as
stated in this guide. The panel of judges and the Organising
Committee of LSE Forum 2015 reserve the right to impose mark
penalty or disqualify any team for breach of regulation.

TRAVEL INFORMATION

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ARRIVALS
TUBE DIRECTIONS
Holborn (Piccadilly and Central lines): on the
corner of Kingsway and High Holborn.
Approximately a ve minute walk .
Temple (District and Circle lines): on the
Embankment at the bottom of Arundel Street.
Approximately a ve minute walk .
Charing Cross (Jubilee, Northern and Bakerloo
lines): on the Strand at the Trafalgar Square end.
Approximately a ten minute walk .

All participating teams should arrive at

Holborn tube station by 10:15 am by
latest.
Helpers will be available at Holborn tube
station from 10:00am to escort
participants to the venue.

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Maps and Directions

Clement House
London school of economics &
political science
99 Aldwych, London
WC2B 4JF
LSE Forum 2015
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/d96UB

CONTACTS

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lseforum2015@gmail.com
Steffi NG

Public Affairs Ofcer

07429421242

TERRY YUNG

Coordinator of LSE Forum 2015

07426082403

GEORGE WONG

Coordinator of LSE Forum 2015

07842266351