Monday Meeting - Exhibition Debate

Semester 2 brings with it a whole new style of debating - British Parliamentary (BP) style. At 1pm we will be holding an exhibition debate in L4 by our more experienced debaters to showcase this seriously cool style.

Monday Night - Intro to BP training

On Monday night, Ravi Dutta will be explaining the ins and outs of the BP style - from tactics to prep and everything in between. Ravi is both one of MAD's experienced and successful debaters, and an international trainer in the BP style.

Afterwards, there will be pizza (hooray!) followed by your first ever attempts at the BP style. Come along!!

MAD Karaoke Night

It's that time of year again, MAD's karaoke night is on again! While everyone is invited and should definitely attend, it's aimed specifically at first years! Fun is sure to be had by all! When? Thursday July 31st Where? K Box, 52 LaTrobe Street (b/w Russell and Exhibition Street), Melbourne City How? Tickets will be on sale at the next Monday meeting/member training $12 for new members, $15 for everyone else Why? Cause it's fun to sing while drunk. For more informaton contact Gemma, or check out the Facebook event.

Congratulations To All Monash Australs Teams!

Congratulations to Monash 1 - Victor Finkel, Sashi Balaraman and Kiran Iyer on making the Grand Final of the 2008 Australasian Championships. Although they did not come away with the victory, they did an amazing job throughout the tournament and need to be commended for their efforts. Further congratulations to Monash 2 - Ravi Dutta, Damien Bruckard and Nita Rao, who broke at the tournament and did a fantastic job. Also to all of the Monash adjudication team - Jacob Clifton, Tim Sonnreich, Tom Chapman, Fiona Prowse, Julian Campbell, Colette Mintz and Mel Matteo for breaking through to the finals as well.

This has been one of our most succesful Australs and we hope to go one better in 2009 when the tournament comes to Monash.

Monash To Host Australs 2009!

Breaking news! Monash's bid to host Australs in 2009 has been accepted! This is a great success for MAD. Congratulations to the committee and thanks for all their hard work. Anyone who's interested in getting involved should contact Victor Finkel. Well done MAD!

Monday Meeting - Welcome Back Drinks at the Bar

The Monday meeting first day back will be held at the bar. Come along and catch up with fellow MADdies after the break, and enjoy a relaxed drink.

When: Monday 14th July, 1pm
Where: Sir John's Bar, Level 1, Campus Centre

See you there!

MAD Success at ADAM

Thanks to all the MADdies who made it to ADAM this weekend. It was a smashing success, with Tim, Fi and Amit making the grand final, and Victor, Kiran and Sashi making the semi's. Go MAD!

School's Training Job

We have an opportunity for one trainer to coach a year 9 debating team, for a one-off session.

When: Any day between 7 and 11 July, at 2 pm.
Where: Mt Eliza (address TBC)
What: You will be required to coach one year 9 team, on the topic 'That Australia should embrace nuclear energy'. This session will run for two hours, and cover some basics of debating, along with tips on how to specifically approach that topic.
How Much: You will receive $70 for the session.

If you are interested or have any questions, please contact Kiran, or call him on 0408 389 580.

MAD v MUDs debate

Come and see Victoria's best battle it out before they head over to the Philippines. This year it's MAD's turn to host the night where Monash 1 and Melbourne 1 strut their stuff. Monash 1 (Victor Finkel, Sashi Balaraman, and Kiran Iyer) will take on Melbourne 1 (Seamus Coleman, Nicole Lynch and Lucia Pietrapaoli), and you should all come and cheer loudly for MAD's number one team!! The night is sure to be a great one.
Venue: Sir John's Bar @ Monash Clayton - Level 1, Campus Centre
Time: 7.30pm
Date: 20th June 2008

Intensive Member Training

This Sunday 22 June, MAD will be running an intensive member training session in the run-up to Australs. It will be held in the basement of the Law building (Building 12) at the Monash University Clayton Campus from 10am. The session is free and open to everyone.

There will be three parts to the training day:

1. First principles training (10am-12pm): Tim Sonnreich (three time Australs winnder, twice Australs best speaker) will present an overview of first principles in debating, outline the most pertinent (such as governance, morality and ethics, economics) and explain how you can use that analysis in your debating.

2. Advanced tactics (after lunch): Tim Jeffrie (Worlds Grand Finalist, Australs Semi-Finalist, Australs top-ten speaker), Fiona Prowse (Worlds Grand Finalist, Australs Semi-Finalist, Australs top-ten speaker) and Amit Golder (Australs Semi-Finalist, Australs top-ten speaker) will explain some of the more advanced tactics in debating. They will cover things like how to do reply speeches and, most importantly, tips for winning.

3. Practice debates (even more after lunch): If you are still around and hungry to put theory into practice, please stay along afterwards for some practice debates. Perfect timing to improve before Australs and ADAM.

Note: Lunch will not be provided.

Any questions or queries, please contact your friendly Member Training Officer, Damien Bruckard.


Another Day at Melbourne 2008

It's that time of the year - the Melbourne University Debating Society's amazing, fun-filled three-day invitational tournament, ADAM is on soon! Held in the Australs style (3-on-3 with reply speeches), ADAM is both a useful warm-up for those heading to Australs, as well as a great all-round tournament. There will be food, social nights, a Championship Dinner, prizes, and all the other trappings of a high-quality debating tournament. ADAM will be held from the evening of Friday 27th to Sunday 29th June 2008, and will be held primarily at the University of Melbourne's Law School. Registration should be opening sometime approximately in the next week, so stay tuned, and keep at least one ear to the ground... ADAM provides an excellent opportunity for Monash debaters to take part in a high-quality, well-attended tournament at a low cost (and without any airfares, obviously).

Registration has been set at $70 for debaters, and $45 adjudicators. For this cost, participants will receive five rounds of debating, plus semi-finals and a grand final, lunch and afternoon tea on both the Saturday and Sunday, a Championship Dinner, other social functions, and much more. To register as either a debater or an adjudicator, all you need to do is go to ADAM 2008 Registration and fill in your details. Payment is preferably via online bank transfer, although other methods are available if necessary.

Practice Debates and Training Session, Monday evening 5pm

On Monday night from 5.30pm Amit Golder, coach of this year's Victorian Schools' State Team, will be running a training session explaining how to coach school kids in debating. This is a great way to improve your knowledge of some of the basic skills of debating, and will hopefully act as a springboard for training jobs in the future. Being able to coach school debating is a fun way to earn money, and it is definitely worth attending this session if you are interested in training.

Following the training session, we will be running some practice debates, which is the perfect opportunity to practice what you've learnt this semester. If you're heading off to Australs in July, then this is the perfect opportunity for you to practice in your team, or in the case of adjudicators, get some judging practice. See you at L4 for some practice!

Melbourne 1 v Monash 1 Debate

In the great historic rivalry between Melbourne and Monash, we clearly have to constantly prove to them how much better we are, hence the annual pre-Australs debate between Melbourne 1 (Seamus Coleman, Lucia and Nicole Lynch) and Monash 1 (Victor Finkel, Sashi Balaraman and Kiran Iyer)! This year is our turn to host it and we will be hosting at either the trusty old Nott or somewhere yet to be chosen near the Caufield campus. Previously, this debate has foreshadowed the grand final of Australs, but everyone should come along to support Monash, prove that we can cheer louder that Melbourne and also have a few beers and a great time! The debate will be held on Friday June 20th and will start around 6-7.

ADAM - June 27-29

Immediately after exams, ADAM (Another Day At Melbourne) is the perfect opportunity to get some great 3 on 3 debating practice! Both Australs teams and the wider MAD membership should compete, as the weekend looks set to be a great one. More details to come!

Australs

Contingent of 20 people going to the Phillipines.
Monash 1: Victor Finkel, Sashi Balaraman, Kiran Iyer
Monash 2: Ravi Dutta, Damien Bruchard, Nita Rao
Monash 3: Jing Leong, Madeline Schulz, Melissa Birch
Monash 4: Rhys Campbell, Jeffrey Largier, Kat Pschneichner
Adjudicators: Fiona Prowse, Julian Campbell, Colette Mintz, Mellisa Matteo, Tim Sonreich, Tom Chapman, Jacob Clifton.

Monash will also be bidding to host Australs in 2009 so good luck to all the teams and lets hope we win the bid and bring Australs back into Australia!

Easters

Easters was a massive success for MAD this year! 53 people went to MAcquarie University Easters, 14 teams and 11 adjudicators, and everyone had a blast, with MAD keeping up its tradition of partying the hardest every night of the tournament! It was also succesful as Monash 14, made up of Victor Finkel, Mel Matteo, and Ali Majoka, made it all the way to the Semi Finals, and 3 of MADs judges broke, Sam Kastelan who made it to the Octo Finals, and Vivian Jones and Tim Jeffrie who made it to judge the Grand Final! Well done to all these people and everyone who made it to the tournament.

Regressive Debate

Cancel all other plans! MAD's Regressive Debate is being held on Friday May 16th!
This is the craziest, funniest and certainly most memorable social event on the MAD calendar. For those of you who haven't been to a Regressive before, it's basically (as suggested by the name), a debate held in reverse, with the adjudication held first and the first affirmative last. Hilarious and embarrassing moments are guaranteed.

In the spirit of fun and merriment, beer and wine will be supplied. The dinner is also held in reverse, with dessert first. You will need to bring the following:
If you're a first year debater, bring a dessert.
If you're a second or third year, bring a side dish.
4th years and above, including incredibly old people, bring chips and dips etc.
The exec will provide the main course.

Time: Starts at 7.30pm
For location, check your email or contact Blacky.

Martin Sorensen Grand Final

MAD's internal comp, the Martin Sorenson Competition, is on this Monday night at the Nott (indoor) Beer Garden from 7pm. Come watch our semi final winners "Why the fuck aren't Luke and Roj in the bar?" and "The Ciaran McDonnel-Worth All Stars" battle it out for the trophy. Don't forget to head over earlier, most MADdies will congregate from 6pm, for a drink and a bite to eat. See you there!

Martin Sorensen Competition

Starting next Monday MAD is holding the Martin Sorensen Competition. This a 3 on 3 style competition similar to Easters and is MAD's major internal event of semester 1. Teams of up to 4 can be entered or you can enter individually and we'll put you in a team. Novice rules apply to this torament in that in every debate there must be at least one novice speaking and no more than one 'experienced' debater. To enter or for more information contact Viv.

Australs Trials

Trials for the Australasian Debating Championships are fast approaching. Australs is one of the best debating tornaments to attend, featuring debaters from all over Asia, Australia and New Zealand. This year Australs will be held in the Philippines over the winter break. If you're interested in going come along to the trials and who knows, you might even get sponsorship. Feel free to come to trials even if you're not sure you want to come along.

Stage one trials are on this Saturday, 3th May, for those who haven't debated at Australs or Worlds before. Stage 2 trials will be held the following Saturday.

To register for trials email Rhys.

Afterwards, we will be having Easters prac debates. Be there!

Monday Meeting 17th March

Today's Monday Meeting has been moved. The mini olympics, to be held at sports and rec, has been postponed. Instead we will be having Victor's matter forum on the topic of environment. It will consist of an informal discussion about important environmental issues and be followed by a Russian style debate, where anybody will have the chance to give a short speech on a related topic. Very informal and informative, it will be a lot of fun and is definately worth coming along to.

MAD Commencement Dinner

On Friday 14th March MAD is holding the 2008 Commencement Dinner at Sofia Pizza Restaurant in Camberwell. The meal will include garlic bread, all you can eat pizza and pasta, dessert and coffee. This will be a great night so come along and enjoy the food and company. Tickets are being sold by Blacky next Monday at 1pm and 5pm. If you can't make these times just email the Social Officer.

The night will kick off around 7.30pm and go until around 1am. Tickets are $20 for Culture Card holders and $25 for those without. Ticket price includes all food, soft drink and wine.


Freshers' Competition

New to MAD? Put a team of three together or sign up as an individual to compete in MAD's Freshers Comp. Freshers is held on Monday 17th and Monday 31st. The debates kick off at 5pm and pizza is provided. Aimed at novice debaters and new members this comp is a stress free way to vent all that summer angst and get to know your fellow MADdies. Sounds pretty awesome to me.. Sign up here.

Easters 2008

The biggest event of Semester 1 is fast approaching! Easters, the Australian Novice debating championships will be held over the ANZAC day long weekend, April 24-28, and is the perfect way to improve on and try out your debating talent, get to know your fellow debaters and have a lot of fun!

The deadline for registration is April 3rd, the Wednesday after getting back from the mid-semester break, but get in early to ensure that you have a spot and can travel on the awesomely fun bus provided by MAD. Cost: $260 for registration. Includes 4 nights accommodation, food and drinks at every social event!

If you're travelling up on the bus with MAD it'll cost another $40 return. That's cheaper than flying and much more enjoyable too. To register, just click here and fill out the form.

First Week of 2008 - Champagne Welcome and First Year BBQ

Thanks for visiting us at O-Week and welcome to MAD! If you haven't yet signed up come to our stall on Tuesday.
The first week of uni and debating is all about meeting and greeting new MADdies. The first meeting of the year is at 1pm on Monday the 25th of February in L4, Law Library. There's really no debating going on in Week 1, rather we're having a champagne welcome to get to know you all! Just show up and we'll provide all the champagne and food!

We're also hosting a BBQ for all the first years and new debaters, with food and drink (yes, that means alcohol) provided. It's on Thursday the 28th of Feb at the park on the Yarra River. It's also opposite the Botanical Gardens. The BBQ/park area is near the corner of Anderson Street and Alexander Avenue, South Yarra. You can get there by taking the No. 8 tram to the end of Anderson St and walking along the Botanical Gardens. Click here for the map.

This is an excellent opportunity to get to know everyone before the debating actually starts!! We hope to see you all there!!

Welcome to MAD 2008!

Another year has begun, and we must reluctantly start our studies again soon. A new year of uni also means a new year of debating tournaments, MAD socials, and unspeakable debaucherous activities. If you're a first year, check out our stall at O-week and sign up! Membership is free if you're a Culture Card holder. Those who were members last year still need to sign up, so make sure to come to the stall during O-week, or alternately on the 26th of February.

The year starts with the Freshers BBQ, Commencement Dinner to officially open the new year at MAD, and Freshers tournament for all the first years and novices. So there's a lot to look forward to, not to mention trips to the Philippines and Ireland later in the year!

Welcome back everyone!

MAD Grand Finalists At Worlds!

MAD's premier debaters, Fiona Prowse and Tim Jeffrie, have done not just Monash but Australia proud at the recent World Championships, careering through the finals to make it all the way to the Grand Final of the World University Debating Championships, and going very close to pulling off MAD's 3rd World crown. Fiona was ranked the 10th best speaker at the tournament, with Tim not far behind. Along the way they knocked out our very own Victor Finkel and Sashi Balaraman in the Octo-finals, a highly creditable performance by both of them. MAD starred in the judging pool also, with Kylie Lane, Tom Chapman, Roland Dillon, Claire Lindsey, Ajay Kevat and MADdie in exile Stephen Worcester all judging important finals debates.

Bringing by far the funnest, and perhaps the biggest contingent in the world once mercenaries and hopeless romantics are factored in, MADdies dominated the massive parties which took place throughout the tournament, and were heavily involved in the complete destruction of several rooms at the Ambassador City Hotel in Pattaya. A massive thankyou must be issued to the amazing people from Assumption University, who seemed to have half of Thailand employed in ensuring the highest quality tournament ever. From people carrying our bags in to the accommodation, to transporting the convenor in to the Grand Final by elephant, it seemed no effort had been spared by the tireless organising committee. Congratulations to Assumption on a fantastic tournament, and congratulations to Oxford on their deserved victory.

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