ADSA Membership

How to Become a Member

Membership with ADSA is easy and gives schools the opportunity to participate in ADSA sanctioned tournaments throughout the school year. Participation in tournaments and other events allow students to qualify for regional, provincial, national, and international speech and debate competitions.

School Memberships

All public and private schools in Alberta are welcome to join ADSA. If you are looking to start a speech or debate club at your school, pleae consider joining! Please complete our online school membership form.

We offer resources, and support from other debate and speech coaches.

Schools must renew their memberships annually by September 30th. The fee is $200.00 as of the 2018 Annual General Meeting, voted upon by the Membership.

(Alternately, you can Download the Membership Form for Schools if you prefer to send it along with your cheque)

Individual Memberships

Students can only join ADSA through their schools' debate and/or speech clubs for $20.00 per student. Their coach will assist them with registration.

Private memberships are not available.

Student memberships will not be accepted after December 15th, 2019. (Registration is now closed until September 1, 2019) Coaches will be sent the link to the individual membership form once their schools are registered.

Important Note

Private tutoring companies or after-school academies are not eligible to become members of ADSA.

We encourage these types of organizations to connect with local schools and to help debate and speech clubs grow in those schools.

ADSA Code of Conduct

PARTICIPANTS:

GENERAL
a) All participants should be dressed in appropriate attire, which does not reflect school of origin (e.g. No school uniforms or other identifying items).
b) Participants shall be courteous and friendly to other competitors, judges, organizers and guests.
c) Participants shall use language conducive to proper public speaking decorum. Profanity is unacceptable.
d) In the event of a complaint, all participants must bring the issue to their coaches only, who will then approach the tournament organizer or ADSA on their behalf. Complaints must be lodged immediately following a round of debate or speech.
e) Participants shall not argue with the judge or their opponents about the conduct or the result of the speech or debate. Participants shall not dispute the result of a debate or speech round in the presence of the judge(s).
f) The Association does not approve of the use of any illicit drugs or the consumption of alcohol at Association sponsored events.

JUDGES
a) The ADSA recognizes that judges volunteer their time to support the development of young speakers and debaters and greatly appreciates their contribution.
b) Judges must be neutral and not let their personal views or specialized knowledge influence their decisions.
c) Judges should be familiar with the Code of Conduct for tournament participants.
d) Judges shall communicate any concerns about improper conduct during a tournament to the Coach with whom the judge registered for the tournament.
e) Judges shall encourage and promote the use of respectful language and respectful interactions among debaters and speakers and should demonstrate this same courtesy to fellow judges.
f) Judges need to attend the briefing at each tournament and must be guided in their decisions by the criteria for evaluation in debate or speech.
g) Judges should at all times remember that positive encouragement of students is more formative than criticism and that younger speakers and debaters may be overwhelmed by too many constructive comments, however positive the intention.
h) The ADSA understands that judging is subjective, and judges should feel confident that their perspective is valuable, provided it respects the ADSA Code of Conduct.
i) Judges who register for a tournament are expected to remain for the duration of the tournament, filling their post in whichever room the tournament host has assigned.

DEBATERS
a) Debaters shall not seek to influence the judge by means other than evidence and argumentation during the debate.
b) Debaters shall not listen to teams debating that they might meet on the same topic at a later time and thereby gain a competitive advantage. Coaches may, however, observe their own teams.
c) Use of audio or visual equipment for the purpose of recording a debate may be done with the prior consent of both teams, their parents, and the organizer of the event.
d) A team shall not seek or provide second-hand information regarding the cases of potential opponents, their personalities or any research done prior to the event.
e) Debaters shall not breach normal courtesy by interruption, heckling, grimacing or whispering loudly while an opponent is speaking. Heckling, in an appropriate manner, in the case of Parliamentary style debating is acceptable.
f) Debaters shall not, either by word or action, seek to belittle their opponents. Debates must be a clash of issues and not personalities.
g) Competing teams must not collude to affect the debate in any way.
h) Debaters must respect the personal physical space of an opponent. (Do not invade an opponent’s space.)
i) In an Impromptu style debate, debaters must define definitions in the spirit of debate. In other words, they must be defined fairly and allow for debate on both sides of the resolution.
j) No dictionaries shall be used by debaters during tournaments. Debaters must be able to compete on their own merit and the strength of their own knowledge.
k) No electronic devices capable of transmitting and recording are to be used at debate rounds, including prep time, except by the Moderator for the purpose of timing, unless required for ADSA Board-approved purposes. Debaters must be able to compete on their own merit and the strength of their own knowledge.
l) Notwithstanding (k) above, members may use electronic devices solely for the purpose of timing themselves during a round.
m) A debater shall be discouraged from passing notes/cards to his/her partner when one of them has the floor, either from the constructive speech or the cross-examination. Debaters are judged on individual skills
n) Debaters shall not, either by word or action, seek to belittle their opponents. Debates must be a clash of issues. Any conduct not in accordance with these codes will be grounds for disqualification in a tournament, and may include banning participants from present/future ADSA activities. Matters may be referred back to school based administrators.

Become a Member or Renew your School's Membership Today!

If your school is joining as a new member or renewing your annual school membership,

please click on the button below to complete the online school membership form.

Once the form is filled out, please mail it with your school's cheque for $200.00 by September 30, 2019 to:

Alberta Debate and Speech Association

203 Silver Springs Way

Airdrie, Alberta T4B 2Y3

Please contact the ADSA Office if you would like to pay your fee electronically.

Click here to complete the online School Membership Form!