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1 See you in Ploiești for five days of high quality debating and great fun! We want to create an environment that is truly conducive to debating and offer you an awesome competitive experience here in Romania. I n v i t a t i o n 1

2 I n v i t a t i o n 2 DEAR MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL DEBATING COMMUNITY, On behalf of ARGO (The Romanian Association for Thinking and Oratory), we would like to invite you to the fourth edition of the ARGO OPEN INTERNATIONAL WORLD SCHOOLS DEBATE TOURNAMENT. This year, the event will take place between the 4th and the 8th of September in Ploiești, Romania. During the years, we have gathered participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Qatar, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK and the USA. We hope that ARGO Open will continue to gather a growing community of debaters, judges and observers from all around the world, for five days of high quality debating. CONTENTS Contents... 1 Chief Adjudicators Team... 3 The Tournament... 5 Registration... 6 Calendar... 6 Fees... 7 Schedule... 8 Travel Information... 9 Visa Information Contact... 11

3 I n v i t a t i o n 3 CHIEF ADJUDICATORS TEAM WE ARE HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT BRANISLAV FEČKO-ČEGIŇ WILL BE CHIEF ADJUDICATOR. BRANISLAV FEČKO-ČEGIŇ (Slovakia) has been part of the international debating community as a trainer, judge, coach, tab master, as well as a convener. He has been a CAP member for WSDC in 2009 and 2013 as well as for BSDC , ESDC 2013 and 2015, ARGO Open 2013 and 2014, Prague Debate Spring 2014 and 2015, EurOpen He judged the WSDC Grand Final in 2008, 2009, 2013 and 2014, went as a coach in He will serve as the CA for WSDC 2016 in Stuttgart. He's also part of the WSDC 2015 CAP, Executive Committee and Motions Committee. THE CHIEF ADJUDICATORS PANEL MEMBERS ARE SCOTT RALSTON, CARMEN BELAFI, KASPAR KELDAR AND ȘERBAN PITIC. SCOTT RALSTON (Scotland) was a Programme Director at Debate Mate for 2 years and ran the Nepal and Hong Kong Programmes. He is the former Director of Coaching for the Oxford Union, and has coached the UAE national schools team and is current coach of the Scotland national schools team. He was an EUDC semifinalist in 2011, and been in the finals of Paris (where his team broke top), Edinburgh, Bath and Bristol IVs. He judged the EUDC ESL final in 2013, the English Mace Final 2013 and a WSDC Semi-final in 2013.

4 I n v i t a t i o n 4 KASPAR KELDER (Estonia) has been involved in competitive debating since 2007 and has represented his country in international tournaments in almost all debating formats used in Europe. He was a member of the Estonian World Schools team in 2008 and 2009, reached semi-finals in the Karl Popper World Championships in 2010 and took the position of coaching the Estonian WSDC team for four years ( ). He was also best national speaker for three consecutive years ( ), won the Moscow Open, Helsinki Open and the Estonian Open. He also reached EUDC ESL quarterfinals in 2012 and ESL semi-finals in CARMEN BELAFI (Germany) is an M.A. student in International Relations and Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Tuebingen, Germany. She has been active in debating since 2004, as a speaker, coach, adjudicator and organizer. She was a member of the German national team for WSDC 2008 in Washington D.C. and was awarded Best EFL speaker of the championship. As part of the Debating Society Germany, she was a member of the Organisation Committee for the International Debating and Public Speaking Championships 2008, EurOpen 2011 and 2012 and various national competitions in Germany. In both World Schools and BP format, Carmen was a breaking and final judge at numerous national and international tournaments. Most recently, she was a member of the CAP at the 2014 Heart of Europe Debate Tournament and judged a quarter-final at WSDC 2014 in Thailand. Carmen is very excited to be part of ARGO Open 2015 for the first time, and, as she is a geography geek, thrilled to finally add Romania to her list of visited countries.

5 I n v i t a t i o n 5 ŞERBAN PITIC (Romania) has been involved in competitive debating for the past 10 years as a debater, judge, coach and trainer. He has been part of the Romanian National Team for WSDC in 2005 and 2006, has been the coach of the national team in 2009 and 2014 and is currently the coach for the national team going to the Singapore WSDC in He was a quarter-finalist judge at WSDC 2008 in Washington DC. He has been judging at numerous international schools debating tournaments in the past 5 years and has broken as adjudicator at most of them. He was a member of the CAP for ESDC In terms of university level debating, Șerban is the current ESL Champion at Oxford IV, was an EFL Finalist at World Universities Debating Championship 2013, Berlin, semi-finalist at Vienna IV 2013, and an ESL Finalist at Cambridge IV 2011 and ESL Champion and Best Speaker at SOAS IV THE TOURNAMENT The tournament is dedicated to high-school students and will be held in the WORLD SCHOOLS STYLE. You can find more information about the format, as well as the World Schools Debating Championships here. This year, we will have six preliminary rounds. We will have both prepared and impromptu motions for the debate rounds. After the preliminary rounds, the best teams will compete in the Quarter-finals, Semifinals and the Grand Final of the tournament.

6 I n v i t a t i o n 6 REGISTRATION Teams of three to five debaters can participate in the competition. All delegations have to be accompanied by at least one judge. Delegations of two teams or more are subjected to the n-1 rule for judges - i.e. a delegation of n teams should have n-1 judges. All delegations have to be accompanied by at least one person who is over 18 (could be one of the judges, an observer, or one of the debaters). CALENDAR Registration for international teams starts JUNE A second form, with more detailed information regarding food, accommodation, e.a., will be sent to the participants Deadline for an advance payment of 50% of the Registration Fee (you can also choose to pay the entire amount) Deadline for the payment of the other 50% of the Registration Fee The competition starts!

7 I n v i t a t i o n 7 FEES Debaters and judges have two options of accommodation, school dorms or hotel. The fee is set according to your preferences. Therefore, for accommodation at school dorms, debaters will pay 125 EUR and delegation judges will pay 75 EUR. For accommodation at a three-star hotel, the fee is set at 160 EUR for debaters and 110 EUR for delegation judges. Please note that all bank transaction costs will be supported by you. WHAT DOES THE FEE INCLUDE? Participants will receive materials and have access to coffee break during the day. All fees cover breakfast, lunch and dinner from Saturday to Monday and breakfast on Tuesday. Additionally, all fees cover accommodation from Friday to Tuesday. Please note that each delegation leader must be accommodated at the same venue as the debaters belonging to that delegation.

8 I n v i t a t i o n 8 SCHEDULE FRIDAY, 4 TH OF SEPTEMBER SATURDAY, 5 TH OF SEPTEMBER SUNDAY, 6 TH OF SEPTEMBER MONDAY, 7 TH OF SEPTEMBER TUESDAY, 8 TH OF SEPTEMBER Arrivals (all day) 11:00 Workshops/Judges Briefing 12:30 Opening Ceremony 13:00 Short Lunch 13:30 Motion Announcement/Judges Briefing 14:30 Round 1 16:30 Round 2 18:15 Round 3 19:45 Dinner 21:00 Judges Social 08:00 Breakfast 09:30 Motion Announcement Round 4 10:30 Round 4 12:30 Round 5 14:00 Lunch 15:30 Motion Announcement Round 6 16:30 Round 6 20:30 Break Night Dinner 09:00 Motion Announcement Quarterfinals 10:00 Quarterfinals 12:00 Motion Announcement Semi-finals 13:00 Semi-finals 14:00 Lunch 15:00 Fun Activities 21:00 Social Grand Final Award Ceremony Departures Please be aware that the schedule will be updated. The changes will be announced in advance.

9 I n v i t a t i o n 9 TRAVEL INFORMATION Ploiești is a very well connected transport hub and there are a lot of quite convenient (both fast and cheap) ways to get here. We do kindly ask for you to tell us in due time when you are arriving and where you are arriving so we can organize pickups. Please contact Laura should you have any more questions regarding transportation. BY PLANE Ploiești is about 50 km (31 mi) away from the Henri Coandă Otopeni International Airport (OTP). There are quite cheap flights from Vienna, Budapest and other Central and Western European hubs to Henri Coandă Otopeni (Austrian, Lufthansa, Czech, Malev, Tarom). You can also find links to transcontinental hubs, such as Frankfurt and Istanbul. If you speak to us in time we will try to organize cheap pick up vans that can take you from the airport directly to Ploiești. This site can provide valuable information regarding available destinations and transport to Bucharest, more specifically to the North Rail Station in Bucharest (Gara de Nord București), where you can find hourly connections to Ploiești. Google Maps is also a viable research option, since they offer quite accurate info on transport options. You can find an alternative webpage here. HENRI COANDĂ OTOPENI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT BUCHAREST NORTH RAIL STATION (GARA DE NORD) For non-taxi services, you can use this link or Google Maps to get more information. You may also take a taxi from the airport to Bucharest North Rail Station. That will be faster but beware that taxis from the airport (these are special firms, not regular city ones) can be expensive, even up to 40 per car. Some might try to trick you, so be sure they start the meter before you depart. If you do want to use a taxi we suggest that you call one from the in-town, normal-rate taxi firms. We suggest Speed Taxi ( ), Taxi

10 I n v i t a t i o n ( ) or Meridian Taxi ( ). You can also order taxis via mobile apps. You can find them on the App Store, Google Play or Windows Store. Normal taxi fares should take you up to about 13 per car (50 RON). There are also private shuttles you can organize, for this option please Google Bucharest - airport shuttle. BUCHAREST NORTH RAIL STATION (GARA DE NORD) PLOIEȘTI There are hourly trains from Bucharest to Ploiești. You can buy tickets directly from the ticket offices. Prices vary from 2 to 4 EUR, depending on the train type. BY TRAIN Ploiești is the second most well connected transport hub in Romania, after Bucharest, so you should be able to get here from about anywhere in Europe. It is advisable to ask for accurate information at your local train station. Trains coming in from Western and Central Europe almost without exception come into Romania through Ploiești West Rail Station (Gara de Vest), which is the last stop before getting to Bucharest. Trains coming in from Ukraine, Russia, the Baltic region or Moldova should pass through Ploiești South Rail Station (Gara de Sud), which is also the last stop before Bucharest. If you are travelling from Southern Europe or the Balkans, you will arrive in Bucharest and then you will have to take a 45-minute train to Ploiești from there. BY BUS Depending on where you are travelling from there are buses run by different operators that pass through or go directly to Ploiești. For more information contact your local Coach or Bus Operator. VISA INFORMATION We will make it an aim to be as helpful as possible to debaters and judges that require a visa to enter Romania. Firstly you should determine if you live in such a country. This is a list with the countries whose residents require a visa to enter Romania. Here you can find a list with countries whose residents are exempt from the Romanian visa requirement. EU members can enter Romania by simply using their ID. For further details please read the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs webpage on the subject. If there are any ways in which we can aid you please let us know - we can post you

11 I n v i t a t i o n 11 invitations, in case you cannot get full information from the Romanian Embassy in your country we can enquire at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and so on. If you do need to apply for Visa, there will be a special section for this purpose in the registration form to be released in June. CONTACT FOR ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT US: CIPRIAN NEAGU (CO-CONVENER) ciprian@argodebate.ro, Tel LAURA DRĂGOI (CO-CONVENER) laura@argodebate.ro, Tel ȘERBAN PITIC (CAP CONTACT) serban@argodebate.ro MARIUS PETCU (IT&MEDIA MANAGER) marius@argodebate.ro ANA MARIA NEACȘU (PR MANAGER) anamaria@argodebate.ro EVENT WEBPAGE THE ARGO WEBPAGE Find us on Facebook, or go directly to the event page!