Dear Forensic Coaches and Participants:

On behalf of the Duke Speech & Debate Team, it is our pleasure to invite you to the inaugural Duke Invitational at Duke University on Saturday, October 5th, 2019.

The tournament will consist of competition in a variety of events. Our hope is to give you an outstanding experience and atmosphere on our beautiful campus.

In debate events, we will offer Congressional Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate (both Varsity and Novice divisions), and Public Forum Debate (both Varsity and Novice divisions). In LD and PF, we will be offering four preliminary rounds and breaking to a Semifinal. In Congressional Debate, we will hold two sessions.

In speech events, we will offer Declamation, Dramatic Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Extemporaneous Speaking, Humorous Interpretation, Impromptu Speaking, Informative Speaking, Oral Interpretation, Original Oratory, and Program Oral Interpretation. Each event will have four preliminary rounds, and will break to a Final round.

The 2019 Duke Invitational has been recognized as a qualifying tournament for the 2020 Tournament of Champions for speech events. Those will be rewarded in conjunction with the TOC regulations on bid levels for speech events.

For those students not clearing to elimination rounds, we are pleased to announce that we will host two supplemental events: Extemporaneous Debate & Mixed Impromptu Duo. These events will be rapid fire, single-elimination events held during the Semifinal and Final round timeslots of the main events.

Duke University is hosting the University of Pittsburgh for a football game on Saturday, October 5th, however, we do not foresee it causing any problem with hosting the tournament. Our academic buildings are far enough away from the athletic complexes that participants won’t be anywhere close to the game’s festivities.

This packet should answer any questions you may have about the tournament. If you need any additional information, please email us at dukeuspeech@gmail.com.

Best,

Luke Truitt ('21)
Tournament Director