NEAO: Old and New

NEAO: 

Old and New

A month has passed since this year’s NEAO in November. How was NEAO 2012 and how will NEAO 2013 be? KIDA Talks presents you interviews of NEAO 2012 Org Comm and 2013 Org Comm!

NEAO 2012 CONVENER:

 Doori Hong

The most 'awake' picture of Doori ever taken of him at a time closest to NEAO.

NEAO 2012 was a success! What are your thoughts to have finished the tournament?

Thanks! The first thing was “THANK GOD IT IS F…inally OVER!”. The second thing is, “how am I going to clean up the messes?” But most importantly, this idea; “it was one of the best experience ever in my life”

What were some of the most difficult setbacks you experienced?

I guess there are a lot of difficulties in hosting an event as big as this. However, many of them are also preventable. The first setback that comes to me is that, policies. Policies that could prevent any misunderstanding, exception, and make things easier for the organizing committee will be very helpful. However it is also very important to have policies that will protect the participants, so weighing between the org. comm. and participant may be a difficulty for hosts of any event.

Other setbacks, there are a little things but they are just really little, like punctuality for buses or trash but I must say the participants have been really nice, so they were really not much of worry.

Tell us the good, bad, and the ugly of organizing NEAO 2012. 

The good was that it came back to Korea after many years. Also that it had 6 rounds with pre-quarters. So I guess in terms of tournament itself I think was okay.

The bad was the food, I heard and saw some people skipping meals because they don’t like the lunchboxes. I was really sorry and sad… I wish we could provide the better food but again, it was all for the banquet, which I hope everyone loved.

The ugly was the hotel. Many of the Korean debaters had been assigned to semi-hotel accommodations, which I believe was not… too... bad. Even though I had one of my junior going, “First time in a motel for me, thanks to you J” We were also sorry about that, I thought Suwon was better than that.

How was the working dynamic of Org Comm? 

In between the different branches, like CAP, TAB and Convening Team, it was bit tricky, as all the CAP and TAB went to judge every round and that Convening Team was left alone sometimes quite unaware of what to do next or when the next round would be expected to start. However that was quickly dissolved as we started to establish a point of contact on each team even in busy moments. Co-CA Albert Lee had been a bridge between CAP and Convening Team. And Mr. Dave Il Hwan Hwang, Mark Byeong Gyu Choi and Hayden Jong Woo Chai also had been great working with taking care of all the issues when I was half dead and crazy.

I especially liked each character in Convening Team. All three who worked with me had different characteristics.

Like we all know, Dave is a guy who is always happy and calm, right? So even though when I am mean and bad to my staff members, he would always get things back up and amused. So that everyone would still be happy and cooperative.

Hottest person at the tournament?

We all know who the hottest person was, at least I know who it was. Yes, YOU! J

Any words?

I would like to personally thank everyone for patience and cooperation. Really, there have been delays, mix-ups, and other things that you could legitimately complain, but all of you understood and helped us out. So I really want to thank everyone.

I hope that Kyung Hee University in Suwon would not feel too distant anymore, and everyone could visit freely, you know just for joint sessions or KIDA Council Meetings. Please do come, KDS feels very isolated.

NEAO 2012 Tournament Director: 

Il-Hwan Dave Hwang

The "hot" guy with the British accent

What are your thoughts to have finished the tournament?

I still have all these people telling me what a success NEAO 2012 was, I tell them that I am happy that they enjoyed it. Although I have been debating for a few years now, it was in fact the first time that I worked for the organizing committee of a debate tournament. I was given a magnificent group of staff to work with who never asked me twice about what I asked them to do. In times some of these requests could have been done in a more efficient manner, but wasn’t done so due to my lack of experience. This was why I felt so much thankful and sorry at the same time to all my staff members, and also to Convener Doori Hong, Staff Director Byung Gyu Choi and his deputy Jong-Woo Chai for putting up with me.

What was the most tense moment for you?

After the series of mental breakdowns the break night ceremony was the most tense moment for me. I really wanted to show something Korean, but something really decent. I wanted something that people can actually enjoy, rather than only for show. This was why I didn’t want to do this by bringing amateurs, I wanted the pros. However, if you want pros, there’s a lot of attention required and you want everything to be perfectly in place. But of course, there was an hour long delay, people were starving and the Quartet was left to stand by. I still didn’t want people to be moving around with their plates during the performance and yes I left people to starve through the performance. However, I still saw that people were enjoying the performance in a quiet manner, people taking videos everywhere. I was so relieved. After the performance and after a few beers, I had my juniors come to me and say “I heard you were splendid at the ceremony!” So the idea that I did okay was a heart-warming you know?

What were the good, the bad, and the ugly part of the tournament?

I guess the good in all debate tournaments is in the joy of debating. During prep-time as I see familiar faces pass by, their pens busy and heads nodding, it just always put a smile on my face. For the bad and the ugly I guess was in some judges mistreating staff members. Of course, I have experience in judging myself and people do tend to get very tense, especially after hearing eight full speeches. However I just kept hearing about how some judges were mistreating the runners, yelling and using hand gestures to call on staff members. This was something I found very difficult to understand. Runners running around with ballots in their hand make happen what we love doing. I hope our love towards debating will extend to them too.

Who were the hottest person, most inspiring debater and judge?

I wouldn’t know simply because believe it or not I NEVER got to watch a single round… I really wanted to watch some of the rounds but most of the time I was busy running around doing stuff. It’s really a pity that I didn’t even get to watch the Grand Finals, which I got to watch only few days after the tournament on YouTube which didn’t do the speeches justice. It would have been so much better to see it in action. Big congratulations to Hyewon and Donghee!! The Korean debate community takes pride in you.

Big thanks to all of you who took part in NEAO 2012, as debaters, judges, tab, CAP, or staff. As much as it was an unforgettable event for me, I hope it was also an event worth remembering to all the participants.

NEAO 2013 Interview: 

Solbridge Debate Society

Solbridge Debate Society

How was NEAO? Tell us the good, bad, and the ugly of NEAO 2012! 

Overall, NEAO at Kyunghee University was a well-run tournament. The tournament was very smooth without much delay. The team of volunteers was smiley despite cold weather and was helpful throughout the tournament. We particularly liked the pool of judges. We were able to learn from each judge in every round with constructive feedback. The only thing we didn’t like, though it’s a trivial thing, was a series of cold lunch boxes we had during the tournament. Except for that we enjoyed the tournament a lot.

SolBridge seems to have bidden for NEAO in such a rush? What was the main motivation for your bid?

Yes, true. SolBridge Debate Society has been discussing ways to bring an international tournament to our school for some time. But, we didn’t plan on bidding for NEAO because it is supposed to be hosted on a rotational basis by each country. During the breaking night banquet, however, we heard that there was no bidding for the 2013 NEAO and that the NEAO council is looking for a bidder. That’s when SDS committee and coaches decided to bid for NEAO because we’ve always wanted to expand exposure to debate to other areas of Korea

JuSeung Daniel Yi, CA of NEAO 2013

Introduce us briefly to your CAP! 

Chief Adjudicator will be JuSeung Daniel Yi, founder of SolBridge Debate Society.

He was a co-chief adjudicator for 2012 fall Korean National Championship and chief adjudicator for upcoming KIDA-UNDP IV in January. He was also a semi-finalist at Kyunghee NEAO.

Other CAP members have not been chosen yet and will be selected through open call or by recommendation from an association representing each country’s intervarsity debate community within Northeast Asian region.

Introduce us briefly to your Convener

Convener will be MinJae (MJ) Kim, vice president of SolBridge Debate Society.

He successfully hosted a 2012 fall Korean National Championship as convener with many entertaining side events along the tournament. He was also a semi-finalist at Kyunghee NEAO.

JuSeung with MinJae(Mj) Kim, Convener of NEAO 2013

Little Information about SolBridge?

SolBridge is the first business school in Korea with an international faculty and student body with its official name as SolBridge International School of Business. What’s unique about our school is that student body comprises mostly of international students from around 25 countries.

How will be SolBridge NEAO different and improved? 

The entire tournament will be held at our up-to-date building which features state of the art facilities, a gym and swimming pool, and even sauna!! All rounds will be run in one building without having to move from building to building. At the same time, we will try to bring possibly the best entertainment and shows to the tournament to make the tournament and Korean experience memorable. In addition to the fun, we will work hard to make sure everyone debates interesting and fair motions with diverse adjudication pool.

What Grand/Breaking Dinner show entertainment will look like at NEAO 2013

State-of-the-art facilities at Solbridge

State-of-the-art facilities at Solbridge

Any words?

From Daniel: “We are very excited to host the 2013 NEAO and will make sure we feed you well, entertain you well, and most importantly enjoy every debate rounds.”

From MJ: “You know 2012 Fall KNC was awesome right? NEAO will be upgraded version of that. But please don’t forget ‘No Foods No Drinks’ rule. (HahahaJ)”

END.