This is great question that I have been thinking about since the pandemic started. As you can see, many of the big tournaments are still online right now as the pandemic lingers. However, the question that you are asking is if it will stay like this and I have come to the conclusion that the answer is yes and no , and I am very happy for that.

For the no part of the answer, I am happy about that because I think that there is so much being missed by not having in person tournaments and not traveling with your team. So much education happens in those times as well as the camaraderie between teammates and coach(es) and just funny stuff that goes on. This does not even begin to get into the education that our students get from traveling to and participating in international tournaments for World Schools Debate. Besides that, I think the students are missing great opportunities for learning in public speaking by not having to stand up in front of a room, or in some cases not even turn on their cameras (I hate that part), muster all their courage to make their best speeches ever and to be recognized for their accomplishments in front of a live audience. I am sure others can add to this list, but this is an overview of why we MUST go back live to some extent.

I also feel that administrators will be in favor of online because they will say, hey you all did this online for two years, why do we need to pay for flights, hotel rooms, substitute teachers, insurance and worry about the security of our students who are traveling? Those are some strong arguments against going in person that will need to be answered and I think this is where the real life "cost/benefit analysis skills " are going to come in handy. However, there are good answers to those points, which is why I am encouraged to believe that we will go back to in person debating.

However, I do think that there are other reasonable arguments why some tournaments will stay online, or new ones will pop up. First of all, as mentioned, in many ways, it has proven to be more equitable for teams who cannot afford or are not allowed to travel to long distance or high-cost tournaments. I love that aspect of it. Also, last year when I was on the CAP team for World Schools at Stanford, the Director of Stanford Debate said something to the effect of, there is no way that we are not doing this in the future, it's just too easy to get teams from all over the world. (Just so this is not misinterpreted), I am pretty sure he was talking about the World Schools division specifically. However, that is what I see as the issue. It is cheaper, it is easier to attend and it is WAY easier to run these tournaments from Zoom and Discord or Tabroom. Many World Schools or British Parli tournaments are hosting multiple divisions to accommodate teams from different time zones and they are reaching teams all around the world.
 

I am the President of the Board for Asociación Mexicana de Debate A.C. and this is also our strategy for reaching students all around the country, whereas before, we either did not have the money to do that kind of traveling or we did not have the people power to reach all the places we wanted to reach. I am proud to say our organization is now reaching more states in Mexico and more students than ever before, INCLUDING, public school students, which is a big thing in Mexico as there is a bigger dividing line between private schools and public schools in Mexico. We are able to give workshops online, training sessions and even do practice drills with debaters. Even for myself, I have started my own online debate academy, and I am the Director for another academy in Singapore. This is something that I have dreamed about for years but I never imagined it online. It was borne out of our students asking for the Mexican Debate Camp that we have held in Nepantla, Mexico ( a beautiful camp) for the past 11 years to be continued, even in spite of the pandemic. The other unexpected result that came out of online teaching, and I think any teacher that has gone through this will confirm, is that it really has forced us, as educators, to rethink our teaching strategies. This goes for in-person teaching as well as online. I am very grateful for that, as part of the old guard who is always looking to improve and reinvent myself in the profession of teaching, that I love. My students are grateful for it as well as they are the benefactors of these new methods and I can already see a difference in their work.

So I do think that there needs to be a healthy mix of in-person debate and online debate and I feel confident that this is going to happen because of the ease and lack of expense of online debating as well as the audience you can gather. There are some other issues that need to be worked out, but I am sure that the wise heads will figure that part out as we go. I am looking forward to the day that we can debate in the metaverse. Until then let's keep on keeping on and doing what we do. LET'S DEBATE!