After several months, it became clear that it would be impossible to gather all the participants from dozens of countries in one geographic point without drastically endangering their health or that they would even be able to leave their own countries. After waiting a while to decide, three months before the big event, we realized that all was lost and there would be no physical competition. A couple of team members suggested postponing the tournament for a year, by which time the epidemic might subside. Others wanted to cancel it altogether. I knew it wasn't right to give up: precisely when so many students were unable to leave their homes, see family and friends, or conduct a normal study routine, debating was one of the few consolations they had. The spirit of debate and sportsmanship should not be defeated under any circumstances. I vowed to do everything in my power to save the European Championship. 

I had already successfully transferred my university clubs to online activity a week after the quarantine was imposed, so I had experience teaching and running a debate via Zoom. It simulated the original experience of debating almost exactly, except for the physical aspect of standing in front of an audience. After gathering insights and conversing with colleagues about Zoom, I pulled an all-nighter and wrote a detailed twenty-page document explaining how the European Championship could work online. The document included essential, technical, logistical, and economic issues and suggestions for conserving sporting norms and a fun atmosphere despite the competition running from home. After devising a plan, I set out to persuade the Kazakh organizing team to remain dedicated to organizing an event that would not showcase the beauty of their homeland. Additionally, I had to convince my fellow adjudicators of the value and contribution of holding the competition in the new format. After presenting my vision and plan for history's first virtual Euros, I won their approval! 

However, that was not the end of the story. On the contrary, it was the catalyst for three months of intensive work to make the dream a reality, and to ensure that the European championships will not only start on time, but will also be among the most professional and fun tournaments ever. I managed and participated in several working-groups concurrently: a technical team to devise procedures and ways to enable a simultaneous competition of over 500 people (!) on Zoom, divided into "rooms" of approximately 10 people, and to establish reliable ways of registering and transmitting information on the Internet, to formulate and publish protocols in case participants experience technical failures in real-time, etc; A team for recruiting qualifies judges and compensating them for their work; A team for writing motions for discussion; A team for writing and scoring judgment tests; A team for testing competitors' language proficiency; A team for resolving conflicts between participants. As part of our preparation process, we wrote and published instructions, which answered every question asked by the community members, and we ran a competition to serve as a weapons test for the team and the organizers.

In the end, we achieved a result that exceeded our wildest expectations. We created a competition that perfectly ran on time (in many cases, we were even ahead of schedule). The tournament was judged at an unprecedentedly high level. Students from lower-income countries could represent their universities for the first time because of the low registration fee (only to cover basic expenses) of forty dollars per participant. Our team created a fun atmosphere with music playing between rounds, amateur song contests, and show debates by professional debaters. The competition also met my goal of rewarding broad-mindedness, eloquent language, and originality and setting complex, real, and thought-provoking motions.

After a week of competition and several weeks before that in which I hardly left my apartment and saw no natural daylight, I was exhausted. Still, I felt delighted with what I had accomplished.