KAREN KEEFER

KAREN KEEFER NOVICE INVITATIONAL

2 November 2024

DEADLINE

28 Oct 2024
NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE

ELIGIBILITY

open to middle and high school students

LOCATION

Mountain View High School
3535 Truman Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94040
Campus map

Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Mountain View and Los Altos Speech and Debate team cordially invites you to the 6th annual Karen Keefer Invitational, which will take place on November 2 at Mountain View High School. Mrs. Keefer is a former speech-parent-turned-NSDA-Diamond-coach who volunteered with MVLA and the Coast Forensics League for over twenty years. We hope to continue her legacy of support for students by providing an accessible novice warm-up event!

The event will run from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturday. There will be 4 rounds of novice Lincoln-Douglas, Parliamentary, and Public Forum debate and four rounds of novice Impromptu, mixed interpretation events, and mixed Original events, with hidden finals in round 4 for the top two teams in each debate division and the top panel in each speech division. Awards for those with winning records or better will be announced and presented at the end of the tournament, and the champions of the final will be recognized.

All judges must have tabroom.com accounts with phone numbers linked.

Middle and high school students are welcome. We encourage all debaters to be respectful of their peers and judges, in order to maintain a safe and welcoming debate environment.

Events, Divisions, Entries & Judging

Who is a Novice?
A novice is any high school student who has competed in any event for less than one year who has not broken in any JV or varsity divisions as a high school competitor at the time of registration OR any middle school student who has competed in any event for less than two years and has not broken in any JV or Varsity divisions or capstone tournaments (e.g. CHSSA Middle School, Middle School TOC, NSDA Nationals) at the time of registration.

Lincoln Douglas
Lincoln Douglas will use the November/December topic as presented on the NSDA official website, and will follow the 6 - 3 - 7 - 3 - 4 - 6 - 3 format. Maximum prep time will be 4 minutes. Notice that the tournament will follow NSDA rules.. Evidence will be held to the highest standard and complete citations are highly encouraged.

Public Forum
Public Forum will use the November topic, and will follow the 4 - 4 - 3 - 4 - 4 - 3 - 3- 3 - 3 - 2 - 2 format (in accordance with the NSDA pilot rules). Each team will have access to 3 minutes of prep time during the round. Sides and order will be locked to posting; there will be no preliminary round coinflips.

Interpretation and Original
Any type of individual interpretation (OI/DEC, HI, DI, POI, POE, PRO) can be entered in the interpretation event. Any type of original event without props (OO, OA, OPP, OSW, prop-free INFOs) can be entered in the original event. The time limit for each speech will be 10 minutes. Notes are permitted but judges may use being off script as a differentiator between competitors.

Impromptu
The times will be 2 minutes of prep and 5 minutes of speaking. Notes are permitted but judges may use being off script as a differentiator between competitors.

Double Entry
Students may double enter in up to two speech categories.
Students may cross enter in PF/LD and one speech category but do so at their own risk; any debate/speech cross-entries should attend their debate round first if they are flight 1.

Judging
Judges who are called for ballots but fail to appear will be fined $100 per round missed.
We encourage parents to volunteer even if this is their first time judging. We will provide virtual judge training resources.
Half-day commitments are not permitted.
Tabroom.com accounts are mandatory for all judges in order to access online ballots for rounds.

Location & Support

Location Info
The easiest place to park is the student lot off Bryant Avenue. A map is available here.

Food
We will provide snacks and coffee for judges for free and snacks for purchase for students. Pizza will be available to all (free for judges, paid for competitors) for lunch.

Help Line
A physical help desk will also be available day-of in the library lobby, but we encourage use of the email line first.

Behavioral Norms & Covid Precautions
Coaches or other adults should not communicate with students during rounds.

There is no recording of rounds allowed. If someone is caught recording rounds, they will be removed from the tournament and the infraction will be reported to their institution. Recording children without their parents’ permission is illegal, and the tournament is not collecting permission forms for recording.

All consumption of food should take place outdoors.

Entry Price

One LD event and parent is judging $95
One LD event and parent is OPTING OUT OF judging $190

One PF event and parent is judging $85
One PF event and parent is OPTING OUT OF judging $180

One speech event and parent is judging $75
One speech event and parent is OPTING OUT OF judging $150

There will be a $10 nuisance fee for entry changes after registration is closed. No refunds are allowed for drops after the deadline.

Each person in a PF team would be responsible of providing their own judge, so one PF team would need to either provide two judges, both pay the judge fee, or one of each option.
Registration will not be complete until payment is received.

NOTE: We will charge set up fees if we have to create tabroom.com accounts for judges. It is recommended you do so on your own.

Tentative Schedule

SATURDAY

8:30 am - Round 1 LD/PF/SPEECH Round Start
10:15 am - Round 2 LD/PF/SPEECH Round Start
12:15 pm - Lunch Break (bring a packed lunch!)
12:45 pm - Round 3 LD/PF/SPEECH Round Start
2:30 pm - Round 4 LD/PF/SPEECH Round Start (Hidden Final)
4:15 pm - Award Ceremony

Although the tentative schedule lists the start and end times, please keep in mind that there are various factors that may arise during a tournament that can cause rounds to be delayed. Therefore, if you are signing up for this tournament, please make sure you do not double book yourselves on these dates. Keep your schedule open and DO NOT leave the tournament without notifying the GSA chaperones first.

Drop Fee

Drop fees will be the same amounts as the entry fee PLUS any fees the tournament charges us for late drops. Drop requests should be made to Victor and Nadia.

Please do not drop out last minute to avoid being charged these fees.

Contact Info

Victor Rivas Umana
Contact email: [email protected]
Nadia Budiman
Contact email: [email protected]
Or [email protected]

Registration Form

STUDENT INFORMATION

* Indicates required field

Student Name *

First

Last

Student Email (make sure you have a Tabroom account) *

Student Phone Number *

Does the student have a Tabroom account? *

Yes and it is linked with GSA's account(s) Yes but it is not linked and we need you to add to your roster No but I will create one before submitting registration No but I will pay the additional $35 setup fee

If this is your first time competing, make sure to first create a Tabroom account here: https://www.tabroom.com/user/login/new_user.mhtml
It's super simple and quick (<1 minute), but follow the guidelines here in case anything is confusing: https://docs.tabroom.com/Sign_Up

PARENT CONTACT INFORMATION
Your email address will be the one included when we send the logistics email.

Parent Name *

First

Last

Parent Email *

Parent Phone Number *

EVENT SELECTION
Divisions may get combined if entries are too small.

Do not sign up for debate if you are not ready to compete in the NOV/DEC topics. Please consult your children and their coaches first.

PF Partner Name *

First

Last

Choose your division, but keep in mind that if enrollments are low some divisions may be collapsed into one *

JUDGE PROVISION

Will you (parent) be judging at this tournament? *

Judge Name *

Judge email (Must be linked to a tabroom account. Register first at tabroom.com before completing this sign up) *

Judge phone *

Does your judge have a Tabroom account? *

Yes No but I will create one before submitting registration No but I'll pay the additional $35 setup fee Not judging

Does your judge understand that he/she is responsible for the entire tournament schedule and that missing a round incurs fines from the tournament? *

Yes, understood Not judging but understood as well

Click here to complete the highly recommended Cultural Competency judge training course

Signing up a judge without having a Tabroom account will result in us charging you for the set up fee.
You can do this easily on your own by going to tabroom.com. It literally takes less than a minute.

First time judging? Click here to learn how to do it! Or watch our Youtube playlist here.
There are also these training cards available that include a summary of each event's rules and comments.

Tournaments encourage judges to have a paradigm on their Tabroom account, which can be a few sentences on your preferences of debating styles, etc. See here for example. It doesn't need to be this long, but make sure to add something before you sign up. For example: "I am a parent, please speak clearly and slowly and avoid technical jargon".

More tournament resources can be found here.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

I will keep a copy of this form for reference. *

YES

We are signing up with the understanding that my child will work to be ready by the tournament date. If we choose to drop out because my child is not ready that will be considered when making assessments for future classes. *

YES

I understand that if I fail to drop the tournament before the deadline that I will still be responsible for the fees of both my son or daughter, along with that of his or her partner and the fines. *

YES

I understand that if payment is not received we won't be registered and our spot will be given up to someone else. *

YES

I confirm that I have completed all necessary paperwork for this tournament. *

YES

I understand that The Golden State Academy has no control over tournament entries other than the initial sign up. I understand that my child's priority will be based on either the last time I signed up OR the date paid, whichever is latest. *

YES

I understand that my child must check in and check out periodically at the tournament with the coach and that if I do not my child will be barred from participating in following tournaments. This is to ensure coaches can see where students are at competitively and to give any initial feedback for improvement. *

YES

I understand that I can check my entry status through tabroom.com. *

YES

I am a consenting adult. I understand that by submitting this form I agree to all that has been covered. *

YES

Submit/take to payment

We would love to have you visit soon at one of our open houses.
Check our home page for the schedule!

School year Hours

M-F: 3:45 pm - 8:30 pm
Sun: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Telephone

510-270-8480
510-470-0531

Email (preferred)

For more info email us at: [email protected]

Locations

Fremont: 200 Brown Rd #201, Fremont, CA 94539

Cupertino: 20432 Silverado Avenue Suite 211, Cupertino, CA 95014

Aborn Institute: 2804 Riedel Road, San Jose, CA 95135

Dublin: Loving Tree Academy, 6693 Owens Dr, Pleasanton, CA 94588

KAREN KEEFER NOVICE INVITATIONAL​

2 November 2024

Information

​Entry Price

Tentative Schedule

Drop Fee

Contact Info

Registration Form

We would love to have you visit soon at one of our open houses.Check our home page for the schedule!

School year Hours

Telephone

Email (preferred)

Locations

KAREN KEEFER NOVICE INVITATIONAL

Entry Price

We would love to have you visit soon at one of our open houses.
Check our home page for the schedule!