NIETOC

NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL EVENTS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS (NIETOC)

9-12 May 2024

DEADLINE

Normal deadline: 29 March 2024
NO REFUNDS AT ANY POINT AFTER REGISTERING

Late add deadline: 20 April 2024
There will be a $25 late fee for registrations after 29 March 2024.

ELIGIBILITY

LOCATION

Open to qualifying high school students ONLY

In-person at Bellevue West HS in Bellevue, Nebraska (part of the Omaha metro area)

Information

WELCOME!
We are proud to extend this invitation for you and any qualified students to participate in the 2024 National Individual Events Tournament of Champions. To see if you have qualified students, you will want to read the details found here: https://www.speechwire.com/files/16051-2024%20QUALIFICATION%20METHODS.pdf

The NIETOC is committed to bringing the nation's best and brightest students and teachers together to participate in a high-caliber and high-quality national speech tournament. The NIETOC is designed to give competitors an amazing competitive experience, with a student-centered schedule, competitive costs, and minimal judge requirements.

Our 2024 tournament will be live and hosted by Becca Hier of Bellevue West HS in Bellevue, Nebraska (part of the Omaha metro area). Our tournament hotel will be the Embassy Suites by Hilton Omaha La Vista Hotel & Conference Center. Room reservation info is available here -- https://www.speechwire.com/files/16051-2024%20HOTEL%20RESERVATIONS.pdf

The entire NIETOC Board is hopeful that many of you are able to join us for what will be our 14th national tournament intended to celebrate, once again, the power of the spoken word and the resiliency of the speakers and coaches who continue to advocate for that power--in spite of a global pandemic.

Some of the key aspects of the 2024 competition include:

-Four preliminary rounds in all individual events.
-This year’s tournament will be flighted:
Round 1A -- DI, DA, HI, OO.
Round 1B -- DUO, EXT, INF, POI.
-Students may enter a maximum of three events UNLESS one of them is Extemporaneous. Extempers may only double-enter. As long as one of the events is not Extemp, a competitor may triple-enter within the same flight.
-Supplemental Events are returning, but with a 5-minute time limit this year. We will offer Poetry, Prose, Expository and Impromptu for those students not advancing to main event elimination rounds.
-Students must pre-register for a maximum of two supplemental events and will then re-register on Saturday morning of the competition, once main event breaks are posted.
-Bonus entries are available in Duet (2) and POI (1). Please see details under ‘Other helpful links’ below.
-Extemp Topics will be mixed in nature vs. alternating rounds of international/domestic issues.
-2024 NSDA qualifiers earn one bid in that event. Again, please read the ‘How To Qualify’ section carefully for other tournament results that may help your student earn acceptance.
To confirm bid status (from our regular season bid tournaments or last year’s NIETOC) please check our website and the searchable bid recipient database: https://nietoc.com/am-i-qualified/. Previous and current year post-season bids are not reflected in this database and will be independently confirmed.
ALL ENTRIES WILL INITIALLY BE ON THE WAITING LIST UNTIL VERIFICATION OF RESULTS IS CONFIRMED AND ACCEPTANCE IS GRANTED.

2024 NIETOC JUDGING DETAILS

DIGITAL BALLOTS – All tournament rounds will be judged live on SpeechWire using digital ballots. Tutorial video about this process found here -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJXxeVS-KgM
PANELS – You are NEVER the only judge in a round. Please DO NOT start the round before all judges are present; please DO NOT confer with any of the other judges in the round but DO return the ballots to the table together. The following number of judges will be used in each round:
*Main Event Prelims=2 judges, Octos = 3, Quarters=3 judges, Semis=5 judges, Final=7 judges
*Supplemental Prelims=2 judges, Semifinals=3 judges, Finals=5 judges
STANDBY – Any judges not scheduled for any preliminary round are considered on standby and should remain in the ballot area until the round has been cleared.
OBLIGATIONS – Judges are: (1) obligated for any and all assigned rounds or pools in main and/or supplemental events, (2) automatically obligated through the octafinal round, and (3) obligated through the round in which your school has competitors. Failing to meet these obligations will result in a $200 fine.
SUPPLEMENTAL ROUNDS – Judges for any schools with supplemental entries, as well as tournament judges, are automatically included in the pool for supplemental event prelims and are obligated through the supplemental finals around 8 pm on Saturday evening. Additional judges may also be pooled for these events.
QUARTER/SEMI/FINAL POOLS – These are partially preset. In addition, judges from those schools who are still obligated may be ADDED to these rounds. The same situation holds true for supplemental pools.

IMPORTANT ENTRY INFORMATION

*Is selection info required at registration?
Yes, please provide topics & titles and all other requested information upon registration. Not doing so will delay the entry in getting approved. If an entry is not yet approved, that is the first thing to check. In the event of protest during the competition, coaches should be prepared to provide proof of publication, proof of cutting, performance manuscripts, and works cited pages.

*Which events require Works Cited pages?
Informative, Oratory, POI and Expository. Students will need to create these digital files and then share a link with the coach, who adds that link to those entries prior to the registration deadline. This must be present in order for your ‘Piece Information’ confirmation to occur. Please make sure that the settings do not require an access password and allow anyone with the link to open the document.

Other helpful links

Entry Price

!!! There will be a $25 late fee for registrations after 29 March 2024 !!!

The fees below assume that you will be traveling on your own (parents will take their child to Nebraska and book their own accommodations).
If you are leaving your child to travel with the GSA team, we will collect a $450 nonrefundable deposit. The final expenses per student minus the deposit will be invoiced once we know the final cost.
If you would like to travel on your own but have GSA book your hotel so that you'll stay in the same place as the team, please pay twice of the $450 nonrefundable deposit as we will be counting one parent.

One Speech Event and parent will be judging at the tournament $125
Two Speech Events and parent will be judging at the tournament $200
Three Speech Events and parent will be judging at the tournament $275

One Speech Event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $250
Two Speech Events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $350
Three Speech Events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $450

Additional one supplemental event is an extra $25
Additional two supplemental events is an extra $50

*Judges need to be available on all the days that their event occurs on.
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.

Schedule

Click here to see the schedule - PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE

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

All competitors must submit this form before continuing with registration. Failure to do so may result in your entry being invalid and the tournament forfeiting your fees.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfqHWcKpGzBABgns8E4z3fKx3uNakA2dIVnJRUCWd9ply_XoA/viewform

List school as 'The Golden State Academy'

STUDENT INFORMATION

* Indicates required field

Student Name *

First

Last

Student Email *

Student Phone Number *

I need to verify my email with Speechwire within 24 hours of registering. *

YES, I UNDERSTAND AND I WILL CHECK MY EMAIL REGULARLY FOR THE NOTIFICATION

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 *

Have you submitted the legal form for your child using the link above? *

YES AND I UNDERSTAND THAT FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN MY CHILD'S ENTRY BEING REMOVED WITHOUT NOTICE NOR REFUND

What is your travel preference? (For parents who travel along with the GSA team, we will collect 2x the deposit.) *

My child will travel with the GSA team My child and I will travel with the GSA team and understood that I will need to pay 2x the deposit My child and I will both go and will arrange our travel plan on our own

If you answered the second option (My child and I will travel with the GSA team), please let us know your hotel preference. *

Not applicable I will share a room with my child My child will share a room with other students and I will share a room with other parents My child will share a room with other students and I will have my own room alone

EVENT SELECTION

Division *

At-Large (YOU MUST ANSWER THE ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS BELOW) Automatic Qualifier Bid

Selection Information (title, author, publisher, ISBN #, website if published digitally) *

Qualification data #1 (Tournament name, Tournament date, Event competed in, Placing) *

Qualification data #2 (Tournament name, Tournament date, Event competed in, Placing) *

Qualification data #3 (Tournament name, Tournament date, Event competed in, Placing) *

If you are registering for At-Large, you MUST answer all of the following questions as well.

Did this competitor earn one bid in this event this year? *

Cumulative Total of best three tournaments (must be 12 or lower) *

Link to Tab Sheets verifying this entry's results (a student's individual Speechwire page OR a google drive folder with screenshots of tabsheets): *

JUDGE PROVISION

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

Judge Name *

Judge phone *

Judge email *

Are you sure you are available on all the days that your event occurs on? *

Yes Not judging

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?
This is a great collection of short videos that one of the leagues have put together to learn each event: click here.
There are also these training cards available that include a summary of each event's rules and comments.
Click here to find other training and official certification resources. Or watch our Youtube playlist here.

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