SEATTLE

We are an NIETOC bid in all NIETOC IE’s. NIETOC bids are based on the total number of students participating, so PLEASE be aware of that if you need to drop a student from an event.

We will have a quality tabroom staff and we encourage all involved to be inclusive, treating each and every participant with respect and support.

Our Online Policies

We will be using NSDA Campus. Make sure that your students have active Tabroom accounts well ahead of the tournament. Otherwise, they won’t be able to compete.
Students and Judges should have Cameras on. This is a safeguard against outside assistance, and it is an important accessibility feature. Cameras also help maintain the social atmosphere of speech and debate. That said, if there is a significant reason you need the camera off, you are not required to have the camera on.
MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENTS ARE READY TO GO. They need a decent webcam, working microphone and speakers, and MOST IMPORTANT, reliable internet connection. Test your Internet Connection. Should be 10mb+download, 5mb+upload.

Be Inclusive
At all times, treat each other with courtesy and respect. Every person. Every room. We want a fun, positive, and educational environment.
Mistreatment happens?
If you are mistreated or you witness mistreatment—we encourage you to speak up against that if you feel safe doing so. Please report such events to Jim Hanson.
Inclusive Pronouns
We encourage students, judges, and coaches to refer to each other by name or by speaker position; you can use “they” and “their” as well. Please DO NOT ASSUME someone else’s gender.
If you have an issue during the tournament . . .
We will actively seek to address your questions and concerns as soon as possible. NEW THIS YEAR: We will have SEVERAL staff ready to speak with you.

LD and Public Forum Debate Rules

LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE: We offer Junior and Open divisions of LD. Rounds will follow the 6-3-7-3- 4-6-3 format and have 4 minutes of prep time per competitor. We will be using the January/February topic as published on the NSDA website. https://www.speechanddebate.org/topics/
PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE: We offer Junior and Open divisions of Public Forum. Rounds will follow standard PF time format (4-4-3-4-4-3-3-3-3-2-2) with 3 minutes of prep per team and teams will coin flip for pro/con or 1st/2nd speaker. We will use the January topic as published on the NSDA website. https://www.speechanddebate.org/topics/

NEW THIS YEAR: Teams in LD and PF must establish and test evidence sharing BEFORE a debate starts.
Tech Problems? Teams are allowed up to ten minutes of tech troubleshooting time. If the debate is paused for technology related reasons, that team’s Tech Time begins to count down. If a team uses all of their Tech Time before the round ends, their speaking time must begin. The tech time is not to be used as prep.
Debate Division Definitions
a. Junior Division is for those students in their first or second year of competition who have not received a trophy in Open debate competition at two (2) invitational tournaments with 15 or more schools participating and have not placed first through fourth (1-4) at the WIAA State Debate Championship Tournament.
b. Open Division is for those students who do not meet the Junior Division definition or who want the competition level of open division.

We will advance all 3-2 and better teams up to 16 teams in a division of LD and Public Forum but we won’t have a partial elim if the partial elim will have only 1 debate.

Individual Events (Speech) Rules
Each student may DOUBLE ENTER.
Students can do both Individual Events and Debate.

Students participate LIVE Online (“synchronous”).
All Events are in Open Division (mark novices in registration for separate awards).

EXTEMPORANEOUS: Thirty minutes before speaking time, each speaker will select a topic from a choice of three--distributed on a Google Doc 30 minutes before speaking. Questions will be based on current events. Speaker will be expected to organize and analyze material relevant to the subject area and answer the chosen question. Time: seven minutes (7) maximum, with thirty seconds (30) grace.
IMPROMPTU: Student will be given a choice of three topics distributed in round through the chat feature. The student will choose a topic and have six minutes to prepare and speak on the chosen topic. Time may be used in any manner the speaker chooses (example-2 minutes prep and 4 speaking or 4 minutes prep and 2 minutes speaking). Time: six minutes (6) maximum, with thirty seconds (30) grace. Judges are required to provide time signals while students are preparing and while they are speaking.
INFORMATIVE (EXPOS): A speech that is designed to be informative in nature. Visual aids and note cards are permitted, but are not required. Time: ten minutes (10) maximum, with thirty seconds (30) grace.
PERSUASIVE (ORATORY): An original speech designed to persuade—that is, to change or reinforce an existing belief, to eulogize, to cause agreement with a speaker’s position, or to motivate to action. This is a memorized event. Time: ten minutes (10) maximum, with a 30 second grace period.
DRAMATIC INTERP: A cutting from a published play, prose, poetry, TV, or radio script, which is serious in nature. The presentation is memorized but given without props or costumes. Time: ten (10) minutes maximum with 30 second grace period.
DUAL INTERP: A cutting from a published play, prose, poetry, TV, or radio script, which may be either humorous or serious in nature. The selection must be memorized but given without props or costumes. Time: ten minutes (10) maximum with a 30 second grace period.
HUMOROUS INTERP: A cutting from a published play, prose, poetry, TV, or radio script, which is humorous in nature. The presentation is memorized. Time: ten (10) minutes with thirty seconds (30) grace.
PROGRAMMED ORAL INTERP (POI): At least one cutting of prose and one cutting of poetry linked thematically. Time: ten (10) minutes maximum with thirty seconds of grace.

Judge Eligibility: Judges must . . .
--have judged or debated in at least 5 tournaments and posted their judging philosophies to tabroom.com to judge Open LD and Open PF.
–be qualified. Please bring qualified judges. We need quality judges so students get excellent feedback and adjudication.
--be 18 years of age or older, have a high school degree, and may not be enrolled in high school.
-- have a tabroom.com account. All ballots will be on-line. Please make sure your judges are familiar with this system.
--take this training https://www.speechanddebate.org/judge-training/
--pickup ballots on time, start rounds on time, submit ballots on time, and be courteous and supportive.

Judge Expectations: Judges are expected to...

Judge ALL preliminary rounds AND at least the FIRST TWO ELIM rounds in that event. Every round, every judge listed should be available and take ballots for those rounds.
Judges are expected to be on time for their rounds & to complete their judging duties:

--All judges need to push “start round” to signify that they have accepted the ballot.
--At all times before, during and after the round, judges are expected to treat all participants equitably and with a supportive, educational mindset and behaviors.
--At the end of each round, judges must submit the win/loss/ranking and points for the round to tabroom.com AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND BEFORE GIVING VERBAL FEEDBACK TO THE DEBATERS
(note tabroom.com will make you enter the result twice to assure it is correct). Otherwise, you make the tournament late.
--Judge ARE EXPECTED TO type written comments into tabroom.com so coaches can help their students improve (and for students to have a record of your comments). Judges should type what each and every student did well and what they need to improve on. Typed Comments are required.
--In Open Public Forum and LD debate, ALSO give verbal feedback to the debaters with:

who won
which of the team’s arguments convinced the judge—and why the losing team’s arguments did not win.
what each and every debater did well and what they should improve on.

DO THE FEEDBACK AFTER YOU HAVE SUBMITTED the winner and points to tabroom.com so you do not slow down the tournament.

We charge fees for judges that miss rounds. We also charge judges for not completing ballot comments—be sure your judges give full feedback to the students they watch. When judges are late or miss rounds, it undermines the entire tournament—one late round means the entire tournament is late. We’ll work to be flexible with reasonable situations but for judges who do not show up to rounds consistently, we will contact coaches and if arrangements/alternatives cannot be established, we reserve the right to assess nuisance/hired judge fees.

Judge Preferencing
NEW THIS YEAR: Open LD and Public Forum debaters will preference judges (philosophies will be on tabroom.com).
We will use a preference system that emphasizes mutuality more than preference level. (so a 4-4 could be preferred over a 1-3).
NEW THIS YEAR: Be sure your judges who want to judge in Open Division submit their judging philosophies to their Tabroom account.

Judging Equitably
Make a welcoming environment at the beginning of the round. Hellos. Supportive comments. Equal amount of talking with all participants. At all times, treat students and others in the round with equity, kindness and professionalism.
During the round, we encourage you to use supportive non-verbals. (if you don’t like an argument,
that can be an exception so you help the students know that)
If you see mistreatment—stop it and report it to Jim Hanson.
If a debater is doing something “wrong,” be KIND but clear with what they need to do.
As soon as possible at the end of the round, submit your ballot with winners/rankings/speaker points. You can return to include comments later. We need your ballot winner/rankings/speaker points ASAP or it slows the entire tournament.
In your feedback—be educational—you aren’t there to criticize the students—they’ve put effort into this activity. You are there to help them to improve. SKIP “You did this bad” and instead use the
language of improvement “You should .”
Students should not be judged on their clothing nor appearance unless their clothing/appearance undermines their speech’s specific message or encourages violence, hate or disruption during the tournament.
We are all influenced by implicit bias, or the stereotypes that unconsciously affect our decisions. When judging, our implicit biases negatively impact students who are traditionally marginalized and disenfranchised. Before writing comments or making a decision, please take a moment to reflect on any biases that may impact your decision making process.
Please remember that the video quality of a student’s performance or speech may be impacted by lighting, internet, access to equipment, and other family members’ presence in the home. To ensure a more equitable experience for our participants, please be sure your decision-making process and comments are related only to the content and quality of the presentation or speech itself.
ALL Judges should view this material: https://www.speechanddebate.org/judge- training/On that website, you will find information on culturally competent judging and a link to the NFHS and
their free training, entitled “Adjudicating Speech and Debate”

SEATTLE U HS TOURNAMENT 2024

26-27 January 2024 for debate
27 January 2024 for speech

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