STANFORD

Welcome to the 39th Annual Stanford Invitational!

The Stanford Invitational offers competition in nearly all debate and speech events, including:
Debate:

Lincoln Douglas
Public Forum

Speech:

Pattern A: national extemp, oratory, dramatic, spar, expos/informative, and declamation
Pattern B: international extemp, duo, humorous, impromptu, oral interp, and program oral interp

Read Before Registering!

There are several important details to familiarize yourself with ahead of registering:
Competition takes place fully online & there is no in-person component to the 2025 Stanford Invitational. We will be using the NSDA Campus platform.

All Stanford Invitational participants are bound by the Stanford Invitational Code of Conduct.
Waiver forms (and letters for Unaffiliated Entries) must be completed for all competitors; links to the forms can be found below before the registration form.

Competition: Saturday, February 8th, 2025 to Monday, February 10th, 2025
The general schedule will follow the below pattern:

IEs (Speech): Saturday and Sunday
Debate events: Saturday to Monday

Events Offered
*The tournament reserves the right to combine/collapse divisions in any event due to low enrollment or for logistical reasons in order to provide a better competition experience for competitors

DEBATE EVENTS: no cross entry with other events; all competition takes place synchronously

LD: all rounds planned to be single flighted, but we reserve the right to flight early elimination rounds if required

TOC: 6 prelim rounds, all 4-2s clear with a cap of 64 total elim teams
CA: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break (see the 'debate events’ section for guidance)
JV: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break (see the 'debate events’ section for guidance)
MS: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break (see the 'debate events’ section for guidance)
Novice: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break (see the 'debate events’ section for guidance)

Public Forum: all rounds planned to be single flighted; we reserve the right to flight early elimination rounds if required

TOC: 6 prelim rounds, all 4-2s clear with a cap of 64 total elim teams
Open: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break (see the 'debate events’ section for guidance)
JV: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break (see the 'debate events’ section for guidance)
MS: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break (see the 'debate events’ section for guidance)
Novice: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break (see the 'debate events’ section for guidance)

SPEECH EVENTS: no cross entry with other events (but up to triple entry in speech events is possible); all competition takes place synchronously

Events: all divisions/levels follow the same patterning & competitors may triple enter

Pattern A: National extemp, oratory, dramatic, spar, expos/informative, and declamation
Pattern B: International extemp, duo, humorous, impromptu, oral interp, and program oral interp

Division offered:

Varsity: open to all students
4 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break (see the 'speech' page for guidance)
JV: competitors must not have competed in any high school speech events prior to August 2023
4 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break (see the 'speech events’ section for guidance)
Novice: open to students who did not compete in any high school speech events prior to August 2024
4 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break (see the 'speech events’ section for guidance)

*The tournament reserves the right to combine/collapse divisions in any event due to low enrollment or for logistical reasons in order to provide a better competition experience for competitors

Entry Eligibility
Entries into a given event & level (division) are subject to the following eligibility requirements

LD, PF: no cross-entry with other events; TOC bids are awarded only in the 'TOC' division(s)

TOC: competitors must be in grades 8-12 and should be your most competitive students focused on TOC competition
Open (CA in LD): competitors must be in grades 7-12
JV: competitors must be in grades 6-11
MS: competitors must be in grades 6-8
Novice: competitors must be in grades 6-12 and must not have competed in any debate events prior to August 2024

*The tournament reserves the right to combine/collapse divisions in any event due to low enrollment or for logistical reasons in order to provide a better competition experience for competitors

Speech Events (IEs): competitors may triple enter in IEs, but no cross-entry with other events

Varsity: competitors must be in grades 8-12
JV: competitors must be in grades 6-11 and must not have competed in any speech events prior to August 2023
Novice: competitors must be in grades 6-10 and must not have competed in any speech events prior to August 2024; if you believe that you have a student in grades 11-12 who would be best served competing in novice, please contact us and we can consider an exception

*The tournament reserves the right to combine/collapse divisions in any event due to low enrollment or for logistical reasons in order to provide a better competition experience for competitors

Policies & Procedures
Every student attending the Stanford Invitational must have their parent/guardian sign an "Individual Waiver" in order to attend the tournament.

CODE OF CONDUCT: All Stanford Invitational participants are bound by the Stanford Invitational Code of Conduct.
TOC BIDS: The Stanford Invitational has been provisionally approved as a TOC qualifier in all events. Bid levels vary by event, see the TOC bid tournament website for more information.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE: Please plan on the fact that this is a two day tournament for IE’s and Congress and a three day tournament for most debate events with MANDATORY e-registration on Friday for all schools. If you must leave early and cannot adhere to our schedule, we are unable to make any accommodations.
OBSERVERS: The NSDA Campus platform used by the Stanford Invitational online tournament restricts access to the participants of a given round (the competitors and judges listed on the ballot).
DOUBLE ENTERING: Double-entry in IE events is permissible, but there is NO cross entry between LD, Public Forum, Congress and IE. The tentative schedule shows why cross-entry between debate and speech is not possible. No special accommodations are made for those students who wish to double-enter in events, however, so students should expect to be rushed if they choose this option.
DROPS: Drops after the drop deadline will be assessed the full fee; no-shows may be assessed an additional 25% entry fee penalty, and the parent's judging commitment must still be fulfilled for no-shows.
UNEXPECTED CIRCUMSTANCES: At any large tournament, logistical difficulties can on rare occasions occur in any number of matters, from tabulation to rules enforcement, to scheduling issues and judge disputes of various forms. Ultimately, the executive tournament director's sole discretion prevails on these rare occasions or when any sort of logistical difficulties arise.

AWARDS:

Speech events: all students competing in elimination rounds receive an award
Debate events: all students competing in elimination rounds receive an award, along with the top 10 speakers in each division
Champions of top-level divisions receive an excellent award: in addition to their trophy the following students will each receive a special award:

Champion in TOC LD
Champions in TOC Public Forum debate
Champions in each Varsity IE event
Note: Champion is defined as the 1st place winner only & awards are for competitors only

Debate Events Information

ELIGIBILITY: entries into a given event & level are subject to our Eligibility Requirements, and beyond the specific listed requirements, coach's discretion on classification decisions ultimately prevails.

PREFS & STRIKES:

TOC LD: mutual preference judging is offered until semifinals

Semis & Finals: Schools in the semi finals will be given a list of judges on it, and competitors/coaching may then opt to strike a very small number of judges from this pool. These judges will make up the panels for the semis and finals. Please understand that even if you struck someone in the prelims, they could end up in the pool for semis and finals. Debaters/coaches may exercise the privilege of striking that person again at this point if they so choose after reevaluating the situation. The tab room will make the final determination of the pools for semis and finals after the sheets are returned in a timely manner, and any teams failing to return their semis/finals strike sheets by the time announced when quarterfinal results are announced forfeit their right to strike any judges for the semis and/or finals.
More information on the timelines and deadlines for submitting your preferences will be available near the start of the tournament, and all schools with entries in these events are responsible for closely adhering to all deadlines. Your judge rankings and strikes will be due before the tournament begins, and if you do not meet the submission deadline or fail to submit your rankings the tournament is under no obligation to honor your requests although we will make a reasonable effort to do so.
TOC PF & CA LD: discretionary strikes are offered in addition to conflict strikes; tab staff will rank the judge pools on a rolling basis based on ballots and other feedback so as to allow the most careful judges to be used in 'close call' debates in subsequent round

All other events: conflict strikes are accepted; tab staff will rank the judge pools on a rolling basis based on ballots and other feedback so as to allow the most careful judges to be used in 'close call' debates in subsequent rounds.

TABULATION PROTOCOLS AND PRIORITIES:

Rounds 1 & 2: preset
Round 3: high-low based on the SOP algorithm calculated by Win-Loss, Total Points, Opponent Seed.
Round 4 and after: high-low based on the SOP algorithm calculated by Win-Loss, High/Low Points, Opponent Seed, Double High/Low Points, Coin Flip

The SOP algorithm to pair rounds is determined in the following manner:

Create rank order of teams based on traditional sorting criteria. This creates a “seed” for each team as of that point in the tournament.
Calculate the average seed of each of a team’s prior opponents.
When necessary due to side skews, teams are advanced to the next higher bracket based in order of the weakest average strength of opposition.
Once brackets are equalized, a team’s own seed and the average seed of their prior opponents are added together to create a hybrid statistic WLQ.
Teams are sorted high to low within brackets based on WLQ.

CLEARING: For clearing, the priorities are: Win-Loss, High/Low Points, Opponent Seed, Double High/Low Points, Coin Flip; only winning records can advance to elimination rounds & ironperson(s)/mavericks may not compete in elimination rounds

TOC LD & TOC PF: we will break all 4-2 teams up to a maximum of 64 teams (a full triple)
All other debate event divisions: we will break to the following elimination rounds based on the numbers of entries competing in a majority of prelim rounds

Half-triples: 161 or more entries competing in prelims; 'half-triple' means that 48 teams break (seeds 1-16 receive a bye, seeds 17-48 debate in the half triple)

based on judge and room availability, we reserve the right to:

break to a full triple instead of a half-triple
use 1-judge panels in the first elimination round

Doubles: 81 to 160 teams competing in prelims
Octafinals: 41 to 80 entries competing in prelims
Quarterfinals: 21 to 40 entries competing in prelims
Semifinals: 11 to 20 entries competing in prelims
Finals: 10 or fewer entries competing in prelims

OBSERVERS: The NSDA Campus platform used by the Stanford Invitational online tournament restricts access to the participants of a given round (the competitors and judges listed on the ballot).

EVIDENCE: Judges are welcome to call for evidence read in the debate - or not - at their discretion. In general judges’ discretion prevails on virtually all matters, except when otherwise indicated by the Executive Tournament Director or their designee.

RECORDING: No one may record video or audio of any speech given during the Stanford Invitational without the affirmative consent of all competitors participating in the round.

IRONPERSON(S)/MAVERICKS: Entries may complete rounds down a competitor (where one competitor speaks multiple times to fill multiple speaker positions) in the event of unexpected circumstances that come up during the tournament, but entries may not initially be entered into competition field without a full complement of competitors. One such round has no impact on an entry's eligibility to advance to elimination rounds - aside from the impact it has on speaker points - but a second such instance makes an entry ineligible to advance to elimination rounds. Ironperson(s)/mavericks may not compete in elimination rounds.

CLOSEOUTS/WALKOVERS/COACHOVERS: In the event a squad's entries are bracketed against each other in an elimination round, brackets will not be broken. The tournament will default to advancing the highest seed unless the coach of record notifies the tab room immediately. The tournament does not sanction any scrimmage that a coach may want to run between their teams that hit in a bracket and will not provide tournament resources such as judge(s), room(s), etc in support of any such intra-squad practice debate a squad elects to hold.

FINAL ROUND PARTICIPATION / CO-CHAMPIONS: The tournament expects all final rounds to be contested (except in the case of closeouts) and does not recognize non-ccloseout co-champions in the event competitors elect to voluntarily not compete in a final round.

TABROOM TRANSPARENCY: Starting after Round 2 the results of all debate events will be posted. We will provide disclosure of the full results packet and brackets after the start of the first elimination rounds on Sunday (as logistical feasibility allows) so that everyone can be assured that all coaches and teams have access to this vital information at the same time.

IN THE EVENT OF LOGISTICAL DIFFICULTIES: In the event tab staff experience fundamental computer problems such as a serious computer or software malfunction, we will use the listed priorities as best as can be accommodated by the software or the tab staff. Tournament director's discretion ultimately prevails in the rare event of serious logistical difficulties, and proceeding with the tournament schedule takes priority over other considerations should such problems occur.

COMPUTER RULES: We are allowing use of computers per the NSDA Unified Manual doc as best as practicable and subject to review by the tournament director. In particular, use of the internet to communicate with any outside party during a round are serious rules violations risking a forfeit loss, and expulsion from the tournament.

EVENT RULES:
LD:

Individual competitors will compete following the regular NSDA rules governing speech times
In California LD ONLY, note that there are additional division-specific rules:

Whole Resolution Advocacy: Lincoln-Douglas debaters are required to affirm or negate the entire resolution in their cases. Debaters should focus on defending the broad philosophical implications of the resolution, rather than offering specific or technical solutions.
Prohitibition on Plans and Counterplans: The use of plans, counterplans, or any formalized, comprehensive proposals for implementation is explicitly banned. A "plan" refers to a detailed or step-by-step approach to solving a problem that specifies particular actions or mechanisms. Debaters should avoid focusing on policy-making or implementation details. The goal is to engage in value-based arguments and consider the resolution as a whole, rather than presenting narrow solutions.
Focus on Values and Philosophy: Debaters should prioritize the examination of underlying values, ethical considerations, and philosophical frameworks that support or challenge the resolution. This approach encourages critical thinking about the resolution's broader implications rather than focusing on specific policy actions.

Prep time will be 4 minutes
The Jan/Feb NSDA topic will be used

Public Forum:

Teams of two will compete, following the NSDA Unified Manual doc for speech times
Coin flip for side selection and speaker order in each round
Coin flip in all elimination rounds
The February NSDA topic will be used

Speech Events Information

EVENTS & PATTERNS:

Pattern A: National extemp, oratory, dramatic, spar, expos/informative, and declamation
Pattern B: International extemp, duo, humorous, impromptu, oral interp, and program oral interp

*Note: National and International extemp are in different patterns, allowing serious extemp students to compete in eight prelim extemp rounds!

ELIGIBILITY: entries into a given event & level are subject to the Eligibility Requirements, and beyond the specific listed requirements, coach's discretion on classification decisions ultimately prevails.

ROUNDS: all competition takes place synchronously

Prelims: all speech event divisions will have 4 preliminary rounds, and patterns are back to back allowing for 8 rounds for a double-entered student!
Elims: all speech event divisions will proceed to elimination rounds based on the number of entries competing in a majority or prelim rounds

Octafinals: divisions with at least 120 entries will break to octafinals
Quarterfinals: divisions with 60 to 119 entries will break to quarterfinals
Semifinals: divisions with 30 to 59 entries will break to semifinals
Finals: divisions with 10 to 30 entries will break to finals
No elimination rounds: divisions with less than 10 entries will award final placements based on performance in preliminary rounds

CROSS ENTRY: There is NO cross entry between debate, LD, PF, and IE; the tentative schedule shows why cross-entry between debate events and speech events is not possible.

DOUBLE/TRIPLE ENTRY: Competitors may enter up to 3 IE’s with no more than 2 in any one pattern, but they are responsible for getting to their rounds. The tournament does not recommend double entering in Extemp or Duo and another event in the same pattern. Extemp prep time/speaker position will not be adjusted for competitors double entered in the same pattern. Any double-entered individual events competitor is responsible for hustling to and from rounds and making judges aware of possible lateness. If a judge must wait more than 15 minutes for any competitor, that individual risks being ranked last in that round.

OBSERVERS: The NSDA Campus platform used by the Stanford Invitational online tournament restricts access to the participants of a given round (the competitors and judges listed on the ballot).

COMPUTERS: We are allowing use of computers per the NSDA Unified Manual doc as best as practicable and subject to review by the tournament director. In particular, use of the internet to communicate with any outside party during a round are serious rules violations risking a forfeit loss, and expulsion from the tournament.

RULES: The Stanford Invitational will use NSDA rules for all "national main event" IEs, CHSSA rules will be used for impromptu and expository, and Stanford Invitational rules will be used for SPAR

Judges discretion will prevail in all but extreme cases
The executive tournament director or their designee will be the final authority on any challenges or protests.

EVENT GUIDELINES:

Original Oratory: a persuasive speech lasting no more than 10 minutes following NSDA rules.
Dramatic Interpretation: an interpretation of a single dramatic piece lasting no more than 10 minutes following NSDA rules
Extemporaneous Speaking, National and International: The speaker, having drawn 30 minutes prior, will speak for a maximum of 7 minutes on a current topic following NSDA rules.
Duo Interpretation: two individuals performing an interpretation of 10 minutes following NSDA rules.
Expository Speaking / Informative: an informative speech using visual aids lasting no more than 10 minutes following CHSSA rules.
Humorous Interpretation: an interpretation of a single humorous piece lasting no more than 10 minutes following NSDA rules
Impromptu Speaking: the speaker will have 2 minutes to prepare and 5 to speak on a given topic following CHSAA rules.
Oral Interpretation (Prose/Poetry): following NCFL rules - CHSAA OI is equivalent to Declamation
Declamation: following NCFL rules - CHSAA OI is equivalent to Declamation

Judge Information

JUDGING OBLIGATIONS:

Any judge which is missing any required information (name, contact info, posted philosophy, no tabroom account, etc) we will assess a fee equal to 25% of the cost of an uncovered entry in that event
We trust that you will make an effort to provide experienced judges. We must also insist that schools provide the same judge consistently throughout the tournament. This avoids delays and helps us place experienced judges in close rounds once power matching has begun. We do try to place experienced judges in “close call” debates.
For a judge to “count” towards your discounted fee, they must be available for a full period of availability.

BASELINE JUDGE REQUIREMENTS:

All judges must agree to the judge disclaimer on Tabroom that outlines the expectations of judges at the tournament, the applicability of the Code of Conduct, etc.
All judges must have graduated from high school or the equivalent, be 18+, and be proficient in English.
Judges are expected to disclose their decisions to competitors, but only after submitting their ballot.
For online debate, a baseline requirement for any judge is that their video and audio must be on during all speech time and during the post-round decision rendering, but judges may elect to switch off audio and/or video during prep time and while deliberating about their decision.
We understand that there may be one-off situations which make video and/or audio challenging or impossible for an individual judge, but in such cases it is an affirmative obligation of that judge (or their squad coordinator on their behalf) to request an exception to this requirement with as much advance notice as is possible given the basis of the request for exemption.
The named judge must pick up and judge the rounds assigned to them as we must know which adult is judging which round. Squads may not unilaterally replace one judge with another and simply "swap" them out. Every judge swap must be handled directly by tournament officials, and the named judge MUST be the judge overseeing their assigned round.
If due to strike/preference sheet results a judge is unable to fulfill the commitment, the tournament reserves the right to refuse the judge. If the tournament refuses your judge, you will have the choice of substituting a judge who is acceptable to the tournament or paying the judge fee.

SPECIFIC JUDGE REQUIREMENTS:

In TOC & Open-level debate divisions, judges must have (substantial) experience judging the event they are judging at the TOC/Open level at invitational-style tournaments and working familiarity of Tabroom.com. This means that the judge should either be an active coach of varsity level competitors in the debate event they will be judging, or should have competed somewhat recently at a high varsity level at major invitationals. Generally speaking, parents of participants are not considered qualified judges for these events, but there are of course always exceptions.

JUDGE COMMITMENTS:

All judges in the pool on Sunday are obligated for ALL elimination rounds on Sunday evening AND then one round past the elimination of your program’s last entry in that event. To confirm:
Even if your child does not advance, your judges on Sunday are obligated for the first full elimination round
If your last entry loses the final elimination round on Sunday evening, your judges in that event are still obligated for the first elimination round on Monday morning.
Judges who do not comply will be fined with the rules above will cause the other GSA competitors to not be able to advance, and the program risks being barred from future participation.
Schools who have competitors in elimination rounds and do not have their judges available to judge will either be charged the full judge fee for each entry for each uncovered round - and if necessary be dropped from competition - at the discretion of the tournament director.

If judges are found to not meet any applicable baseline or specific requirement, the judge may be removed from the pool and a penalty fine will be levied equal to or greater than the fee to have fully hired out for that judging obligation. This includes any judges which do not meet our criteria due to false information being provided.
Any ballot assigned to a judge which is missed will result in the assessment of a missed ballot fee, and this fee may escalate for repeat offenders.
Schools who have competitors in elimination rounds and do not have their judges available to judge will either be charged the full judge fee for each entry for each uncovered round - and if necessary be dropped from competition - at the discretion of the tournament director.
Schools deemed by the tournament director to be engaging in a consistent pattern of promising judges and then breaking that commitment without prior notice and arrangement will be suspended from or have their entry restricted at the tournament for up to 3 years. We would rather run a smaller, quality tournament attended by schools willing to keep their commitment to the community than oversee a tournament made unmanageable by a lack of judges. Any round missed will require that the judging fee for that judge spot be paid unless the round is 'made up' to the tournament director's satisfaction (usually requiring 2 rounds to make up 1 missed round). For example, if one policy round is missed, that round can either be made up as per mutual agreement with the tournament director (in a way that is beneficial to the tournament, which is not always possible), or the fee for one uncovered policy team can be paid, per round missed. In the event of unusual circumstances the tournament will try to allow for a single missed round to be made up.

Individual Waivers

1) Every competitor must have their parent/guardian sign an "Individual Waiver" in order to attend the Stanford Invitational! A fully legible, properly executed, and unmodified copy of this document must be uploaded in advance of the tournament.
Note: Coaches, students and parents are hereby notified that any unilateral modification, line out, or other change to the agreement presumptively means that student(s) are unable to participate in the Stanford Invitational speech & debate tournament. In any such cases, no refunds will be due, nor will any other further accommodation be offered by the Stanford Invitational.
Unaffiliated Entry Parent Letter & instructions: open this document for step-by step instructions to complete the document digitally

39TH ANNUAL STANFORD INVITATIONAL

8-10 February 2025

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