YG Spontaneous Speech Tournament

    Saturday, 31 May 2025

    DEADLINE
    20 May 2025
    NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE
    ELIGIBILITY
    Open to middle and high school students
    LOCATION
    IN PERSON at
    20900 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA 95014

    Information

    Young Genius Association is excited to host its biannual Congressional Debate and Spontaneous Speech tournament for elementary and middle school students. We are one of few organizations that coordinate tournaments for younger competitors, and we invite all 4-5th graders and 6-8th grades to compete in Congressional Debate and Spontaneous Speech, and 2-3rd grade students to compete in prepared speech.

    All YG in-person tournaments serve a complimentary pizza lunch, small bites before the start, and snacks throughout the day for all in-person competitors, chaperones, judges, and their guests.

    Divisions
    2-3rd Grade
    - Elementary School Speech: Persuasive Speaking
    4-5th grade
    - Elementary Impromptu:
    • Students will be given three nouns to choose from, and may take 2 minutes to prepare a 2-3 minute long speech. No research may be done on the topic during prep time. Students may speak from notes.
    6-8th grade
    - Middle School Impromptu: 
    • ​Students will be given topics to choose from and may take 2 minutes to prepare a 3-5 minute long speech. No research may be done on the topic during prep time. Students may NOT speak from notes.
    • Topic Areas Will Be As Follows
      Round 1: Concrete Nouns
      Round 2: Abstract Nouns
      Round 3: Quotes
      Final Round: Aphorisms

    Read the detailed descriptions and rules of the speech formats in the Events & Division section.
    << Tournament Docket & Procedures Handbook >>

    ​Entry Price

    IMP and parent is judging $150
    IMP and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $250
    ​
    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

    Elementary (4th/5th grade) and Middle (6th-8th grade) School Competitors
    All times listed in Pacific Daylight Time

    ​8:00 AM • Tournament Welcome
    9:45 - 10:45 AM • Speech Round 1
    12:15 - 12:45 PM • Pizza Lunch
    12:45 - 1:45 PM • Round 2
    3:30 - 4:30 PM • Speech Round 3
    5:00 - 6:00 PM • Speech Finals
    6:30 PM • Awards Ceremony - trophies and medals will be handed out

    ​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
    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.
    EVENT SELECTION
    ​    Got any questions? Please email [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
    ​JUDGE PROVISION

    ​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

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​​