Patriot Games Classic

2021 Invitation

Patriot Games Frequently Asked Questions

Hello!!  Thank you so much for attending this year’s Patriot Games. We have tried to anticipate any issues that you may have this weekend. We will also be posting these on Speechwire's “Files to Download”.

IMPORTANT LINKS

Schedule: https://www.speechwire.com/c-schedule.php?tournid=11816

Helpful Downloads: : https://www.speechwire.com/c-files.php?tournid=11816

Judge Check-In (Registration and Stand by): https://gmu.zoom.us/j/92924265113

Congress: https://gmu.zoom.us/j/94750790478

Ballots: https://live.speechwire.com/

EXTEMP AND IMP PREP: https://gmu.zoom.us/j/92626066920?pwd=dmNuaXZmbWFZZ1UxcG5hM0dUdnN1Zz09

REGISTRATION

1. Check in: We ask that all Debate and Congress schools check in between 9 and 9: 30 by emailing dlowry4@gmu.edu or stopping by our Judges Check-In Zoom:  https://gmu.zoom.us/j/92924265113.

GENERAL INFO

We will have a 10 minute grace period for dealing with tech/connectivity issues. We will have a breakout room inside the Judges Room to deal with Tech/Speechwire Support. If you cannot get online: please call 949.529.1245 to report any tech issues. This number is reserved for tech and support. We suggest sending a text first, going to the help desk in the judges Zoom second, and calling third. Any other tournament issues should be directed to dlowry4@gmu.edu.

2. All ballots will be release a half hour before each round. Any judge that does not receive a ballot is considered to be on standby and are expected to report to Judge Check In Zoom at the start of each round.  Any school judges who fail to pick up rounds will be charged $100.
3. We strongly recommend each judge access their ballot as soon as they can and press “Start Round” so we know you received ballot. We will be sending tournament staff into each NSDA room to make sure that all rounds start as close to as time as possible. Ballots are available at https://live.speechwire.com/ and you will receive an email notification when you are assigned a ballot. Help accessing Ballots can be found here: https://www.speechwire.com/c-files.php?tournid=11816
4. We have tried to build in meal breaks and chances to walk away from your computers! The schedule for the tournament is here: https://www.speechwire.com/c-schedule.php?tournid=11816
5. Please make sure personal computers are not blocking URLs from Speechwire or NSDA Campus. SPEECHWIRE IS UNABLE TO GET PEOPLE ON NSDA CAMPUS IF THEIR IT HAS NOT UNBLOCKED IT. Everyone should follow the NSDA's directions for unblocking Campus: https://www.speechanddebate.org/campus-tech/  Also, unblock the following URLs entirely: www.speechwire.com and www.live.speechwire.com and permit email from: dispatch@speechwiremail.com, dispatch@speechwire.com, support@speechwire.com, and accounts@speechwire.com. Please make sure personal computers are not blocking URLs from Speechwire or NSDA Campus

CONGRESS:

1. We ask that Congress Judges check in at 9:30 AM Saturday. https://gmu.zoom.us/j/94750790478
2. Our amazing Congress Tab has created this document to answer all your Congress questions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16-jqcV4wlmoY5J2AJYmjh6H4x950JnxBXjnTJoyMarQ/edit?usp=sharing
3. We do have a Zoom for Congress but students and judges will be able to go directly there by following the links that are sent to them through Speechwire. https://gmu.zoom.us/j/94750790478
4. Docket order should follow the agenda that was published in the original legislative document posted last week.

DEBATE:

1. We will have a brief tutorial at 9:30 to answer all debate
2. Debate pairings will be released a half hour prior to each round. We ask that all debaters report promptly to the rooms. We will follow the national grace period of 10 minutes before we start looking into the need to issue forfeitures. Send a message to the Help Phone number as soon as tech issues arise.
3. We will try to break all winning records. We will go to double octos in PF, with any needed run-offs happening Saturday night. We will go to octos is LD, with any run-offs happening during the double octo PF round Sunday morning.
4. Please use 20-30 scale for Speaker Points in Debate, with 30 being the highest.
5. We will announce when we post outround rosters, although the actual pairings will not be released until Sunday morning, half hour before the round.

IE

1. We will announce Breaks Saturday by 5 at the latest. Emails will be sent to coaches and notifications will be sent to students. General postings will also be release on our gmu4n6 Instagram account.
2. EXT, IMP, and OO will be going to Quarters, INFO will go to Sems. All other events will have finals. OI will have two final rounds, one with prose and one with poetry. The update schedule is here: Schedule: https://www.speechwire.com/c-schedule.php?tournid=11816
3. Rounds last an hour and fifteen minutes. It is the competitor’s responsibility to make sure they get to all their rounds or notify the tournament staff with issues.
4. Given the limited number of people who can be a NSDA Campus room, we are exploring options that would allow for more spectators in Finals. We will notify schools Saturday evening so that performers can enjoy a full supportive audience in finals.

AWARDS:

1. Awards will be in the Congress Zoom: https://gmu.zoom.us/j/94750790478  Anticipated start time is 8 PM on Sunday, although we will try to get started as soon as possible.
2. We will be sending a form to gather preferred trophy retailers in your area. Instead of shipping (and risk breaking) trophies, we are going to try to order awards locally as much as possible.

Thank you to everyone in advance!! We are committed to trying to host a fair and fun weekend. We are thrilled to see as many friends this weekend as possible and please let us know if we have forgotten anything!! Stay safe!!

George Mason University cordially invites you to attend the 18th Annual Patriot Games Classic to be held in conjunction with Speechwire and NSDA Campus on December 4^th & 5^th, 2021. All Individual Events will be held asynchronously throughout the week, with live outrounds on Sunday. Debate and Congress will be held synchronously on NSDA Campus on Saturday and Sunday. However, depending on the size of our Congress entry pool, we do reserve the right to move Congress to a platform capable of handling larger chambers. We will notify Congress coaches and participants the week of December 1^st.

The deadline for entry is Wednesday, November 24^th at 5:00pm EST, but we strongly encourage people to enter early, as once we are filled, we will no longer be able to accept entries. All events will be capped at 8. While we will make a waiting list available, please understand approval for entry will be made with an eye on managing tournament size.

Registration will be open as of Monday November 15^th at 5 PM, EST. Registration will take place through the website:   http://www.speechwire.com/patriotgames

PAYMENT: Checks should be made out to GMU and sent to Dawn Lowry, 4400 University Drive MS3d6, Fairfax VA 22030

CREDIT CARD PORTAL:At Mason Marketplace Touchnet. Enter the George Mason Forensics team portal about halfway down the page.  The link is https://secure.touchnet.com/C20788_ustores/web/index.jsp

We will announce our plans for prompts in an email that also describes the Extemp Rounds subject areas before Thanksgiving.  We will most likely be sending out a lot of information as we transition to this new format as well as providing numbers for our Help Lines for competitors, judges and hireds. We appreciate your willingness to expand your student’s engagement in this new virtual environment. We are looking forward to providing a safe and educational experience for everyone!!  

We look forward to seeing you all in December!

Sincerely,

Tournament Co-Directors

Dawn Lowry

Director of Forensics

Tyler Watkins

Assistant Director of Forensics

Student Tournament Co-Directors

                                                      Jose Quinones and Eleni Mercer                                                 

EVENTS OFFERED/ENTRY CAPS:

Pattern A

EXT          Extemporaneous Speaking     8

HI              Humorous Interpretation        8

OI              Oral Interpretation                  8

DUO          Duo Interpretation                  8

INFO         Informative Speaking             8

IMP           Impromptu                              8

Pattern B/Debate:

OO            Original Oratory                     8

DI              Dramatic Interpretation          8

DEC          Declamation                           8

POI            Program Oral Interpretation   8

PF              Public Forum Debate              8         

LD             Lincoln-Douglas Debate        8

CD             Congressional Debate             8

Additional slots may be requested via Speechwire’s wait list feature. Schools will be notified which entries have been accepted from the wait list no later than Friday November 20^th, 2021.

Competitors at most may enter:

2 speech events per pattern; or

1 form of debate and 2 speech events in Pattern A.

FEES:

IE Entry, Duo (per team)                                $45.00

IE Judge (per uncovered entry)                      $20.00  

Congress, LD, PF (per team)                         $70.00

Debate Judge (per uncovered entry)              $40.00