SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software

I'm writing with a few additional notes for this weekend's Star Tribune Eastview Lightning Classic.

1: Reminder - Registration Changes. Adds are due today at 12:00 p.m. (that's a little less than one hour from now). If you have any additional adds after this time, please email me at zachary.prax@district196.org and I will do my best to accommodate. After 5:00 p.m. tomorrow, drops can continue to be made via Speechwire through Saturday at 7:45 a.m. Please take special care to make sure your entries are registered in their correct event. Anything you can do to make drops earlier than later is appreciated - please keep checking your registration early and often.

2: Reminder - Valley Middle School Accelerated Schedule. This is clear in our LiveDoc, but I again want to draw special attention to the fact that our Open events at Valley Middle School start earlier this year than in previous years...your draw entries need to be at their draw locations for a 7:45 a.m. draw meeting (8:00 a.m. draw). Please make sure your transportation is lined up to be at VMS for this earlier start.

3: New - Blank Entries in School Registrations. There are a few "blank entries" in Speechwire - entries that have been added, but do not have a name associated with them. All blank entries need to be attached to a student name by Thursday at 8:00 a.m. At that time, I will begin the process of dropping blank entries. Please work to make sure your registration is accurate in this regard.

4: New - Judge Preference Form. All tournament judges should complete our 2025 Judge Preference Form to indicate their judging experience and preferred events to help aid us in final round judge assignment. Please send this link to judges that will be fulfilling your school's judge obligation; not filling out the form doesn't mean a judge won't be assigned, it just won't give us the best ability to place them in their areas of strength.

If you have coaches that will be at the tournament but not judging, I would appreciate their willingness to serve in a final round as well (this can be noted by filling out the form linked above). Especially as we get closer to Minnesota State High School League and National Speech and Debate Association post-season events, I am hopeful you and your coaches that are not in the judge pool will consider this possibility to help make sure speakers are getting valuable feedback in elimination rounds.

My next and final update will be on Friday. There is no snow in the forecast and we are slated to be about 45 degrees warmer on Saturday than it is right now...it's a Star Tribune Eastview Lightning Classic miracle. Please continue reaching out with any questions you may have as we get closer to our event. We know there are choices on where your school can attend, and we continue to be appreciative for your presence at our tournament on Saturday.

From: Prax, Zachary
Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2025 3:50 PM
To: Prax, Zachary
Subject: Star Tribune Eastview Lightning Classic - Update I

Good Evening,

With today's Minnesota speech tournaments nearly concluded, the Star Tribune Eastview Lightning Classic is now "on the clock"! We're all about efficiency and education, and we can't wait to host you and your team.

At this point, we are planning to welcome 1,350+ entries next Saturday, and we are doing everything we can do to make sure it is a great day for speakers, coaches, and all tournament attendees. I will have another update to you by Wednesday with updates and a final round judge preference form, but I wanted to send an initial information email for you to to consider and share with your team.

1: Tournament LiveDoc. You can access the Tournament LiveDoc here. In addition to lots of important day-of information, it contains extemporaneous speaking and impromptu round areas - make sure this gets distributed to your crew. We will continue making a few minor updates throughout the week, but nothing that will have an impact on your preparation or arrival information or general tournament logistics; I will highlight any substantial changes we make to you (if any) in my Tuesday/Wednesday update.

2: Building Usage. All Championship events will compete at Eastview High School. All Open events will compete at Valley Middle School of STEM (this includes all Open Extemp. Speaking, a change we will continue from last year). NOTE: double- and triple-entered entries must have all of their events in the same building...so, a student cannot be open in one event but championship in another. I will be doing an entry and judge audit later this week, but please do check your registration to make sure there is no conflict. You will need to make sure your entries are dropped off at their appropriate building on Saturday morning, but we will again offer shuttles to take students from Valley Middle School of STEM to Eastview High School at the conclusion of the tournament.

3: Awards. In 2025, we will have a Unified Awards Ceremony at Eastview High School so that we can celebrate both divisions together. Upon the conclusion of finals rounds at Valley Middle School, students should immediately load shuttle buses to return to Eastview for awards. We will also continue to recognize honor finalists (and if applicable, merit and consolation finalists) in the competition room shortly after the round is complete. Note that our Open tournament schedule has been slightly accelerated from previous years to accommodate this plan. You will see the full schedule in the LiveDoc.

4: Drops/Adds/Changes. Please, make known changes to your entry early and often. The tournament will be closed to adds this Tuesday, February 18th at 12:00 p.m. so that we can begin finalizing plans; I can't make guarantees after that time, but coaches needing to add students (or change student events) can email me at zachary.prax@district196.org with requested adds or category changes and I'll do my best to oblige. Drops can be made in Speechwire by coaches through the morning of the tournament, but entry fees are locked on Wednesday, February 19th at 5:00 p.m. The sooner drops can be made (and corrections to incorrect entry placement can be discovered and corrected), the better.

We look forward to hosting you next week! More from me later, but please don't hesitate to contact me with questions in the meantime.

Zach Prax

Eastview High School