SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software

Welcome to our 8th MAST on Wednesday April 16th at Stoneman Douglas High School!

LOCATION:

Stoneman Douglas High School

5901 Pine Island Rd, Parkland, FL

ARRIVAL:

You MUST arrive for the tournament between 1:15pm and 1:45pm. If you arrive after 2:00 pm you will not be allowed to enter until after 3 pm.

Everyone will stay in the cafeteria until Stoneman Douglas has dismissed and round 1 is ready to begin (hopefully around 3:15 pm). The judge lounge will be in the media center. EXT prep is in room 162

COMPETITORS:

Competitors must wear ID at all times. Competitors may not roam the school. They must be in the auditorium, cafeteria or in their round at all times.

REGISTRATION:

Please follow the instructions on this page to register your entries. Remember, each school may only initially enter FIVE students in all events except Congress, in which you can enter TEN. Any entries over that number will go on the waitlist, which will be cleared pending available space at MSD and sufficient judge numbers.

No double or cross entries are allowed.

DEADLINES:

Registration for NEW ENTRIES will close on Friday April 11 at 12pm. At that time as many students will be released from the waitlist as judge numbers and available space allows. Changes (drops or name changes) can be made until 12 pm on April 16. Any changes after that, please email Janell McLeod: the school name, student who is dropping, and her/his event.

Pizza orders will close Thursday April 10th at 3pm.

***NO LATE ADDS. Do not bring competitors who are not registered to the tournament.***

PRE-ORDERED MEALS:

-Lunch Pizza Pie Pre-Orders closes on THURSDAY April 10th at 3pm.

-Pre-order pizza pies for student lunch are 1 pie at $16 per every 4 students. Each student will receive 2 slices and a water.

-Concession prices vary due to the concessions being a fundraiser for the host school’s program.

-Add pre-ordered pizza pies by clicking “Tournament home” on the left column, then click “Update your meal order” in the middle of the screen.

-Print your final invoice to request a check from your school under “Current Invoice” on the left column of Speechwire. Make checks payable to “Stoneman Douglas High School”.

JUDGES:

Judges are required for any tournament to run, and schools are required to cover their entries. (1 judge covers 2 debate entries, or 1 judge covers any combination of 5 speech/congress entries.) Please make sure you do not bring more students than you have judges to cover. Reach out to competitors' family members, teachers, and mentors for judge help. Coaches can judge too.

Reminder: Novice Coaches (0-3 years) must judge at least 1 round per tournament.

If you want to use varsity judges, you must fill out the request form to receive judges from the pool.

Varsity debaters with at least 150 NSDA points, currently enrolled and competing in debate, and who are not in their first year of high school debate are welcome to attend and judge.

***Proof of NSDA record is required. (NEW!)***

***If you have competitors who can judge and/or P.O. for Congressional Debate, please email janell.mcleod@browardschools.com directly with their names and put it into the notes section of the judge.***

Judge Check-In: Media Center

-First-time judge: You should have received an email from Speechwire to follow and create an account.

-Judged before: It is important to make sure you have logged into live.speechwire.com and are able to sign in with the same email address you used previously. Once signed in, please make sure the cell number is correct/added to your account.

-In order to have a smoother start to the tournament, it is a huge help for all judges to arrive on time, have checked-in, and have logged into live.speechwire.com prior to coming to the tournament. If for whatever reason you cannot initially log in, click "Forgot Password" but use the same email you entered.

-Electronic Device: All ballots are electronic, so judges will need to bring a working, charged, smart phone, tablet, or laptop (preferably with a keyboard) to complete the eballots.

Judge During Round:

-Click "Start Round" after they confirm the correct competitors are in the room with them.

-Type comments while students are speaking, which will expedite the tournament. Comments are open for editing overnight, but results must be submitted asap.

-Save/submit ranks, points, and decisions when the round is finished. We cannot move on to the next round or close the tournament until all ballots are submitted.

TOPICS:

Lincoln-Douglas Debate – 2025 March/April: The development of Artificial General Intelligence is immoral.

Public Forum Debate – 2025 April: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its investment in domestic nuclear energy.

Policy Debate – 2024-2025 Topic: Resolved: The United States federal government should significantly strengthen its protection of domestic intellectual property rights in copyrights, patents, and/or trademarks.

Extemporaneous Speaking: "U.S. Legal and Constitutional Issues" and "International Conflict and Civil Unrest"

Impromptu topic areas will be released at the tournament.

Congress:

Congress legislation for the entire second semester was sent in multiple Monday HS email updates and is posted in the BCPS Coach Corner Canvas course. It is also accessible electronically here in Speechwire under the "Files for Download" section. Per usual, chambers might not debate all 4 bills if time does not allow.

Interpretation (DI, DUO, HI, POI) and Declamation (DEC): (NEW!)

Once you have updated your entries, go to the left column on Speechwire called “Piece Registration”. For each INTERP and/or DEC entry, you are required to include the Entry Title in the “title” section, the Author in the “author” section and the ISBN/Website in the correct box.

Please see important information regarding safety and security at MSD:

-Every student must wear their school ID during the entire tournament (except while performing in competition rounds, IDs should be put back on after performing).

-All students will go through an MSD security check before going to the assigned holding room on the MSD campus (usually the auditorium or directly to the cafeteria).

-Buses will pick you up in the same bus loop where they drop you off on the south side of the school, NOT in the north parking lot. Parents CANNOT pick up their students in the south bus loop, students should only be picked up by a parent outside the North or East gates. -Parent judges who are not riding the bus with you need to arrive at Stoneman Douglas between 1:15 and 1:45. They'll park in the North senior parking lot off of Holmberg Rd. They need to avoid parking in the area marked in red on the attached map. DO NOT park where the band practices. Parents will then be escorted to the single point of entry to check in and get a visitor sticker/badge, and then to the media center to check in as judges.

-Judges/Coaches should not be propping any gate or escorting parents onto campus after the tournament has begun, all visitors should have come through security during the prearranged time.

-Coaches should escort students being picked up to the North and East gates, parents should not come through any gates to pick up their student.

Very important procedures:

-You must have hard copies of your field trip forms with you in case of an emergency. You should not be leaving campus with students without permission forms. (having access to their information online will not work when wifi is slow or there is no service)

-If you have a student who may need medicine at a tournament, you must let district staff know. We need to be aware in case of emergency who needs medicine and who has it.

More information may be sent out as the tournament approaches. Please let your mentor know if you have any questions.

Janell McLeod
Email address: janell.mcleod@browardschools.com
Phone number: 754-321-1844