SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software

Dear Forensics Coaches:

The Poland Seminary High School and Middle School Speech & Debate Team cordially invites you to attend our "Nightmare Before Christmas" Speech & Debate Tournament on December 21, 2024.

Individual Events: We will offer a total of three (3) preliminary rounds of competition plus one (1) final round (power round. Tentative, dependant upon number of entries). The top six (6) competitors in each event will advance to finals. There will be unlimited entries per category.

MS events will NOT have a power round after prelims.

Public Forum Debate:

We will offer three (3) or four (4) preliminary rounds of competition plus one (1) elimination round (Tentative, dependant upon number of entries). The top six (6) teams will advance. The competition system will be 1 vs 2, 3 vs 4, 5 vs 6. Please follow the November/December NSDA topic. There will be unlimited entries.

MS PF will use the Middle School November/December Topic and will NOT have an elimination round.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate:

We will offer three (3) or four (4) preliminary rounds of competition plus one (1) elimination round (Tentative, dependant upon number of entries). The top six (6) debaters will advance. The competition system will be 1 vs 2, 3 vs 4, 5 vs 6. Please follow the November/December NSDA topic. There will be unlimited entries.

ALL SPEECH EVENTS AND CONGRESS (HS and MS) WILL COMPETE AT POLAND SEMINARY HIGH SCHOOL. Poland High School (3199 Dobbins Road, Poland Ohio 44514)

ALL DEBATE EVENTS (LD and PF ; HS and MS) WILL COMPETE AT POLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL. Poland Middle School (47 College Street, Poland OH 44514)

Extemp:

The prep room will be in the High School Room 45. Topics will be from the past 90 days of the standard news magazines used. If you have any suggestions for topics, send them to me by November 30th. Please note for usage of laptops that there is minimal power outlets available in the media center and the outlets that the media lab computers are connected are NOT ALLOWED to be unplugged for competitor usage.

The final round of extemp WILL include CX.

Student Congress:

We WILL be hosting student congress at the tournament and registration for this event is unlimited. There will be two (2) prelim sessions and one (1) final. We will be utilizing the DECEMBER docket assigned for December 9th from the OSDA for prelim legislation. The docket for the final round will be available through SpeechWire and communicated with coaches no later than November 30th (It will also be available to all the schools on Speechwire. Legislation will not be accepted the day of the tournament.)

MS Congress will follow the Middle School docket for December.

We will NOT offer BQD or Policy Debate.

Double entries WILL be permitted in all prepared speech events!

Registration Fees:$4.00 per entry (PF & DUO count as 2 entries). Make checks payable to Poland Forensics Boosters.

Judge Requirements:

IE (MS & HS): One (1) judge for every five(5) IE entries (a Duo team counts as one entry)

Public Forum/LD/BQD: One (1) judge for every 1-2 teams/debaters; two (2) judges for 3-4 teams/debaters

Congress: One (1) scorer or parliamentarian for every 6 entries.

The fee for being short judges is $30.00 per judge. This fee will be enforced.

JUDGES DROPPED THE DAY OF THE MEET WILL RESULT IN A $30 FINE REGARDLESS OF DROPS IN ENTRIES.

In I.E., a judge who just graduated from high school last year may NOT judge the event in which he/she competed. A parent or other close family relative should NOT judge the event in which the current competitor competes; INCLUDING CONGRESS. (not applicable in L/D or PF Debate) PLEASE NOTE ANY JUDGE PROBLEMS OF THIS NATURE WHEN YOU REGISTER. Do NOT drop judges even though you may be forced to drop contestants. A dropped judge on the day of the tournament will cost you $30.00. The judge drop fee will be enforced.

Please register ALL judges on SpeechWire. We will be using online ballots through SpeechWire. When registering your judge you will need to provide an email address for them. Once they are registered, your judge will recieve an email from SpeechWire asking them to create a password for Live.SpeechWire (if they have never judged before. If they have judged before, they will use the same password that they have been using). The day of the tournament the judge will go to live.speechwire.com and log in using the email that they were registered with and the password that they made or have been using all season. Judges are expected to provide their own devices (laptop, iPad, tablet, etc...). I would not recommend using a phone, reason being the judge would not be able to have the phone in airplane mode while filling out the online ballot, making it more likely that the phone could go off in the middle of the round.

IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT YOU REMIND YOUR JUDGES TO HAVE THEIR DEVICES FULLY CHARGED THE MORNING OF THE TOURNAMENT. There will not always be a convienent place to plug in the devices in classrooms. I will do everything I can to make sure there are multiple outlets available in the judge lounge to allow judges to charge in between rounds, but charging a device during a round could be a little more complicated. The last thing we want is for someone's device to shut off in the middle of a round due to a low battery. Please keep your judges informed.

If your judge will need a paper ballot, please send me an email informing me as soon as you can and I will make sure paper ballots are printed for that judge. The sooner I am informed the better.

Judges Lounge:

Speech> Field House Lobby

Congress/Bus Driver Lounge> HS Teachers Lounge

Debate> MS Band Room

Lunch & Snacks: Snack items will be available for purchase at reasonable prices in the High School and MS Cafeteria.

Speech Lunch: 11:00-11:35 (After Round 2)

Congress Lunch: 11:30-12:00PM (After prelims have completed)

Debate Lunch: 11:45-12:05 (After Round 3)

No contestants are allowed to leave the premises for food to bring back to the tournament (i.e. McDonalds, Arby's). This pertains to competitors, coaches, and judges. Failure to adhere to the rule can result in a fine or disqualification.

Awards: Trophies will be awarded to those in the top six (6) in all high school events. There will be one (1) award handed out to the top novice competitors in each speech and debate event, as well as congress. Trophies will be awarded to the top three (3) competitors and certificates to 4th, 5th, and 6th in Middle School events. School sweepstakes will be presented based on the top ten competitors sweepstakes points per school.

Sweepstakes:

Sweepstakes will be decided by the scores of your best ten contestants overall. In I.E., a 1=3pts.; a 2=2pts.; a 3=1pt. In L/D, 2P, and P/F, a win=3.0pts. (0 pts. for a loss) In Student Congress you will scores for your best three speeches with a score of 6 =4pts. ; 5= 3pts.; 4= 2 pt. for a max total of 12 points.

Event Locations:

We will be utilizing the High School building for competition.

By December 17th, you will be sent a reminder of the competition location, due to this being a change compared to other years.

Team registration/check-in will take place at POLAND HIGH SCHOOL.

When I send the confirmation email/reminder for the tournament building location, I will also include where the buses should park so that we can have as many spots available for attendants. Buses should park at the High School parking lot. There is very limited parking at the Middle School. There will be a room for the bus drivers to lounge in at the High School.

Time Schedule:

Registration: 7:30-8:00AM (MAIN LOBBY)

Extemp Draw: 8:30AM (TBD)

Judges Meeting: 8:10AM

Awards: 3:00PM (PHS Auditorium)

The Tournament schedule that is currently posted is tentative, and will be finalized once we have an accurate number of entries for the tournament. I will keep you posted of any changes.

Covid Policy:

Masks will NOT be enforced. They are completely optional for those who choose to do so. All attendants and judges should respect the decision of those who choose to compete with masks and those who do not.

Registration Deadline:

ALL teams are to register at www.speechwire.com

ALL contestants should be registered by December 16th, 2024 at NOON.

ALL judges must be registered by Friday, December 20th, 2024 at 3PM****

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me at any time, call or email. We Hope to see you all there!

Sincerely,

Spencer Humphreys

Director of Forensics

Spencer Humphreys
Email address: spencerh.coach@gmail.com
Phone number: 3307206884