Dear Coaches,

The Green River High School Speech & Debate Team invites you to our inaugural Virtual Speech Tournament to be held on Friday and Saturday, Feb 19 & 20, 2021. Schools wishing to attend our meet will be entered on a first come, first serve basis. There will be an initial registration limit of 6 entries per event. We will let in as many waitlisted entries as we can but the tournament will have a maximum of 400 entries allowed. 

Registration will take place at http://grhs.tabroom.com

We plan to use NSDA Campus as our platform.

 EVENTS    

Synchronous Events to be held on Friday & Saturday: 

CX Debate, LD Debate, PF Debate(4 prelim rounds, single flighted) Drama, POI (4 prelim rounds) 

Humor, Oratory, Poetry, Extemp, Congress, Info, Impromptu, Storytelling (4 prelim rounds) 

Asynchronous Events (recorded) due Thursday at 8pm: 

Duet (4 prelim rounds) 

State rules will apply unless otherwise indicated in this invitation.

Debate:
We will be single flighting debates. 

Safety is a top priority, therefore there is an expectation that partner debates use separate logins. There will be the same expectation for debate partners that are related. This is to promote equal footing in the event for all. However if your team needs to be granted an exception to this rule, please contact the tournament director (Dan Parson - parsond@sw2.k12.wy.us ) in advance. 

The topics are as follows:

Lincoln Douglas: Resolved: States ought to ban lethal autonomous weapons.

Public Forum: Resolved: On balance, the benefits of urbanization in West Africa outweigh the harms.

Policy: Resolved: The United States federal government should enact substantial criminal justice reform in the United States in one or more of the following: forensic science, policing, sentencing.

Ties in debate will be broken by power of opposition first, followed by speaker points.

Manuscript/visual aid usage: Poetry, and POI competitors must use a manuscript.  All other events are memorized. Informative Speaking competitors may use visual aids.

Duet: is asynchronous and recordings must be uploaded to your tabroom entry by Thursday 2/18/21 by 8pm. Safety is a top priority, therefore there is an expectation that partners use separate screens for their recording. There will be the same expectation for duet partners that are related. This is to promote equal footing in the event for all. Here are some instructions for recording and uploading your duet. 

Congress. Congressional Debate will be in the H pattern.

The legislation will be chosen from the State database corresponding to the competitors who are registered for the tournament on tabroom on 2/6/21. Please make sure your student’s legislation is in the database prior to that date if you would like it to be on the docket. 

We will release the docket to registered schools on 2/8/21.

Super Congress legislation will be taken from various sources, and will be released along with the regular docket.

Extemporaneous Speaking. Questions will be taken from November, December, January & February NFHS  (available through the link in the State Newsletter Londe sends out each month) and NSDA questions (available on NSDA site) but also in the same linked document. The format will be that of the new state rule passed last fall, and judges will have copies of the speakers' questions. Draw will take place at 7-minute intervals, and will be embedded into the HOPEIIC pattern. Extemp speakers must have their cameras activated (but volume muted) during their prep time. Prep time may not be adjusted for students doubling. 

Storytelling : Rules we will be following at our tournament: 

1. The best creative storytelling will utilize narration and characterization

2. No stage accessories may be used in Creative Storytelling except one chair

3. Acting is permissible as characterization is essential in some types of stories

4. Fifteen minutes prior to speaking, the competitor shall draw three story outlines. The competitor shall immediately choose one of the three outlines and return the two unused outlines. 

5. The competitor cannot leave the preparation “room” until time to speak, nor can the competitor receive help from a coach or any other student. No reference material or notes will be allowed during the preparation time. A scratch pad may be used to put notes down, ideas for the presentation, but may not be used during the presentation. 

6. The competitor shall present his/her topic slip to the judge. Failure to speak on the topic chosen will result in in the competitor being ranked last in the round

7. Time limits of the presentation will be not less than three minutes and not more than five minutes. There will be a 15 second grace period. Competitors who go beyond the 15 second grace period will be ranked last in the round. 

Internet usage: 

Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Congressional Debate may all use the Internet in strict adherence to the following rules:

https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/Pilot-Internet-Rules-2020.pdf

Additionally, Extemporaneous competitors may use the Internet as permitted by those same rules.

Judging. Many judges will be Jackson community members but we will have a requirement of accompanying judges for each team.  If bringing accompanying judges is an issue for your team, please contact tournament director Dan Parson - parsond@sw2.k12.wy.us .  Most likely, we will need to use some coaches for back-up in case of "no-show" judges. Please register your judges on tabroom no later than Tuesday 2/16/21. All judges must have linked tabroom accounts in order to access online ballots. 

Click here for instructions on How to use online ballots, link accounts, and submit results and comments - For Judges

Click Here for Additional Instructions For Judges

 *Please note- all entries will be waitlisted until the media release form is turned in. Due to this, the judging burden will not appear on tabroom until the waitlisted entries have been changed to active status. So please enter your judges early so you are not caught unaware by the judging burden*

ENTRY LIMITS AND DEADLINES

In general, our tournament format encourages double entering. Students who double within a pattern do so at their own risk. However, Policy Debaters cannot double within the “D” pattern. Students may not double in 2 debate events. Students that are doubling in Debate and another D pattern event (Drama and POI) must prioritize Debate  - meaning they must debate first then go to their D interp event. 

Initial registration numbers are due on Monday, 25 January 2021. Please get them in sooner rather than later!   

Final registration entry adds are due on Tuesday February 16 2021.

Only drops or substitutions will be allowed after the final registration deadline (no adds).  Registration will be through tabroom. All changes and drops should be done online, in accordance with the stated deadlines.

Drops on Friday, 19 February 2021, the first day of the meet, may be made online until 12pm, without penalty. They may also be made by calling or texting Londe Gagnon at 307-699-0537. Please do not rely on email.

Event drops received after 12:00 pm on Friday, 19 February 2021 will be assessed a late drop fee of $10.00 each. First Round "no shows" will be considered late drops as well.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Registration will be held online from 10am-12pm on Friday 19 February

• All events will synchronous (live) with the exception of Duo which will be asynchronous

• Entries all be initially waitlisted

ENTRY FEES 

Entry fees are $12 for individual events and $20 for partner events

To avoid event drop fees, please call Londe with your drops on Friday morning or record your drops online before that time. 

AWARDS

Medals will be awarded to 1st-6th (sometimes 7th) place finishers

First, Second, & Third Place Sweepstakes awards will be awarded in  4A, 3A, and 1A/2A categories as determined by WHSAA. 

All team entries count as a single entry towards sweepstakes.

Sweepstakes points will be awarded for semi and final round placements only

We look forward to seeing you at the tournament!

Sincerely,

The Green River High School Speech and Debate Team

TOURNAMENT CONTACT INFORMATION

Dan Parson - daniel.parson@swscd2.org // 307-871-3056

Nick Hoskins

Natasha Reed

RaNae Johnson

Londe Gagnon - lgagnon@tcsd.org  // 307-699-0537

SCHEDULE - (Extemp Draw is embedded in the H pattern) :