Speech Online Adaptations for NCFL Qualifiers

The NCFL has yet to adopt any specific rules for online tournaments.  We will borrow the rules and standards used by the MSDL for online tournaments.  The full Guide for Online Tournaments can be found here, but these are the speech highlights each coach and competitor should be aware: 

Speech Entries:

Turn your mic and camera off when you are not speaking.

Headsets or mics are to be used for speech capture only. They may not be used as props or to make non-vocal sound effects.

Props and costumes are prohibited the same way they are at in-person tournaments.

Contestants may speak either from a standing or a sitting position, but not both. The contestant must remain standing or seated from the beginning to the end of the speech. If seated, the contestant may not use the chair as a prop or to make non-vocal sounds.  Changing positions during the speech shall be regarded as using the chair as a prop, and this shall be penalized accordingly

Only one camera may be used, and the camera must remain in-place throughout the entire performance with no use of panning, zooming, green screens, on-screen text or graphics, or professional enhancements such as lighting kits. Once the performance begins, the camera cannot be moved. If others are present at the contestant’s location, no audience reactions such as applause or laughter should be audible.

It is not necessary for a contestant to pretend that an audience is present at their location by making sustained eye contact with different points in the room.

Keep your own time. Given the limitations of the platform, time signals will not be provided. The judge’s time is official.

Specific Event Information

Oral Interpretation (Prose/Poetry):

The manuscript must be at least partially visible on the camera.

Duo:

Each contestant in an entry must enter the competition room independently, even if both contestants are present in the same household. Put another way, both contestants cannot share the same camera.

Grace period for Duo is extended to 1 minute.  No penalty will be assessed if the performance completed before the end of the grace period.

Judges and competitors should use Gallery View (“Brady Bunch View”) for this event. Given the limitations of the platform, it is not possible to guarantee placement of individual competitors’ video feeds. Judges should not hold this limitation against competitors.

Duos may be asked to wait in a Duo holding room until it is time for them to perform.  Instructions will be given at the opening meeting.

Prep room procedures:

Connectivity to the internet is allowed, but contact with any individual during prep other than tournament officials acting on behalf of the tournament is prohibited.  Connectivity may not be allowed at the NCFL tournament in May but will be allowed during the qualifier.

Contestants shall report to a Zoom-based prep room for instructions and draw.

Drawing shall take place at eight-minute intervals.

The prep room proctor shall coordinate the drawing and choosing of questions upon each contestant’s turn.

Contestants must prep with video on and audio off.

When prep time has elapsed, the competitor will move to the competition room.

General guidelines for Extemporaneous Speaking contestants:

Wait to turn on your mic and camera until the competitor speaking before you has finished speaking.

Confirm that the judge can hear you clearly before you begin.  This can be done as easily as reading back the question to the judge.

Keep track of your own time. You will not be able to see time signals. The judge maintains the official time, so you should coordinate with the judge on starting simultaneously.