Side Flips / Topic Strikes

All prelim and elim rounds will have topic strikes. The procedure will be as follows:

Debaters and judges must be in the room prior to the round time listed in the schedule. We recommend arriving at least a few minutes early.

Side Flips

1. Once you receive pairings, go directly to your breakout room in the Zoom.

2. Verify that at least one debater from each team is present.

3. The team listed in the left column of the pairings should call heads or tails. A judge should flip a coin. If no judges are present, the team listed in the left column should share their screen, then flip a coin. The winner of the coin toss should pick their side and announce it to their opponents and the judges.

4. If the two teams debated in prelims, their sides are locked opposite of the prelim matchup.

5. If one of the teams is not in the breakout room 10 minutes after pairings are blasted, the other teams gets to unilaterally pick their side.

6. Once the sides are finalized, debaters should change their Zoom names to reflect their side for the round (seeZoom naming conventions).

7. Tournament staff will drop by the Zoom room to confirm the sides.

Topic Strikes

1. Immediately after side flips are done, the three topics for the round will be posted at the top of this web page.

2. Opp has one minute to strike one topic. If they do not arrive by the end of their strike time, Gov picks the topic for the round.

3. After Opp strikes, Gov has one minute to strike one topic. If they do not arrive by the end of their strike time, Opp picks the topic for the round.

4. The Opp team should paste the chosen topic for the round into the chat at the start of prep.

5. The judge should copy the topic from the chat, copy it into the RFD section of their ballot, and save the ballot edits.

6. The teams prep the remaining topic for 20 minutes. They need not stay in the room during prep time, but must return before the end of prep.

7. Topic strikes and prep time should proceed even if one or more participants are having technical issues.

8. Once prep time ends, each team has a total of 10 minutes of tech time for the round. For Round 1 only, tech time is 20 minutes. Tech time may be used at any point during the round to address technical difficulties. After a team uses all of its tech time, it must proceed or forfeit the round. Tech time also counts as forfeit time.

9. The judge should supervise the topic strikes. If the judge is not present in the room for topic strikes, but both the teams are present, they should report the judge's absence to the tournament Zoom. After that, the debaters should return to their round room, do the strikes without the judge, and begin prep.