Schedule

The 2021 Owen L. Coon Memorial Debates – Friday, February 5^th, 2021 – Monday, February 8^th, 2021

Hello Everyone,

We are so happy to welcome you all, virtually, to join us for The 2021 Owen L. Coon Memorial Debates.  We hope to offer the same level of hospitality as we would at an in-person tournament.  To that end, please bear with us as we work carefully to provide you with the best possible tournament experience.  Therefore, this document will be updated, and a full tournament invitation/packet are forthcoming. We will notify all registered participants when an updated invitation is posted.  Here are the details that we have for you so far.  You can find the tournament schedule below, as well as on our tournament main page.

Thank you and we look forward to hosting everyone in February!

Sincerely,

LaTonya K. Starks, Assistant Tournament Director

Flynn Makuch, Tournament Director

Observers

Observers must be registered on tabroom. Registration closed 2/1/21. As a result:

Adults, please contact Flynn Makuch at flynnmakuch@gmail.com, and they will help you register.

If you are a high school student, you must FIRST contact a college coach to be added to their roster. **No independent high school students will be allowed to observe.**

VIRTUAL TOURNAMENT PROCESSES AND INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS

Here is a Classrooms.cloud walk-thru video - uses UKSO, but same premise/point:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=SsPKlD2oqEQ&feature=emb_logo 

What to do if Classrooms.cloud login fails:

·      First step: Login in to Tabroom, click Profile, then click Resync on righthand-side. Then try to login to Classrooms.cloud again.

·      If that does not work, you may need to reset your Tabroom password and clear your cache/cookies, then try to login to Classrooms.cloud again.

 Unlinked students:

·      There are still some unlinked students (i.e. do not have emails linked to their Tabroom accounts). They will not be able to login to the tournament until we get them linked. We will be contacting those with unlinked entries to help resolve the issue.

·      Meanwhile, this video can help you resolve unlinked students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YNrHUweRPA&feature=emb_logo

TOURNAMENT PROCEDURES

Format

Debates will use the 2020-2021 Cross Examination Debate Association topic.  Speech and cross-examination times will retain a 9-3-6 format with 10 minutes of preparation time.  Information on preparation, tech, and decision times can be found in the schedule.  Speaker points will be assigned on a 30-point scale, in one-tenth increments, with no tied points.  We will offer six (6) preliminary rounds and break to a partial triple of 48 teams. Student eligibility to compete will be determined by the relevant CEDA and AFA rules.  Each team must consist of two students enrolled with their college or university.

·      Rounds 1 and 2 will take place on Friday, 2/5/21

·      Rounds 3, 4 and 5 will take place on Saturday, 2/6/21

·      Round 6, Partial Triples, Awards and Double-Octafinals will take place on Sunday, 2/7/21

·      The remaining elimination rounds will be held on Monday, 2/8/21

The debates will take place using Classrooms.Cloud.  Northwestern is a member institution of the NDT and CEDA; we will administer the tournament accordingly. 

We will be hosting one division of competition – Open.

Hybrids

Hybrid teams will be allowed on a case-by-case basis, at the discretion of the tournament director.

Pairings and Judge Procedures

The first two debates will be preset.  Gary Larson  will be running the tabroom and intends to release the pairing for the first two debates on Friday, at 12:30pm CST, as per the enclosed schedule.  Schedule updates are reflected in yellow highlighting.

Maverick teams are allowed.  They may win prelim debates but are not eligible for elims.  No team that debates with one student for one or more rounds may clear. 

The tournament will be guided by the ADA rule for tech time.

Northwestern teams will compete at the Season Opener. As always, we aim to achieve the highest level of confidentiality regarding competitor’s preferences and strictly limit access to such data to the absolute minimum number of tournament staff. 

Audio/Video Recordings

The Northwestern Debate Society has endorsed the principles in the Association of Black Argumentation Professionals (ABAP)’s Digital Bill of Rights (DBOR). The DBOR is the result of an effort by ABAP, coaches and students to represent tournament participants’ privacy concerns related to how virtual tournaments will be run and administered.  If a student invokes the DBOR during the tournament, they should then bring the issue to the Dan Fitzmier and LaTonya Starks.

In accordance with the document, we encourage scouting practices which balance the need for scouting with the privacy concerns expressed by many in our community.

We have asked Classrooms.Cloud, the vendor helping us to run the virtual tournament, to turn off all recording in Zoom rooms.  Please note that the light indicating that your round is being recorded may be on, but you are not being recorded.

The Northwestern Debate Society encourages recording for educational purposes; however, tournament participants must have the affirmative consent, in advance, of those participating in the debate they wish to observe and/or record.  While debates are open to registered tournament participants, you may not electronically record a debate without affirmative consent of the participants in that debate.

A NOTE ON CONDUCT

We encourage all tournament participants to maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct in their interactions with other tournament participants, members of the Northwestern Debate Society, and members of Northwestern University’s faculty, staff, and students.  All participants debate at the invitation of Northwestern University according to its tournament rules as well as any rules of their own sponsoring institutions. The tournament abides by the rules and norms of the American Forensics Association and the Cross Examination Debate Association.  As Northwestern University employees we are obligated to report any destructive, threatening, violent, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior to the appropriate campus authorities. 

 Please Update Your Wiki / Caselist

The case list has been renewed for 2020-21, and can be found here:  https://opencaselist.paperlessdebate.com/Set-up. You or your teams will need to set up, and/or update disclosure pages. We urge you to complete this **before** the pairings are released on Friday.  Scouting can be much more difficult at remote tournaments, and we hope that teams will continue to use the caselist.

CLASSROOMS.CLOUD’S PRIVACY POLICY

You can find Classrooms.Cloud’s privacy policy here:  https://classrooms.cloud/privacy-policy/

TENTATIVE TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE – ALL TIMES ARE CENTRAL

Some Notes About the Schedule –

·      The schedule is posted below

·      All times are Central

·      You will notice mealtimes are NOT included in the schedule. The rationale for this is that we are hosting a tournament for participants across the nation, in different time zones.  There is no way to account for, or standardize mealtimes, so we have tried to leave as much time in the schedule for breaks as possible

·      What is the Check in Deadline?

o   All participants (teams and judge) are expected to check into their room within 10 minutes of the release of the pairing. This is to facilitate everyone testing their ability to connect, for email thread set-up, setting up Zoom naming conventions, and disclosure (obvi not rounds 1 and 2 of the season). This means you need to login to the room. This will allow tournament staff to verify we have "seen" everyone and minimize the need for replacements or delays in the schedule. Once you’ve checked in, you may go off-screen or prep somewhere else as needed – you just need to come back at Report Time.

·      What is Report Time?

o   We kindly request that all participants observe “Report Time” – at 15 minutes before Start Time, - and report to competition rooms at that time. You may continue to prep/coach off-screen, but in order to verify we have all participants able to access their rooms and ready to debate at start time, we need folks "in" their rooms and we need a little lead time to ensure we can assess who is missing/needs help, and still start on time. This will help minimize delays and enable tournament staff to quickly target those needing help accessing the platform/tournament/rooms or finding folks who are missing. It is a little trickier for staff to identify missing persons and start debates in our new online environment, and we ask for your cooperation to help make this work by observing Report Time.

·      What should you do if you experience tech issues?

o   What do we do if someone gets disconnected/freezes/etc.?  In most instances, tech fails have been minimal (especially when folks use Ethernet connections).

1.      Most of the time tech issues can be caught quickly (you might notice a screen freeze, for example – good reason to keep screen on) and resolved without significant time spent.

2.      If you cannot immediately reconnect, you should use a Help Ticket via the website – direct your issue to the Tech support folks (Classrooms.cloud/Zoom) option on the menu – for assistance.

3.      In the event of a tech failure by a team, a team may use up to 10 minutes of “tech time”. This should be clocked by the judge, and not used as standard prep time. It is only for use with tech/connection/AV issues unique to the online format (not for setting up your email chain, e.g.).

4.          The judge should notify the tab staff asap if tech time is invoked, or if the judge themselves have a tech issue, so that the tab staff can factor that into scheduling.

We will have 6 prelims and break to a Partial-Triple-Octafinal round.  Rounds 1 and 2 will take place on Friday, 2/5, Rounds 3, 4 and 5 will take place on Saturday, 2/6, Round 6, Partial Triples and Double-Octafinals will take place on Sunday, 2/7.  The remaining elimination rounds will be held on Monday, 2/8.  A tentative schedule is below:

Thursday, February 4th

5:00 – 9:00PM CST                       Registration – Virtual Check-in on Tabroom.com

Friday, February 5th

11:00AM CST                                 Verify your participants are assembled and ready to debate

12:30PM                                        Pairings for Rounds 1 & 2 Released

Prompt disclosure, please.

12:40PM                                        Round 1 Check-in Deadline

Check-in requires all participants, including judges, to report to room to perform AV checks, set-up email thread.

1:00PM                                          Round 1 Report Time

All participants, including judges, must be in the room at this time. 

1:15PM                                          Round 1 Start Time

3:30PM                                          Round 1 Decision Time

4:00PM                                          Round 2 Check-in Deadline

4:30PM                                   Round 2 Report Time

All participants, including judges, must be in the room at this time.

4:45PM                                          Round 2 Start Time

7:00PM                                          Round 2 Decision Time

Saturday, February 6th

9:15AM CST                                   Verify your participants are assembled and ready to debate

9:30AM                                          Round 3 Pairings

Prompt disclosure, please 

9:40AM                                          Round 3 Check-in Deadline

Check-in requires all participants, including judges, to report to room to perform AV checks, set-up email thread.

10:00AM                                        Round 3 Report Time

All participants, including judges, must be in the room at this time.

10:15AM                                        Round 3 Start Time

12:30PM                                        Round 3 Decision Time

12:45PM                                      Round 4 Pairing

12:55 PM                                      Round 4 Check-in Deadline

1:15PM                                         Round 4 Report Time

1:30PM                                         Round 4 Start Time

3:45PM                                        Round 4 Decision Time

4:00PM                                          Round 5 Pairing

4:10PM                                          Round 5 Check-in Deadline

4:30PM                                       Round 5 Report Time

4:55PM                                        Round 5 Start Time

7:10PM                                        Round 5 Decision Time

Sunday, February 7th

9:15AM CST                                   Verify your participants are assembled and ready to debate 

9:30AM                                          Round 6 Pairings

Prompt disclosure, please 

9:40AM                                          Round 6 Check-in Deadline

Check-in requires all participants, including judges, to report to room to perform AV checks, set-up email thread.

10:05AM                                        Round 6 Report Time

All participants, including judges, must be in the room at this time. 

10:15AM                                        Round 6 Start Time

12:30PM                                      Round 6 Decision Time

1:00PM                                    Pairings Released - Open Triples

1:10PM                                         Open Triples Check-in Deadline

1:45PM                                         Open Triples Report Time

2:00PM                                         Open Triples Start Time

4:30PM                                         Open Triples Decision Time

4:45PM                                          Awards

5:10PM                                        Open Double-Octafinals Pairing

5:20PM                                        Open Double-Octafinals Check-in Deadline

5:55PM                                         Open Double-Octafinals Report Time

6:10PM                                          Open Double-Octafinals Semi-Finals Start Time

8:40PM                                         Open Double-Octafinals Decision Time

Monday, February 8th 

9:15AM CST                                   Verify your participants are assembled and ready to debate

9:30AM                                          Open Octafinals Pairing

9:40AM                                         Open Octafinals Check-in Deadline

10:15AM                                     Open Octafinals Report Time

10:30AM                                      Open Octafinals Start Time

1:00PM                                          Open Octafinals Decision Time

1:15PM                                          Open Quarterfinals Pairing

1:30PM                                          Open Quarterfinals Check-in Deadline

2:00PM                                          Open Quarterfinals Report Time

2:15PM                                         Open Quarterfinals Start Time

4:45PM                                          Open Quarterfinals Decision Time

5:00PM                                          Open Semifinals Pairing

5:10PM                                          Open Semifinals Check-in Deadline

5:45PM                                          Open Semifinals Report Time

6:00PM                                         Open Semifinals Start Time

8:30PM                                          Open Semifinals Decision Time

8:45PM                                         Open Finals Pairing

8:55PM                                          Open Finals Check-in and Deadline

9:30PM                                           Open Finals Report Time

9:45PM                                          Open Finals Start Time

12:15AM                                        Open Finals Decision Time