Welcome to the 48th Annual Harvard National Forensics Tournament (Online)

ALL BALLOTS will be distributed and entered on tabroom.com.

ALL ROUNDS will occur in Zoom rooms on harvard.classrooms.cloud

Final Schedules - Click Here 

Tournament Live Docs with Participant & Judge Instructions

Congress | Public Forum | Speech | Lincoln-Douglas | Policy

Need Help?

If you have a question, or need to contact the tournament staff or tab staff for your event to resolve an issue, please file a help ticket from a classrooms.cloud webpage: Go to the classrooms.cloud room where you are assigned to compete or judge, and file a help ticket on the right hand side of the page. If necessary, tournament staff will respond by email or by coming to the relevant competition room to talk with participants. Note: If you are not already on the classrooms.cloud website, or are not currently assigned to compete or judge in a specific room, please go to the appropriate wing for your event, choose one of the "Conference Rooms," and file a help ticket from there.

If you have general questions, or do not know who to ask: You may also go to the Tournament Zoom “Information Desk” (Zoom ID: 927 5954 1422. Password: info). Once you enter the Zoom room, please click “Raise Hand” or type your question in the chat box and we will answer questions in the order they are asked.

Tournament Zoom “Information Desk”

(Zoom ID: 927 5954 1422. Password: info)

Tournament Policies

Recording: For the privacy and protection of students and other participants, any recording of speeches is prohibited, with the exception that students are permitted to record their own speeches. 

Observers. Observers are permitted but must remain on mute, with videos off at all times, and rename themselves as “Observer -- Name.” All observers must be affiliated with an institution with active entries at the tournament and must be registered as an observer to the roster of that institution. Any individuals who wish to observe will need: (A) to have a tabroom.com account, (B) be added as competitors or judges to the team roster, (C) have their account linked, and (D) entered into the “Observer Division” as a competitor or as a judge. Unregistered observers will not be able to access the classrooms.cloud zoom rooms. The tournament reserves the right to remove any observers from any room at any time. 

Alternative Platforms. For safety of all participants, no one (judge, coach, student) may switch their rounds to an alternative video platform outside of the tournament hosted zoom rooms in classrooms.cloud. If anyone suggests moving to an alternative platform, please alert tournament personnel immediately. Judges who move to a separate platform will be fined as if they did not judge their rounds and removed from the tournament. 

Judge Video. The tournament believes that competitors deserve to be able to see their judges as much as possible. Accordingly, to the maximum extent possible, the cameras of competitors and judges should be on (and on them) while a student is speaking and during RFDs. Brief pauses are understandable. To the extent needed, cameras can be off to enhance streaming quality.

Equity Policies.The tournament strives to foster an environment promoting inclusivity and respect. Participants should uphold those values. The tournament subscribes to the NSDA's Conduct Policies. The tournament will abide by Harvard College’s policies and procedures for sexual and gender-based harassment and discrimination. They are available here: https://oge.harvard.edu/policies. Per its regulations, Harvard College will designate a representative of its Title IX office to be on call during the tournament to receive any complaints directly or indirectly by means of the tournament director. The tournament will also abide by policies governing codes of conduct within the Harvard community, including those prohibiting racial discrimination and harassment. Resources for reporting incidents of discrimination and harassment, in addition to reporting to the Tournament Director, are available here: https://diversity.college.harvard.edu/harassment-and-discrimination-resources

Tournament Ombuds Committee. The tournament will designate an ombuds committee of three individuals to receive complaints and concerns regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. You may contact the ombuds committee by emailing ombuds@harvarddebate.org. Please note that this is not the appropriate place to report sexual or racial discrimination and harassment as detailed in the prior section; those reports should be made to the Tournament Director directly who will report to the appropriate Harvard offices. Additionally, concerns about tournament procedure and tabulation should be reported to your event’s tab room.