The 3rd Phoenix Fire Open Debate and Forensics Tournament

Saturday January 20th, 2023

at Lakeside Jr. High School in Springdale, Ar

3050 Hylton Rd, Springdale, AR 72764

Tournament Director: Sean Petersen

Contact: 479-263-1532 - spetersen@sdale.org

The Don Tyson School of Innovation Debate and Forensics Team is excited to invite you to the third Phoenix Fire Open Debate and Forensics Tournament on Saturday, January 20, 2024 in Springdale, Arkansas. Please read this invitation carefully to be familiar with the aspects of this tournament and avoid any or all confusion prior to the start of the competition.

A Unique Type of Tournament Experience:

Please know before attending the Phoenix Fire that our school and our tournament will be a bit different than other tournaments you may have attended in the recent past. We will be running a one day tournament with five guaranteed rounds of debate and three preliminary rounds breaking to a final round for each event. This fast format means that

Events Offered and Sweepstakes Calculation Information:

We wIll offer the following events in an Open Format (there will be no Novice distinction for debate events.) Events include: Lincoln Douglas, Public Forum, Big Questions, World Schools, and Student Congress. In Forensics events we will offer: Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Poetry, Prose, Impromptu Speaking, Duo Interpretation, Original Oratory, Informative Speaking, Spar Debate, and Declamation. We will be offering Jr. High categories for all Forensics events, but not the debate equivalents.

We will be offering first through third place Sweepstakes for both Jr. and High School divisions using the team efficiency method based off of a minimum squad size of 7 competitors for a team to be eligible. If you have specific questions about this method, please contact spetersen@sdale.org

Registration:

We will be using Tabroom for registration and tabulation purposes. Tabroom will have public access to tournament related documents, pairings, and results for the tournament. The Phoenix Fire will use paper ballots with open paper tabulation for coaches to come and view. Your students, coaches, and judges will be able to sign up for “live updates” so they know any information relating to them. Search “Phoenix Fire” on Tabroom. The deadline for entries is FRIDAY, January 12th at 4:00pm.

Changes to Registration:

There will be fees for registration changes made after the deadline. Additions and/or drops made after 5pm on Friday January 12th will have a $10 nuisance fee per change. Even if you have already requested your check or planned to pay with a PO before changes are made, you will still have to pay these fees later or with cash at the tournament registration. If you have any drops/adds/name changes, you will need to email these directly to spetersen@sdale.org ASAP.

Judge Requirements:

One qualified judge must be provided for every six IE/Congress entries and every four debate entries or teams. Students may enter a maximum of two Forensic events and one debate for each competitor, but rounds will not be held late to accommodate students with multiple entries. Refunds will not be granted for students who miss rounds due to multiple entries. There will be a $20 for every judge you fail to provide.

Stylistic Debating Prohibition:

As a team, the Don Tyson School of Innovation is opposed to the stylistic form of debating known as Spreading (speed recitation and reading). The upper end of average conversational speed is 135 wpm (words per minute), with accelerated speech approaching 150wpm. Spreading increases this speed to higher than 150 wpm, all the way up to 300+ wpm. Additionally, there is an increasing tendency for stylistic norms from one style of debate to blend into other styles, this is known as Progressive Style Debate. This action makes the competitive field confusing and puts established standards for debate styles in doubt. It is the belief of the hosting team that these stylistic choices harm equal competition and are STRONGLY discouraged. Teams will not forfeit rounds due to Spreading or Progressive arguments, but competitors can and should point out within rounds that Spreading and Progressive style arguments are frowned upon by the tournament organizers and that fair play and adherence to established debate norms for each style is expected by the hosting team.

Congressional Debate:

For congressional debate, we will utilize the ACTAA Fall 2023 docket.The docket order will be set at the same time as our sign up deadline and updated in Tabroom.

Topics Used:

As we are running an Open Debate format, Lincoln Douglas Debaters will use the January NSDA Topic. Public Forum Debaters will use the January NSDA Topic. Big Questions Debaters will use the 2023 Topic.

Inclusivity Statement:

We will be providing gender neutral bathroom locations at registration. Also, if anyone needs handicap accessible rooms, please reach out so we can make our tournament as accessible to everyone as possible! Most of the Don Tyson School of Innovation is a one floor school, but for some rounds in the East Phoenix building accommodations may need to be made. Please contact the tournament host Sean Petersen at spetersen@sdale.org if you have any questions.

Basic Rules:

We will be utilizing the new updated rules by NSDA. This includes the rule about internet usage in debate rounds. Be sure to be aware of the new ACTAA and NSDA rules and times regarding certain events. If you have any questions about these rules, please email spetersen@sdale.org

Tabulation Notes:

Tabulation will be open for all coaches to review should they want to. Ballots will be collected into binders and will be available for review and released out to teams after awards. Sweepstakes will be calculated based total team points for teams that have a minimum of at least seven total tournament entries entered for that school. We will have no Debate breaks at this tournament, it will be a guaranteed round and we will rank out based off record, and if needed, highest speaker points. We will break Forensics events by ranks for the highest 7 individuals to make the final room for each event. Please have all teams and competitors in the proper rooms 5-10mins before each round, they will forfeit and ranking last all competitors who are not in rooms after 10 mins into each round. If a student is Double Entered in Forensics events they are expected to leave a note on the whiteboard of each classroom BEFORE the round starts that they will be returning promptly to compete. If a double entered competitor has not returned by the time the last competitor ends their performance, they will automatically be ranked last in the round. If you have any questions regarding this distinction, please email spetersen@sdale.org

Arrival at DTSOI on Saturday the 20th:

Please plan to arrive on Saturday at 7:30 am so we can start promptly at 8:00am as we will have a long day of competitive events ahead of us. Rounds will be going off every hour per the schedule indicated below.

7:30- Team Arrival at Lakeside

8:00am - Debate Round

10:00am- Forensics Round 1 /Congressional Debate Round 1

11:00am- Debate Round Noon - Forensics Round 2/Congressional Debate Round 2

1:00pm - Debate Round 3

2:00pm- Forensics Round 3/Congressional Debate Round 3

3:00pm- Debate Round 4

5:00pm- Debate Round 5/Forensics Round 4 (Finals)

6:00pm- Awards Ceremony

Food Policy and Concessions:

We would like to support teams that are coming to the Phoenix Fire with their food needs. Please note that the Don Tyson School of Innovation is not an easy distance from off-campus food. As a result, we will be offering concessions all day and will abide by ACTAA’s Brown Bag Policy that allows discrete and small quantities of food to be brought by teams. This does not include restaurant delivery or bringing in food for an entire team, please plan to support our program through purchases from our Concession Stand. Outside food is highly discouraged.

We look forward to seeing you at the Phoenix Fire at the Don Tyson School of Innovation this January!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Tournament Director Sean Petersen at spetersen@sdale.org or by text at 479-263-1532