Spat N Squeak
2015 — CA/US
Character Congress
Event Description:
Presiding Officer: The Presiding Officer, or PO, runs the Character Congress. They keep track of whose turn it is to speak or ask a question during clash. PO’s are also to be judged on their ability as stand up comedians, but are not to be blatantly offensive to any particular member of the Character Congress. There will be two PO’s per session, each switching halfway through the round. The senators will run PO elections prior to a session to decide who the two PO's for a session will be, excluding the final round, where the top 2 PO's will alternate the session. A senator may compete as both a senator and a PO in the final round. Character Congress Senators: Senators in Character Congress are to be judged on ability to become the character they choose, in the areas of voice, physical composure, costuming, or the speech given by the senator as the character. Senators may use props. Senators may move freely about the room when speaking. Senators may sing or dance during their speech. Structure: The PO will call the session to order, and use the eeny meeny miny mo method to determine which piece of legislation the chamber will debate first. He/She/It will then call for an affirmative speaker, and if none rise, he/she/it will choose randomly from the chamber a senator to speak in the affirmative. The senator will then (willingly or unwillingly) give a 3 minute speech, followed by 1 minute of questions by the chamber. Then the PO will call for negative speakers, and if none rise, the PO will choose randomly from the chamber a senator to speak in the negative. After yet another 3 minute speech and 1 minute questioning, the cycle starts all over again until a motion is called for on the legislation and a 2/3 majority vote is reached to vote on the bill. There will be 2 pieces of legislation per round/session, and senators must debate and vote on both. Special Remarks: If a specific senator is brought up during another senator’s speech on the affirmation or negation, he/she/it reserves the right to yell out in the middle of that speech, “You lie!”, but nothing more.