March 19, 2019

Dear Forensics Coach:

The SMS squad invites you and your students to the annual Invitational Forensics Tournament to be held on Friday and Saturday, March 29th-30th, 2019.

On Friday, March 29th, we will be offering a non-qual tournament on Friday night--students may only compete in events they are NOT already qualified in. Schools will be required to bring one judge for every 6 entries (sorry, our squad is not large enough to provide judges both Friday and Saturday but we do want to host Friday as we know this season has been difficult with all of the snow days). The events for competition will be: Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, International Extemporaneous Speaking, Original Oratory, Informative Speaking (10), Impromptu, Dramatic Interp, Humorous Interp, Duo Interp, Program of Oral Interpretation, Prose and Poetry Interp. Should entry numbers not warrant separate division in DX and IX, Extempers will be merged into one Extemp Division. If collapsed into one division, contestants will choose whether they draw from domestic or international topics. We will cancel events that are not large enough to qualify kids to State on Monday, March 25th at 5:00 PM.

On Saturday, March 30th, the tournament will consist of three preliminary rounds of competition followed by a final round to determine placing and State Championship Qualifiers. The events for competition will be: Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, International Extemporaneous Speaking, Original Oratory, Informative Speaking (10), Impromptu, Dramatic Interp, Humorous Interp, Duo Interp, Program of Oral Interpretation, Prose and Poetry Interp.

Please note that NSDA rules will apply to DX, IX, OO, INFO 10, HI, DI, and Duo. KSHSAA rules will apply to IMP, PRO, and POE interp.

Should entry numbers not warrant separate division in DX and IX, Extempers will be merged into one Extemp Division. If collapsed into one division, contestants will choose whether they draw from domestic or international topics.

There will be no refunds for entry adjustments after March 25th at 5:00 pm. You will be able to change names and drop entries through Wednesday, March 27th at 5:00 pm. The tournament will be scheduled on Thursday, March 28th, so please make your changes before this date.

REGISTRATION

Step 1: Proceed to Tabroom.com and begin the entry process. Registration will OPEN on Tuesday, March 19th at 5PM. PLEASE request TBA entries as soon as possible and rank (as requested) your “wait listed” entries.

Step 2: Complete final registration on Tabroom.com. Final Registration will require that you enter names of students in respective events. NOTE: YOUR ENTRIES WILL NOT BE REMOVED FROM “WAIT LISTED” STATUS UNTIL NAMES HAVE BEEN ADDED. (FRIDAY ENTRIES WILL NOT BE REMOVED FROM "WAIT LISTED" STATUS UNTIL 1 JUDGE FOR EVERY 6 ENTRIES HAS ALSO BEEN ADDED.) This final step must be completed by Monday, March 25th at 5:00 PM.

Step 3: Please take a moment to read “Stuff you need to know” below--this will answer most of the questions you have:) If it is not addressed here, my email is carolyncook@smsd.org. My cell is (913) 220-3358 (text is better than calling).

Thank you for your interest in attending this year’s tournament. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Cook, Director of Speech and Debate

Shawnee Mission South High School

STUFF YOU NEED TO KNOW:

STUDENT PARTICIPATION: Students may enter three (3) events, with the following caveat(s): Do NOT enter the same student in the two extemp events. You may enter the same student in one extemp event AND impromptu.

EXTEMP TOPICS: Topics will be written from current magazines and online new sources dated from December 1, 2019 to the present. This may include: Time, Newsweek, The Economist, and The New Republic.

IMPROMPTU TOPICS: Topics will be drawn from the following categories: Rounds 1-3, will feature “People in the News”, “Pop Culture”, “Political Cartoons”. In the final round, contestants will draw one of three fortune cookies. Choose one, open it, and therein you will find your topic.

TIME LIMITS: Judges will be informed of time limits for individual events as posted below. There may or may not be a timekeeper for all rounds. If there are no timekeepers, judges will be the final arbiters of time infractions.

AWARDS: Awards will be presented to the top six finalists in each event. We will not do Sweepstakes on Friday night. Sweepstakes awards will be presented to the top three schools Saturday. Sweepstakes points will be awarded to the the Top 20 entries as selected by the school. A single student may ONLY be counted twice towards Sweeps, even if he/she is entered in three events.

JUDGING: You need to bring 1 judge per 6 entries Friday (and register them on Tabroom). There should be plenty of judges Saturday. However, if something happens and we end up with a judge shortage, you may be called upon to judge a couple of rounds. We will be using two judge panels Friday night in finals.

FEES: $4.00/person/event. Schools will be required to pay for all entries including “extras” requested after registration is completed. This includes “extras” given on the day of the tournament.

REFUNDS: Refunds will NOT be given for cancellations after 5:00 pm, Monday, March 25th.

PERFORMANCE ORDER EXPECTATIONS: Any student who does not perform within the time limits of the round as posted will not be allowed to perform or will receive the last rank in the round. This is as the discretion of the tournament director.

Event/Max Time:

Original Oratory (10)

Informative 10 (10)

Extemp (7) [Draw: 30 minute prep]

Impromptu (5) [Draw: 5 minute prep]

Dramatic and Humorous Interp (10)

Duo Interp (10)

Program of Oral Interpretation (10) [May use visual aids]

Prose and Poetry Interp (7)

THOSE CONTESTANTS ENTERING EXTEMP: All extempers will be expected to perform in the order as posted. They should then arrange to participate in additional event(s) either before their scheduled “draw” time, or after their scheduled speaking time.

CONFLICTS: The SMS forensics coaches reserve the right to resolve any problems and/or conflicts by whatever means they deem appropriate.

FINALS: Final results will be CUMULATIVE.

Contestants will be assigned an order to perform in extemp. Be aware it may not be in the order of preliminary round placement.

Ballot Room is Open/TAB IS CLOSED: Ballots will be made available ASAP in a classroom very near TAB.

Coaches will be given results access to their own squad’s results via Tabroom.com

Results will NOT be open to the public until after the Final Results Assembly.

PROJECTED SCHEDULE

Friday:

***draw will start at 3:00

R1: 3:30-4:45

R2: 5-6:15

Finals: 7-8

Saturday

***draw will start at 7:30

R1: 8-9:30

R2: 9:45-11:15

R3: 11:30-1:00

Finals: 1:30-2:30