Sebastien Rale Big Questions Debate Tournament

Cheverus High School

267 Ocean Avenue

Portland, Maine

November 16, 2019

Registration Deadline: Wednesday, November 13 by 7:00 p.m. to Tabroom.com.

Cell phone for day of the tournament: Dan (207) 228-5595

Registration information

You may enter individual students on Tabroom until 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Judge entries must be made by 8 p.m. Friday, November 15.

Drops

You may drop students or change names on Tabroom until 8:00 a.m. Saturday, November 17.

Drops after 8:00 a.m. on the day of the tournament will be charged a $10 nuisance fee. Please text your tournament host for drops after 8am.

Fees

$6 per student

Judge requirements

1 judge for every 2 teams. All fractional entries round up. 

Judges must have linked Tabroom accounts. Online balloting only.

Guest wifi password: Vikram19

Judge training

Please show your judges the following judge training materials: https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/Judge-Primer-2019-2020.pdf

Purchasing judges

There will be a limited number of judges to purchase for $60 per judge. You must clear your request with the tournament director by Friday, November 15.

Food

Light snacks and breakfast items will be available for purchase for the competitors, and will be provided for the judges. No lunch will be served.

Events

Big Questions 2 on 2 debate! Here is a link to the format manual.

*Note well: We have chosen to adopt the 2-on-2 approach, with a blanket acceptance of mavericks. 

Divisions

There will be a Varsity and JV division. We will collapse divisions if there are fewer than 6 entries in JV.

• Varsity: All varsity and JV debaters, plus any Congress or Speech competitors that choose varsity.

• Junior varsity: All novice debaters and any Congress or Speech competitors that choose JV.

Event topic

Resolved: Objective morality exists.

Awards

• Varsity: Plaques will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams/individuals.

• Junior varsity: Medals will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams/individuals.

• Sweeps: One trophy.

Schedule

8:30-8:45: Registration check in (please arrive early)
8:45: Judges meeting
9:00: Round 1
10:00: Round 2
11:15: Round 3
12:15: Exit surveys and awards

Special information

This event is made possible by a pair of grants from the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA). Grant money is issued from the NSDA based on participation:

• Each event will earn $400 for the first 15 students. If your event has one participant school, each additional student over the 15 minimum will earn your program $10. If your event has three or more schools competing, each additional student will earn your program $20.

• All participating students and judges must complete an exit survey, so please don’t leave the tournament until you do!

• The full grant amount will be awarded following the completion of the reporting requirements; no upfront installments will be given.

The money we earn from the the NSDA will be distributed as follows:

• Schools will earn 1 share per student competing, up to a maximum of 6 shares. The total number of shares will be tallied, and a dollar amount will then be put on each share.

• Participating schools will then receive a check based on their total shares.

Please note that the process will take time, since the MFA first needs to receive the funds from the NSDA.