Clarifications to the invitation:

**Both LD divisions (and both PFD divisions, if novice PF makes) will use the March NSDA resolutions.

**Yes to Internet use during debate and extemp prep. No communication with individuals outside the round (or in extemp, with anyone else at all).

Elimination Round Plans

In all Saturday events, we will seek to break 12-14 to semifinals and 6-8 to finals, avoiding using any tiebreakers we do not have to, except for the following exceptions:

If DUO holds over 50 entries, rounds 1 and 2 will be the only "prelim" rounds. Round 3 will feature the top 48 entries in an octafinal round (6 sections, 1 judge each), then the top 24 will break to "semifinals" and top 8 to finals.

Events with 71+ individual entries (the NIETOC limit for a QUARTERFINAL bid) will break the top 24 to 3 or 4 sections of semifinals, then the top 8 to finals. Both of these will be a firm upper limit.

NIETOC events which are a SEMIFINAL bid (51-70) will break a full 14 entries to semifinals, using all necessary tiebreakers.

NIETOC events which are a FINAL bid (35-50) will break to semifinals as described above, then will break a full 8 entries to finals, using all necessary tiebreakers.

Events which have fewer than 12 entries will run a prelim round 4 during the semifinal time block, then break the top 6 to finals.

Round Topics

USX:
1: Health, Science, Technology, and Education
2: Foreign Policy
3: Business and Economy
SF: State and Local Issues
F: The Election of 2020

IX:
1: Global Issues, International Organizations, World Economy
2: Europe
3: Africa and the Middle East
SF: The Americas
F: Asia/Pacific

IMP:
1: We Didn't Start the End of the World [Events, people, places, and things in one of those two songs]
2: Animated Characters
3: Quotes
SF: Jeopardy Categories
F: INFO-5 [draw will be in the room next door to finals; you'll draw slips of paper that correspond to objects, and the chosen object should be a visual aid in your speech]