Rocky Mountain-North District Qualifier

for the 2021 National Tournament

PROCEDURE FOR AN ONLINE TOURNAMENT

All speech rounds will be held live. Judges are expected to have their video on while judging. For round 1, the schematic will be posted on tabroom.com (click the Pairings tab) at 8:30 am. Students and judges will receive a text/email blast with their round assignment. Students and judges who have been assigned round 1 will report to their Campus competition room before 9 am. Judges will walk students through turning on their video and microphone to ensure everyone's technology is working. The first speaker should begin their performance by 9:15am. It is ok to start early if everyone is good to go! For rounds 2, 3, and 4, the schematic will be posted 15 minutes before the first speaker should begin speaking and judges/students should immediately report to their room; there is no designated tech check time for any round other than round 1. 

Judges may not receive an assignment for each round. If you do not receive a text/email notification that you are judging, double check that your Tabroom account does not show an assignment. If nothing is listed for that round, you have not been assigned to judge it. We do ask that all judges stay available and near their phones 15 minutes after round start time in case replacements are needed. We LOVE YOU!

Technical Issues If a student is having technical issues that prevent them from performing, move to the next student and allow the student with tech issues to perform next. If a student has not arrived by the end of the round, please stay in the room and email seth.willden@holyfamilyhs.com to check if the student is on their way. All students are encouraged in the room and watch each other's performances while muted. Clapping, emojis, and general well wishes are encouraged!

When judges have watched all performers, they will rank students 1-7 (1 being the best) and submit their ballot. They will be asked to confirm your ranks. After the judge has submitted and confirmed their ranks, they will click the "View/Edit Feedback" button to write comments for each competitor. Written feedback should be provided so students and coaches can learn how to improve in the future.  A ballot with all glowing feedback does not make a student better. In Oratory/Informative - what could be more clear? How could their delivery be enhanced? In Interp, how could their characterization or blocking be improved? Did something not make sense? Every performance is worthy of praise and constructive feedback.

For Extemp: Students will go to the room labeled "Extemp Draw" in Zoom at the designated time on the schedule (click your email in the upper right corner to see the room). Students will be given questions through the chat and stay in the room with their camera on and microphone muted for prep. They will be released to go to their competition room by the proctor. Judges in Extemp should not expect for students to join the room until right at round start time. Only one student will join at a time, and there will be a few minutes between speakers. Students may stay in the room to listen to other speakers after they have finished.

Please watch this short video on judging using NSDA Campus. Resources on judging can be found here. 

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DEBATE PROCEDURE: 

All debate rounds will be held live. Judges are expected to have their video on while judging, and students should have their video on while debating. For round 1, the schematic will be posted on tabroom.com (click the Pairings tab) at 3:30pm. Students and judges will receive a text/email blast with their round assignment. Students and judges who have been assigned round 1 must report to their Campus competition room by 3:45pm. Judges will walk students through turning on their video and microphone to ensure everyone's technology is working. Email chains, if used, should be created during this time. It is ok to start early if everyone is good to go! This is the same procedure for all rounds - schematic posted 30 min before round start, everyone MUST be in the room 15 min prior to round start, speak BY round start time.

Judges may not receive an assignment for each round. If you do not receive a text/email notification that you are judging, double check that your Tabroom account does not show an assignment. If nothing is listed for that round, you have not been assigned to judge it. We do ask that all judges stay available and near their phones 15 minutes after round start time in case replacements are needed.

If a student has not arrived by tech check time, please stay in the room and email seth.willden@holyfamilyhs.com to check if the student is on their way. Forfeits can only be made by tab, not by judges. 

After the debate, judges will pick the winning side/entry, assign speaker points on a scale of 25-30 (the scale can be found on the ballot), and submit their ballot. They will be asked to confirm their decision. Then, judges can access the "View/Edit Feedback" button to write comments for each side. Written feedback should be provided so students and coaches can learn how to improve in the future. You should write your reason for decision, but you should ALSO write about how students can improve their strategy, what mistakes they made that made it harder for them to win or made the round closer than it needed to be?

For PF:  The Public Forum Debate March 2021 Topic will be used

    Resolved: On balance, the benefits of creating the United States Space Force outweigh the harms.

FOR LD: The Lincoln Douglas Debate March-April 2021 Topic will be used

     Resolved: The United States ought to guarantee universal child care.

Please watch this short video on judging using NSDA Campus. Resources on judging can be found here.