Important Notes:

Please consult the long-form invitation on the right-hand link bar when determining how to place students in novice vs JV!

Updated Slack Invite: tinyurl.com/keeferslack20

Topic Doc (extemp/parli): https://tinyurl.com/keefer20topics

Tournament Zoom (judge lounge, etc): please refer to Slack

Invitation

Dear Colleagues,

The Mountain View and Los Altos Speech and Debate team cordially invites you to the 2nd annual Karen Keefer Invitational Swing, which will take place on December 5–6 on the virtual NSDA Campus platform. Mrs. Keefer is a former speech-parent-turned-Diamond-coach who volunteered with MVLA and the Coast Forensics League for over twenty years. 

The speech portion of the swing will run 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM on Saturday. There will be 3 preliminary rounds of novice and JV speech, with divisions breaking to a final round if size warrants. Divisions may be broadly collapsed into a collective Interpretation division and a collective Original/Platform division for divisions with low entry. Students in speech may double enter. Awards for those making the final round, or the top three in divisions not breaking to a final will be announced at the end of the tournament.

The debate portion of the swing will run from 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM on Sunday. There will be 5 rounds of novice and JV Lincoln-Douglas, Parliamentary, and Public Forum debate, with hidden finals in round 5 for the top two teams in each division. Awards for those with winning records or better will be announced and presented at the end of the tournament, and the champions of the final will be recognized. 

The tournament will utilize tabroom.com and NSDA Campus for entry, pairings, virtual rooms, and results of all events.

Middle and high school students are welcome, but students should be registered under the school they attend, or an appropriately named independent (see below). An adult chaperone must be listed and active on Slack should issues arise. We encourage all debaters to be respectful of their peers and judges, in order to maintain a safe and welcoming debate environment. 

In order to facilitate the social aspect of tournaments, we will hold collective games run by senior students during downtime between rounds. More announcements on this to come!