Dear Forensics Coaches,

The Hot Springs High School Speech & Debate Team cordially invites you to our inaugural Virtual Speech Tournament to be held on Friday and Saturday, January 15 and 16, 2021. Schools wishing to attend our meet will be entered on a first come, first serve basis. There will be an initial registration limit of 4 entries per event . Registration will take place at http://hschsbobcat.tabroom.com

The platform that will be used is NSDA Campus. 

 EVENTS    

We will offer all State events. There will be 4 rounds of CX, PF and LD and 3 rounds of all other events, plus semis and finals of most events.  However, if some events have low entry numbers, these might go straight to finals.

State rules will apply unless otherwise indicated in this invitation.

Debate:
We will be single-flighting Debate (which is why we are able to have a late start time on Friday). Safety is a top priority, therefore there is an expectation that partner debates use separate logins. There will be the same expectation for debate partners that are related. This is to promote equal footing in the event for all. However if your team needs to be granted an exception to this rule, please contact the tournament directors (Lyle - lwiley@hotsprings1.org & Londe - Gagnon-lgagnon@tcsd.org) in advance).

The topics are as follows.

Lincoln Douglas: Resolved: States ought to ban lethal autonomous weapons.

Public Forum: Resolved: The National Security Agency should end its surveillance of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.

Policy: Resolved: The United States federal government should enact substantial criminal justice reform in the United States in one or more of the following: forensic science, policing, sentencing.

Ties in debate will be broken by power of opposition first, followed by speaker points.

Manuscript/visual aid usage: Poetry and POI competitors must use a manuscript.  All other events are memorized. Informative Speaking competitors may use visual aids.

Congress. Congressional Debate will be in the HOPE pattern.

The legislation will be chosen from the State database corresponding to the competitors who are entered on tabroom on 1/3/21. Please make sure your student’s legislation is in the database prior to that date if you would like it to be on the docket. 

We will release the docket to registered schools on 1/4/21.

Super Congress legislation will be taken from various sources, and will be released along with the regular docket.

Extemporaneous Speaking. Questions will be taken from November, December & January NFHS  (available through the link in the State Newsletter Londe sends out each month) and NSDA questions (available on NSDA site). The format will be that of the new state rule passed last fall, and judges will have copies of the speakers' questions. Draw will take place at 7-minute intervals, and will be embedded into the HOPEIC pattern. Extemp speakers must have their cameras activated (but volume muted) during their prep time. 

Internet usage: 

Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Congressional Debate may all use the Internet in strict adherence to the following rules:

https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/Pilot-Internet-Rules-2020.pdf

Additionally, Extemporaneous competitors may use the Internet as permitted by those same rules.

Judging. Many judges will be Hot Springs community members but we will have a requirement of accompanying judges for each team.  If bringing accompanying judges is an issue for your team, please contact tournament director Lyle Wiley (lylewiley@hotsprings1.org).  Most likely, we will need to use some coaches for back-up in case of "no-show" judges. Please register your judges on tabroom. All judges must have linked tabroom accounts in order to access online ballots. 

Click here for instructions on How to use online ballots, link accounts, and submit results and comments - For Judges

Click Here for Additional Instructions For Judges

 *Please note- all entries will be waitlisted until the media release form is turned in. Due to this, the judging burden will not appear on tabroom until the waitlisted entries have been changed to active status. So please enter your judges early so you are not caught unaware by the judging burden*

ENTRY LIMITS AND DEADLINES

In general, our tournament format encourages double entering. Students who double within a pattern do so at their own risk. However, Policy Debaters cannot double within the “D” pattern. We discourage Congress competitors from tripling within the HOPE pattern, but if you want to get the experience, go for it! 

Initial registration numbers are due on Monday, 4 January 2021. Please get them sooner rather than later!   

Final registration entry adds are due on Wednesday, 13 January 2021.

Only drops or substitutions will be allowed after the final registration deadline (no adds).  Registration will be through tabroom. All changes and drops should be done online, in accordance with the stated deadlines.

Drops on Friday, 15 January 2021, the first day of the meet, may be made online until 11 am, without penalty. They may also be made by calling or texting Londe Gagnon at 307-699-0537. Please do not rely on email.

Event drops received after 11:00 am on Friday, 15 January will be assessed a late drop fee of $10.00 each. First Round "no shows" will be considered late drops as well.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Registration will be held online from 1:30pm-3pm on Friday 15 January.

• All events will synchronous (live) with the exception of Duo which will be asynchronous

• Please make sure all participants have signed and turned in the media release form. Copy found here . 

• Entries will be waitlisted until the media release form is turned in.

ENTRY FEES 

Entry fees are $10 for individual events and $15 for partner events

To avoid event drop fees, please call Londe with your drops on Friday morning or record your drops online before that time. 

AWARDS

Medals will be awarded to the finalists

First and Second Place Sweepstakes awards will be awarded in  4A, 3A, and 1A/2A categories as determined by WHSAA. 

All team entries count as a single entry towards sweepstakes.

Sweepstakes points will be awarded for semi and final round placements only

We look forward to seeing you at the tournament!

Sincerely,

The Hot Springs High School Speech and Debate Team

TOURNAMENT CONTACT INFORMATION

Lyle Wiley

lylewiley@hotsprings1.org

(307) 710-1516

Cindy Glasson

cglasson@hotsprings1.org

(307) 331-0566

Londe Gagnon

lgagnon@tcsd.org

307-699-0537

SCHEDULE - (Extemp Draw is embedded in the HOPEIC pattern)