Central Prairie League Forensics

Wed. April 7th, 2021

Joanna McAlister, St. John

mcalisterj@usd350.com

School Phone: 620-549-3277

My Cell Phone: 620-639-2380

Coaches,

St. John High School invites you to the Central Prairie League (CPL) meet on Wednesday, April 7th—with a twist!  We will have virtual preliminary rounds (asynchronous) on Tabroom and live in-person finals.

Schedule:

• Thur. Mar. 11th – You’ve sent names & events for each draw entry you have

• Or just enter in Tabroom & I’ll get it from there.

• Mon. Mar. 22nd – I send you the draw ideas for your draw events. You use the KSHSAA

rules and prep time to have students create their extemps, impromptus, and IDAs.

• By Thurs. Mar. 25th – Your judges need to be uploaded with contact I.D. on Tabroom.

• By Mon. Mar. 29th at 10 PM – All entries and video uploads due on Tabroom.com.

• March 30-April 2 – Asynchronous judging of Prelims occurs online in Tabroom.

• Saturday morning, April 3rd – I let you know who made it to finals, and then on Monday,

you confirm those finals entries with me.

• Wed. April 7th – 12:15 PM Registration at St. John HS in person for Finals

    12:45 PM Draws for Extemp, IDA, & Impromptu Finals starts.

    1:00 PM Finals round

Virtual Preliminary Rounds: At the beginning of each recording please have your student hold up a sign (paper or whiteboard) that states, “CPL”. This will help us police the use of the same recording all season. When you create your entries in Tabroom, make sure you include the title of the speech (for info or oration), OR the name of the piece and the author (for readings, solos, and duets)

Draw Events: Please let me know ASAP if you have draw event entries. It will be vital that coaches enforce the prep time limits (30 minutes for IDA/Extemp, 5 minutes for Impromptu) and only allow students one take for their recordings. Coaches will be emailed the draw for each round. Tabroom will only allow you to upload one video per entry, so the second round video will need to be uploaded to YouTube and the link emailed.   

While I work on getting the Tabroom tournament set up, focus on recording your students’ performances. Again, please have them hold a sign that says, “CPL”. Once you have recorded performances, they either need to be saved to a Google Drive folder or uploaded to a YouTube channel you or your school has created. You can lock these down so that they stay private, and only people with the specific link can access them (unlisted videos). Either option will work! In Tabroom, there is a place to post the link to the first recording on each entry and then you’ll have to email me the link to the second recording.

In-Person Finals: In following KSHSAA guidelines, the following precautions will be in place:

1. Only finals competitors and necessary coaches/drivers/judges will be permitted to attend finals. 

2. Competitors (when not performing), coaches, and judges will wear masks in the manner consistent with the intent of the manufacturer. Performers may unmask to perform. 

3. Performance area will be marked with tape on the floor 12-15 feet from judges. Competitors may only unmask behind that line.

4. Judges will be spaced 6 feet apart.

5. No audience in performance rooms. 

6. St. John students will sanitize performance props where applicable between performances.

7. There will be no hospitality or concession stand.
   
   

Entries: Teams are limited to 16 total entries, with no more than four entries in any event.  Each event will be $5/person/event ($10 total duet/IDA). A student may enter in up to two events, three if competing in Impromptu.

The top twelve entries will be counted towards sweepstakes points. Individual scoring will be cumulative, and individual medals through 6th place will be awarded. We will do “track meet” style awards, with medals provided in finals packets. CPL teams will receive CPL medals, non-league teams will be mailed their medals.

 Judges: League teams are required to supply two judges for preliminary rounds. Non-league teams will supply based on entries: 0-6 entries provide 1 judge (for asynchronous prelims); 7-12 entries provide 2 judges (for asynchronous prelims); 13-16 entries provide 3 judges (for asynchronous prelims). All teams will supply two judges for finals. Extras, in either case, would be welcome! Your judges will each need to create an account on tabroom.com afterwhich you link their email to your school. Also, make sure the judges add their phone numbers since communication comes from Tabroom for rounds.

ST. JOHN IN-PERSON FINALS:

• MASKS - Every person needs to wear a mask at St. John High school, OVER THE NOSE AND UNDER THE CHIN, except when performing. Performers will be at the front of the room with judges at the back of the room. Performers only take off masks RIGHT BEFORE beginning the performance. The judge will have the ballots, so students will not have to approach the judges at all. Each student will write their name, piece, and code on the front board, or say it to the judge to write. They can also prepare a sign ahead of time if desired.

• Duet and IDA – As a coach, I will allow you to make the decision that goes with your school policy. For practice for IDA finals, students MUST wear a mask.

• Every team will have a section of the bleachers in the big gym for their own use. Teams are not to intermingle with other teams to keep the virus at bay.

• We will have no hospitality room nor concessions. Please make sure your team brings their own snacks and water bottles (eat lunch before you get here). 

• COACHES, please bring your own refreshments as well. This will help us maintain safety too.

• Performers need to be at the front of the room with judges at the back, striving to be as far away from each other as possible, ideally 12-15 feet.

• NOTE: There will be no observers in any rooms. This will help minimize interaction between people as well.

OTHER THAN THESE TOURNAMENT EXCEPTIONS, we will follow KSHSAA rules.

Please email if you have any questions and I’ll bumble through the solutions! 

Talking to myself under my breath,

Joanna 

St. John-Hudson Forensics Coach