Northwestern University Season Opener
2021 — northwestern.classrooms.cloud, IL/US
Hello Everyone,
We are so happy to welcome you all, virtually, to join us for the Fall 2021 Northwestern Season Opener. We hope to offer the same level of hospitality as we would at an in-person tournament. To that end, please bear with us as we work carefully to provide you with the best possible tournament experience. You can find the tournament schedule below. (As easier to navigate google sheet with all different time zones will soon be posted here.)
Thank you and we look forward to hosting everyone in September!
Sincerely,
NU Debate
Awards
Awards will be held in room 101 at 4:45pm on Sunday.
OBSERVERS
All observers must obtain the consent of both teams and the judge to observe. Observers may not record.
Observers must be registered on tabroom. Coaches should be able to register as many college (and high school) students as they would like before the registration deadline.
Adults, please contact Flynn Makuch at flynnmakuch@gmail.com, and they will help you register if you need it.
If you are a high school student, you must FIRST contact a college coach to be added to their roster. **No independent high school students will be allowed to observe.**
TOURNAMENT ENTRY FEE
The tournament will be free of charge to all participants.
VIRTUAL TOURNAMENT PROCESSES AND INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS
Here is a Classrooms.cloud walk-thru video - uses UKSO, but same premise/point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=SsPKlD2oqEQ&feature=emb_logo
What to do if Classrooms.cloud login fails:
· First step: Login in to Tabroom, click Profile, then click Resync on righthand-side. Then try to login to Classrooms.cloud again.
· If that does not work, you may need to reset your Tabroom password and clear your cache/cookies, then try to login to Classrooms.cloud again.
Unlinked students:
· There are still some unlinked students (i.e. do not have emails linked to their Tabroom accounts). They will not be able to login to the tournament until we get them linked. We will be contacting those with unlinked entries to help resolve the issue.
· Meanwhile, this video can help you resolve unlinked students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YNrHUweRPA&feature=emb_logo
TOURNAMENT PROCEDURES
Format
Debates will use the 2021-2022 Cross Examination Debate Association topic. Speech and cross-examination times will retain a 9-3-6 format with 10 minutes of preparation time. Information on preparation, tech, and decision times can be found in the schedule. Speaker points will be assigned on a 30-point scale, in one-tenth increments, with no tied points. We will offer six (6) preliminary rounds and break to a partial triple of 48 teams. Student eligibility to compete will be determined by the relevant CEDA rules.
· Rounds 1 and 2 will take place on Friday, 9/17/21
· Rounds 3, 4 and 5 will take place on Saturday, 9/18/21
· Round 6, Partial Triples and Double-Octafinals will take place on Sunday, 9/19/21
· The remaining elimination rounds will be held on Monday, 9/20/21
The debates will take place using Classrooms.Cloud. Northwestern is a member institution of the NDT and CEDA; we will administer the tournament accordingly.
***JUDGES ARE OBLIGATED THROUGH THE DOUBLES******
Novice and JV
We will host a novice and JV division. The novice division will adopt the official ADA novice packet. Elims for JV and novice will begin at the same time as open elims. We plan to break half the field.
Hybrids
Hybrid teams will be allowed on a case-by-case basis, at the discretion of the tournament director. Contact Flynn Makuch with questions.
Pairing and Judge Procedures
The first two debates will be preset. Gary Larson will be running the tabroom. Further information about the timing of pairing will be forthcoming.
Northwestern teams will compete at the Fall 2021 Owen L. Coon Memorial Debates. As always, we aim to achieve the highest level of confidentiality regarding competitor’s preferences and strictly limit access to such data to the absolute minimum number of tournament staff.
A NOTE ON CONDUCT
We encourage all tournament participants to maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct in their interactions with other tournament participants, members of the Northwestern Debate Society, and members of Northwestern University’s faculty, staff, and students. All participants debate at the invitation of Northwestern University according to its tournament and campus rules as well as any rules of their own sponsoring institutions. The tournament abides by the rules and norms of the Cross Examination Debate Association. As Northwestern University employees we are obligated to report any destructive, threatening, violent, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior to the appropriate campus authorities.
Audio/Video Recordings
The Northwestern Debate Society has endorsed the principles in the Association of Black Argumentation Professionals (ABAP)’s Digital Bill of Rights (DBOR). The DBOR is the result of an effort by ABAP, coaches and students to represent tournament participants’ privacy concerns related to how virtual tournaments will be run and administered. If a student invokes the DBOR during the tournament, they should then bring the issue to Dan Fitzmier, LaTonya Starks, and Flynn Makuch.
In accordance with the document, we encourage scouting practices which balance the need for scouting with the privacy concerns expressed by many in our community.
We have asked Classrooms.Cloud, the vendor helping us to run the virtual tournament, to turn off all recording in Zoom rooms. Please note that the light indicating that your round is being recorded may be on, but you are not being recorded.
The Northwestern Debate Society encourages recording for educational purposes; however, tournament participants must have the affirmative consent, in advance, of those participating in the debate they wish to observe and/or record. While debates are open to registered tournament participants, you may not electronically record a debate without affirmative consent of the participants in that debate.
CLASSROOMS.CLOUD’S PRIVACY POLICY
You can find Classrooms.Cloud’s privacy policy here: https://classrooms.cloud/privacy-policy/
TENTATIVE TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE – ALL TIMES ARE CENTRAL
Some Notes About the Schedule –
· The schedule is posted below
· All times are Central
· You will notice mealtimes are NOT included in the schedule. The rationale for this is that we are hosting a tournament for participants across the nation, in different time zones. There is no way to account for, or standardize mealtimes, so we have tried to leave as much time in the schedule for breaks as possible
· What is the Check in Deadline?
o All participants (teams and judge) are expected to check into their room within 10 minutes of the release of the pairing. This is to facilitate everyone testing their ability to connect, for email thread set-up, setting up Zoom naming conventions, and disclosure (obvi not rounds 1 and 2 of the season). This means you need to login to the room. This will allow tournament staff to verify we have "seen" everyone and minimize the need for replacements or delays in the schedule. Once you’ve checked in, you may go off-screen or prep somewhere else as needed – you just need to come back at Report Time.
· What is Report Time?
o We kindly request that all participants observe “Report Time” – at 15 minutes before Start Time, - and report to competition rooms at that time. You may continue to prep/coach off-screen, but in order to verify we have all participants able to access their rooms and ready to debate at start time, we need folks "in" their rooms and we need a little lead time to ensure we can assess who is missing/needs help, and still start on time. This will help minimize delays and enable tournament staff to quickly target those needing help accessing the platform/tournament/rooms or finding folks who are missing. It is a little trickier for staff to identify missing persons and start debates in our new online environment, and we ask for your cooperation to help make this work by observing Report Time.
· What should you do if you experience tech issues?
o What do we do if someone gets disconnected/freezes/etc.? In most instances, tech fails have been minimal (especially when folks use Ethernet connections).
1. Most of the time tech issues can be caught quickly (you might notice a screen freeze, for example – good reason to keep screen on) and resolved without significant time spent.
2. If you cannot immediately reconnect, you should use a Help Ticket via the website – direct your issue to the Tech support folks (Classrooms.cloud/Zoom) option on the menu – for assistance.
3. In the event of a tech failure by a team, a team may use up to 10 minutes of “tech time”. This should be clocked by the judge, and not used as standard prep time. It is only for use with tech/connection/AV issues unique to the online format (not for setting up your email chain, e.g.).
4. The judge should notify the tab staff asap if tech time is invoked, or if the judge themselves have a tech issue, so that the tab staff can factor that into scheduling.
We will have 6 prelims and break to a Partial-Triple-Octafinal round. Rounds 1 and 2 will take place on Friday, 9/17, Rounds 3, 4 and 5 will take place on Saturday, 9/18, Round 6, Partial Triples and Double-Octafinals will take place on Sunday, 9/19. The remaining elimination rounds will be held on Monday, 9/20. A tentative schedule is below:
Thursday, September 16th
5:00 – 9:00PM CST Registration – Virtual Check-in on Tabroom.com
Friday, September 17th
11:00AM CST Verify your participants are assembled and ready to debate
12:30PM Pairings for Rounds 1 & 2 Released
Prompt disclosure, please.
12:40PM Round 1 Check-in Deadline
Check-in requires all participants, including judges, to report to room to perform AV checks, set-up email thread.
1:00PM Round 1 Report Time
All participants, including judges, must be in the room at this time.
1:15PM Round 1 Start Time
3:30PM Round 1 Decision Time
4:00PM Round 2 Check-in Deadline
4:30PM Round 2 Report Time
All participants, including judges, must be in the room at this time.
4:45PM Round 2 Start Time
7:00PM Round 2 Decision Time
Saturday, September 18th
9:15AM CST Verify your participants are assembled and ready to debate
9:30AM Round 3 Pairings
Prompt disclosure, please
9:40AM Round 3 Check-in Deadline
Check-in requires all participants, including judges, to report to room to perform AV checks, set-up email thread.
10:00AM Round 3 Report Time
All participants, including judges, must be in the room at this time.
10:15AM Round 3 Start Time
12:30PM Round 3 Decision Time
12:45PM Round 4 Pairing
12:55 PM Round 4 Check-in Deadline
1:15PM Round 4 Report Time
1:30PM Round 4 Start Time
3:45PM Round 4 Decision Time
4:00PM Round 5 Pairing
4:10PM Round 5 Check-in Deadline
4:30PM Round 5 Report Time
4:55PM Round 5 Start Time
7:10PM Round 5 Decision Time
Sunday, September 19th
9:15AM CST Verify your participants are assembled and ready to debate
9:30AM Round 6 Pairings
Prompt disclosure, please
9:40AM Round 6 Check-in Deadline
Check-in requires all participants, including judges, to report to room to perform AV checks, set-up email thread.
10:05AM Round 6 Report Time
All participants, including judges, must be in the room at this time.
10:15AM Round 6 Start Time
12:30PM Round 6 Decision Time
1:00PM Pairings Released - Open Triples + JV/Novice elim 1
1:10PM Open Triples Check-in Deadline
1:45PM Open Triples Report Time
2:00PM Open Triples Start Time
4:30PM Open Triples Decision Time
4:45PM --- AWARDS
5:00PM Open Double-Octafinals Pairing + JV/novice elim 2
5:10PM Open Double-Octafinals Check-in Deadline
5:45PM Open Double-Octafinals Report Time
6:00PM Open Double-Octafinals Semi-Finals Start Time
8:30PM Open Double-Octafinals Decision Time
Monday, September 20th
9:15AM CST Verify your participants are assembled and ready to debate
9:30AM Open Octafinals Pairing + JV/Novice elim 3
9:40AM Open Octafinals Check-in Deadline
10:15AM Open Octafinals Report Time
10:30AM Open Octafinals Start Time
1:00PM Open Octafinals Decision Time
1:15PM Open Quarterfinals Pairing
1:30PM Open Quarterfinals Check-in Deadline
2:00PM Open Quarterfinals Report Time
2:15PM Open Quarterfinals Start Time
4:45PM Open Quarterfinals Decision Time
5:00PM Open Semifinals Pairing
5:10PM Open Semifinals Check-in Deadline
5:45PM Open Semifinals Report Time
6:00PM Open Semifinals Start Time
8:30PM Open Semifinals Decision Time
8:45PM Open Finals Pairing
8:55PM Open Finals Check-in and Deadline
9:30PM Open Finals Report Time
9:45PM Open Finals Start Time
12:15AM Open Finals Decision Time