August 26, 2014

Dear Colleagues,

The Samford Debate Squad and the Department of Communication Studies invite you and your teams to the Samford Invitational Tournament to be held the weekend of October 17-19, 2014.  All schools are welcomed.

Professor Neil Butt will be running the tab room.  The tournament will consist of three CEDA/ADA divisions: Open, JV and Novice (but we will collapse divisions if low numbers warrant). We would collapse JV into Varsity if numbers in JV are low.  We will use the CEDA/ADA definitions for all divisions. In each division, there will be six preliminary rounds of debate competition on the 2014-2015 CEDA resolution. The appropriate number of elimination rounds will follow, and the tournament will follow CEDA and ADA rules.

Each school should fully cover its own judging commitment.  Please use the Hired Judge Exchange on Tabroom.com.  If you have any problems, contact us.   

We will provide dinner on Friday, breakfast and lunch on Saturday, and breakfast on Sunday. Snacks will be provided throughout the tournament.

All judges are obligated through the later of the following:  a) the end of the first full elimination round or b) through one round after their teams (including teams for whom they are hired judges) are eliminated. Judges will be required to submit decisions no later than 2 hours 30 minutes from the start of the round.

If you are a new program, please let us know as soon as you decide to enter the tournament.  We will be happy to waive the entry fees for new programs and offer additional help to the extent possible.  Should anyone need airport transportation or any other help, please let us know and we will try to be of assistance.

We look forward to seeing you all in October.

Sincerely,

Ryan Galloway                                      Sean Slattery

Director of Debate                                Head Coach

(205) 726-2695                                       sslatter@samford.edu

(205) 253-4367   Cell                              

rwgallow@samford.edu                        

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION

We will be using Tabroom.com system for entries.  Since this is still a relatively new system, we will try to be understanding of any problems that arise and we hope that you will be patient with us as we learn this system and recent upgrades to it. We will use an ordinal ranking mutual preference judging (MPJ) system. Our intent is to use the Tabroom online system so that we can have faster updates, paperless ballots, etc., but please be advised that our past experience has shown that we need to have a back-up plan.  In the event that there are insurmountable problems with the online system, we will run the tournament on TRPC, which will preclude certain online functions and require converting the ordinal rankings into categories (A, B, C, etc.)

ENTRIES: Please enter through Tabroom.com.  Schools may enter any number of teams in any division. CEDA/ADA definitions for all divisions will be used. This is a sanctioned CEDA & ADA tournament.

JUDGES: Schools must provide a qualified judge for every two teams or fraction thereof entered. There will be only a small number of judges available for hire. If you can provide qualified judges for hire, please add their names to the Hired Judge Exchange on Tabroom.com. All judges are obligated 1 round after their teams (or teams from the school that hired them) are eliminated.

AWARDS: All teams reaching elimination rounds will receive awards. Half the teams in each division will break to elimination rounds through octo-finals as allowed by ADA rules.  We will not break brackets for elimination rounds. In addition, Speaker Awards will be given to the top 10 speakers in each division. Speaker Awards will be based on adjusted speaker points (dropping high and low), then total speaker points, then double adjusted speaker points, then judge variance, then ranks, then opponent points, then a random number.

FORMAT: Six preliminary rounds and the appropriate number of elimination rounds will be offered in each division. The 2014-2015 CEDA resolution will be used with 9-3-6 minute format. Preparation time will be limited to 10 minutes. Rounds I and II will be randomly paired. Round III will be paired high/high based on cumulative records. Rounds IV through VI will be paired high/low within brackets and side constraints. We will use a 30-point system for speaker points. We will allow tenths of points.

FORFEIT RULE: A 15-minute forfeit rule will be strictly enforced.

CEDA STATEMENT ON SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION: This tournament abides by the CEDA Statement on Sexual Discrimination and encourages an inclusive atmosphere for all those participating. Insofar as possible, the procedures in the CEDA Statement on Sexual Discrimination will be followed for complaints based on race, gender, or sexual orientation.

FEES: Entry fees of $50 per person (including judges, coaches, and spectators) will be collected at registration. All changes/drops at registration will result in a $15 fee.

HYBRID POLICY:  Hybrid teams will be allowed to compete in both preliminary and elimination rounds.

SAMFORD TEAMS:  Can clear and win speaker awards.  We will only enter teams in the novice division.

JUDGE PHILOSOPHY POLICY:  We strongly encourage all judges to post their judging philosophies on-line. We reserve the right to adjust the judging commitments for schools that have un-placeable judges or judges lacking posted philosophies.

DEADLINES: All teams must be entered through tabroom.com by 5:00 p.m. (CDT) on Tuesday, October 14, 2014. E-mail changes no later than 1:00 p.m. Thursday, October 16, 2014.

AIRPORT:  You should fly into the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport.  It is ten minutes from campus.

LODGING:  We have reserved a block of rooms at the Homewood TownePlace suites, which are newly renovated.  You can reserve a suite for $99/night or a room with a queen bed and sleeper sofa for $89/night.  This facility is also within half a mile of campus.  There are other hotels in the nearby area, but room space may be limited due to the Talladega races.  Call 205-943-0114 to make reservations.  The group name is Samford University Debate.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Report time/stop coaching time is 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.

Oral critiques should be concluded no later than 15 minutes after the announced decision time.

Friday, October 17th

12:30-2:00         Registration – Brooks 102

2:30      Rounds 1 and 2 Pairings Released

3:30      Round 1

6:00      Decision time for Round 1

6:00      Dinner

7:00      Round 2

9:30      Decision time for Round 2

Saturday, October 18th

7:00      Rounds 3 and 4 Pairings Released (Brooks Hall First Floor Lobby)

8:00      Round 3

10:30    Decision time for Round 3

11:00    Round 4

1:30      Decision time for Round 4

1:30      Lunch

2:00      Pairings released for Round 5

2:30      Round 5

5:00      Decision time for Round 5

5:30      Pairings released for Round 6

6:00      Round 6

8:30      Decision time for Round 6

Sunday, October 19th

7:00      Pairings released for Octafinal round

8:00      Octafinal round

11:30 (approx..) Awards ceremony  (Brooks Auditorium)

Remaining Elimination Rounds