The Golden Gate Speech Association is hosting our first Congress and Parliamentary Debate tournament of the school year at Miramonte High School on Saturday September 28, 2024.

ADDRESS: 750 Moraga Way, Orinda, CA 94563

ELIGIBILITY: This tournament is open to all registered GGSA schools. Schools must have completed and submitted the league’s membership form for the new academic year. Link to CHSSA and GGSA registration:
https://chssa.org/registration/

ONLINE & ONSITE REGISTRATIONS & FEES: In addition to online Tabroom registration, coaches and judges must also check in by 8:00 AM on the morning of the tournament. Entry fees are $15.00 per student. Make checks payable to GGSA and mailed to:

GGSA
c/o Lowell Alumni Association
PO Box 320009
San Francisco, CA 94132

JUDGES APPRECIATION & EXPECTATIONS:Thank you for joining our all-volunteer organization in donating your time and energy to empower youth through speaking and listening!

*All judges must be entered on Tabroom and be familiar with the judge instructions and resources on the www.ggsa.orgwebsite; links to event-specific resources are on right side bar.

*All judges must have Tabroom accounts unique to them, with cell phone numbers and email addresses.

*Please have access to a fully charged device(s)--laptop, tablet, and/or smart phone--to use to complete electronic Tabroom ballots. Good to have a backup. Laptop and tablet are better as they are easier to use, but it is still possible to use a smart phone.

*Optional But Encouraged: Please briefly fill out the paradigm in a 2-3 sentences or phrases, i.e. your judging experience and philosophy if any, so Tab staff can better support and place you at this and future tournaments. You'll find the "Paradigm" button on the right-hand side in Tabroom, under "Judging."

*Please address the above matters in advance of the tournament. Dealing with them on Saturday morning delays the start of the tournament and causes everyone to go home later.

COACHES/CHAPERONES EXPECTATIONS
*All competitors and judges must have their Tabroom accounts linked to your school. Please see thisvideo for the procedure.

*When you enter your judges, be sure that you do so using the same email address that judges use for their Tabroom account.

*Make sure that all judges know the email address and password for their Tabroom account. It is a problem when coaches or students create a Tabroom account for a parent judge.

*Please make sure your judges and their technology are ready to judge. In the event of a judge being unable to judge an assigned round, Tab staff reserves the right to substitute the coach from the school as the judge for that round.

*Per league rules, each school is responsible for providing an official non-judging coach/chaperone listed on your GGSA Membership Form and Tabroom in addition to meeting your judge quota. All coaches will be assigned tournament duties. Coaching assignments will be sent out to schools once registration is completed. If you are sending a coach or an official chaperone other than the one listed on Tabroom, please complete the second coach contact information section on the "general" tab when registering entries.

*Divisions: Coaches may exercise their discretion to place a debater in Novice, JV or Varsity. GGSA bylaw: "A novice debater is one who 1) is in their first year of debate and 2) has not finished a GGSA debate tournament with an undefeated record...A team with an undefeated record in Novice or JV must move up to the next division for future tournaments."

*Mavericking and three-person teams are permissible only in Novice or JV, but it is more as an exception than a general practice. It is usually employed to solve a problem, such as a partner getting ill at the last minute. Schools should not have more than one such instance in the permitted division. Neither option is allowed for Varsity because they lead to an unclear, unfair path to state qualifiers.

*New AI Policy: Generative artificial intelligence should not be cited as a source; while something like ChatGPT may be used to guide students to articles, ideas, and sources, the original source of any quoted or paraphrased evidence must be available if requested. Students are prohibited from quoting or paraphrasing text directly from generative AI sources like ChatGPT in events in which speeches must be the original created work of a competitor.

EVENT-SPECIFIC CONTACT

Vy Linh Nguyen--Parli Director, vnguyen@headroyce.org

Courtney Fradelis--Congress Director, cfradelis@srusd.net

CONGRESS SPECIFICS

GGSA Congress 1 Legislation:Congress 1 Legislation 2024

Presiding Officer Requirements: PO are nominated by the coach. The PO meeting will be at 8:30 a.m. before Round 1.

PO Sign Up Google Form:PO Sign up Form

PO meetings at 8:30am in Room 223 for Senate and Room 224 for House.

Judging Requirements: One judge for every 10 entries in House; one judge for every 4 entries in Senate. Judges will be pre-paneled. Extra judges or judges not entered in advance will be placed in a “reserve pool.” Judge names must accompany entry. If your judge has a different last name than their child please note that in your judge entry notes.

House or Senate?: Remember that students who qualified for the Senate in the past will remain in the Senate this year. Varsity debaters should also be entered in the Senate. House should be reserved for novices and less experienced competitors. Students who qualified to the Senate as a speaker may not remain in the House as a presiding officer.

Request for Legislation for GGSA Congress 2: All schools wishing to submit legislation for consideration for the next GGSA Congress tournament in November, please email legislation to GGSA Congress Director by September 28th.

PARLI SPECIFICS

Divisions: Coaches may exercise their discretion to place a debater in Novice, JV or Varsity. GGSA bylaw: "A novice debater is one who 1) is in their first year of debate and 2) has not finished a GGSA debate tournament with an undefeated record...A team with an undefeated record in Novice or JV must move up to the next division for future tournaments."

Novice Rules: Novice teams have 30 minutes of prep time, with 5 minute constructive speeches and 3 minute rebuttals (555533)

Judging Requirements: Please provide one judge for every three teams, or fraction thereof (e.g. 4 teams = two judges).)

*See details of new pilot evidence rules on judging tournament page on right side bar.