Bettendorf is proud to announce the Bulldog Shuffle on Saturday, January 23^rd, 2016.  This is meant to be another last minute chance to get some points before Districts and get some final practice in before we figure out who qualifies to Nationals.  We hope you can join us!  Thank you for your continued support.

The Bulldog Invitational will host the following events:

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

All NSDA rules and time limits will be followed.  Lincoln-Douglas will have four (4) rounds of debate.  LD will give awards to the top three (3) students. 

Lincoln-Douglas debate will use the January/February topic, “Resolved: In the United States, private ownership of handguns ought to be banned.” 

Policy Debate

All NSDA rules and time limits will be followed.  Policy debate will have four (4) rounds of debate.  Policy will give awards to the top three (3) teams. 

Policy debate will use the 2015-2016 topic, “Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially curtail its domestic surveillance.”

Public Forum Debate

Public Forum debate will be offered, all NSDA rules and time limits will be followed.  Public Forum debate will have four (4) rounds of debate.  Awards will be given out to the top three (3) teams. 

Public Forum will use the February topic, which won’t be released until January 1^st.  As soon as it is announced, I will post the topic here.

Individual Events

Seven (7) events will be offered this year: dramatic interpretation, duo interpretation, extemporaneous speaking, humorous interpretation, informative speaking, program oral interpretation, and original oratory.  All NSDA rules and time limits will be followed.  Students may single or double enter in any of the IE events; each entry will be charged as a separate entry.  There will be three  (3) rounds before breaking to finals.  Awards will be given to the top three (3) in each category.

Student Congress

All NSDA rules and time limits will apply to Student Congress.  Presiding Officers will not be scored in the session, although they will receive gavels for their participation.  Each school may submit a maximum of four (4) pieces of legislation.  Bettendorf also strongly suggests that each school submits a minimum of one piece of legislation.  All legislation needs to be received by January 15^th, 2016.  These bills/resolutions should be sent by e-mail to Impulse411@hotmail.com.  Legislative packets will then be e-mailed to each participating school by January 18^th, 2016.  Awards will be given to the top three (3) speakers.

Judging Requirements

We ask that all schools do their best to fulfill their judging requirement.  Please be sure to include all judge restrictions such as school blocks or division restrictions.  Schools are required to provide judging up to ONE (1) round past their teams’ final drop.  We reserve the right to use available judges in other judging pools, as necessary.  Judging requirements are as follows:

Lincoln-Douglas:         1 judge for every 3 competitors or every part thereof.

Policy:                         1 judge for every 2 teams or every part thereof.  Judge obligation must be fulfilled.

Public Forum:              1 judge for every 3 competitors or every part thereof.

Individual Events:        1 judge for every 6 competitors or every part thereof.

Student Congress:        1 judge for every 6 competitors or every part thereof.

A very limited amount of judges will be available for hire at the following rates:

Lincoln-Douglas:        $100

Policy:                         Unavailable; must be covered by school.  Varsity students are allowed to judge.

Public Forum:             $75

Individual Events:       $75

Congress:                    $75

The last day to hire judges will be January 15^th, 2016.

Fees

All checks should be made payable to “Bettendorf Speech/Debate Team.”  Payment must be received prior or at registration.  The following entry fees will apply:

Varsity Lincoln-Douglas:       $15/entry

Novice Lincoln-Douglas:        $15/entry

Public Forum:                                     $30/entry

Individual Events:                   $12.50/entry, except Duo which is $25/entry

Student Congress:                   $12.50/entry

Registration Deadlines

All entries should be submitted to Impulse411@hotmail.com.  The following dates should be observed:

January 15^th  – Deadline for Congress legislation

January 15^th  – Deadline for hired judges

January 18^th  – Deadline for all entries – strongly encourage an early entry, helps us immensely – thanks!

January 18^th  – Last day to drop entries with no charge

Tentative Schedule

We are doing our best to maximize the amount of rounds each student can participate in and are trying to start late enough in the day to make travel a possibility for our West Iowa friends.  We will accelerate this schedule whenever possible. Please do not leave the building for any reason. If there are any changes to the schedule, you will be the first to know. 

Speech Schedule

9:00am                        Registration

9:15am                        Judge Meeting

9:15am                        Extemp Draw – Round 1

9:45am                        IEs Round 1

10:50am          Extemp Draw – Round 2

11:20am          IEs Round 2

12:15pm          LUNCH

12:45pm          Extemp Draw – Round 3

1:15pm                        IEs Round 3

2:20pm                        Extemp Draw – Finals

2:50pm                        IEs Final Round

4:30pm                        Awards

Debate Schedule

9:00am                        Registration

9:15am                        Judge Meeting

9:45am                        LD/Policy/PF Round 1

                        Congress Convenes

11:20am          LD/Policy/PF Round 2

12:15pm          LUNCH

12:45pm          LD/Policy/PF Round 3

                        Congress Reconvenes

2:20pm                        LD/Policy/PF Round 4

4:30pm                        Awards

Bettendorf is very excited to offer the Bulldog Invitational and we look forward to welcoming you to our tournament.  We hope that you can all make it. 

Sincerely,