10/12/2020 - IMPORTANT UPDATE

Hello!

We're about 2 weeks away from this year's Jim Fountain Classic. We're glad you're joining us and we look forward to "seeing" everybody there! This email contains some important information. Please read it carefully:

Congressional Debate:

We have extended the deadline for Congress legislation to Wednesday, October 14th at 5PM. If you wish to submit legislation (only a couple of schools have so far), it will ONLY be accepted on Tabroom, and only if it follows the templates provided. Schools may submit up to 2 bills each. Please make sure you take advantage of that opportunity.

Because the NSDA Campus has a 15 person limit on the number of students in a room, we have to change the ratio of judges to competitors in Congress. 1 judge will be required for every 4 competitors. (Please note, the fine for not having sufficient congress judges is absolutely draconian. We need judges, not $999 extra dollars.)

Judge Training:

We have added a page on jfc.tabroom.com with links to judge training videos. These videos walk through the process of setting up a Tabroom account for judges, how to interact with NSDA Campus, asynchronous video rounds, and some tips on giving good feedback. The videos also include a link to an implicit bias training from a student-led group called Beyond Resolved. These 4 students from the Arizona circuit have made a great video about how to make tournaments safer and more welcoming for people. We request that anyone who may be judging watch these videos prior to the tournament. Even if you've judged before, these have important information for navigating this new situation. If you contact us with a need for assistance at the tournament, we will first ask if you've watched the videos. If you have not done so, you will be replaced on the ballot and your team fined.

Coaches, please make sure your judges check out the judge training prior to the tournament.

Duo Videos:

We've had several inquiries about duo video submissions/due dates. We wanted to address those questions here: First, we recommend students upload their completed videos to a YouTube account and set the publication setting to "Unlisted". This makes the video unsearchable on YouTube, but will allow someone with a link to view it. YouTube links are the best way to ensure that judges can successfully view the content.

The link can be submitted along with piece information in the student's entry, which means that it will remain publicly editable until the entry deadline. After that, we will accept video links that are emailed to us until 11:59PM on October 20th. We want to get duo ballots out to folks early so the judging can be done as early as possible and we don't have to worry about those rounds as we organize the synchronous competition on Friday and Saturday.

Payment, Fees, etc.:

Payments can be made to our booster club McClintock Masque and Gavel Boosters. Their information and address is on the relevant page on the website, and checks/P.O.'s can be sent there. The appropriate W9 form (if you need it) is available for download on the website as well. We have also added the ability to pay via credit card if that is easier or more convenient for you. That link will take you to a secure page on the MHSMGB site where you can enter the relevant information and use a card to pay the bill.

Any fees incurred during the tournament for late/missing judges, etc. will be invoiced to you at your school. Please make sure that your judging requirement is covered (we do not have judges available for hire), that your judges are available and their availability marked correctly in their judge entry (we are making available "shifts" that judges can opt out of, insofar as the burden is covered. Please use those instead of just adding notes), and that you have ensured that they are on-call and available to take ballots if needed. Tabroom includes a "Replace and Fine" feature (that Richie takes special delight in clicking. He giggles. It's unseemly.), and a ballot that needs a replacement judge will incur additional fees. We don't really want your money. We want your judges.

As always, we're looking forward to having you all at the tournament! We wish we could see all of you in person, but in the meantime, we're excited to host this competition for you. We appreciate your time, your patience, and your participation.

Cheers,

Tim and Richie