Virtual Competition Information

VIRTUAL COMPETITION INFORMATION

Asynchronous speech and virtual competition are brand new to all of us!  Hopefully, these guidelines will help.

1) Review some helpful guides available on the TFA website.  These guides are for coaches, competitors, and judges.

- Coaches Guide - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KJuAq81IdUOvDfnVcxvSiBVUYh4qNjmtVeUlKHm7OCU/edit?usp=sharing

- Competitors Guide - https://docs.google.com/document/d/11xwSF1fZuWwhFqfwnoV4lThb27Xs3Ko2Ec2Xa7G1T8A/edit?usp=sharing

- Judges Guide https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ALcjLZrFGFXQkxD8BKisxL8AQk00gPSHiSnj6rAhsJo/edit?usp=sharing

2) The IE portion of our tournament (except Extemp) will be conducted asynchronously via Tabroom. Competitors will record a video of their performance and provide a viewable link to their coaches. Coaches will upload this link in the Entry Details section on Tabroom (click the Edit button next to each entry from the Entry tab and paste the link in the "Link to performance video" box).  If you are uploading to YouTube, students/coaches should make sure that the video privacy is set to "UNLISTED" as opposed to "PRIVATE".  Students may also record via Loom, upload a file to Google Drive, or some other method.  But, students should make sure that their videos can be accessed/viewed by those who have the link.

3) For synchronous event judging, we'll ask that all judges are available for their rounds.  Judges are expected to be in their rooms after receiving notifications from Tabroom.com.  It is the affirmative obligation of each school to troubleshoot their technology.  Judges who miss rounds (or are unavailable when sent a room from standby) are subject to fees.  ***This is so important to maintain high expectations in a virtual tournament setting.  Judges make the tournament go.  When a judge no-shows or a standby judge refuses to timely accept a ballot, the tournament (and the students) suffer.  We ask all judges, especially those hired by individual schools, to respect this requirement.

4) We are utilizing Classrooms.Cloud for our synchronous events.  You can access this site closer to the tournament at virtual.txfa.org.  The password for all zooms will be posted within the page.  Outside of each zoom, there is a box to submit questions and explain technological difficulties.  At the bottom of every screen on this site, there is also a blue circle with a white chat symbol.  This is a great way to connect with technical help and troubleshoot problems.  All extemp students must join the zoom in the browser, not the Zoom application.

5) For asynchronous event judging, we may assign judges multiple rounds at once.  It is important to review our deadlines for each round of the competition.  We are trying to give you PLENTY of time to complete your ballots with thoughtful feedback.  We ask that judges communicate with tab room officials if there is any issue with meeting a deadline.

6) Please respect the time/schedule.  We will do our very best job to make sure this tournament runs smoothly and on time.  We ask that all competitors familiarize themselves with time expectations.