During Tournament (Expectations)

1. The camera of judges and debaters should be on while a student is speaking and during RFDs. Students should be able to see who they are communicating with in a communicative activity. All judges’ web cameras should always be at eye level while judging. If a judge wants the camera off during prep time/decision time that is acceptable.

2. Student behavior - Students should be courteous and respectful with other students, coaches, and judges. Do not engage in behaviors that will negatively affect your opponents during the round. Excessive disruptive behavior should be reported directly to the tab staff by the relevant responsible judge.

3. Connection issues – Internet connection issues are inevitable in an online world. The question is how best to resolve those issues in the most equitable manner. In a preferred scenario the debaters would notice if a judge dropped off because they would have been attempting to make eye connect with them. 

If a connectivity issue DOES happen for a debater or judge, a few things should happen:

A) As soon as the connection issue happens – stop the debate and send a help ticket immediately.

B) Once connectivity is restored, the speech will start where the judge or team drops out of the call. If a student needs to redo the majority (or all) of a speech, that is a preferred method of resolving the missed information.

Certainly, everything should be done that can be done to minimize connection issues in advance (sitting closer to the router, using an Ethernet cable etc) but if a loss of connection DOES occur, this is the process we will use to address it moving forward.