Students may be double-entered in speech, so if a student is not present when it is their turn to perform, move to the next student and allow the missing student to perform when they join the room. If a student is having technical issues that prevent them from performing, move to the next student and allow the student with tech issues to perform next. If a student has not arrived by the end of the round, please stay in the room and email lauren.burdt@speechanddebate.org to check if the student is on their way. All students may stay in the room and watch each other's performances while muted. 

When judges have watched all performers, they will rank students 1-7 (1 being the best) and submit their ballot. They will be asked to confirm your ranks. After the judge has submitted and confirmed their ranks, they will click the "View/Edit Feedback" button to write comments for each competitor. Written feedback should be provided so students and coaches can learn how to improve in the future.  A ballot with all glowing feedback does not make a student better. In Oratory/Informative - what could be more clear? How could their delivery be enhanced? In Interp, how could their characterization or blocking be improved? Did something not make sense? Every performance is worthy of praise and constructive feedback.

For Extemp: Students will go to the room labeled "Extemp Draw" in NSDA Campus at the designated time on the schedule (click your email in the upper right corner to see the room). Students will be given questions through the chat and stay in the room with their camera on and microphone muted for prep. They will be released to go to their competition room by the proctor. Judges in Extemp should not expect for students to join the room until right at round start time. Only one student will join at a time, and there will be a few minutes between speakers. Students may stay in the room to listen to other speakers after they have finished.

For Spontaneous Speaking: Prompt draw will occur in the competition room and be facilitated by judges. Judges will find a link to a google doc on their online Tabroom ballot. Judges will open the google doc and find 3 different prompts for each speaker position listed. The prompts will be different each round. The judge will copy/paste the 3 prompts for speaker 1 into the chat. Speaker 1 will choose a prompt and begin preparing with their camera on and microphone off in the room. Students can use up to 3 min of prep. They may speak for up to 5 min. Using less prep does not mean more speaking time. After speaker 1 has finished speaking, the judge will copy/pate the 3 prompts for speaker 2 into the chat, and so on.

Debate Procedures: 

If you are missing a competitor 15 minutes after the round start time that is posted, please alert lauren.burdt@speechanddebate.org and stay in the room. Forfeits can only be made by tab, not by judges. 

After the debate, judges will pick the winning side/entry, assign speaker points on a scale of 25-30 (the scale can be found on the ballot), and submit their ballot. They will be asked to confirm their decision. AFTER the ballot has been submitted, the judge is encouraged to give brief oral feedback. Disclosure of the decision is permitted but not required. After giving brief oral comments, the judge will click the "View/Edit Feedback" button to write comments for each side. Written feedback should be provided so students and coaches can learn how to improve in the future; do not write "oral critique" on a ballot even if feedback was given to the debaters after the round. You should write your reason for decision, but you should ALSO write about how students can improve their strategy, what mistakes they made that made it harder for them to win or made the round closer than it needed to be?

For Public Forum:  The coin flip will be conducted through Tabroom.com. All Public Forum rounds are flip for sides. 15 minutes before the round start time, Tabroom will flip a coin for each debate. Competitors and their coaches will receive a notification from Tabroom saying whether they won the flip. The winning team can choose either their side or their speaker position by logging in to their Tabroom account and clicking the Current tab. The flip winners will have 3 minutes to make a selection in Tabroom. Coaches can also make flip selections on behalf of their students via the dashboard. Once the winner chooses, the flip losers will be notified to log in to Tabroom and make the remaining selection. If the flip winner does not choose within 3 minutes, the flip loser then has 3 minutes to make a selection. If both teams miss their 3 minute window, then anyone will be able to choose, first come first served, for 3 minutes. If nobody chooses by the end of that period, Tabroom will randomly select who speaks on which side in which position. It is all done by the computer and the tab room does not have the ability to extend these times. The tab room will not edit any flip results.

Congress Procedures: 

Throughout the session, judges will assign speech points on a scale of 1-6 (6 being the best) for each speech that is given. If Student A gives 3 speeches in a round, that student must be assigned three separate speech scores on the Speeches tab of the judge's ballot. At the end of the round, judges will rank all students 1-9 (1 being the best). When ranking and scoring, consider various aspects of speeches: analysis, support of issues through evidence & reasoning, relating of speech to previous speakers, and delivery. Also consider the student's demonstration of knowledge of parliamentary procedure, decorum, attitude toward colleagues, and ability to cross examine. Presiding Officers should be ranked as well. There is no specific PO ballot. Even though the PO will not be giving speeches, provide comments for the PO on the online ballot, rank the PO with the rest of the speakers, and assign points based upon how well the PO exercises their duties: parliamentary procedure, command of the House, fairness, leadership, etc. Judges will not have the ability to edit feedback for students who do not receive a speech score in the round after the ballot has been submitted. If a student asks great questions but does not speak (and thus, does not receive a speech score), judges must write feedback for that student before submitting their ballot.

For Parliamentarians: Parlis are denoted with a gavel next to their name on the pairing. Parlis will stay in one chamber through the two sessions. Parlis will only submit one ballot at the end of the second session, ranking the overall performance of each student. Parlis do not assign speech scores. Parlis cannot edit written feedback after the ballot has been submitted, so they should work on written feedback throughout each round.