Logistics and Details

Entry Fees

If you have yet to pay your entry fee, please do so online through this link:

"Pay registration fees"

Any unpaid entries will be ineligible to compete on Saturday.

Judges

Judges must be over the age of 18 and must be out of high school for at least two years in order to be eligible to judge. 

Procedure for online debates

Because of the different time limits for this format, we were not able to use our own online debate platform. However, we are very confident that using Google Hangouts will work for everyone involved. An account is free to create and one can be created solely for use in this event. Pairing notices will be sent through Tabroom to these accounts. 

If at any time a problem occurs, the students and/or the judges can enter the lobby. If Hangouts fails, the debates can be organized through the lobby. If at anytime students, judges, or coaches have a question, they can enter the lobby to discuss the issue with a tournament administrator. The lobby will be staffed all day. 

All ballots will be entered through the Tabroom online system so all judges must have a registered account. Please be sure to get this done prior to the tournament. Ballot instructions are available here: 

Coaches, please be sure that judges have access to this document for reference even though ballots will be recorded through Tabroom.  

Addressing technical difficulties

Regardless of the platform, there is always a risk of dropped connections, lags or other issues. Judges are to use their best judgment in evaluating the situation providing time to students who have a faulty connection and need to restart or repeat a portion of their speech. As the primary platform is a Google Hangout, we expect that everyone will have sufficient bandwidth to conduct an audio only debate if video presents a consistent problem for a user. All users should try to turn off video and try an audio only debate. If a student does not arrive or can not participate in the debate, please enter the lobby to try to address the issue. 

If you have any other questions regarding the competition that are not addressed here or in the documents provided, please email a reply to this message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. 

Thanks again and we look forward to seeing you (virtually) on Saturday!