Tournament Information and Logistics

Capital City Extemporaneous Speaking
Round Robin

Date / Location
Friday, February 10th - Saturday, February 11th
Hendrickson High School in Pflugerville

Format
The tournament will consist of six preliminary rounds, each judged by 2 individuals. Each preliminary round will consist of four sections with four competitors in each section. When sectioning, we will try to make sure a competitor is not in the same section with the same competitor repeatedly. People from the same school may compete in the same section.

There will be a three-minute cross-examination period after each speech in every round. The last speaker will cross-examine the first speaker, then return to draw. The first speaker will cross-examine the second speaker, and so on. To allow time for this process, draw will run with twelve-minute intervals between each speaker.

After tabulating the ranks from the preliminary rounds, the four competitors with the lowest accumulated scores will move on to the final exhibition round, judged by a four-judge panel with a fifth rank determined by an average ranking of the next 4 ranking competitors.

Judging
Each school attending is required to provide one EXTEMP-QUALIFIED* judge. Schools may “buy out” of their judging obligation, but must notify Kirsten Nash or Joseph Uhler in order to do so. The “buyout” is $100. The necessary remaining judges will be hired from a pool of former competitors, college competitors, and coaches.

*Extemp-qualified judge means that the individual regularly judges and is extremely well-versed in the rules, expectations, and norms of the event. We request that each judge also have viewed the NSDA Cultural Competence Training Video. We prefer coaches/adults who have a passion for coaching extemporaneous speakers.

Topics
Topics will be written (and rounds will be themed) with the following subject areas in mind:
International Relations (Triads) (FX)
Regional Conflicts and Security Issues (DX/FX)
US Foreign Policy (DX)
US Economy (DX)
US Politics (DX)
Major International Players (Powerful Nations and those on the rise) (FX)
Mystery Round