SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software

To our friends in the Minnesota Forensics Community:

On behalf of the Minnesota Collegiate Forensics Association and the SMSU Forensics Team, we invite you to attend the 31st annual Minnesota State Intercollegiate Speech and Debate Championship Tournament. The tournament will be held on February 21st & 22nd, 2015 on the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota.

This tournament is open to any Minnesota community college, college or university. All eleven of the AFA-NIET events and parliamentary debate will be offered. This tournament also serves as the state qualification tournament for the Interstate Oratorical Contest. The two top finishers in oratory will represent Minnesota at the IOA tournament in April 2015. This year we will also be providing the experimental event Slam Poetry. Please see the entry description page for special notes for Extemporaneous Speaking, Oratory, Slam Poetry and Impromptu Speaking. You will find all the necessary details for the tournament in this invite letter and on the tournament website. The banquet will be held as always on Saturday evening. If you have any questions feel free to contact any member of the executive committee or the tournament hosts.

This year, the cost of the banquet for students and coaches will be $14. The coach’s luncheon meeting will be $11.50 per person.

Registration will be in front of Charter Hall Room 201 (2^nd floor).

Ballot pickup/drop off will also be in front of Charter Hall 201.

The banquet will be in Upper Conference Center on the SMSU campus.

We hope to see everyone in February. We are sure the state championship tournament will prove to be an exciting weekend of competition.

Brian Klosa, Executive Secretary (brian.klosa@southcentral.edu)

Mark Fokken, Tournament Host (Mark.Fokken@smsu.edu)

Cadi Kadlacek, (ckadlece@gustavus.edu)

Joe Kennedy (jkenned6@cord.edu)
Benjamin Walker (Benjamin.Walker@smsu.edu)

Impromptu Speaking. An impromptu speech, serious in nature, with topic selections varied by round, section by section. Topics will be determined by the executive committee but the rounds will consist of these general themes:

Speakers will have a total of 7 minutes for both preparation and speaking. Timing commences with the acceptance of the topic or item. Limited notes are permitted. In each round, enough topics will be provided so that contestants may all be in the room to observe.

Informative Speaking. An original, factual speech by the student on a realistic subject to fulfill the general aim to inform the audience. Audio-visuals may or may not be used to supplement and reinforce the message. Multiple sources should be used and cited in the development of the speech. Minimal notes are permitted. Maximum time is 10 minutes, including introduction.

Prose Interpretation. A selection of prose material of literary merit, which may be drawn from more than one source. Play cuttings are prohibited. Use of manuscript is required. Maximum time is 10 minutes, including introduction.

Slam Poetry. An original poem written by the student will be performed "slam style". Students will only need to provide a title of their poem. There will be no introductions. The use of a manuscript is optional. The student may use the same "original piece" from round to round or they may utilize new material each round. The use of programs is prohibited. Maximum time limit, including introduction of title, is three minutes.

Duo Interpretation. A cutting from any genre, humorous or serious, involving the portrayal of two or more characters presented by two individuals. This material may be drawn from any literary genre. This is not an acting event; thus, no costumes, props, lighting, etc. are to be used. Presentation is from the manuscript and the focus should be off-stage and not to each other. Maximum time limit is 10 minutes including introduction.

2. No oration may contain over 1800 words. Although no minimum word limit is established, a 1500 word limit is suggested. Orations will not be timed.

3. For the purpose of definition, quoted words are those written or spoken by a person other than the orator. Such quoted material shall be limited to 20% of the total number of words in the oration.

Program Oral Interpretation. A program of thematically-linked selections of literary merit, chosen from two of the three recognized genres of competitive interpretation (prose/poetry/drama). A substantial portion of the total time must be devoted to each of the two genres used in the program. Use of manuscript is required. Maximum time limit is 10 minutes including introduction and/or transitions.

After Dinner Speaking. An original humorous speech by the student, designed to exhibit sound speech composition, thematic coherence, direct communicative public speaking skills and good taste. The speech should not resemble a night club, an impersonation, or comic dialogue. Audio-visual aids may or may not be used to supplement and reinforce the message. Minimal notes are permitted. Maximum time limit is 10 minutes.

Communication Analysis. An original speech by the student designed to offer an explanation and/or evaluation of a communication event such as a speech, speaker, movement, poem, poster, film, campaign, etc. through the use of rhetorical principles. Audio-visual aids may or may not be used to supplement and reinforce the message. Manuscripts are permitted. Maximum time limit is 10 minutes.

Drama Interpretation. A cutting which represents one or more characters from a play or plays of literary merit. This material may be drawn from stage, screen, or radio. Use of manuscript is required. Maximum time limit is 10 minutes including introduction.

Poetry Interpretation. A selection or selections of poetry of literary merit, which may be drawn from more than one source. Play cuttings are prohibited. Use of manuscript is required. Maximum time limit is 10 minutes including introduction.

Extemporaneous Speaking. Contestants will be given three topics in the general area of current events, choose one, and have 30 minutes to prepare a speech that is the original work of the student. The third round of questions will be questions pertaining to Minnesota taken from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota Post (http://www.minnpost.com), and Minnesota Public Radio. Speakers are required to use notes. Maximum time limit for the speech is 7 minutes. Students will speak in the listed order. Posting of topics will be staggered.

Parliamentary Debate. We will offer 4 preliminary rounds, breaking to octafinals if entries warrant. NPDA Guidelines will be followed with the following exceptions: No warm room will be provided. No coaching or team preparation during the 15 minutes of preparation time.

Round 1 of Parli will be a Minnesota-based resolution. All other resolutions will be created by the executive committee.

Marshall has a variety of hotel options to suit whatever level of amenities is preferred. No block has been reserved and there is no “tournament hotel.” A list of suggested hotels appears here for your convenience:

Ramada Inn (2 blocks from campus and Marshall’s only full-service hotel) – (507)532-4089

Competitors may enter up to two events in each grouping with the following exceptions:

Each judge covers 6 IE slots or 2 debate teams. Schools will be limited to 4 judges unless there are mitigating circumstances. Please contact Brian if you have any questions.

Please use the entry form on the MCFA website (http://mnforensics.org) to send in your entry. Save the file as stateentry2015-(your school name).xls. There are detailed instructions in the spreadsheet.

Several schools have typically entered after the previous entry deadline due to team meetings and other considerations. In exchange for making the entry deadline later, we will need some sense of each team’s number of students and coaches in order to give the tournament host the counts she needs for the banquet and the luncheon.

Thus, while early entries are always gratefully appreciated, we will try the following system this year:

Sweepstakes: Sweepstakes awards will be given to the top schools in the following areas:

Sweepstakes and quadrathon points will be determined from the following formula:

Note: This is not the same as ADA requests; those should be filtered to both Brian and Mark . This text is for schools that have a special campus-related need in conjunction with a particular entry. The following procedure was approved by the 2013 business meeting:

Students and coaches occasionally may have additional requests that accompany speeches given at the state tournament. Accordingly, the state tournament has the following procedure to make these requests:

1 week - if additional information is needed (say, from an external provider on campus)

Note: Due to when the schedule came out, we’ll take any such requests through February 1.

Ben Walker
Email address: benjamin.walker@smsu.edu
Phone number: 706 844 2730