SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software

REGISTRATION PACKET WITH UPDATED SCHEDULE: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zaHkxMj9BXYc52ztIJYjygixeB-MvIl-_ao53P0DlRM/edit?usp=sharing

Dear Speech and Debate Coach,

It is my pleasure to invite you to attend the 34^th annual Florida Blue Key Speech & Debate Tournament. This year’s tournament will be held Friday through Sunday, October 27-29, 2017. Florida Blue Key is hosted on the beautiful University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida.

Florida Blue Key is the oldest and most prestigious honorary society in the state of Florida. Beginning in the 1980s, the organization began to sponsor the Florida Blue Key Speech and Debate Tournament. Every year, the Speech and Debate Tournament student staff has been delighted to welcome the speech and debate community to our campus. With the help of our “Gator Guard” coaches and an incredible team of students, the 2017 Florida Blue Key Speech & Debate Tournament will certainly not be one to miss.

Our tournament will feature varsity competition in Lincoln Douglas, Public Forum, Policy Debate, Congressional Debate, Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking, Program Oral Interpretation, and Original Oratory and novice competition in Lincoln Douglas, Public Forum, and Policy debate.

Students may double enter or triple enter in speech events. If a student would like to triple enter he or she may not choose three events in one pattern. Students may not double or triple event in any debate events. Speech events will be divided into the following two patterns:

Pattern A- Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking, Dramatic Interpretation, Oral Interpretation, and Duo Interpretation

Pattern B- Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, Humorous Interpretation, Original Oratory, and Program Oral Interpretation.

We are excited to announce that Public Forum and Lincoln Douglas debaters will debate their respective November 2017 Debate topics. Policy debate teams will debate the 2017-18 National High School topic on Education Reform. Congressional Debate legislation will be released prior to the tournament.

Florida Blue Key is thrilled to announce that we have retained our status as a qualifying competition for the National High School Tournament of Champions (TOC) in Public Forum (octafinalists), Congressional Debate (semi-finalists), and Lincoln Douglas (quarterfinalists). Florida Blue Key is also a bid tournament for the TOC in speech events.

We highly encourage you to register early as we anticipate capacity to fill quickly. Full tournament details are posted on fbkdebate.org. Please feel free to reach out to chair@fbkdebate.org with any questions or concerns. We greatly appreciate your continued support and GO GATORS!

Sincerely,

Megan Hirsh

Florida Blue Key Speech & Debate

Tournament Chair

chair@fbkdebate.org

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Below is a link to the 2017 FBK Congressional Debate Packet.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8kGsWuD-dVuajVIbXdTMGF5UmFVWmdCWEhTUVJwamR5V29z/view?usp=sharing

Round Robin competitors received the Round Robin Congressional Debate packet via email.

Please email congress@fbkdebate.org with any questions or concerns.

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ALL STUDENTS (NOVICE AND VARSITY) will be using the NOVEMBER or NOVEMBER/DECEMBER topics for Public Forum and Lincoln Douglas. The topics are below for your convenience.

VARSITY/NOVICE PUBLIC FORUM NOVEMBER TOPIC:

Resolved: The United States should require universal background checks for all gun sales and transfers of ownership.

VARSITY AND NOVICE LINCOLN DOUGLAS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER TOPIC:

Resolved: Wealthy nations have an obligation to provide development assistance to other nations.

PLEASE IGNORE ANY DISCREPANCIES FROM THE WEBSITE AS THIS IS THE MOST UP TO DATE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR 2017 TOURNAMEN

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Schools who chose the “e-registration” option should have mailed checks to be received at the Florida Blue Key office by the registration deadline on October 14. We will be sending confirmation of receipt of those checks no later than October 18 at 12 pm. If you believe you sent a check for e-registration and do not receive a confirmation email by October 18 at 12 pm, please email finance@fbkdebate.org.

No checks will be accepted by mail after October 24th at 5 pm. All schools will be responsible for payment of invoices at live registration that will take place on Friday, October 26 from 10:00 am-2:00pm in the Rion Ballroom at the J. Wayne Reitz Union.

E-Registration FAQs

What address can checks for e-registration be mailed to?

Attn: Florida Blue Key

J. Wayne Reitz Union

P.O. Box 118505

Gainesville, FL 32601

What if I have a drop entry or missing judge fines after I already mailed my registration check?

We will be informing all schools that participate in e-registration of any underpayment no later than Wednesday, October 25 at 12 pm. Schools will be responsible for any additional payment by the payment deadline of Friday, October 27 at 2pm.

There will be no online credit or debit card payment options for schools that e-register.

Formal Registration

Formal tournament registration will take place in front of the Rion Ballroom (West) at the J. Wayne Reitz Union on the University of Florida Campus:

Museum Rd & Reitz Union Dr

University Of Florida

Gainesville, FL 32611

Registration will begin on Friday, October 27 at 10:00 am and will close at 2:00 pm to ensure timely arrival to rounds. All schools who have not participated in e-registration will be sent an invoice reminder no later than Wednesday, October 25 at 12 pm.

We strongly urge schools to pay via check at registration. We will also be accepting cash in exact denominations (we cannot promise we will be able to make change). We will be accepting credit card and debit cards, however, schools will be assessed a fee for all credit and debit card payments over $50.00.

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For division specific questions, please refer to the following Director contact information:

Forensics- Alexa Gebert, forensics@fbkdebate.org

Round Robin- Michael Puretz, roundrobin@fbkdebate.org

Public Forum- Garrett Moon, publicforum@fbkdebate.org

Lincoln Douglas- Brandon DellaBella, lincolndouglas@fbkdebate.org

Individual Events- Sam Rynor, individualevents@fbkdebate.org

Policy- Zachary Pestcoe, policy@fbkdebate.org

Congress- Morris McFadden, congress@fbkdebate.org

Operations- Tristan Sanders, operations@fbkdebate.org

Hotel Information- Adam Safran, universityservices@fbkdebate.org

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An updated tournament schedule can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rNMHg-a6aQl-BY2FGEVnv0m1WIIFQovG-dg-5pIPGuY/edit?usp=sharing

Florida Blue Key, 3160 J. Wayne Reitz Union
PO Box 118505
Gainesville, FL 32611-8505