SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software

1. All teams will be assigned a meeting room. Check in with your students here between rounds. Consider requiring them to meet here to “ride the bus” to the event and “ride the bus” home so you can make sure they are present and debrief. If a coach is not judging they must remain in their team room so the tournament can find them.

2. Team GroupMe for quick communication with coaches if there’s an issue finding a room, judge is missing, etc.

3. Set up a method of communication with debate partners. You may want to be on a call on a phone separate from the video call. Make sure each is muted at appropriate times.

4. Maximize your internet by removing as many connected devices as possible and closing out as many programs on your call device as you can.

5. Familiarize yourself with the video conferencing software. Look for shortcuts and hotkeys. Use gallery mode to see all participants.

6. Do several practice recordings and/or zoom performances for events and practice rounds for debate

a. Have someone else watch and give you feedback on the recording or be present on zoom calls to test connections

b. Everything in a recording needs to be bigger and louder than you think it does

c. Look into using an external microphone to improve sound. Listen back to recordings to see how the acoustics are and adjust accordingly.

d. Clarify with those in the house that during recordings/rounds they need to be as quiet as possible.

e. Think about camera angle and frame so you are capturing your full performance effectively.

Two of our team officers – Grace Hu and Anna Reis – have compiled a virtual tournament handbook that we are continuously updating as we learn throughout the year. Please feel welcome to share this document with your team.

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