Dear Speech Team Coach,

We are pleased to invite you to our annual Rolling Meadows Varsity Speech Tournament to be held VIRTUALLY on January 16, 2021.  As activities and sports get cancelled and postponed, we as a speech community are fortunate to be able to continue this incredible activity, and as we get deeper into the season, we look forward to hosting you and your students for a fun and competitive day!  Here is the information you need to know.

 

SCHEDULE

This will be a standard 3-round preliminary tournament, with a final round.  The preliminary rounds will be run asynchronously Thursday and Friday, with final rounds being run synchronously on Saturday morning.  Finals in HDA and DDA, however, will run asynchronously.  Competitors will have until 8 am on Saturday to post their recorded video.  This could be the same video that was posted for prelims, or it could be a new recording, filmed after prelims to be used for finals.

**Please have all recorded videos posted to SpeechWire by 8 pm on Wednesday, January 13.  Judges will have until 8 pm on Friday, January 15 to complete and post ballots.  We will break and post finals as soon as possible after this, on Friday night.  Finals and next-ins will take place at around 10 am on Saturday.  We hope to run awards live on YouTube at 12:30.

Videos must be submitted via an accessible link.  The videos should be unedited and filmed using basic equipment (i.e. iPad, phone).  Students should think about using a basic background and test sound quality.  Judges will be instructed to focus on the speaker and ignore the set up.

We are tentatively planning on using NSDA Campus for finals, but we will ultimately use whatever platform the State Series will use, once that has been officially decided.

 

ENTRIES

Triple-entries will be allowed, but please make sure your students can handle the possibility of being triple-entered live on Saturday.

 

AWARDS

While we will not have our traditional trophies this year, we are planning on getting awards to all event finalists, as well as Next-In finalists.  In lieu of team trophies, donations will be made on behalf of the schools placing in the top 5, based on FINAL ROUNDS (max of 2 finalists per team).  Note that HDA and DDA will not count toward team points.

 

RULES

Radio: Radio packets will be released to competitors on the afternoon of Tuesday, January 12.  Radio will prep again for finals on Saturday morning.  Judges will be encouraged to track the time for speakers, beginning with the first word spoken by the competitor.  The competitor should show the stopwatch on screen prior to starting, begin performing, and then show the stopwatch at the end.

Extemp & Impromptu: Topics will be released on the afternoon of Tuesday, January 12.  Extemp will prep again for finals on Saturday morning.   Prep time should not be recorded.

 

ENTRY FEES AND JUDGES

Please make checks payable to Rolling Meadows High School

1 entry in each event (up to 14 slots) = $100, and please bring 1 judge per 7 entries, rounding up (max of 2)

2 entries in each event (15-28 slots) = $150, and please bring 1 judge per 7 entries, rounding up (max of 4)

3 entries in each event (29-42 slots) = $200, and please bring 5 judges

Additional entries = $250, and please bring 6 or more judges

 

Please email me at mike.concialdi@d214.org if you have any questions or concerns.  You can also reach me at (847) 718-5725.  I’m sure I forgot something, so stay tuned for more emails!  We look forward to seeing you in January!

 

Sincerely,

Mike Concialdi and the Rolling Meadows High School Speech Team

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