SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software

TAB STAFF CONTACTS: if there any issues you can ALWAYS Come to the judge lounge and someone will be there at all times. For event specific things you can also TEXT DO NOT CALL the following numbers. And ONLY do so once the tournament has begun:

ALL ENTRIES WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY POPULATED INTO YOUR ACCOUNT UPON VERIFICATION. PLEASE CHECK THE ENTRIES AND LET US KNOW IF ANYTHING IS MISSING OR INCORRECT

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am pleased to provide the following information regarding the 2021 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT. The 570 students who qualify for this event will compete on SAT. MARCH 6TH & SUN. MARCH 7TH This event will be held at Virtually via SpeechWire and NSDA Campus

Only students who have qualified through the Regional Tournament process may compete at the State Championship. When the results from your region’s qualifying tournament have been certified, coaches of schools that qualified students to the tournament will be able to begin editing student entries via speechwire.com. All results from regionals will be automatically populated from the regional tournaments. However, coaches must verify entries for accuracy.

Please read the information in this invitation carefully. You must adhere to ALL deadlines—failure to do so will result in the penalties listed. We are committed to running an efficient and on-time event, but we will only be successful if all member schools follow the published requirements.

Regional Directors will be sending their results to the League President. We will then import the results from www.speechwire.com for the 2021 Varsity State Championship. All regions are using SpeechWire this year to tabulate. The League President will verify entries on the website from the list of qualifiers supplied by the Regional Directors.

If there is a problem with your entry, you will be contacted by the League President.

The By Laws and Standing Rules of Florida Forensic League, Inc. shall govern the operation of this event. All coaches and students are responsible for reviewing the rules in the Governing Documents. Questions about rules should be addressed to the President, who serves as the Tournament Director for the State Championship.

Since the 2021 State Tournament is virtual, all students will be using laptops or tablets and will be connected to the internet. During debate rounds computers or other electronic devices may not be used to receive information (other than evidence exchange between competitors/judges/partners – during the round) from any source (coaches or assistants included) outside the virtual room in which the competition occurs. To be clear - During debate rounds, the use of e-mail, instant messaging, or other means of receiving information from sources outside the competition room are prohibited. (This does not prohibit communication between debate partners during prep time). Contestants found to have violated the provisions above may face the following actions: forfeit the round of competition and receive zero points or disqualification from the tournament and forfeiture of all rounds. In terms of extemporaneous speaking competitors may use the internet during prep time but there may not be any use of e-mail, instant messaging, or other means of receiving information from sources outside the prep or competition room

Availability of Evidence: The FFL will be following the NSDA Rules in regards to evidence in debate events.

In Extemporaneous Speaking, students will be permitted to use WiFi. They must report on time to the virtual Extemp Prep Room and follow all instructions given to them by the Extemp Prep Room personnel.

Policy Debate: Prep time is 8 minutes per team. The tournament will use the 2020-2021

Resolved: The United States federal government should enact substantial criminal justice reform in the United States in one or more of the following: forensic science, policing, sentencing.

Lincoln Douglas: Prep time is 4 minutes per debater. The tournament will use the NSDA March/April topic.

Public Forum: Prep time is 3 minutes per team. The tournament will use the NSDA March topic.

Resolved: On balance, the benefits of creating the United States Space Force outweigh the harms

Student Congress: Each qualifier to the State Championship may submit one (1) piece of legislation for the agenda. Legislation must follow FFL format (see FFL Congress Manual, Appendix B for details) and emailed as a Microsoft Word attachment to Paul Gaba (paul.gaba@palmbeachschools.org). Legislation that is not properly formatted, not submitted as a Microsoft Word attachment, or not received by the deadline will not be placed on the agenda. Bills are due by 4 pm Monday, February 22nd and legislation will be released to schools via the website by Wednesday, February 24th.

Speech Events: Please remember that a copy of each student’s script/oration, and proof of publication when applicable, should be available in case of protest. Script information must be available on www.speechwire.com. Students are no longer required to use the same piece at the State Championship that they used at their Regional Qualifying Tournament. Should a student wish to change their piece, the coach needs to input the new information online via SpeechWire.

SCHOOL-SANCTIONED ADULT

A school-approved adult must accompany students to the tournament (yes even a virtual tournament) and remain “on site” for the entire competition. If the school-approved adult is NOT the Head Coach or Assistant Coach on record with the league, then a letter signed by the school principal and printed on school stationery MUST be submitted by March 1, 2021 via email to Carol Cecil – ccecil@dadeschools.net The letter needs to specifically name the adult in charge. The penalty for failing to submit this document is disqualification of all contestants from the school involved.

To Be Clear Regarding A Coach or School Sanctioned Adult Being Present – If we need contact said individual – and they are not reachable – we will fine the school $25 per instance - whomever is responsible for the team during the Varsity State Tournament needs to be available via zoom/cell/text and after the 3^rd instance of not be able to contact the coach or school sanctioned adults we remove the team from the tournament. If the coach/school sanctioned adult is non-responsive and this involves a protest against their school the protest(s) will automatically be ruled upon if the adult can’t be found.

IMPORTANT DATES & DEADLINES

Saturday, February 06: Timacuan, Macaw, Gulf Coast, Art Deco, Panhandle, Hurricane & Gullah Geechee Regional Tournaments

Monday, February 08: Deadline for all Regional Directors to submit tournament results

Wednesday, February 10: Confirmation of Entry – Officers will begin checking entries

Monday, February 22: Student Congress legislation deadline – send bills to Paul Gaba (paul.gaba@palmbeachschools.org) by 4 pm.

last day to drop without penalty beyond forfeiture of entry fees

Friday, February 26: Last day to drop without double drop fee

Last day to submit TD/LD judge philosophies to website (https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml) - link is available on the FFL website as well

Last day to change judge names without penalty

SpeechWire changes to view only – no further changes permitted by coaches. Changes must be emailed to League President, Carol Cecil –

ccecil@dadeschools.net

Wednesday, March 03: Judge strikes will be released. Strikes must be completed on Speechwire.

ENTRY FEES

SCHOOLS SHOULD MAIL FEES OR PAY ONLINE – INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS SHOULD NOT BE MAILING FEES TO THE TREASURER

Make All Fees Payable To: FLORIDA FORENSIC LEAGUE

Student Fee: $20.00 per student

(TD, PF, Duo count as 2; Group = same as # of students in group; double entries count as 1 only)

Policy Judge Fee = $60.00 flat fee for schools with qualified policy debaters; to

be used to hire additional judges

***All fees will be calculated at the time of announcement of qualifiers in each region. Therefore, all drops – regardless of when reported – must pay the entry fee.***

PENALTY FEES

Drops until 5:00 pm on Fri., February 26th forfeiture of entry fee

Drops 5:00 pm Fri., Feb. 26th - 5:00 pm Wed, Mar. 3rd : forfeiture of entry fee +

$20.00 drop fee

From 5:00 pm Wed., Mar. 3rd to the start of registration, NO CHANGES will be accepted. This window will be used for e-registration, and fee re-calculation. Any changes submitted during this window will be IGNORED and must be reported via e-registration on Thursday March 4th.

Drops after 5:00 pm Wed., Mar. 3rd

– 10:00 am Thurs. Mar. 4th : forfeiture of entry fee +

$40.00 drop fee

Drops made after 10:00 am Thurs. Mar. 4h : forfeiture of entry fee +

$50.00 drop fee

Unreported drop discovered at tournament: forfeiture of entry fee + $75.00 drop fee

Yes, these drop fees are punitive. Drops, especially those just before the tournament, interfere with our ability to run an on-time event. It is also unfair to the alternates when drops occur too late for them to participate.

Judge changes after 5:00 pm on Wed., Mar. 3rd: $10.00 hassle fee per change

Missed judge calls: $20.00 per instance

At the State Championship Tournament judge drops at registration will incur a fine of $200. Hidden judge drops at the State Championship Tournament will incur a fine of $250 plus the $25 fine per round they were assigned and missed.

DEBATE JUDGE CHANGE FEES

In the event that a school changes or drops a judge after the strike sheet for debate has been published, the school making the change shall be required to pay a “Hired Judge” Fee of $200.

JUDGES

The following judge quotas and requirements are in effect:

***ALL SCHOOLS MUST DESIGNATE 1 JUDGE THAT CAN JUDGE WORLD*** SCHOOLS DEBATE EVEN IF THE SCHOOL DOES NOT QUALIFY A WORLD SCHOOLS TEAM

***ALL SCHOOLS ARE REQUIRED TO DESIGNATE 1 JUDGE WHO CAN*** JUDGE STUDENT CONGRESS, EVEN IF THE SCHOOL HAS NO CONGRESS ENTRIES.

Policy Debate: 1 judge for every 2 teams or fraction thereof

***Note: By rule, all Policy judges must have heard a minimum of twelve rounds on this year’s topic. Policy judges must submit a judge philosophy on the website by Fri., 2/26. Go to: https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml

Lincoln Douglas Debate: 1 judge for every 2 debaters or fraction thereof

***LD judges must submit a judge philosophy on the website by Fri., 2/26. Go to: https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml

Public Forum Debate: 1 judge for every 2 teams or fraction thereof

***PFD judges must submit a judge philosophy on the website by Fri., 2/26. Go to: https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml

Speech/IE/Congress 1 judge for every 5 entries or fraction thereof

All schools are required to designate 1 judge who can judge Student Congress, even if the school has no Congress Entries.

Each school’s judge quota will be determined on the speechwire.com registration website. The Board of Directors asks that all coaches make themselves available to adjudicate the Final Rounds.

Judges are obligated for one full round past the last round in which contestants from their school are still competing. Judges will be required to check out before leaving the online competition venue. If they have completed their obligation and would like to be excused. More information on this process will be provided as we get closer to the competition date.

NOTE: As a result of the 2006 voting, the governing documents now contain this under Rule 4 (Judging Responsibilities) – Letter L: Any coach in or out of the judge pool that refuses or fails to pick up an elimination round ballot, his/her school shall be fined $50.00 and the school of the person who judges the round shall be credited $25.00.

LEAGUE SEEKS DEBATE JUDGES FOR HIRE

FFL uses additional fees charged to Policy Debate teams for the purpose of hiring experienced judges who will enrich the quality of the TD judge pool. Interested parties should contact FFL Vice President Aly Fiebrantz (afiebran@nova.edu) before February 26th, 2021.

CONDUCT OF PARTICIPANTS

Coaches, judges, other observing adults, contestants, and student observers shall comply with the rules set forth in the FFL Civility Code, which is available for download at https://floridaforensicsleague.com/ Please review this document with all participants from your school.

E – REGISTRATION

This year we will be using E-Registration. FFL Varsity State Tournament will be held on Saturday, March 6th and Sunday March 7th with E-Registration taking place on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. All schools who will be attending the 2021 Virtual Varsity State Tournament will receive their school codes, online procedures and expedited registration procedures for Saturday morning via email on Wednesday, March 3, 2021.

FEE PAYMENT - FEE PAYMENT - FEE PAYMENT - FEE PAYMENT - FEE PAYMENT

You may mail your fees in advance! You May also pay your fees online using Venmo – Please email – Carol Cecil – ccecil@dadeschools.net if you need the link.

When mailing fees, please do not send anything requiring a signature or Jennifer having to go to the Post Office. Jennifer will not go to the Post Office to retrieve fees.

Please Mail Fees To:

Make Check Payable To: Florida Forensic League

Jennifer Sandman

13424 Swansea Avenue

Windermere, FL 34786

OVERVIEW OF SCHEDULE

We will do our best to provide a schedule ahead of time, but we are not obligated to do so. An updated schedule will be posted online at Speechwire.com. Please refer there for any updates. Also, keep in mind that schedule is subject to change. Therefore, please make sure to check online frequently and/or read e-mails

Carol Cecil
Email address: ccecil@dadeschools.net
Phone number: (954) 790-8160