Hello Friends,

 

You are invited to participate in the Online Asynchronous Tournament Series (OATS)! What a great way to celebrate what is a snowy time for some of our teams by NOT traveling on icy roads! 

 

We are excited that the newly reformed Wayne State College (coached by Jonathan Laner) will be our hosts for OATS 4! And now, a message from our host.

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WELCOME TO OATS 4! I am so excited to welcome you all to the 4^th OATS tournament of the season. I am Jonathan Laner, Director of the newly reformed Wayne State College Forensics Team. I am so happy to have you all join us to this tournament. I realize that there are other options, either online or in-person, and my team is honored that you chose to invest your time with the OATS series. Thank you to all the competitors, coaches, judges, volunteers, and the staff of the OATS who are all here with us this week. Our goal is to provide you with an educational competitive environment which is as open and accessible as possible for as many participants as we can.

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TL:DR Details

-Tournaments will be fully asynchronous, including finals

-Entries and video links are due to Speechwire on Monday @ 8 p.m. CST

-Content warnings are encouraged to give adequate warning to judges/competitors

-No late adds are allowed

-OATS tournaments will utilize an honor system for judges and competitors

-Preliminary rounds will be judged from Tuesday through Thursday @ 4 p.m. CST; Final rounds will be judged from Thursday 6 p.m. through Friday @ 2 p.m. CST

-Postings will go live on Thursdays at 6 p.m. CST (or ASAP depending on ballot completion)

-All 11 categories will be offered per released AFA guidelines

-The Series Fee pays for all “covered-slot” entries for all OATS tournaments; for those joining at OATS 4 or later, the fee is reduced to just $100

-Uncovered slots will incur an additional $10 fee per slot

-Dropped judges will incur a fee of $50/judge

-Payments accepted by Venmo, PayPal, or by check

-The dates for video submission for the OATS include:

Mon, Dec 6

Mon, Jan 17

Mon, Feb 21

 

Full information about competition and fees are listed in the full tournament invite posted to Speechwire. If you have questions or are interested in hosting, feel free to contact Julie Walker by phone (call or text 706-844-2773) or email (julie.walker@smsu.edu). 

 

Whether you attended nearly every OATS or this would be your first time, we look forward to hosting you for a fantastic speech experience! 

 

Sincerely,

 

Jonathan Laner

Wayne State College

Director of Forensics

Tournament Host

 

Julie Walker

Southwest Minnesota State University

Assistant Director of Forensics

Series Tournament Co-Director

 

Ben Walker

Southwest Minnesota State University

Director of Forensics

Series Tournament Co-Director

 

Fully Asynchronous Tournament Week Schedule

 

Fri prior @ noon CST: LP Prompts released on Speechwire

Monday @ 8 p.m. CST: Entries and videos due to Speechwire

Monday @ 10 p.m. CST: Fees will be assessed and distributed to teams

Monday @ 10 p.m. CST: Judge dance cards go live on Speechwire

Thursday @ 4 p.m. CST: Preliminary Round judging feedback/scores due

Thursday @ 6 p.m. CST: Final Rounds are Posted on Speechwire and on the OATS Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/oatsforensics

Friday @ 2 p.m. CST: Final Round judging feedback/scores due

Friday @ 4 p.m. CST: Live awards ceremony stream on OATS Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/oatsforensics 

Friday @ Evening: Feedback released to coaches via Speechwire