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General information

This information is from a tournament in a past season!

This is a High School tournament in Florida.

View manager contact information

Palm Beach Catholic Forensic League Tournament Invitation

 

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, Suncoast High School, 1717 Avenue S, Riviera Beach FL 33404
DIRECTIONS: I-95 exit to Blue Heron Blvd., go East. Turn right (South ) on Congress Ave. to SW 13th St., turn left (East). Next left turn is Jake Lane. Enter school property. Student drop off line.

CLOSER PARKING:  I-95 exit to Blue Heron Blvd., go East. Turn right (South) on "S" Avenue. Turn right on 17th street. Enter teacher parking lot.

BUSES:  I-95 exist to Blue Heron Blvd., go East. Turn right (South) on "S" Avenue. The second school is Suncoast. Use the Bus loop.

 

Tuesday, September 21, at 3pm is the deadline for registering students. At this time, schools are responsible for the $7 lunch fees (students, judges, observers, etc.) even if they are dropped from the tournament.

 

Wednesday, September 22, at 3pm is the last opportunity to drop students before the website shuts down. At this time, schools are responsible for the $8 entry fee, $7 lunch fee, and a $10 drop fee ($25 total per student).

  • This is an ALL CONGRESS tournament.
  • There will be a novice division (House) and a varsity division (Senate).
  • All schools must register via Speechwire in order to legitimately participate in this competition.
  • Legislation will be posted as full-text documents on the PBCFL website and on Speechwire.

ENTRY PROCEDURES and REGISTRATION INFORMATION

  • You may register as many congress students as your team wishes to enter.
  • You may enter a maximum of 4 students per chamber. (The PBCFL reserves the right to collapse houses and modify this rule when necessary.)
  • Once registration closes, houses may be balanced and your students may be moved to another chamber. All efforts will be made to keep the same group of students together.
  • No changes will be made after the drop deadline to accommodate students left alone in a house ... please plan accordingly.
  • Coaches must designate varsity who choose to be presiding officer candidates over novice chambers. League officers reserve the right to designate POs for novice chambers from the designees. There is no guarantee PO candidates will be used to preside over novice chambers. Coaches do not neet to designate POs to preside in varsity chambers.
  • There will be no adds after registration closes.
  • Double-check your registration. No student will be added to the tournament on the morning of the tournament.

OBSERVERS

  • Maximum 8 observers for a team. Observers must be in proper tournament attire and wearing nametags.

JUDGE TRAINING

  • There will be a FREE judge-training workshop held at this tournament.
  • The training will begin at 8:30am.
  • Register all judge training participants on the Speechwire website.
  • Judge trainees do NOT count toward your judge quota requirement
  • If you wish for your judge trainee to have lunch, you will be required to include it with your meal registration.

PREPARATIONS BEFORE THE TOURNAMENT

  • Assign the sponsorship speech to one person from your school in each chamber.
  • Because full-text legislation will be on-line, it is each school's responsibility to access legislation in advance.
  • Print out your website registration/confirmation from Speechwire.
  • DOUBLE-CHECK your entries. If a student is not listed on your registration they will NOT be added on the morning of the tournament.
  • Make sure your student judges are marked as "student judge."
  • Make sure you have verification of NSDA points for your junior/senior student judges.
  • Make sure all your students have signed a behavior/attire contract.
  • The use of computers, electronic storage and retrieval devices, etc., is allowed in rounds of Policy Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, and Congressional Debate, and in the Extemporaneous Speaking Preparation Room. They are not allowed in any other event. This includes the prohibition of the use of wired or wireless local, or wide, area networks; cell phones; etc. The establishment of such a connection will constitute a violation of this rule. In Policy Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, and Congressional Debate, connectivity to any persons other than the competitors or judges in the round is not allowed. Competitors violating this rule will be disqualified from competition. No guarantee of power or of internet connectivity should be presumed. Students wishing to use digital devices must be responsible for providing these resources and for having an alternative plan if the digital devices fail. (The complete rules are in "Files for download".)

REGISTRATION ON TOURNAMENT DAY

  • Arrive online no later than 7:30 a.m.
  • Registration closes at 7:45 a.m. Students/programs that are late may be dropped from the tournament by league officers.
  • Take attendance. Check your registration carefully; there will be a "hidden drop fee" for any drop that is not reported at registration.
  • Refer to the chamber breakdown list in order to make sure all competitors know where to report.
  • DO NOT CHANGE a student's room without direction from the league director. Any student who competes in the wrong house will not receive points for any speeches given in the wrong house.
  • Make sure all judges report to the judge lounge to await instructions and log in to Speechwire to accesss assigned electronic ballots.
  • As soon as your team is in rounds, please report to tab for your assignment (if you have not been been notified of this already).
  • Legislators must use their school code, NOT school name, for the chamber.

All full-text legislation must be emailed as a Microsoft Word attachment in the proper format no later than 3pm FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3. Send legislation to pbcflcongress@gmail.com.

NOTE: All legislation must be Federal in nature. No State legislation is allowed.

NOTE: Good legislation has good arguments on BOTH SIDES. For example, “increasing the penalty on drunk drivers” is heavily weighted towards the affirmative. “Confiscating the cars of drunk drivers” has room for negative arguments.

THE FOLLOWING TOPICS ARE PROHIBITED DUE TO HAVING BEEN DONE WAY TOO MANY TIMES IN THE PAST!

  • Legalize Prostitution
  • Legalize Marijuana
  • Legalize Euthanasia
  • Require Drivers over 65 Retest for Driver’s License
  • Raise or Lower the Voting Age
  • Lower the Drinking Age
  • Institute Stem Cell Research
  • Ban Animal Testing
  • Ban the Death Penalty
  • Ban Abortion
  • ANYTHING relating to the current Public Forum Debate topic
  • ANYTHING relating to the current Lincoln Douglas Debate topic

Schools may send ONE piece of legislation for this tournament. It is imperative you designate your legislation clearly. The best way to do so is to save and send your legislation with the following designation:

month_nameofschool_legislationtag.doc
(september_wellington_globalwarming.doc)

ACTIVE LEGISLATION: 
Legislation should be up and running through the PBCFL web site (www.pbcfl.net) and on Speechwire by Wednesday, September 8. You will be notified via e-mail when the legislation is active.

Varsity will set an agenda on the day of the tournament; the novice chambers will have pre-set randomized agendas set by the PBCFL.


LEGISLATION TEMPLATES: Legislative templates are available for use on http://www.pbcfl.net; they can be accessed through the "Legislation" link.

Improperly formatted legislation can be rejected at the discretion of league officers.

 

PRESIDING OFFICERS: The following is required of all Novice Chamber Presiding Officer candidates:

  • Coaches must register novice chamber presiding officer candidates in advance of the tournament.
  • The PO candidate MUST be trained properly in advance by his/her coach.
  • All presiding officers MUST be able to adequately control the chamber. They MUST be VERY familiar with parliamentary procedure. They MUST use a FAIR system of RECENCY. They MUST understand how to document a speaking system on a seating chart. They MUST know all rules of Student Congress. Do NOT put new students unfamiliar with the event in this position.
  • All varsity serving as Novice chamber presiding officers WILL be assigned to a novice House chamber for the entire tournament.
  • League officers reserve the right to designate POs for novice chambers from the designees. There is no guarantee PO candidates will be used to preside over novice chambers.
  • Coaches do not neet to designate POs to preside in varsity chambers.

CHAMBER REMINDERS

  • Extending the questioning period is not allowed, nor are two-part questions.
  • All authorship/sponsorship and first-negative speeches have a mandatory two-minute questioning period. All other speeches have a mandatory one-minute questioning period.
  • Each legislative item must go through at least one complete cycle (three speeches).
  • Recency does NOT reset after lunch.
  • Recesses are NOT allowed under PBCFL rules.
  • At least 2 hours of debate must take place each session. The 2 hours begins once the first speech of a session begins. The morning session has 2 hours designated; there is 30 minutes prior to the morning session that should be used for electing presiding officers, setting dockets, etc.

JUDGING

  • Two judges will be assigned to every chamber with adult judges judging in the senate/varsity chambers. A student judge may be assigned to a novice house alongside an assigned adult.
  • Student judges are qualified to judge NOVICE EVENTS ONLY if they are a junior or senior in high school with AT LEAST 150 NSDA honor points on record. The coach will be responsible for providing the NSDA points Saturday morning.
  • No student judge will be allowed to sign up for a presiding officer position simultaneously. A PO is a competitor. A judge does not receive competition credit towards the 2-tournament requirement for attending Grand Finals.
  • PLEASE ENTER YOUR JUDGE CELL PHONE NUMBERS AND EMAIL ADDRESSES INTO SPEECHWIRE (they all need to have an individual Speechwire account to access and submit electronic ballots).
  • JUDGE QUOTAS:
  • 1 judge per every 10 entries or fraction thereof
  • Register ALL judges on Speechwire.
  • Make sure you distinguish any student judge from adult judges when registering on Speechwire.

JUDGE TRAINING WORKSHOP

  • Enter participants in the JTW into your roster as if they were students, and then register them as Judge Training Workshop (an "event").
  • JUDGES ENTERED FOR THE JUDGE TRAINING WORKSHOP DO NOT COUNT TOWARD A SCHOOL'S REQUIRE JUDGE COUNT. YOU MUST ENTER TRAINED JUDGES TO MEET YOUR QUOTA!

LUNCH

STUDENT OPTIONS: Subway subs. Choices are Turkey, Italian, Ham & Cheese, and Veggie.

JUDGE OPTIONS: Buffet

$7 per person for lunch. Coaches must purchase lunches for all student competitors (including presigin officers), judges, and other adults.

 

ENTRY FEES

Each school's PBCFL membership fees ($75) and league registration form must have been received by PBCFL Treasurer Daryl Hall by Tuesday, September 22, in order to compete at the tournament. Schools that do not achieve both of these will be ineligible to compete, and any registered students and judges will be dropped from the tournament.

$8 per student for all events (including presiding officer).

 

DROP FEES

Tuesday, September 21, at 3pm is the deadline for registering students.

Wednesday, September 22, at 3 p.m. is the UPDATED last opportunity to drop students before the website shuts down. At this time, schools are responsible for the $8 entry fee, $7 lunch fee, and a $10 drop fee ($25 total per student).

$100 - judge drop fee for any no-show judge on Saturday morning. In addition, you will be required to drop students until the team meets the judge quota.

$25 - missed judge rounds (hidden judges).

Manager contact information

Traci Lowe
Email address: traci.lowe@palmbeachschools.org
Phone number: 5618893649

Mailing address

c/o Daryl Hall
325 Orange Way
West Palm Beach, FL 33405

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