SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software

Florida Forensic League
Macaw Region (4) Tournament
Saturday, February 1, 2020

Dear Coach,

Happy New Year!

As you return to school from a (hopefully) restful holiday break, it is time to plan your entry for the 2020 Florida Forensic League Macaw Region Qualifying Tournament! This event will be held at Oxbridge HS on Saturday, February 1, 2020.

This tournament is the gateway into participation in FFL activities for the remainder of the year. The top 7 entries in each event will qualify to compete at the State Championship tournament, which will be held on February 29 and March 1 at Olympia High School in Orlando, FL. Whether or not your students qualify to the State Championship, participation at the Regional Tournament will allow your school to enter the Novice State Tournament in April.

Here are the 4 most important things you need to know when planning your entry:

1. If your school fails to enter the Regional Tournament, it forfeits the opportunity to attend Novice State and participate in Coach of the Year voting.
2. The number of qualifiers in each event is based on the number of schools that participate in the previous year’s Regional Tournament. Thus, it is imperative that every member school in the region send at least one student to compete at the qualifying tournament. If only a few schools in our region fail to participate, we could lose qualifying spots next year!
3. Every student you enter into the Regional Qualifying Tournament must be available to compete at the State Championship Tournament if he/she qualifies. There are substantial financial penalties for dropping from the State Tournament. Thus, you should make sure that every student from your school who wants to enter this tournament is available to compete on February 29 and March 1.
4. First-year students are welcome to attend the Regional Tournament and are eligible to qualify for the State Championship. They WILL NOT lose their eligibility to compete at Novice State. In theory, a novice could win the State Championship and still compete at Novice State the following month!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We look forward to seeing you at Oxbridge.

QUESTIONS

-- Meals and Directions: Tournament Host: Wayne Selogy - Wselogy@oapb.org
-- Entries, Fees, Drops, Rules: Tournament Director – Traci Lowe- traci.lowe@palmbeachschools.org
-- Day of Tournament Emergencies: Traci Lowe’s Cell - (561) 889-3649

ENTRY PROCESS

Entry will take place on www.speechwire.com You must have a SpeechWire account to register for any of the FFL Tournaments.

***If you are entering Student Congress, you must submit at least one bill/resolution for the agenda. Please send bills as a Word attachment and make sure they are in FFL format (see Student Congress manual) to Paul Gaba at paul.gaba@palmbeachschools.org Legislation is Due – Tuesday, January 21^st by 3pm. Legislation will be posted on Wednesday, January 22^nd.

MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENT & SCHOOL-SANCTIONED ADULT

Only schools that are members of the league for 2019-20 may participate at this tournament. Also, please remember that a school-approved adult must accompany students to the 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 with the school’s entry. 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.

EVENTS OFFERED
World Schools                    U.S. Extemp    Dramatic Interp.
Lincoln Douglas Debate    International Extemp   Humorous Interp.
Public Forum Debate Original Oratory   Informative
Student Congress    Duo Interp.      Program Oral Interp

ENTRY LIMITS

Each member school may submit up to six (6) entries per event.
Schools that purchased a membership supplement may enter up to four (4) additional entries per event. All entries on the supplement must be students in grades 6 – 8 (for middle school supplement) or 9 (for ninth grade supplement). Entering students in grades 10-12 on the supplemental form will result in automatic disqualification of those students. Enter mixed teams/units (eg: a 9th grader and 11th grader on a Policy Debate team) on the high school form.

DOUBLE ENTRY

Double entry and double qualification is permitted, except in Policy Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, and Student Congress. Also, cross-entry between U.S. Extemp and International Extemp is prohibited.

EVENT REMINDERS

In all events, the use of electronic devices (other than those used for the sole purpose of keeping time; contestant timekeeping devices must be incapable of data storage/retrieval) is prohibited. This includes Policy Debate, Student Congress, the Extemp Prep Room, and all rounds in all other events. Debate judges may flow on laptops. Use of an electronic device may result in disqualification.

JANUARY-FEBRUARY LINCOLN DOUGLAS DEBATE: Resolved: States ought to eliminate their nuclear arsenals

FEBRUARY PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE: The United States should replace means-tested welfare programs with a universal basic income. ***COIN FLIP IN ROUND 5 HAS BEEN RESCINDED***

POLICY DEBATE: The United States federal government should substantially reduce Direct Commercial Sales and/or Foreign Military Sales of arms from the United States.

--Student Congress will follow the FFL Congress Manual. Entries will determine the number of chambers; if there are two or more chambers, there will be a Super Congress. All schools must submit legislation (see ENTRY PROCESS above). Legislation will be available on the PBCFL website the evening of Wednesday, January 29^th.

--Extemporaneous Speaking Events –

--All Speech/Interpretation Events:

1. There is a 30-second grace period in these events. A contestant who goes beyond the grace period may not be ranked first in that round.
2. All contestants must have a copy of their piece/oration available for review by tournament officials. Failure to present a copy of the applicable document and evidence of publication will result in disqualification.
3. FFL has enacted many changes during the Fall Vote. The membership needs to be aware of all of rule changes. These rule changes are listed on the FFL Home Page under “Results”. FFL is actively working to update the Governing Documents, however coaches should review/familiarize themselves with these changes.
4. The name of each contestant’s piece/oration must be recorded on Speechwire.com. Students may change their pieces between the Regional Tournament and Varsity State.

5. Copies of Orations must be presented at the Regional Qualifier.

ANTI-VANDALISM REQUIREMENTS

To protect the property of our host school, the following rules are in effect:

1. No contestant or student observer shall enter or remain in a contest room without a judge present. The penalty for violation of this regulation shall be immediate disqualification from the tournament.
2. One room will be designated for Policy debaters to prep between rounds. An adult proctor will supervise that room.
3. Vandalism of property by any person at an FFL tournament shall result in immediate notification of school and/or local police authorities. The Board of Directors shall notify the principal of the school associated with the vandal(s) in writing and insist upon appropriate remuneration. In the case of vandalism by a contestant, the additional penalty of immediate disqualification from the tournament shall also apply.

RULES COMPLIANCE

Reviewing the following documents in advance of the tournament will help to ensure that your students comply with all FFL rules and regulations. Questions regarding these rules should be addressed to the Tournament Director.

All of the following documents are available online at https://floridaforensicsleague.com/

1. FFL Governing Documents

You should review the general tournament rules with your students; it is strongly recommended that you ALSO print a copy of the event-specific rules and give them to your students so that they can make sure they are in compliance.

2. FFL Civility Code

This document prescribes rules of behavior that are generally observed by all contestants and adults at forensic contests. If you have inexperienced contestants and/or judges, you should give them a copy of this document.

3. Student Congress Manual

You should give a copy of this document to each of your contestants in Student Congress.

4. State of Florida Uniform Judging Manual

You should give a copy of this document to each of your judges. There will be no copies available at the tournament.

5. Ballots for debate events, speech master ballots, speech contestant critique sheets, and protest forms are also available for download from the above web page.

JUDGES & REQUIREMENTS

1. All judges should be properly trained using the statewide judging manual. Please make sure that each of your judges has their own copy; the tournament will not provide them.

2. All judges should bring and use a reliable digital timer.

3. The following judge requirements are in place for this tournament:

--Policy Debate: One judge for every two teams or fraction thereof
--Lincoln Douglas Debate: One judge for every two debaters or fraction thereof
--Public Forum Debate: One judge for every two teams or fraction thereof
--Speech/IE: One judge for every five entries or fraction thereof. Each Duo Interpretation team counts as one entry only.
--Congress: One judge for every six entries or fraction thereof.

The Tournament Director will disqualify students from any school that is unable to meet its judging quota.

ENTRY FEES – PAYABLE TO OXBRIDGE HIGH SCHOOL

Each Contestant:$25.00. This is a “per student” entry fee; thus events with 2 people per entry pay 2 fees; THERE IS NO ADDITIONAL FEE FOR DOUBLE ENTRY

Extra Lunches: $5.00 each (purchase for all coaches, judges, observers, etc.)

Fees are due at registration; no exceptions! Please check with the Tournament Director regarding check payments and to whom the checks should be made payable.

DROP FEES

Drops Fees are $10 per instance in addition to the forfeiture of entry fees.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT & SCHEDULE

Final Registration: 7:00am - 7:30am. Any school not registered at 7:30 am will be eliminated from competition. Round One will begin at 8:00 am.

The format for each event will depend on the number of entries received. The Tournament Director will publish the number of preliminary and elimination rounds (if any) along with any power-matching schemes at final registration.

Plan for an awards ceremony beginning in the late afternoon or early evening.

MEALS

Contestant meals are included in the cost of entry. Additional meals for coaches, judges, parents, observers, etc. are $5.00 each and must be ordered Speechwire.com as well

The tournament will be “closed campus.” Any contestant found leaving campus is subject to disqualification.

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IMPORTANT! - How to submit entries for your team
This tournament is using SpeechWire Tournament Services to run online registration. In order to confirm that you are attending and submit your entries online, you need to log in to your SpeechWire head coach account. To do so, please do the following:

1. In your preferred web browser, go to http://www.SpeechWire.com and click on the 'Your account' tab at the very top of the screen.
2. Log in with your email address and account password. If you have forgotten your password, click the 'Forgot password?' button. If there is a new head coach this year, please email accounts@speechwire.com to get the email address on the head coach account changed.
3. Click the 'Tournament registration' icon and then click on Region 4 - FFL Regional Quals to submit your entries.
If you have trouble registering, please email SpeechWire account support at accounts@speechwire.com for assistance.
This is an invitation to the Region 4 - FFL Regional Quals, sent via SpeechWire Tournament Services - www.SpeechWire.com

Don't want to receive any more invitations from the host of this tournament? You can opt out of emails from any tournament host. Log into your SpeechWire account, click Edit account information, then click 'Block tournament hosts' near the bottom of the page and you can block them from sending you email invitations in the future.

World Schools Debate will now be offered at Regional Qualifiers and will be piloted as a main event at the 2020 Varsity State Tournament. Each Region will have the opportunity to qualify 2 teams to the State Tournament.

1. Teams must be homogeneous (no hybrid teams – all competitors must be from the same school)

3. If more than one-third of the members of a World Schools Team cannot compete at the State Championship Tournament after qualifying at the Regional Tournament, that team shall drop and the alternate group shall be invited to compete.

4. Judging Requirements - One (1) judge per two (2) entries or fraction thereof in World Schools.

6. Each district will qualify the top 2 entries in this division for the varsity state tournament
6a. If a district does not fulfill its two entries, the vacant entry slot will go to the third place team in the District tournament that has the most world schools entries at their district qualifier.
6b. Remaining vacant entry spots will continue as outlined above and fall to the District tournament with the next largest number of entries.

7. In Prelims - There will be 3 prepared motions and 2 impromptu motions – Round 1 and Round 5 will be the impromptu rounds. Semis and Finals will be impromptu motions.

8. In impromptu rounds the proposition will use the competition room as prep and the opposition will prep just outside the competition room.

9. During preparation, as prescribed by NSDA rules, teams will only be allowed to use a dictionary, a single volume encyclopedia, or a World Almanac as a resource. No electronic devices will be allowed and possible suspicion of using one will result in a loss of the round and zero speaker points for the round.

9. Speech times, appropriate times for points of information, and all other rules and procedural guidelines will fall in line with the NSDA national tournament guidelines.

10. Prepared rounds – the motions will cover the following 3 areas: Florida, Domestic, and International. Something special – for the Varsity State Tournament only students and coaches alike will have the opportunity to vote/choose the prepared Florida motion. Details on this will be provided later.

At the 2020 Varsity State Tournament, we will offer 6 rounds in all events with the exception of Policy Debate and World Schools Debate

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

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