The Maine Forensic Association is pleased to invite you to the Snowman’s Revenge Tournament on January 9, 2021.
Registration deadline: 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, January 6
Judge entry deadline: 8 p.m. Friday, January 8
Fees and judge obligations frozen (nonrefundable): 8 p.m. Friday, January 8
Drop deadline: 8:30 a.m. Saturday, January 9
Nuisance fees for drops applied: 8:30 a.m. Saturday, January 9
Any questions, please contact Jason Curry, MFA President, by clicking here to e-mail him.
Registration
Minimum requirements for virtual competition
As this is a virtual tournament that will be hosted on Tabroom.com and NSDA Campus, there are three core requirements for participating in a virtual competition with the MFA:
- All participants (coaches, students, and judges) each must have an account on Tabroom.com as posting and competition is all completed online. New students can register with Tabroom.com and ensure they are linked to their team’s roster.
- Prior to tournament day, ensure each participant (students, judges, and coaches) have access to campus.speechanddebate.org on the network from which they will be participating. If necessary, work with respective network managers to whitelist the domain.
- Registration must be completed through Tabroom.com by 11:55 p.m., Wednesday, January 6.
Entry Fees
Members of the Maine Forensic Association (join here)
- $5.00 per entry (New schools $2.50)
- Teams (Duo and PF) are two entries ($10 or $5)
Non-members
- $7.00 per entry (New schools $3.50)
- Teams (Duo and PF) are two entries ($14 or $7)
Entry fees will not be capped for this tournament.
Drops
Coaches can drop and change entries until Saturday, January 9 at 8:30 a.m. In the event you need to drop or make a change after that time, contact Tabulation and each will be assessed a $10 fine. Late add requests are not encouraged and will be accepted only at the discretion of the tournament hosts. Late adds will be assessed an additional charge of $10 per entry.
Events
- LD: 3 levels, if numbers allow
- PF: 2 levels, if numbers allow
- Congressional Debate: Senate and House, as needed
- Speech: All Maine State Tournament categories
Event/division definitions
Novice level is for students competing in their first year of high school forensics (i.e. first year competitors). Note that Oratorical Declamation is limited to freshmen and sophomore students only.
Junior varsity level is primarily for second-year competitors, but also first year competitors who have enjoyed success.
Varsity level is for competitors with more than one year of experience who wish to try a higher level of competition.
Maverick in Public Forum Debate is a single-person team. A maverick WILL NOT be allowed at this tournament.
Topics
Extemporaneous Speaking topics
Review carefully the high level topics for Extemporaneous Speaking here. Prompts will focus only on these topics.
NOTE: Competitors will be allowed to access sources on the web during preparation.
Congressional Debate
LD resolution
Resolved: States ought to ban lethal autonomous weapons.
PF resolution
Resolved: The National Security Agency should end its surveillance of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.
Judge Requirements
All judges must have an account on Tabroom.com as all balloting is completed online. New judges can register with Tabroom.com and ensure they are linked to your judge roster. Missing a judge results in a $60 fine.
Help the meet run smoothly and fairly by supplying your required, trained judges, including unaffiliated, in accordance with MFA rules. Have all your judges finalized by 8:00 p.m. Friday, January 8.
Note judge conflicts or shadow needs in your judge registration on Tabroom.com. Email the tournament host for any complex judge situations. Remember a parent cannot judge the category in which their child is competing.
Fractional entries round up (i.e. three LD entries = 2 judges). Third, fifth, and seventh judge must be neutral/unaffiliated for Speech, LD, PF.
- LD: one judge for every 2 LD entries
- PF: one judge for every 2 teams
- Speech or Congressional Debate: one judge for every 5 entries
Judges are expected to be available for ALL rounds of competition. Fines will be assessed for judges departing early unless cleared through Tabulation.
Meeting your judge burden
If you are struggling to fulfill your judge burden, many coaches have success by announcing their need to the Maine list serv and negotiating an exchange, including pay rate. In this case, add a negotiated judge to your Tabroom roster using the judge’s email address so they are appropriately linked.
If you still can’t fulfill your judge burden, the tournament may have extra judges available for you to hire. If so, fees for purchasing judges will be $60 per judge. Contact the Tournament Director for support.
If you have extra judges, contact the Tournament Director so the judge can be added to the judge hire pool.
Checking into the tournament
To complete online check-in:
- Confirm that each of your students, judges, and yourself are logged into the following (opening multiple tabs recommended):
- maineforensic.org/onlinetournament. Passwords will be emailed to all participants the morning of the tournament.
- Tabroom.com
- Respective e-mail accounts associated with Tabroom.com. All Tabroom announcements are issued by email and/or text depending on user preference.
- Once you have confirmed that everyone is present and prepared, follow these instructions to check into the tournament. Check-in closes promptly to accommodate paneling of rounds.
Awards
Tournament sweeps will be awarded to the top three teams each in Speech, Debate, and Congressional Debate.
Individual awards for first through third in each category, and honorable mention as determined by Tab.
Note that ties in record will be broken first by MFA guidelines. Tabulation of awards follows standards adopted by MFA.
Tentative schedule
7:30-8:30 a.m. Online check-in (see below)
- It is the coach’s responsibility to validate that all students are ready for online competition.
- Tabulation will close check-in promptly to then panel rounds.
- Note that delays or errors in affirming your check-in may delay the tournament.
8:35 a.m. Virtual breakouts for judge and student briefings. Keep an eye out for an email blast with a link to your respective virtual briefing.
9:00 a.m. Rounds begin following briefings
4:00 Council of Nine meeting
4:30 p.m. Awards announcements
Debate round schedule
- Round 1 9:00-9:50 a.m.
- Round 2 10:00-10:50 a.m.
- Round 3 11:30-12:20 p.m.
- Final round 1:30-2:20 p.m.
Speech round schedule
- Round 1 9:00-10:30 a.m.
- Round 2 10:35-11:45
- Lunch 11:45-12:45 p.m.
- Round 3 12:45-2:00 p.m.
- Final round 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Congressional Debate session schedule
- 9:15-noon Session 1
- Noon lunch
- 1:00-3:00 p.m. Session 2