How the day starts
Preliminary (non-MetroFinal) tournaments are always on Saturdays and follow the same schedule. Students, judges, and coaches arrive between 8:00 – 8:15 am. The host school will have food for sale during the tournament. Lunch is provided to judges at no cost, but all participants are welcome to bring their own food. The awards ceremony concludes the day at approximately 5:30 pm. Here’s how the day starts:
| 8:00 am | The host school opens their doors. When you arrive, let your team coach know you are there. Students go to the cafeteria and judges go to the Judges’ Lounge. |
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| 8:25 am | Deadline for school check-in. Coaches (or their on-site designee) must notify tournament officials of any dropped student or judge entries. Teams not checked in by 8:25 am risk being dropped from the tournament. |
| 8:30 am | The pre-tournament judge briefing begins in the Judges’ Lounge. This is a chance for judges to ask questions directly of tournament officials. Each event has a separate judge briefing. |
Speech, Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas and Policy
At 9 am, the competition begins! Speech, Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, and Policy follow this schedule.
| 9:00 am | Round 1 assignments are sent to students, judges and coaches via Tabroom.com. The notification includes room number, schools, judge, student names and (debate only) side assignment. Everyone goes to their assigned room and competition begins ASAP. Public Forum and Lincoln-Douglas rounds are double-flighted, meaning each round has two debates with different contestants. |
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| 11:00 am | Round 2 begins. Assignments will be sent approximately 15 minutes earlier at 10:45 am. |
| After round 2 | Lunch break. Food for students and parents will be sold in the cafeteria. |
| 1:15 pm | Round 3. Assignments will be sent approximately 15 minutes earlier at 1:00 pm. |
| 3:00 pm | Round 4. Assignments will be sent approximately 15 minutes earlier at 2:45 pm. |
| 5:30 pm | Awards Ceremony in the cafeteria. |
Student Congress
The Student Congress schedule is slightly different.
| 9:00 – 11:00 am | Session 1, with committees |
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| 11:15 am – 12:45 pm | Session 2 |
| 12:45 – 1:30 pm | Lunch |
| 1:30 – 3:30 pm | Session 3, then elections |
| 5:30 pm | Awards Ceremony in the cafeteria. |
Good to know
Flexibility is important on tournament days! We will do our best to maintain this schedule, but depending on circumstances, the tournament might run faster or slower. We ask participants to not leave the building during the tournament. Virtual tournaments will run on a slightly different schedule. Students should not enter classrooms until the judge arrives. After the round ends, students depart before the judge leaves the classroom.
Students straighten up the classroom after each round. We are guests at the host school. It’s OK to move chairs and desks, but before you leave the classroom, please rearrange chairs and get the room back to its original configuration. On Monday morning, teachers should find desks and chairs where they left them on Friday.
Suppose there is an issue in the round? If judges or students need to contact tournament officials quickly on tournament day, you can text (844) 676-0212. Be sure to identify yourself and the room you are in, along with the issue. Please do not call – the phone number is just for texts. This number is monitored only on tournament Saturdays, so please don’t use it for pre- or post-tournament questions. Coaches can use this to report any drops on Saturday morning.