AWARDS UPDATE: Congratulations to all competitors! All ballots have been received and tabulated and it's time for awards! Here is the link to the awards ceremony Friday May 8th at 6:00 PM PDT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph6ountqEpQ

The awards ceremony will also be streaming live on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/DebateSensei/

If you have not already sent your preferred shipping address, email rita@protocommunications.com before Sunday 5/10 otherwise all awards will be mailed to schools directly.

See you at awards!

UPDATE: 6:00 PM PDT Impromptu and Extemp topics are now available. Competitors have 24 hours to select one topic from those provided and prepare their speeches. Coaches must upload all speeches into their assigned team Google Drive by Sunday 4/19/20 at 6:00 PM PDT. Please refer to the Submission Rules for details.

Full Invitation

March 20-May 8, 2020               

On behalf of ProtoCommunications, and in collaboration with ForensicsTournament.net (FTN), we are pleased to invite you and your forensics team to the 1st Annual ProtoCommunications Asynchronous Individual Event Tournament!

Our team was devastated to receive news about all the tournaments that have been canceled due to COVID-19.  In an effort to give our students an opportunity to compete with events they have been preparing all year, ProtoCommunications LLC has been hard at work planning the logistics for an asynchronous, video-formatted tournament. We know that there is value in live competition that technology will never replace: synergy, socializing, networking, and countless others. Every person that has taken part in this planning process has found that value through personal experience. 

But, forensics is more than meeting together for tournaments. It is about sharing ideas. Professionalism. Credibility. ProtoCommunications has discussed the potential for asynchronous tournaments long before a health crisis descended upon us. We would like to share our expertise with all of you in order to show that the Forensics community can adapt to our new found “limitations,” and continue to give our students a platform to share their ideas and express themselves through this academic activity we all cherish. But more than that, we think that it is long overdue that the forensics community show a wider audience the sort of work that we do through the highest quality videos we are capable of. 

You will find enclosed all of the information needed to enter your team in the tournament. For a complete description of tournament events, please refer to the current Constitution and By-laws of your respective forensics association.

Why an asynchronous tournament?

Synchronous communication technology has advanced drastically over the last several years, and we recognize that there will be several tournaments that take that standpoint. We feel that both approaches have value, and are interested to see the nuanced differences between the two. In particular, we foresee synchronous tournaments being a great way to test competitors’ ability to perform under pressure. This is a valuable skill to hone, and we plan on offering any assistance to those tournaments that we can. 

It is our hope that this tournament will foster a high level of artistry due to the ability to carefully prepare videos. We want to celebrate this artistry. Asynchronous tournaments should be considered an addition to online competitions, rather than a replacement. We are excited to see the variety of work that emerges from these different approaches, as well as our role to foster such creative work. We also believe that asynchronous tournaments solve some logistical issues. For instance, not everyone has stable internet connections needed for live video. There may be students who have their connection dropped mid-speech, and others who cannot join at all. I have full faith that tournament directors will have a way to address that issue, but asynchronous tournaments avoid that problem altogether. 

There are other interesting differences, but we feel like that is a robust discussion beyond the scope of this invitation. Our goal is to offer a forum for competition, not to compete with any other forums. 

Ultimately, we wish to recognize what a difficult and uncertain time this is for all coaches and students. This tournament is the first of its kind and the work of numerous directors, coaches, and experts that care deeply about this activity. We all believe in the power of forensics to bring us together and give our voices greater meaning. We look forward to starting this journey together.

Sincerely,           

Jared Kubicka-Miller, Rita Rafael, Matt Shapiro, and Tim Seavey

• Detailed Schedule of Events
  

All times are pacific standard time.

Friday, 3/20 - Sunday, 4/19 - Registration and Submission

8:00am on 3/20 - 6:00pm on 4/19

• Coaches register individual event entries on FTN

• Each coach receives access to a Google Drive folder, created by the host.

• Students record events, and send them to their coach. Coaches will upload videos to the Google Drive folder up until the 4/19 deadline.

Saturday, 4/18 - Limited Preparation Topics Announcement

6:00pm on 4/18

• Limited preparation topics will be made available at 6:00pm on 4/18

• Students will have 24 hours to prepare, record, and submit videos for judging

Thursday, 4/23 - Friday 5/1 - Judging Period

8:00am on 4/23 - 6:00pm on 5/1

• All judges will have a maximum of 5 Youtube playlists posted on FTN for judging.

• Judges have the flexibility to judge rounds at any time during this period and submit ballots through FTN before 6pm on Friday 5/1.

Saturday, 5/2 - Sunday 5/3 - Hired Judging Period (Nuisance Judging)

8:00am on 5/2 - 6:00pm on 5/3

• Any incomplete rounds, as of 6pm on Friday 5/1, will be assigned to hired judges.

• Hired judges must complete all ballots by 6:00pm, on Sunday, 5/3.

Friday, 5/8 - Live Awards Ceremony

6:00pm

• A livestream link will be shared with all coaches via e-mail prior to 6pm, but awards will begin promptly at 6pm

• Coaches should share this link with their team and encourage them to attend!

• Awards sent to winners’ teams for distribution

Additional Information

• Preliminary and Final rounds - There are none!  After careful consideration, this tournament will only take the results from the judges, and recognize the most highly rated performances for each event. 

• Students’ entries will be rated 5 times and awards will be based on those 5 ballots. Standard tournament tie-breakers will be used.

• We would be honored if your students would be interested in being featured on our YouTube channel, with appropriate credit given for writing and performance, please have them print out the waiver attached to this invitation, sign it, scan it, and send it back to Jared at jared@protocommunications.com