Welcome to the home page for the 2021 Weevil Wars - Virtual tournament hosted by University of Arkansas at Monticello on Oct 9-10, 2021 for College students.
Status: Tournament Completed
University of Arkansas at Monticello Debate and Forensics
P.O. Box 3460 Monticello, Arkansas 71656
August 30, 2021
Dear Colleagues,
The University of Arkansas – Monticello Debate Society proudly invites you to the “Weevil Wars” Virtual Debate Tournament.
This year’s tournament will offer 6 rounds of all four divisions of IPDA over two days. We are set to offer an environment in which argumentation and debate will be the central and sole purpose for the weekend. If you are looking for an opportunity to focus on IPDA then make certain that you join us on October 9th and 10th.
All entries must be received by Tue., October 5th, 2021, at 5:00 pm CDT in
ForensicsTournament.net. Changes will be accepted until Wed., October 6th, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. CDT at which point entries will be set. As this is a no charge tournament please only make changes after the deadlines when absolutely necessary. Any changes beyond this deadline must be sent to evans@uamont.edu
With the advent of virtual tournaments, we must ask that ALL entries be covered without exception (1 judge covers 2 debaters). As this is going to be a “free” tournament we will reserve the right to limit entries as needed.
WARNING: All schools must have their judges and competitors in the virtual rooms within 5 minutes of start times. Schools will be given 1 warning, then the offending judges and the competitors they are covering will be removed from the tournament. If the school has another issue with judges the entire entry may be removed. Competitors who are over 5 minutes late will be forfeited.
Tabulation Room will be run by TBA. If you need a copy of the rules of IPDA, just let us know or check out the association website at www.ipdadebate.info
Jim Evans
Director of Forensics and Debate
University of Arkansas at Monticello
870.723.8774 evans@uamont.edu
VIRTUAL ARRIVAL & REGISTRATION:
Registration will be conducted via ForensicsTournament.net, and all competition rounds through Yaatly.
Registration Link: Will be available on ForensicsTournament.net as soon as possible.
User guides for coaches and students, including instructional videos for ForensicsTournament.net and Yaatly guides, can be found on the IPDA Website at:
http://www.ipdadebate.info/virtual-debate-resources.html
AWARDS:
All awards will be presented as certificates sent via email to the school’s coach. Awards will be presented to all elimination round participants in all divisions. Awards shall be presented to the top five speakers in each debate division. The three top programs and the top community/junior college shall receive awards for Sweepstakes.
Sweepstakes and Awards: The top 3 sweepstakes will be awarded for the following divisions
Individual IPDA (top 3 individuals per division, 1 point for prelim wins, and 2 points for breaking.)
Wrecking Crew (the team (min of 3 team members) who possess the highest win percentage as a program. This award includes all team members included in the tournament entry.)
Speaker awards will count toward sweepstakes points. Sweepstakes points will be calculated as such: 5 points for 1st place, 4 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd, 2 for 4th, and 1 for 5th. There will be speaker awards for the top 5 competitors, trophies for all elimination rounds in each division, and sweepstakes trophies for the top 3 programs.
SCHEDULE:
All rounds will be single flighted in order to encourage an on-time schedule.
Schedule:
Saturday, October 9th
10:00 Welcome / Announcements
10:15 Draw Round 1
11:45 Draw Round 2
1:15 Draw Round 3
2:45 Lunch
3:15 Draw Round 4
4:45 Draw Round 5
6:15 Draw Round 6
Sunday, October 10th
10:00 Awards
10:30 Draw Elimination 1
12:00 Draw Elimination 2
1:30 Draw Elimination 3
3:00 Draw Elimination 4 (if needed)
EVENT INFORMATION:
A. General information
1. No minimum number of entries is required for schools to count toward debate sweepstakes awards.
2. We will provide ADA accommodations upon request; please let us know at the time you enter if you need any special arrangements.
3. The tab room will operate on a closed basis; tab staff will be available via chat and cell phone.
4. We will be using the Lee College Debate Team website for supplemental information found at http:// http://www.leecollegedebate.org/
B. IPDA/TIPDA Considerations
1. Please adhere to all rules expressed in the Bylaws and Constitution of the IPDA.
2. In order to keep the tournament running on time, please remind your competitors that they should activate their timers when draw begins, not after the strike process ends.
C. Please remind your judges that electronic devices are NOT permitted for anyone in a round other than for accessing the Yaatly platform or ballots, including the judge.
D. Tournament Ethics Statement
1. The behavior of all attending will be in keeping with the NCA Policy on AntiHarassment Code of Conduct. We encourage all programs to review these expectations prior to entering this tournament.
2. The University of Arkansas at Monticello expects that behavior between all participants, coaches, judges, and guests be respectful and appropriate at all times. If any participant has concerns over propriety or good sportspersonship, they should discuss the matter with their coaching staff. Any coach, judge, or guests should address any concerns with the Tournament Director exclusively.
3. As a condition of entry, all participants, coaches, judges, and guests agree that any decision issued by the Tournament Director is binding and final.
JUDGES:
All entries must be covered. One judge during debate rounds covers two (2) IPDA debaters. As is commonplace in IPDA, once eliminated from competition, IPDA competitors may be used to judge IPDA elimination rounds. All judges are obligated to judge for the entirety of the tournament. We will reserve the power to limit entries to make certain we can provide sufficient judging pools needed to keep clean rounds throughout the tournament.
Your Judges and Competitors MUST provide email addresses (in ForensicsTournament.net) to receive their ballots, and providing cell phone numbers is STRONGLY encouraged.
ENTRIES & FEES:
Please Note: All entries must be received by Tue., October 5, 2021, at 5:00 pm CDT in
ForensicsTournament.net. Changes will be accepted until Wed., October 6, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. CDT at which point entries will be set. As this is a no charge tournament please only make changes after
the deadlines when absolutely necessary. Any changes beyond this deadline must be sent to evans@uamont.edu
VIRTUAL DEBATE INFORMATION:
In addition to entering the tournament via ForensicsTournament.net, coaches should create the appropriate team Yaatly accounts several days prior to the tournament.
During the tournament,
• All competitors and judges should be in their competition room 5 minutes before the start of the round and test their audio. If a competitor or judge is not present in the room by the start of the round, please contact Tournament Director Jim Evans through Yaatly chat immediately.
• Coaches should confirm that all team judges have their ballots five minutes prior to the beginning of each round. All ballots will be delivered electronically via the email addresses the team’s coach has provided.
• If a competitor’s internet drops in the middle of a round, the competitor should try to re-enter the competition room first; if this does not work then please contact Jim Evans through Yaatly chat immediately.
• If a competitor drops connection, the competitor will have a maximum of five minutes to reconnect before the round is forfeit. Due to the constraints of a virtual tournament, rounds will not be re-run.
• If a judge drops connection, the competitors should immediately pause their timers and contact Jim Evans through Yaatly chat after two minutes have elapsed.
• Competitors and judge webcams must be activated the entire debate round, and they should not change their backgrounds.
• Competitors should mute their video during competitor speeches, only during cross-ex should both microphones be turned on. It is useful to use headphones during the round to help ensure everyone can hear you properly. Judges should also mute their microphones once the round has started.
• Judges should active the in-round timer function appropriate for each debate segment.
• Oral critiques should not be offered by judges after the round, this is important for keeping the rounds on-time