FAQ

Many parents have questions regarding how to sign up for a tournament. The complete steps are in the “External Tournament Signup Procedure” document.

Here is a general list of Frequently Asked Questions with answers.

Q1. Do I need to create a tabroom account link it?

A: Yes, You need to create one tabroom account for yourself and one for your child each using a personal email address. Use the same emails when asked to fill up internal spreadsheets to sign your child up for a tournament. The boosters will link the email to the redwood middle account.

• For the parents

  • It is crucial that you create your own TabRoom account (separate from your Student's account). TabRoom is the virtual website where many of our speech & debate tournaments are hosted, and where registration gets processed.

  • In order to fulfill requirements as JUDGES, it is necessary to have a TabRoom account. Please create separate account for each parent or guardian. View the instructional page and video tutorial below to assist you. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.

  • Instructional Webpage: https://docs.tabroom.com/Sign_Up

  • Instructional Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4PlvjxixB8

Q2. Do I have to be a judge if I sign my child up for a tournament?

A: Yes and no. Not every parent will be signed up as a judge, but each format has a minimum number of judges required for each school. We typically have a couple of more judges signed up than needed in each format to avoid last minute drop off, so that the school is not affected. Participating parents are taking turns in general. The rule of thumb is that you must commit to being a judge, if no other competitors have signed up in your format. Also indicate any days unavailable (if any) on the signup sheet. We need at least 50% parents committed. To ensure enough coverage, if you can only cover for some days (e.g. Sunday), it’s safe to find a partner parent in the same format (speech, LD or PF) to cover the rest of the days for a tournament (e.g. Friday and Saturday). If you really cannot commit at all this time, you can coordinate with your partner parent to have him/her to commit. You can take turns. Many working parent judges take time off for this commitment. However, if there are not enough judges committed in your format, only the students with parents committed in that format can be entered.

Q3. Do I have to judge for the entire tournament if my child is a competitor?

A: It depends on the tournament. Many tournaments require judges in speech to be obligated for all rounds at the tournament, but judges in debate obligated to stay and judge the first elimination round OR one round past any round in which their students are actively competing, whichever is later​. ​However, it's safe to assume you have to judge for all rounds in your format, meaning that you block the entire duration of your format on your calendar, unless you have indicated a conflict day when you sign up.

Q4. If I am signed up as a judge, when will I know which round I will be judging?

A: Typically you will receive an email (to your tabroom email account) ~30 min (could be more or less) before each round of your assignment (round pairing/schematic come at the same time for competitors). Check the schedule carefully for the time of each round of your event. Log into your tabroom account to check periodically. You need to be on call until that round starts 5-10min because some room may need a sub judge urgently (then you are dismissed afterwards). Always go to your room ~10 min earlier than the official start time to make sure you can successfully access it and the round can start when all competitors and judges are there regardless of time. If you miss or are late for a round you are assigned to judge, there is a penalty fee associated with your name. Only when all judges and competitors are all in the room, with consensus, a round may be started earlier than the official time. For rounds with multiple judges, you shouldn’t verbally release your judge decision until all judges have submitted the ballots.

Q5. My child is put on the waitlist. What can I do to ensure him/her accepted off the waitlist?

A: There is nothing you can do to guarantee acceptance. Paying the fees or turning in the signed forms early has nothing to do with getting accepted. All you can do is to sign up internally as early as possible. Then your child is put into the tabroom waitlist earlier, which means the chances of being accepted off to the tournament is higher. All of our students started on the waitlist for some recent tournaments, but eventually all were moved to the tournament. However, if you sign up close to the internal registration deadline, the chances of being accepted off the waitlist are much smaller.

Q6. If when I sign up on the internal sheet, no other people have signed up yet, how do I know the designated parent, where to send the forms and pay the fees, etc.?

A: Typically the first or second registered parent is to be the designated parent, but we want to rotate this role thus not the same parent every time. If some info is missing, please go back to check again in a few days. The same concept for the tournament info. We want to open registration as early as possible but sometimes there is no tournament schedule, payment info etc. on tabroom yet. All information will be added and updated on the internal signup sheet (info tab) when available. This sheet is the central place you need to revisit and pay attention to especially anything in red.

Q7. I am new to tournaments. I don't feel comfortable being a judge or designated parent. Can I skip?

A. Unfortunately no. All parents must take these roles in turn. There are typically judge training sessions during the week right before the tournament. Follow the “tournament logistics and update” email thread sent to all participating students and parents. There are NSDA YouTube videos for judge training

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xC3kKs2_gASdIhic4c-BIOscfkGsUHM8YBwChjF4kzI/edit?usp=sharing .

We also have sample ballots to help first time judges.

All speech events: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vLNZ2HlXzraU313iF7PQN6kyZtPJHoWL/view?usp=sharing

LD debate: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rJixQx-DbhnMV2qh-sYWypNMb7ha-FoR/view?usp=sharing

PF debate: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dO3T4VLbG8e3wQlEESHa_S4Ujxx58xec/view?usp=sharing

The “External Tournament Signup Procedure” has a section detailing the responsibilities of the designated parent that you can follow.

Q8. Where can I find additional tournament information?

A. We recommend that you go to the tabroom website to look for more information or updates. All the information we share with you is public and can be found on the tabroom. Typically the tournament updates are in the “Invite”, “Invitation Homepage” and “Email Archive”. You can find important information in the “Events & Divisions” and “Schedule” or “Tentative Schedule”. See red boxes in the picture below. Regarding the deadline, please only use our internal deadline which allows us time to coordinate before their official deadlines. Our boosters try to summarize related updates for each tournament on the signup sheet “info” tab and “logistics and updates” email thread/live doc (which will be sent to all participating students and parents after the internal deadline). You can also login to your tabroom account to see status update (e.g. if a competitor is put on the waitlist or moved to the tournament, or if a parent is assigned as a judge)