Tournaments

TIPS FOR DEBATERS :)

1. Be certain you know where the tournament is to be held, what time it starts, and whether your parent is judging.

2. When you arrive at the school, immediately contact the parent chaperone to check in, find out where they will be located at the tournament, and get any information from the tournament you might need (such as WiFi passwords, competitor codes, or maps).

3. Find the student area (follow the signs and the crowd) or look on Tabroom.

4. Wait for your event to be posted. Don't do things that will distract you from debating as well as you can (i.e. video games, social media) and instead focus on being calm and loose.

5. When your event is posted, look for your partnership name which will be some combination of you and your partner's last name initials plus Sequoia. (For example, our presidents, Alyssa Sawyer and Julian Ward, would be either SW Sequoia, SW Sequoia, Sequoia SW, or Sequoia SW.) Look at where your opponents come from (and past tournament history if time) and make a note of your assigned room. START PREPPING!

• Note whether you are Aff or Neg this round (IMPORTANT). If double-flighted, note whether you are flight A or Flight B.

• If you don’t find yourself, double check. If you still don’t find yourself, contact the debate organizers or Tabroom.

1. Go to your room and check to see whether your judge has arrived. At most tournaments, students are not allowed in classrooms until an adult is present – you can be disqualified from the tournament if you do not follow this rule!

2. When your round is finished, go back to the student area and wait for the next round to be posted. Try to stay focused on the tournament. Feel free to debrief the round with your teammates - this is so much fun to do! If it will be awhile until your next round, take some time off to do whatever until half an hour until pairings are announced.

3. Avoid entering a room while someone is speaking. Listen at the door for applause and enter between speeches.

4. If you encounter any sort of problem (locked room, judge falls asleep, you feel ill), report it to your presidents or an exec board member right away.

5. Go to all your preliminary rounds no matter how awful you think your performance was! Often times you win the rounds you thought you lost and you lose the rounds you thought you won. It's almost impossible to tell.

6. Wait for breaks to be posted. If you broke (made it to the next round), note your room assignment and position and go to your round. If you did not break, feel free to head out, or stick around to provide support for your teammates. Try to learn from those who went on.

7. Support your Sequoia teammates the whole time!

8. Before you leave the school, check out with the head Parent Chaperone or Presidents.

Make no negative comments about anyone until you have left the host school and cannot be overheard!