Contest Planning Guide

3 months before contest…

1. Set up a meeting with your AD. Address the following topics:

   1. Confirm date and time of your contest

   2. Discuss/reserve locations for your centers, gym for homebase, auditorium for One Act

   3. Discuss concession stand needs

      1. Food, staff

   4. Discuss additional help requirements that you might need:

      1. Secretary/someone with access to the Office

         1. WiFi day of contest

      2. Custodians?

      3. AD responsibilities during the contest?

2. Contact your volunteer coordinator/Designate a volunteer coordinator

   1. Discuss volunteer needs; be sure this is on their radar

      1. (We used this person to help us coordinate baked goods for the judges; our other volunteers were staff members, students, and speech team parents)

   2. Make a list of necessary volunteer jobs

      1. Think about:

         1. People to hand out programs/direct spectators

         2. Concession stand workers

         3. Timers

         4. Room chairs

         5. Draw room monitor (radio news)

         6. Tab room helpers (generally coaches)

         7. Ballot runners (usually students)

         8. Hall monitors?

3. Remind your parents that you’ll likely need their help! (Beginning of the year speech meeting is a great time to do this, get it on their calendars, and maybe even have them sign up to help!)

4. Purchase a Contest Manager binder from IHSSA for $25; we found this was useful for information about directing your room chairs, timers, and general good conduct for hosting a contest.

5. Contact West Delaware AD Secretary Kay LaRosa, kaylarosa@w-delaware.k12.ia.us, to verify WaMaC medal and certificate needs.

6. Ask Deb (IHSSA secretary) for a list of certified judges

7. Look at old programs to get an idea of how things usually run.

Beckman LG Contest Program

West Delaware IE Contest Program

2 months before contest….

1. Check in with AD (make sure nothing else has been scheduled in the building)

2. Send emails to certified judges in your area. Be sure to ask their judging preferences, explain the time frame and pay ($60). Also, collect their addresses to be sure they receive payment! Try to find certified judges first!

   1. Based on previous years, you will LIKELY need 8 judges for WaMaC IE, and 9 judges for WaMaC LG (you will need 3 for One Act).

3. Create your list of volunteer needs. Be sure you know exactly how many volunteers you will need.

4. Ask for volunteer help from parents, students in need of volunteer hours, and staff members in the district. Require your speech team members to help.

   1. TIPS:

      1. We split our volunteers into shifts to allow them to watch their students and to accommodate those who could only help for a few hours

      2. Assign speech team members specific tasks when they are not performing to help with volunteer needs

5. Determine how and what you will feed judges

   1. TIPS:

      1. Ask volunteers to provide as much food as possible to cut down on costs. Consider providing the main entree and drinks but ask volunteers to bring sides.

6. Talk to your central office about logistics for paying judges

7. Be sure that you have current emails for all coaches on your side of the WaMaC (easily accessible from AD secretary, generally!)

1 month before contest…

1. Check in with your AD

2. Send an informational email to coaches with the following items:

   1. School Letter (sample)

   2. Entry forms

   3. Entry fee forms

   4. What each school needs to bring (available under “hosting rotations” tab)

   5. Entry cards from District IHSSA registration (not required, but it is helpful when you start to schedule!)

      1. Be sure to set a reasonable deadline for receiving these items - approximately 2 weeks before contest is a good rule of thumb.

3. Send a confirmation email to your judges verifying your intent to hire them and reminding them about when they need to arrive and where they need to go.

   1. Judges will need to arrive 30 minutes before the contest for a judge’s meeting.

4. Send a confirmation email to your volunteers explaining their roles, when they need to arrive and where they need to go.

   1. TIP:

      1. For certain roles (room chairs and timers, especially), we provide a 15 minute in person training before the contest starts.

5. Remind your speech team they will be required to help set up, work the contest, and clean up after the contest.

6. Send an email to staff notifying them of potential use of their classrooms for WaMac Contest.

7. Determine how you will tab for the contest.

   1. TIP:

      1. West Delaware has a tabbing system through Google Sheets that can be easily manipulated. Please visit our “Tabbing Info” link on the wdspeech.com website.

      2. It’s a good idea to have three people in the tab room: one person reading ratings, one person recording it in the tab sheet, and one person printing off ratings to be hung in a central location and ensuring that runners are grabbing the official ballots from room chairs.

8. Determine who will run your judge’s meeting before the contest.

   1. This person (for us) was also responsible for handling potential DQ’s.

9. Check in about status of medals/certificates.

2-3 weeks before contest…

1. Create the schedule. This is generally a very involved process, and there are many ways to do it.

   1. TIP:

      1. I usually color code the entry cards sent to me by coaches, and then lay them out in front of me in a grid. I look for double entries and potential conflicts. Once I have it where I like it, I enter my information into the tab sheet we have created (which is basically a rough program)

2. Determine equipment needs for each room. Look at the rules for this.

3. Remind your students about their time commitment for your contest. Create shifts of workers if able.

4. Write the center locations on the school map.

5. Create the program. See above for samples.

6. Create the judge’s packets.

   1. Items to DEFINITELY include:

      1. Official ballot (ratings + ranking sheet signed by the judge at the end of each section; they should have one for each section. An example of this should be included in contest manager book.)

      2. Program

      3. IHSSA Rules for the events they will be judging

      4. WaMaC Judges Rules (available in “Judging Info” link)

      5. Timer

      6. Time flip cards

      7. Room chair directions (available in contest manager book)

      8. Thank you note

   2. Items to maybe include:

      1. Kleenex

      2. Candy

7. Create/locate a sign in AND out sheet for judges.

   1. Judges won’t be paid if they don’t sign out.

8. Create/locate a sign in sheet AND drop form for coaches.

1 week before contest....

1. Check in with your AD

2. Send program, school map, and school letter to coaches.

3. Send a reminder email to your judges

4. Send a reminder email to your volunteers

5. Print programs

6. For each center, create a map of how furniture should be set up in the room and what equipment needs to go in each room.

   1. TIP:

      1. Think about if you will need a certain key to access your centers for setup or the day of contest.

1 day before contest…

1. Check in with your AD

2. Gather your speech team for set up.

3. Review expectations of student helpers.

4. Divide students into groups. Make them responsible for setting up a certain center. Give them your room maps. Don’t let them leave until you have checked them out.

5. Put programs near entry, judge packets, medals, certificates, and tabbing items in the Office.

6. Make sure you have your sign in/out sheets AND drop forms in the Office.

Day of contest…

1. Check in with your AD

2. Make sure judges sign in AND out. Don’t let judges leave without returning all official ballots!

3. Make sure coaches check in. Communicate any drops to both the tab room AND to the necessary room chair.

4. Schedule a judge’s meeting 30 minutes before the contest begins

5. Schedule a room chair’s meeting 15 minutes before the contest begins

6. Be sure that rooms are returned to their original state

Days after contest…

1. Send out tabbing results to coaches