The Walpole High School Speech & Debate Team could not compete without the generous assistance of volunteers who serve as judges at our tournaments. Thank you so much to the parents and guardians, aunts and uncles, teachers, older siblings, WHS alumni, and friends who give their time to make this amazing activity possible!
For the protection of all student competitors, our volunteer judges must be cleared through a standard CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) check every three years. You may come in to the high school office to complete the process during business hours (M-F, 7:00am-3:00pm) or email Mrs. Murray to make alternate arrangements.
Tabroom website
How to create a Tabroom account
(you only need to do this once, before your first time judging)
While you do not need to have experience or expertise in speech & debate to serve as a tournament judge, we do want to make sure you feel as comfortable as possible in your role. To that end, we offer the following links to resources you can review before you judge.
Debate
Lincoln-Douglas (LD) Debate video training (6 minutes)
How to Judge Lincoln-Douglas Debate by Jim Menick, NYCFL Coach
How to enter a debate ballot on Tabroom.com (6 minutes)
How to take notes ("flow") a debate round (9 minutes)
Uses Public Forum debate as the example
How to Use Tabroom to Judge Debate (7 minutes)
This was created for the 2020 national tournament, which was different from most of our local tournaments in one key way--all rounds have more than one judge. Focus on the use of Tabroom and its functionality, not the details of the logistics/timing of rounds.
Speech
Quick guide to judging speech (PDF)
Offers a brief synopsis of each event
How to enter a speech ballot on Tabroom.com (PDF)
All Events
All Events Video training (1 hour)
Designed to help you identify the different types of speech and debate events and review basic judging guidelines, this online course features student performances so you can practice judging while receiving tips on what to note during an actual round.