In which we declare, this is how we're doing big tournaments

It’s not easy planning something in great detail when, for all practical purposes, you have nothing to go on. I mean, yes, we’ve been to and even run a few virtual tournaments, but nobody’s actually got it knocked yet. By knocked I mean an attainable vision of a competition successful on all counts: fair, reasonable, predictable, satisfying—a tournament teams want to go to year after year, that judges can’t wait to judge because of the great treatment they receive, that even the tab room looks forward to the fun of making it all happen yet again. We don’t have anything close to that with virtual tournaments. We have all of our experience with IRL tournaments, and a tad of experience with e-tournaments. And we’re trying to assemble from that a top-to-bottom plan for 2020-21. I will add that the "we" here is a group of individuals with differing opinions, whose teams and the needs of those teams sometimes vary from one another dramatically. Fortunately, the "we" here is a group of professionals with mutual respect who also happen to be friends. We can disagree, but we can also come to a decision, sometimes concurring with a decision that goes against our personal opinions. 

 

Just as an aside, I have never believed that the best solution to a disagreement is a compromise. Sometimes, yes, of course, but other times, no. Sometimes there really is a correct or more desirable path that has to be taken where perhaps one party to the group isn’t happy but the group as a whole is better off. This is preferable to no one in the group being happy, and pretty much no one being better off. I have known business managers who were so fearful of disagreement that they could never pick a side (much less have their own) and inevitably proposed the worst possible solution where not only no one was happy, but the true goal that was being sought was rendered unachievable. Fortunately for the debate community, our Traveling Tab Room is not like that.

 

Anyhow, we have endless discussions about handling tournaments next season. I don’t think anyone believes anymore that there will be any IRL events. The Times today discussed how college teachers think the last place they should be next season is in a room with college students. Can’t say as I blame them. The high schools are kicking around all sorts of solutions for the School Year in the Time of Coronavirus, some of which sound to me like cake in the sky; I’d say pie in the sky, but that’s giving them too much credit. In any case, e-tournaments are going to be it, and we’ve come up with what we think is workable. There are some ifs, which could cause changes as things evolve, but so far, we’re set. 

 

Big three-day tournaments with TOC bids will look like this, until something better comes along: single flights, 6 rounds, cap at 180, judge ratio 1-2 (not partial obs), MJP in VLD for Quarters bids and above (or wherever the precedent has been established) otherwise strikes, break to triples. This applies to PF and LD both. At tournaments where we’re predicting a big overflow in varsity divisions, add a JV division; my idea for Community/Open was a non-starter, not being able to get past the looks-like-a-loser-division problem.

 

Skeds look like this:

 

LD
	Start time	Duration	Finish time
Day 1
RD	4:30 PM	1:30	6:00 PM
RD	6:30 PM	1:30	8:00 PM
RD
RD
RD
RD
Day 2
RD	9:00 AM	1:30	10:30 AM
RD	11:15 AM	1:30	12:45 PM
RD	1:30 PM	1:30	3:00 PM
RD	3:45 PM	1:30	5:15 PM
Trips	6:00 PM	1:30	7:30 PM
Day 3
Double	8:30 AM	1:30	10:00 AM
Oct	11:00 AM	1:30	12:30 PM
Qs	1:30 PM	1:30	3:00 PM
Semi	3:30 PM	1:30	5:00 PM
Final	5:30 PM	1:30	7:00 PM

 

 

PF
	Start time	Duration	Finish time
Day 1
RD	4:30 PM	1:30	6:00 PM
RD	7:00 PM	1:30	8:30 PM
RD
RD
RD
RD
Day 2
RD	9:00 AM	1:30	10:30 AM
RD	11:00 AM	1:30	12:30 PM
RD	1:30 PM	1:30	3:00 PM
RD	3:30 PM	1:30	5:00 PM
Trips	5:30 PM	1:30	7:00 PM
Day 3
Doubles	8:30 AM	1:30	10:00 AM
Octs	11:00 AM	1:30	12:30 PM
Qs	1:30 PM	1:30	3:00 PM
S	3:30 PM	1:30	5:00 PM
F	5:30 PM	1:30	7:00 PM

 

CX
	Start time	Duration	Finish time
Friday
RD 1	4:30 PM	2:30	7:00 PM
RD 2	7:00 PM	2:00	9:00 PM
Saturday
RD 3	9:00 AM	2:00	11:00 AM
RD 4	11:45 AM	2:00	1:45 PM
RD 5	2:45 PM	2:00	4:45 PM
RD 6	5:30 PM	2:00	7:30 PM
Sunday
Elim 1	9:00 AM	2:00	11:00 AM
Elim 2	11:45 AM	2:00	1:45 PM
Elim 3	2:45 PM	2:00	4:45 PM
Elim 4	5:30 PM	2:00	7:30 PM

 

 

The extra time in LD is for Varsity teams prepping. Otherwise, LD would go by the PF sked. There is serious consideration that CX might break the biggest reasonable number and forgo a final. There might be a little seasoning to taste for some of this, but overall it’s the fairest, and it’s certainly the closest we’ll get to decent results vis-à-vis TOC bids. 

 

The single flighting is, of course, the biggest issue. One can argue it till the cows come home, but when push comes to shove, it’s the only way a big machine—a tournament with hundreds of entrants in multiple divisions—can operate. Smaller tournaments, e.g., HS tournaments without bids or with a finals or even semis bid, running on two days, would take different approaches. I’m leaning toward two-dayers being Sat-Sun if at all possible, which allows for a lot of variations, and, more to the point, more leeway for double flights. 

 

As for speech, all events live, including DUO on separate cams. Double-entry okay except in extemp.

 

And that’s about it.