TOURNAMENT DAY

An Overview to Your Virtual Day

Login to TABROOM.COM which is your portal to everything.
JUDGES: Check in to JUDGES ROOM by 8:30am for mandatory 30 minute meeting.
STUDENTS: Check in to your TEAM ROOM between 8-8:30 am
COACHES: Meet with students in TEAM ROOM and register in COACHES ROOM at 8:00 am
Know your round assignments by checking TABROOM.COM
When in round, keep cameras on (judges remember to START round)
Parli competitors check in to PARLI PREP ROOM 40 minutes before the round or as soon as postings go out.
STUDENTS: Check in with your team before and after each round. Hang out with your team in the TEAM ROOM.
STUDENTS and COACHES should attend AWARDS CEREMONY (accessed in TABROOM.COM) and encourage everyone else (including JUDGES) to watch the LIVESTREAM (on this site here).

It is important to prepare for this day ahead of time. More detail on how a virtual tournament will go follows below.

GOING VIRTUAL (IN MORE DEPTH)

Everything You Need To Know for Your Virtual Tournament Experience

MAKE SURE EVERYONE HAS THEIR TOURNAMENT CREDENTIALS

WBFL virtual tournaments are run on the CAMPUS virtual platform. Access to competition rooms is strictly controlled for the safety of participants. Coaches, Competitors, and Judges are permitted access.

To access you must have a valid TABROOM.COM account that is LINKED to the school's tournament registration (as either a Coach, Competitor, or Judge). Individuals must create a TABROOM.COM account. They must provide the email address used for the account to the coach. Coaches must then link students and judges from their school's tournament entry to those tabroom accounts with that email.

TEST YOUR ACCESS TO THE VIRTUAL PLATFORM

Technical issues will be your largest headache, but they are also avoidable! Do not wait until the tournament to test your access. Know where you will be, what equipment you will be using, your lighting, etc. before the tournament.

Go to campus.speechanddebate.org and test your ability to access the Test Competition Room. Try turning your microphone and your video. Make sure all of it works. If they don't, troubleshoot the technical issues and solve before the day of the tournament. School equipment may need special configuration to access the site. There is no WBFL tech person. Coaches are their team's tech advisor of first and last resort. So do it in advance.

NOTE: CAMPUS REQUIRES USING THE CHROME BROWSER.

STUDENTS GO OPTIMIZE YOUR COMPETITION SETUP

Technology, while great, can also require a lot of preparation. Finding the right combination of equipment, environment, lighting, etc. is important. Do not wait until the last second to do so. Make sure you optimize your internet connection (try to ask other family members to stay off streaming, etc.). And maximize the visual environment--reduce clutter, think about lighting, and frame yourself properly.

Review this tech guide from Loyola and the online competition tip guide from the 2020 NSDA Nationals (in particular the pages on lighting).

JUDGES CAN REVIEW RESOURCES TO PREPARE THEMSELVES

The days of a judge just showing up the morning of a tournament are no more. Make sure your judges go through the same tech setup and testing protocols that the students do. Judges do need to appear on camera and a reliable internet connection is similarly important.

In addition, we have a page dedicated to resources for judges. Especially if they are newer, this page will include material they can review ahead of time or during the day between judging assignments.

Make sure judges, no matter how experienced they are, attend judge orientation/instructions the morning of the tournament. This will be when we make important announcements, especially as we adapt to virtual.

MAKE SURE ALL STUDENTS HAVE SIGNED THE RELEASE

Because a virtual tournament requires the streaming, recording, and viewing of videos involving students, it is important that the league have a release from each student (and parent) in order for them to participate virtually. Each student must have this signed form completed.

Follow the directions given for that tournament for submitting the forms. If in doubt, you can send to treasurer@wbfl.org.

WHERE DO I GO IN THE MORNING?

You need a tabroom.com account affiliated with a competing school to "arrive" at the tournament. The morning of, judges, competitors, and coaches just have to login to tabroom.com and click on their email (upper right-hand corner). Then you will see the rooms you have access to. If you have been assigned a competition room, you'll see the access links. There will also be links for the other rooms you are authorized to enter (coaches, judges, the team room, etc.) Those links will not be there until the tournament has started.

WHERE DO I REGISTER THE DAY OF THE TOURNAMENT?

Coaches should register for the tournament by entering the COACHES room link on their tabroom.com account the day of the tournament. If you can't find it, email treasurer@wbfl.org for help the day of the tournament.

It is important for you to confirm that all of your judges and students are in fact awake, available, and ready. We strongly recommend you ask your team and judges to meet in your team's room 15 minutes before registration so you have visual confirmation.

If you have any drops that you know of before the day of the tournament, please email them to the tournament director.

WHERE DO JUDGES CHECK IN FOR THE TOURNAMENT?

The morning of the tournament there is a mandatory judge orientation/instruction session. You must check in. This is how we know you actually "showed up" to judge. And since there are so many changes going virtual, we need this time to have every judge there in case we have to make announcements or last-minute logistical adjustments.

After the orientation, judges are free to drop in and out of the virtual judges room. They will get their round notifications via tabroom.com. When they go into their competition rooms and accounted for both debaters, they should press "start round" on their electronic ballot. They need to do so to access the online ballot and so the tournament knows the round has started. Make sure to submit the decision and comments within 10 minutes or so after the round.

Judges are not required to go back to the virtual judges room to wait. But they can go there if they want or have questions or have issues with their rounds (missing competitors, etc.).

Make sure your notifications and cell phone are on. The published schedule is not set in stone. The rounds will often get accelerated or delayed depending on the circumstances. You are expected to be "on call" the entire day of the event. Thank you for your cooperation.

WHERE DO JUDGES AND STUDENTS FIND THEIR ROUNDS?

The reason every person needs a tabroom.com account that is linked to the school is because that program controls what virtual rooms you have access to. It is the gateway to the tournament rooms (coaches, judging, kids hangout), the competition rooms, and the team rooms. You will only see the virtual rooms that you are authorized to go into.

To find your assignments and the "blue camera" button gateways to those rooms, click on your name in the upper right corner of the tabroom.com website. That will take you to your particular assignments and access links.

PARLI PREP LOGISTICS

In Tabroom, competitors will see a link to the PARLI PREP room. Make sure you enter that room 45 minutes before the round. Mute yourself. Then, RENAME yourself with your CODE. Yes--you and your partner will have identical names. This is important.

The proctor will take roll, prepare breakout rooms, and make announcements. Be patient. Thirty minutes before the round, the topic will be announced. The proctor will announce the opening of individual breakout rooms, where you

and your partner will prepare.

When time is up, you will receive an announcement by the extemp room proctor that the breakout rooms are closing. You can either return to the main prep room or leave the room altogether. Go immediately to your competition room through tabroom. Your judge will be waiting.

WHERE TO HANGOUT DURING THE DAY

Every team has a designated room for their school. There is a link to that team room in tabroom.com. Coaches should stay in that virtual room so they can have a central meeting place with their team. There will also be a virtual Coaches Room where tournament staff will be. With two devices (and judicious muting), coaches can stay in both places simultaneously.

There is a judges room where orientation will occur. In addition, that is a place where judges can go to ask questions, hang out with other judges, etc.

For kids, when they are not in their competition room, they can hang out in their team room where they can talk to their coaches. It is a good practice to always check in before and after rounds in the team room. In addition, there will be links in tabroom.com to multiple student hangout virtual rooms where students of different schools can meet, interact, and just see who is around. Each hangout room can only take 15-20 people, so feel free to jump between them when not with your team.

HOW IS THE AWARDS CEREMONY GOING TO WORK?

To make the awards ceremony a special end to the virtual day, the league expects every competitor to remain in tournament attire and to attend the short awards ceremony. There will be a link in TABROOM to the AWARDS CEREMONY. After the last round, students and coaches should enter the awards ceremony virtual room to await the final results (which will be imminent).

The following is important for production of the awards ceremony. Each person should enter the room separately. Rename yourself in the following format: SCHOOL-Last Name-Event. For example, SOUTH-Yang-Policy. If you are a coach, you can just say SOUTH-Coach. Unless you have received instructions otherwise, stay MUTED in the room. Feel free to use the native "reactions" (thumbs up, applause, etc.) to show your excitement.

If you receive an award, your video will be spotlighted so you can be recognized. This will also be the shot used for the Championship Wall for Speech, Debate, and Congress.

The awards ceremony will be livestreamed. Judges, family members, and other supporters do NOT have access to the Awards Ceremony room itself, but can watch the livestream of the event here. Feel free to share that link in advance.

The livestream will be recorded. Since it may be shared with school administrators, family, friends, etc., it is important that every student presents themselves appropriately as a good representative of the WBFL.