Friends,
It is mypleasure to invite you to the 12th annual Kansas City Kansas Community College TOC/DCI Qualifier to be heldNovember 3rd-5th, 2017.
(NEW REGISTRATION INFO/INSTRUCTIONS and AWARD INFORMATION BELOW)
The tournament is a qualifier at the Final Round level, in team policy debate, to the magnificent TOC in Lexington, KY. Additionally, the tournament has been deemed a qualifying tournament for KS teams interested in competing at the prestigious DCI tournament. The DCI bid level has commenced at the Octo-Final round in the past. The TOC bid and the designation as a DCI qualifier ensures that the tournament will be one of the most competitive experiences your students can hope for. Last year we had nearly 95 teams from 7 states. Enter early to not be left out!
We are excited to host this event and look forward to hosting you and your teams in wonderful Kansas City. The invitation includes important information regarding schedule, location, procedures, and accommodations. The ENTIRE tournament will be held on the campus of Kansas City Kansas Community College. Space limitations due to a high volume of Saturday classes, and a Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the College should be encouragement for you to enter early and often should you choose!
Please make note of the fact that ALL rounds will be at KCKCC. In the past we were fortunate to have gracious hosts from our high school colleagues. If the tournament grows in size, we may be calling on them again. For now, expect all debates to occur on our campus.
Award: We will once again present an award to honor the memory of Aaron Thomas. Aaron was a national title winning debater at Kansas City KS Community College, and a successful coach for Lincoln Prep HS, a mentor and advocate for the KC UDL, Debate Kansas City, and a giant advocate for HS debate. We lost Aaron on January 1st2015, and we plan to honor his memory during the tournament.
Procedures: We will have 6 preliminary rounds of debate. Teams should come prepared to debate both sides of the 2017-2018High School resolution. Preliminary debates will be followed by an appropriate number of elimination debates determined by the number of teams entered. Time limits will be 8 minute constructives, 3 minute cross-examination periods, 5 minute rebuttals, and 8 minutes of prep time per team. Last year we cleared all teams with a winning record to a partial Double-Octa Final bracket. We expect to clear all teams with a winning record again, up to full double-octa finals.
Novice Division:This year, each school entered in the TOC/DCI Division is allowed to enter up to 2 teams in the Novice Division. Entry fee will be the same, as will be the requirement to provide judging to cover the team. Extras will be dependent on room limitations.
Entry Fees: We want to be accessible and to that end will keep our entry fees low in comparison to other TOC events. For the competition you can expect, the judging pool we will have, and the hospitality offered, you will be hard pressed to find such quality at such a low cost. Team entry fees will be assessed at $30.00 per team. The fee includes 2 meals for all participants (dinner on Friday and lunch on Saturday), breakfast foods on Sunday, awards for all elim teams, and snacks and hospitality throughout the weekend. Each school is limited to 4 teams initially with any teams beyond 4 being placed on a waiting list. I understand that times are tough economically on programs. While I know $30.00 is cheap for what you will get, I want to be accessible to all programs. If the fees make it difficult for you to attend, please let me know so we can work something out. We expect to have a substantial draw from throughout the Midwest. Please register early. Let me know via email if you would like more than 4 teams. No promises at this point. Given the space concerns we have, entries will be on a first-come basis with spots being automatically held for any school who has attended in the past. Those spots however will be released on October 28th to make room for other entries. Please enter, even if it's just numbers of teams and you need to figure out names later.
Fee Payment: All paid fees will result in you receiving a receipt for payment. The preferred method of payment is either cash (so we can pay our judges and vendors over the weekend), or a check made out to Darren Elliott or KCKCC Debate.Anyone paying the judge fee will not be able to pay this fee through a purchase order since those judges will need to be paid by the tournament while they are there.Please make sure to plan ahead if you are going to be paying a judge fee. Anyone who must pay entry fees by purchase order, please complete this paperwork early so your schools can cut a check. We are still waiting on payments from some schools that entered last year and arrived with a purchase order. This creates a financial burden on the ability to host.
***If you bring extra bodies to watch rounds or help out your team, please include $10.00 per person to help offset our food/beverage costs. Extra bodies would be anyone above and beyond 3 people per team (2 debaters and 1 coach/judge). So if you bring 1 team, 1 coach, and 2 students to watch, the fee would be $30.00 for the team and coach and $20.00 for the 2 extras.
Registration: All entries and judge prefs will be done via tabroom.com If you do not have a tabroom.com account, please begin the process now signing up for it, getting your students entered, and your judges. All ballots will be electronic this year. This makes it imperative ALL judges have a tabroom.com account, are linked to your program, and have a smart phone or tablet/laptop device they can enter their ballot on at the conclusion of the debate. Please do not overlook this step. If you need help navigating tabroom.com please send me an email. There are also many KS high school coaches well versed in it now who would probably be willing to help.
Once the tournament is capped, teams will be placed on a waiting list and let in the tournament in the order they were received. An updated team list will always be visible on tabroom.com under KCKCC DCI TOC Qualifier.
Judging: Each school needs to provide 1 qualified judge for every 2 teams entered. This person will be expected to judge each debate (6 prelims) and the first elimination round and 1 round past your final teams elimination. If you have 3 teams you need to provide 9 rounds of prelim judging, with both judges being available for the first elim round. You are welcome to bring more than 1 judge and have them split the commitment. Please indicate those requirements when entering. There will be a limited number of judges available for hire. They are on a first come basis. The fee for uncovered teams will be assessed at $75 per team in addition to the $30.00 entry fee. The ability to hire judges is not guaranteed and schools who believe they may have trouble covering their judging should make arrangements as early as possible to secure hired judging. We will use a judge preference system. I am requesting that each judge entered in the tournament complete a judge philosophy statement on tabroom.com as well that teams can access prior to filling out judge preference forms. NO registration is complete without the judge philosophy form. A sample form can be found at the bottom of this invitation. You can have your judges use this form OR they can create their own, as long as the basic information below is included. The philosophy forms need to be uploaded to tabroom.com at a minimum and ideally at
Please go to tabroom.com and the judge philosophy wiki and make sure your judges have a philosophy posted. The deadline to get philosophies in will be 1 week prior to the tournament. Any changes after that time must be approved. Anyone not submitting a philosophy statement will not be considered as a judge meeting the entry requirements, and teams may be dropped to make room for teams on the waiting list, or charged a hired judge fee. Please do not overlook this part of the entry. Coaches who may want to pick-up ballots but are not the full-time judge are asked to fill out a philosophy as well. Just let me know what rounds and when you would like to judge.
Judges should also accompany their teams if their teams are in elimination rounds on Sunday. In the past we have had some trouble with judges committed for Sunday no-showing. It creates quite a strain on the tournament if not enough judges are present. If you have teams debating, please make sure your judges will be there.
Laptops:As in the past the tournament will allow the use of laptops in debates and abide by KSHSAA regulations regarding such. Please inform your judges that they should expect and respect the use of laptops in debate. If they wish to address norms they will enforce regarding viewing computers, jump driving evidence, etc. please have them include that in their judge philosophy statement.
Accommodations: There are a number of hotels in the area of the College. Rates can vary depending on location and hotel. I would encourage schools to book and request a government rate. If you do not normally do this, it can save you a lot on rooms. Given that schools are state funded you are eligible for government rates and I encourage you to take advantage of this little known perk.
Hotels in the area of the college include:
Days Inn-7721 Elizabeth Avenue-Kansas City, KS-(913)-334-3028
Comfort Inn and Suites-234 N. 78th Street-Kansas City, KS-(913)299-5555
The above 2 properties are just a few minutes from the College.
The properties below are 3 miles up State Avenue from the College and located in the Village West area. This area has become the shopping and dining mecca in KS. The Legends shopping center, dozens of restaurants, and major stores have moved KS up 14 spots among all States in tourism. I encourage you to check out the area while here.
Holiday Inn Express-1931 Prairie Crossing-Kansas City, KS-(913)328-1024
Hampton Inn-1400 Village West Parkway-Kansas City, KS-(913)328-1400
The following properties are located just off I-70 about 10 minutes from the College via I-70.
Holiday Inn Express-13031 Ridge Drive-Bonner Springs, KS-(913)721-5300
Super 8-13041 Ridge Avenue-Bonner Springs, KS-(913)721-3877
Schedule:
Friday Nov. 3rd
2:00pm-3:00pm Registration (Upper Level Lounge Jewell Building—Note the Change from previous years—NOT the Performing Arts Center)
3:00pm Opening Assembly
3:45pm RD I
5:30pm RD II (followed by a dinner break)
7:30pm RD III
Saturday Nov. 4th
8am Pairings Released at Tabroom.com
8:30am RD IV
10:30am RD V
12:00pm Lunch Provided
1:30pm RD VI
4pm Assembly
5pm Elim RD I (presumably Double Octo-Finals) (All Judges are committed and needed)
7pm Elim RD II (presumably Octo-Finals)(Any school competing in Elim 1 is committed to judge this elim round)
Sunday Nov. 5th
8:00am Pairings Released on tabroom.com
(Strike Sheets will be used when/if the number of available judges allow it)
8:30am Elim RD III (presumably Quarter-Finals)
11am Elim RD IV (presumably Semi-Finals)
12:45pm-1:45pm Lunch Break
2pm Elim RD V (presumably Finals)
Directions: For those of you mapping your way here, the address is:.
Kansas City Kansas Community College
7250 State Avenue
Kansas City, KS 66112
When you arrive at the campus from State Avenuefollow the road north past the Lake (don’t hit our ducks please). When you arrive at the buildings the Jewell building is at the center of the campus building. You can park anywhere on campus without getting ticketed as long as it is not a spot marked reserved or for disabled drivers.Look for signs directing you to registration.
On behalf of Kansas City Kansas Community College Debate, the Division of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, the offices of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Vice President for Student and Financial Services, the College President and Board of Trustees, we look forward to seeing you in November for excellent competition.
Sincerely,
Darren Elliott
Director of Debate and Forensics
KCKCC
7250 State Avenue
Kansas City, KS 66112
(913)288-7295 (office)
(316)214-9502 (cell)
(913)288-7638 (fax)
Scott Elliott—Assistant Director
SohailJouya—Assistant Coach
SAMPLE JUDGE PHILOSOPHY FORM:
Name______
School______
# of years debated in HS______What School______
# of years debated in College____ What College/University______
Currently a (check all that apply) ____Head HS Coach _____Asst. HS Coach
____College Coach _____College Debater
____Debate Fan who regularly judges HS debate
# of rounds on this year’s HS Topic ____
What paradigm best describes your approach to debate?
_____Policy Maker _____Stock Issues _____Tabula Rasa
_____Games Player _____Hypothesis Tester _____Other (Explain)
What do you think the Aff burdens should be?
What do you think the Neg burdens should be?
How I feel about delivery (slow vs. fast)?
How I feel about generic Disads, Counter Plans, Kritiks?
How I feel about case debates?
Other Comments/Suggestions: