Tournament training for TP and LD. A least one parent, but preferably two, are encouraged to attend this training session. In lieu of attending the speech sessions. TP and LD parents, and their students will be trained in how to flow rounds, how to fill out ballots, and other general rules as they apply to tournament etiquette in general. Then, parents will be able to practice these skills as they judge the competitors in practice rounds. Following each debate round the parents will have the opportunity to give verbal critique to the students as to the strengths and weaknesses of their cases, and their overall persuasiveness in the round. This practice plus the parental feedback is an amazing and effective way to give our students a head-start on the additional research they need to tighten up their affirmative cases and negative briefs before the upcoming Veteran’s Day Tournament, Monday, November 11th. This training session will also give parents the knowledge they need to coach their children at home, and the confidence they need to effectively judge rounds and provide encouraging feedback. Speech parents and students are welcome to join in on this training after they have completed their speech sessions. Childcare will be provided for the little ones.

Parents will learn:

• basics of judging speech and debate rounds
• how to flow for debate
• what special skills are needed (spoiler alert: none!)
• what ballots look like and how to complete them

Students will learn:

• what its like to be judged
• how to adapt to different judging philosophies
• when a tournaments starts
• tournament etiquette