Procedures for Tournaments
1. Upon arrival at a tournament, wait in the designated area until coaches have registered and codes have been
assigned. You will have time to practice after codes and information is given out. Bring a pen!
2. Once you have received your code, you are free to get ready to speak. Check out the locations of your rooms.
Pay attention to speaker location, audience seating, lighting, and extraneous noise. Where possible try and
rectify any problems with the room. If this is impossible, try and consider how you will need to adapt your
performance (e.g. you may need to project more if the room has a noisy heater fan.)
3. Before each round, warm up by actually delivering your speech. Reviewing the speech mentally is not
enough. You need total physical and mental involvement. We will expect to see Rosemount speakers
talking to walls.
4. Be early to your round (5 minutes). If you are double-entered, make sure that your judge is aware that you
will need to leave early or come late. (Write it on the board if the judge isn’t there.) Judges will frown on
anyone who is late. Regardless of a speaker’s position in a round, a competitor in a non-draw category must
remain for the entire round (unless double-entered). Speakers in a draw-category are expected to listen to the
rest of the speakers after they have performed, unless double-entered.
5. Speech is a listening activity as well as a speaking activity. Reading, doodling, visiting, reviewing your
speech, rustling through papers, etc. is inappropriate. Show good manners and courtesy to both other
participants and the judge. It is important as well that you are quiet in between speakers in order for the judge
to make decisions and write comments. Never put down or make negative remarks about other speakers or
judges at a tournament. The walls have ears! Negative comments have a habit of catching up with the
speakers who make them. Save comments for the bus ride home.
6. Judges usually know speakers only by their codes. Please be pleasant when the judge asks for clarification of
spellings, etc.
7. Know when it is your turn to speak. Keep track of any drops in the round so that you are not taken by
surprise. When it is your turn to speak, wait until the judge calls you, then move confidently to the predetermined speaking area. Pause before speaking. Rushing sends the message that you are nervous. Wait
until the judge has given a verbal or non-verbal sign that he/she is ready before beginning. (If in doubt,
politely ask, “Are you ready?” This is usually not necessary.)
8. At nearly all tournaments, judges will write critiques that are given back to the competitor at the end of the
round. (Whether you get them back immediately or at the end of the tournament depends on the tournament
manager.) Although these comments are often helpful and help to initiate changes we make in practice, DO
NOT alter your presentation at the tournament based solely on the comments of a judge. (Minor adjustments
such as references to volume or time may need immediate attention.) Talk to a coach if you think something
needs addressing right away.
9. All students will be expected to go and watch final rounds (in their entirety) if they are not competing in a
final round. Students may go to their category or to support a fellow Rosemount student.
10. Rosemount students are expected to attend the awards ceremonies and conduct themselves in a professional
manner. We do this by remaining professionally dressed, applauding when appropriate, standing for 1 st place
finishers, and by paying attention to the awards ceremony (ie: no iPods, cell phones, cards, chatting with
teammates, etc.). Students who do not attend the awards ceremony without prior approval will not receive
letter points for that tournament. You are expected to stay even if your parent has driven to the tournament.
11. If students from Rosemount are receiving awards, applaud professionally for them as you do for other
students receiving awards. No cheering, whistling, groans of disappointment or disparaging comments about
the results. This behavior makes you look like a second-class team. Be professional.
12. If you are receiving an award at the award ceremony, pay attention to when they call your category. When on
the stage, clap for your fellow competitors. When your name is called, step forward to receive your award. Do
not show any disappointment you might feel about your placing. If you do better than you expected, do not
yell, jump for joy, or be over-enthusiastic in your behavior. Be professional.
13. Do not wear apparel to the tournament that could identify which school you are from (letter jackets, speech
sweatshirts), and do not discuss which school you are from with fellow competitors. If you wish, you can pass
the buck and say that your coach prefers that you not talk about that. Some judges may hold biases against/for
certain schools, and you don’t want to provide them with that information.