Communications (Comms)

Opening Rounds —“All Hands”

For the beginning of most rounds, the entire Comms Team will need to help check rooms and address any issues that arise. Each team member will be assigned a set of rooms.

• Initial Checks—Enter each assigned room briefly to confirm that judges and participants are present by checking the attendees list.  Give priority to the rooms that don’t show a status or that show judges have not yet arrived. 
  • Note: Join buttons will be gray until a participant has arrived.
  • Set the room's status to accurately reflect the situation in the room.
  • If judges are missing
    • In a debate room, ask the debaters who are present to remind the judge to set the room status to “judge(s) present/ready” when he or she arrives
    • In a speech room, ask any judges who are present to be ready to set the room status to “judges present/ready” as soon as the final judge arrives.
    • Report Missing Judges—By the time the Comms lead specifies (usually 5 minutes prior to the first speaker for speech and 5 minutes after rooms release for debate) be sure that you have entered the names of any missing judges on the Google Spreadsheet and flag the JCT accordingly on the worksheet. 

During the Round—“Watch Teams”

For most rounds, once the round is underway and running smoothly, a smaller team will assume responsibility for watching the rooms and addressing issues. When a “watch team” begins, the Comms lead will give guidance on who should cover which rooms, but members may need to cover any room. Team members should address requests for help based on their watch rooms.  But, be flexible.  If that designated comms member is otherwise unavailable, anyone can jump in to assist. Everyone on the comms team will receive a text from the platform when there’s a room in “Need Help” status.

• When a room displays "Need Help" 
• Go to the Room if you are free and it is your assigned room.
• Update Status--If you are the first Comms staff member to respond, set the room status to “Staff Present/Responding” so that other team members will know the room is getting help.
• Provide help--according to the protocols and tech troubleshooting guidance.
• Report—Give details of the problem to the comms lead as soon as possible by spaces, and indicate a note on the Comms/JCT Rooms Tracker worksheet.
  • Number—Include the room number in every thread.
  • Names—Give the names of any relevant judges or competitors. 
  • Speaker/Round Status—Provide clear information to the Comms Lead about the status of the competitor’s speech or the debate round as a whole (e.g., has not started, still speaking, paused with x minutes remaining, finished speaking but with xxx issue, or just finished neg prep before 1NR).
• If the situation permits, it can be good to have two comms members in a room so that one can talk to the participants while the other updates the Comms Lead on the room’s status.

At the End of the Round

The Comms Lead will specify which rooms the members of the watch team will enter to check and clear as they finish. 

• Verify that the room status is set to “Finished” if competition is complete.
• If judges remain within a few minutes of all rooms being finished 
  • Attempt to tell them the following: “Hello, this is ____ from the Tournament Communications team. Thank you for judging. Our rooms for this round will be closing soon, so I want to make sure that you know you can exit the room to complete your ballots from the tournament dashboard. If you do not immediately see a button to return to your ballots once you leave, please try refreshing your browser or exiting and re-entering the tournament website. You will also have a contact button where you can reach Tournament Administration should you need any assistance.”
  • If the judge does not respond or chooses to stay in the room, no further action is required on the part of the Comms Team.

Semis & Finals Outrounds

• On online tournaments, rooms are limited for attendees. To allow the students and parents to watch those who have advanced to later outrounds, viewing rooms will be set up by the Communication lead and need to be monitored by one communication staff member for each room. Training for this position will occur prior to the outrounds by Communication Lead and each staff member will need exceptional internet connection. Please let the CL know if you can serve in this position. Other staff will be necessary to run the typical staff positions.