2024 Harvard Lincoln-Douglas Live Doc

***ALL BALLOTS will be distributed and entered on harvard.tabroom.com.***

Instructions for ballots

LD Tournament Contact Email: harvardldtab@gmail.com

Venue Locations

On Saturday Feb 17 and Sunday Feb 18, LD rounds will be held at the King/Putnam Schools. Note, there is no parking at the school - please park at CRLS or one of the Harvard Garages.  108 Kinnaird Street, Cambridge MA, 02139 is the most convenient address for the school. This will take you to the house directly across from the main, bottom floor entrance. Walk towards the playground and enter at the large glass foyer. 

On Monday Feb 19, LD elimination rounds will be held in Harvard Yard and headquartered inEmerson Hall. The address is 29 Quincy Street, Cambridge MA 02138

For a list of buildings used across the entire tournament, please visit harvarddebate.org/map

2024 Harvard Lincoln-Douglas Live Doc

Venue Locations

Announcements

LD Schedules

Food and Hospitality

WIFI Instructions

King/Putnam Wifi

Harvard Wifi Instructions

Tabroom.com Ballot Instructions

LD Judging Instructions

Announcements

LD Schedules

Overall Tournament Schedules are available by clicking here.

Food and Hospitality

This year we are providing breakfast to all participants on Saturday and Sunday. Different tournaments will be served food in different locations as outlined in this document. We are not providing food on Monday or for lunch or dinner on any day.        

LD [King/Putnam Schools – 102 Putnam Ave, Cambridge, MA.]

Tournament food for breakfast and lunch will be served in the main cafeteria of the King School on the ground floor. There are many restaurants located to the left of the school on Putnam Ave. Massachusetts Ave. is a five-minute walk. There are many restaurants at the corner of Mass Ave and Putnam in both directions. If you turn left on Mass. Ave. you are two minutes away from Harvard Yard. Basta Pasta is about a five-minute walk down Putnam Ave. to the right of the schools at the intersection of Putnam and Western Ave. Please confine food consumption to the King School cafeteria.        

WIFI Instructions

King/Putnam Wifi

1. Provide your own WiFi enabled laptop or device.
2. Connect to the Cambridge Public Internet wireless network

Harvard Wifi Instructions

1. Connect your computer to the Harvard University wireless network.
2. Go to https://getonline.harvard.edu/ in your web browser and click I am a Guest.
3. Click Register for Guest Access.
4. Fill out your Name, Phone Number, and Email Address, and select the box to agree to the terms of use. Click Login to receive your credentials.
5. Your Guest Credentials will now be shown and you can click login to gain network access. Once logged in you will be online and can browse the internet.

Tabroom.com Ballot Instructions

How to find and submit your ballot

1. Proceed to harvard.tabroom.com and login if you have not done so. If you have already logged in, click on your email address in the top right corner.
2. If you are judging, you will then see a pending ballot. If you do not see your ballot, on the right side column you will see a button that says “Current Ballots.” Please click it to see your ballot.
3. After clicking “Start Round,” you will see a ballot where you can enter your decision/ranks/speaker points, and comments. Competitors will see written comments after the tournament. You may continue to edit your written comments for the duration of the tournament, but you may not change your decision or rankings.
4. Once you enter your ballot, you will need to hit confirm. Please double check your entries carefully.

LD Judging Instructions

1. All LD Judges must be high school graduates and have a philosophy posted on Tabroom.com

2. Rounds are to begin on time, meaning at the start time listed on the pairings. Pairings will be released 30 to 40 minutes ahead online at harvard.tabroom.com. There may be unavoidable changes to the pairings, so please be alert for messages indicating any room or judge changes. Judges who fail to check-in AND report by the appropriate deadlines will be fined and replaced. In Varsity debate, a school’s judges who fail to show up will have their judge preferences turned off.

3. If you are assigned to judge a round, you will receive an email and a text message. You should still check the pairing to look for your name. Once you get your judge assignment in a given debate:

1. Start Round Button: Please hit the start round button to acknowledge that you have received your ballot
2. Report Time: You must report to your room 10 minutes before the round begins.
3. Flight 2: Please start your second flight 60 minutes after the first flight begins.
4. After your round ends, do not leave the room until you have submitted your ballot(s).

4. Standby Judging. All judges who are not on the pairing are on standby each round. Please report to the Judge Table ten minutes before the start time of the round in the division in which you are judging.

5. Forfeits. If one of the teams is not present by the start time, please let one of the tab staff know. A member of the tab staff will come to the room to declare a forfeit. Judges may not declare forfeits themselves.                                                                                                                           _
6. Judging. In the round, judges are expected to be attentive, flow (or otherwise take notes) and be respectful. Students have put in a lot of time and effort preparing for and traveling to the tournament and it is not fair to them to have a judge who appears to be disengaged or uninterested in the round. We will take all reports of inappropriate judging seriously and schools may be penalized for inappropriate judge behavior.

7. All LD judges are obligated through the double octafinals on Monday morning.  For prelims, on each day LD judges will either be scheduled to judge in the varsity division, or in the JV division, but not both.  Please check both the varsity and JV first round pairings each day (i.e., once on Saturday and once on Sunday) to determine which pool you are in that day.  If you are unsure which pool you are in, please inquire at the information desk

8. Conflicts: Please update all conflicts on tabroom prior to the tournament. Upon pairing release, please immediately check the debaters and notify us as early as possible (and at least before the round is scheduled to start) if there are any conflicts with either the rounds you are judging or your debater’s rounds. In the event of an error we need to have the chance to locate a substitute judge.  We will not change the results of rounds that occur regardless of a meritorious but untimely objection.

9. Preparation time is 4 minutes.  Low point wins are permitted but must be clearly indicated on the ballot.  Please note that in LD we use a 25-30 point speaker scale.  A “30” should be awarded only for a “perfect” speech.  A “25” is for one of the worst speeches you have heard or expect to hear in this tournament.  Please reward points responsibly so that awards are determined on a fair scale.  Tenth points (i.e. 28.6) are acceptable.

10. Ballots must be returned on time. Ballots are due 55 minutes after the scheduled start time for each flight. Tabroom.com has a running timer on your ballot to remind you when they are due. Please remind debaters of this time limit. If you need to write a lengthy ballot and take longer than the time allows, please enter the winner and speaker points and hit submit.  You can log back into the ballot later and add comments.  If your decision is not submitted by 55 minutes, tab staff will come to your room and may, at their discretion, decide the round based on a coin-flip.

11. No smoking or vaping. Judges must refrain from smoking or vaping in any competition venue—especially in rounds and in front of students. Violation will result in immediate expulsion from the tournament and your school will be assessed a fee for the uncovered judge spot. Any hired judge who violates this rule will forfeit all payment.

12. Please follow and ensure that students follow the building policy: no smoking, eating, drinking or moving furniture.  No one -- judges or debaters -- is to unplug anything in the competition rooms.  People who need power are expected to bring their own cords and power strips and rely on empty outlets only.