Austin East Roadrunner Invitational Invitation

Fellow Coach,


It is a pleasure to invite your school to the Austin East Roadrunner Virtual Invitational! I know we had all hoped we could be in-person this year, however it has been decided that our tournament this year will be virtual.

We will allow judges to judge at their leisure from Wednesday to Friday. Friday night, finals will be announced and judges will have until 12pm EST to judge their final round ballot. PFD will happen on Saturday and will be done live.

We have also added a category for this tournament. IMPROMPTU IMPROV. On Tuesday morning at 8am EST, an improvisational situation will be sent out. Students will perform for no less than 5 minutes and no more than 7minutes in the event. Students will be required to include an intro. You will have until Tuesday evening at 8pm to submit your video of your improvisational scene. HOPEFULLY, this will give the kids a feeling of doing improv together, but also not requiring students to be live on Saturday around a computer.

We will also release Impromptu Speech Topics at 8am on Tuesday morning.

We have found that almost any video type will work with Speechease, however the best would be for you to create a YOUTUBE channel and upload your videos there. Make sure you click that they are UNLISTED so that the videos are not public, but anyone with the link will be able to see them.

The Finals Awards Ceremony will happen at 4pm EST and the link will be sent to all coaches so that families can gather around the computer to celebrate in your student's success.

This will be a THREE-round tournament with one final round. Debate will go for four rounds with the top 6 teams announced and the top two teams advancing to one championship round.

At this tournament we will be offering:

After Dinner Speaking
Dramatic Interpretation
Duet Acting
Duo Interpretation
Humorous Interpretation
Impromptu Improv
Impromptu Speaking
Informative Speaking
Original Oratory
Pantomime
Poetry Interpretation
Program of Oral Interpretation (POI)
Prose Interpretation
Public Forum Debate
Solo Acting
Storytelling

Schools are allowed to bring as many entries in each event as they would like. Each contestant is allowed to be in as many events as wanted. PFD can be entered in as many events as wanted, as well. The entire PFD competition will operate independent of the three-round IE

Please note that registration is a TWO-STEP process. Please pre-register on SpeechEase.com before the Pre-Registration Deadline noted in this invitation. This will help us determine the total number of schools attending and plan for concessions. Your final registration must be received by the Registration Deadline.

A limited number of hired judges are available at a cost of $40.

We are attempting to re-create as close to a tournament that would have happened last year as possible. Therefore, we are still buying trophies for all six places, trophies for sweepstakes, and a trophy for biggest percentage.

Please make checks payable to Austin East Magnet High School 2800 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave Knoxville, TN 37918

One judge for every 6 IE entries and One judge for every two PFD teams.

If you are aware of drops, please don't wait until arriving at the meet to notify us. Even though the schedules are printed before this date, knowing about a drop before is helpful. You are welcome to use the online drop/add reporting at SpeechEase.com after you have submitted your final registration. 865-242-7495

Wednesday 9pm- Ballots are out for all IE events
Friday 8pm- Ballots for all IE events due.
Friday 9pm- Finals announced and ballots go out
Saturday-
9:30 PFD Round One
10:30 PFD Round Two
11:30 PFD Round Three
12:30 PFD Round Four
1:30 PFD Finals
4:00 Award Link set out.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Doug James at 865-242-7495. You may also email [email protected].

Sincerely,



Doug James
and
Austin East Magnet High School Speech and Drama Team