Walkthrough Videos #
Step-by-Step Directions #
Prepare #
Do you have a SpeechWire (SW) account associated as a head coach with a school?
Yes – Head Coach #
Log in and update your student roster to ensure it’s current and to mark students who have graduated as inactive.
No – Not Associated #
Complete the Advisor Change form, so the State Office can make sure you have a SpeechWire account associated with your school.
Registration Open #
See the Speech Contests page to learn when registration opens for both Middle Level as well as High School Initial Speech Registration. Log into SpeechWire, and select the icon for the appropriate contest.
Click the icon that asks: Will you attend? and read carefully the terms and requirements for participation. By indicating your attendance as “Yes,” you are acknowledging that you understand and agree with the terms.
Middle Level: First Steps #
After indicating your attendance, click the button, [Submit your entries now], or [Return to tournament home page].
High School: First Steps #
Click the button [Return to tournament home page]. Then enter Required information (phone numbers); when you return to the main page, several icons will appear. The first step may seem counterintuitive, but it’s meant to plan for the State festival in April. Click “Select time slot for state.” Make your selection and click “Save selection;” your selected time slot should appear in purple – that is your confirmation.
Update Entries #
Click “Update your entries,” then click the button next to each category to [Add entry], and select a student’s name from the dropdown menu (names will autocomplete if they’re in your SpeechWire account roster). Click [Update entries] to save what you have added to the page. After you have updated entries, you also may drop them when you are done, click the button, [Return to tournament home page].
For high school, there’s an additional step to enter titles/topics for groups (to help make them more easily identifiable on adjudicator forms).
Update Adjudicators #
Click “Update your adjudicators.” Add adjudicators here. Once added, you can edit adjudicators to note which festivals (that your school is attending) they are adjudicating (or just one or the other); if they’re neutral (do not know your students); and other general notes you’d like to share with the manager. You may add the same person to cover different festivals or online commitments, but an adjudicator can only cover one in-person date at a time. To change names, click button to “drop,” and add a different name. Always be sure to save changes.
High school adjudicators must be added by searching for their name in the certified adjudicator database. If you cannot find a name, they are not currently active.
Select Festivals #
Click “Select your festivals.” This allows to select the first and second level festivals your team plans to attend. NOTE: Your entries must already be entered in the Update your entries screen before they will appear for you to request exceptions. Once you have requests for different festivals entered, by rule you must designate adjudicators for each festival in which you have students participating. You may select an in-person festival here, and also designate specific entries for virtual participation in the next step. Remember to [Save selections]! If festivals you plan to attend are missing, please let office@wisdaa.org know!
Different Festivals #
Click “Request different festivals for entries.” Here, you have the ability to designate different festivals – including statewide virtual festivals – on an entry-by-entry basis.
Remember to [Save selections]!
Accessibility Requests #
Coaches can indicate modifications/accommodations for students and/or adjudicators (including dietary and scheduling requests). Click Enter accessibility requests. Next, click Add requests for accommodations/modifications. You may describe one special need at a time; you must add additional records for the same person to note multiple requests. “Description” is just for the festival manager and state office to see; adjudicators will NOT see what you type here. Select the name of the person, then select type. Whichever type you select will fill in instructions – you should revise any text to indicate specific modifications/accommodations for that person. If you select the wrong type, you must return without saving, and start over, for the automatic fill-in to work correctly. Click the Submit button to save, and Return to accessibility requests listing. There, you will see a list, with links to edit/remove any of the listing. Dietary needs work similarly, and can help a festival host plan what food options and alternatives they may need to procure.
View Entries #
Click “View your entries” to generate a page confirming your entry (which you may print). You will be able to log back in to SpeechWire to update your entries until the deadline set by your host/manager (usually two weeks before the festival, sometimes a little less). Once they “lock” your ability to make changes, you must contact the host/manager directly.
Locking Registration #
Once we dispatch initial registration of entries and adjudicators to hosts/managers, those hosts have control of that data, and coaches are locked from making edits. This is to ensure coaches do not make changes without the host’s knowledge. Therefore, once your registration is locked, please reach out directly to your host to report drops/changes to entries and/or adjudicators. Any changes made at the festival level will NOT reflect on your initial registration, because that simply becomes an archive of your pre-subdistrict registration. First festival level entries will be advanced to the next festival level, where coaches can re-register.
