Quick Access #
WISDAA orders SpeechWire for our official WISDAA festivals, to push registration data for scheduling and tabulation.
Training Course
This free course walks festival managers through planning and preparing festivals, as well as using SpeechWire.
Request Contest #
Middle Level hosts/managers must first request to host festivals by clicking the button to the right and completing the request form. Once approved, you may return to the form at right to access SpeechWire login information (which also will be emailed directly to you).
Inclusive Contests: Best Practices #
The National Speech & Debate Association has a number of free diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) resources for contests, including an Inclusive Tournament Checklist, Gender Neutral Restroom Best Practices, Pronoun Usage Best Practices, and Belonging and Inclusion Station implementation guide.
Please review contest checklists in the Middle/High School Speech Handbook, which specifically references checking accessibility requests made in SpeechWire by coaches for contestants and/or adjudicators.
Another consideration, helpful for students, coaches, or adjudicators who are neurodivergent or need a quiet place to pray, is a quiet room.
Accessing Registration Data #
Before the state office “pushes” entries/adjudicator data from initial statewide registration to festivals, managers can review registration status and entries by festival by clicking buttons for the two status screens below (the state office will email contest managers the password to access the screen).
Arranging WIFI Access #
Managers interested in making WIFI must accessible by adjudicators must first confirm their school has a public/guest WIFI network, or can make one available during the festival.
Adjudicator Electronic Evaluation #
Managers of WISDAA Speech contests have the ability to optionally enable electronic evaluation (e-ballots) in SpeechWire. Adjudicators who wish can evaluate electronically; others can still complete paper forms.
- Managers should check with school IT personnel for any special instructions for connecting, and communicate to coaches and their adjudicators ahead of the festival.
- Please tell coaches that adjudicators who are interested should bring a laptop/tablet.
- Once you start your festival, adjudicators who want to will log into https://live.speechwire.com with the email listed on the Judge dashboard in your SpeechWire manager, access their rounds, type their evaluations and award points. You won’t even have to tabulate their results; they will come in automatically.
Printing Forms #
WISDAA sends evaluation sheets to high school subdistricts and districts; middle level 1 and 2 festivals. Toggle-open the information to see a key to colors. If you need to run more copies, you do not need to match; this is just for reference to help sort different categories (and unfortunately, there are not enough unique colors from our printing supplier to differentiate all categories, anyway).
Contest hosts/managers will print paper ballots (sheet with entry information for each round/section/room) directly from SpeechWire.
| Middle | High | Category | Paper Color |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demonstration Speech | Pastel Green | ||
| Extemporaneous Speech | Pastel Gray | ||
| Farrago | Goldenrod | ||
| Group Interpretive Reading | Pastel Salmon | ||
| Impromptu | Cosmic Orange | ||
| Informative | Lunar Blue | ||
| Moments in History | Pulsar Pink | ||
| News Reporting | Pastel Green | ||
| Non-original Oratory | Goldenrod | ||
| Oratory | Terra Green | ||
| Persuasive Speech | Terra Green | ||
| Play Acting | Pastel Canary | ||
| Poetry Reading | Pastel Orchid | ||
| Prose Reading | Pastel Blue | ||
| Public Address Speech | Sunburst Yellow | ||
| Radio News Reporting | Pastel Green | ||
| Solo Acting (Humorous/Serious) | Pastel Ivory | ||
| Special Occasion | Cosmic Orange | ||
| Storytelling | Pastel Pink | ||
| Adjudicator Guidelines | Re-Entry Red | ||
| Ballot (SpeechWire generates) | White |
