Hope all of you are prepared for this weekend. The Executive Committee worked very hard this past weekend to make sure things are ready for this coming weekend.

This e-mail will cover a few very pertinent items. Please understand that you need to share this information with as many people as possible so that all members have a chance to participate fully in the tournament. E-mail seems the best way to communicate when we have a short period of time in which to communicate these messages. However, many school districts have blocked these kinds of messages. Please assist us by contacting other members that you think may not receive this information. We will, hopefully, post the text of this newsletter on the website as well.

First, registration will take place at the El Paso Marriott at 1600 Airway Blvd in El Paso. We will begin registration at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. You will receive your school codes, check on the correct entries for your students, pay any outstanding fees, verify or complete mutual judge preference sheets for debate divisions, and have the opportunity to meet with new coaches and old friends. Registration will conclude by 11:30 a.m. so that we can have ample time to prepare the tournament for a 2:30 p.m. start. Please cooperate by having all of your materials ready, fees paid, and bright smiles as you come through registration.

Second, you will receive an e-mail from me later on today (hopefully, just past noon) which will have the mutual preference sheets for debate imbedded in the e-mail. The instructions will be pretty explicit. You may have to work with the process, but when it is completed, it will give your students the best opportunity to compete at the state tournament.

What is mutual preference? Mutual preference is a way for you to determine which judges are going to hear your children debate. That sounds like cheating, doesn't it? On the contrary, it allows you to determine the pool of judges that you would like to have adjudicate rounds for your students. If you like the faster type of debate with a large number of arguments, then you can mutually prefer those judges who like that style of debate. If you like the slower style of debate, it allows that choice as well. So what happens if teams from those opposite spectrums hit each other? What you get is a judge who is neutral in those regards and is willing to accept the legitimacy of either style. The goal is a mutually preferred person by both teams involved.

So, how does the system work? You will receive a list of the judges for the two divisions of debate, CX and LD. You will be asked to rank so many of them as most preferred, so many as next preferred, etc. Once that is entered in the computer, whenever you hit another team, the computer will attempt to assign a judge to that round who is mutually preferred by both teams. What happens if the computer doesn't do that? The tab room staff will then examine the available judges and hopefully, make another choice that might be a better combination for the two teams involved. Is that a bad thing? I would hope not. Most teams would like to be heard by persons who they have determined are going to be fair and unbiased in the round.

Is it to my advantage to do this? Yes, absolutely. If you choose not to participate, then you will be receiving judges who have been mutually preferred by the teams against whom you are competing. Does mutual preference guarantee that I am going to get certain judges? Yes and no. Given the size of the two pools of judges, you will be able to choose twenty or so judges who you most prefer. If you have one team at the tournament debating five rounds, then your chances are one in four that you will get one of those judges during the tournament. That's only if the other team prefers the same judges. If they don't, then the pool gets even larger.

Here are the instructions that you will be given:

You may have one of three choices in completing the mutual preference sheet.

1. You may choose not to complete the mutual preference sheet
2. You may strike those persons who you wish not to hear your team. You may leave the rest of the sheet blank
3. You will be allowed to mutually prefer judges using a six point system. Those judges you most prefer (you will be given a specific number to choose) should be assigned a "1"; the next groups of judges (again, a specific number), will be assigned a "2"; the process will continue until you have assigned all judges a number.

With the third choice, you may not just indicate those persons in the first two categories. You must assign the specified number of judges a rating of 3, 4, 5, and strike.

This sounds complicated, doesn't it? It really isn't when you follow the formulas that are given in the instructions.

You will be asked to e-mail the instructions back to the sender. You may choose to do that or bring the sheet with you to registration on Thursday.

Good luck and thanks for taking the time to read this lengthy e-mail.

David Huston
Debate Coach & TFA Secretary
Highland Park High School
Phone 214 780 3884
hustond@hpisd.org