2025 Silicon Valley Speech Tournament

Legacy (CA) - Feb 1, 2025 | Status: Closed | 9:23 AM Pacific

Tournament Time
9:23 AM Pacific

Thank you so much for volunteering as a Community Judge! Your investment of time for these students is MUCH appreciated! They value your feedback about their speeches.

Sign-up form: https://stoahub.org/tournament/silicon-valley-speech-tournament-2025/communityjudgeregistration

First Time Judging?

Here are some things you can expect. All of the following will take approximately three hours total.

1. Training

- NO experience is necessary! REALLY! Judges just need to be 18 or older and a high school graduate.
- You will go to a Judge Orientation room upon arrival; people will be available to answer any questions you might have before the round.
- You can watch a 20-minute orientation video before you come.

2. Getting ballots for the event you will judge

- Most Community Judges are brand new to this and don't have any preference for which event they judge. We will randomly assign judges to speech events on a first-come, first-served basis. If you would like to find out more about the 11 speech events we will offer, you can visit this link to read about them. Please note that we will not necessarily offer Impromptu at this tournament.
- There will usually be between 5 and 8 students in the room you will be judging, and you will receive a ballot for each individual.
- You will receive ballots sometime after you arrive--before, after, or during Judge Orientation.

3. Watch the round

- This is the fun part! You get to watch the speakers, take notes on their ballots, and enjoy their presentations!
- You will have 2 minutes in between speakers to make notes on their ballots.

4. Fill out ballots after the round

- You will take your ballots to the Judges’ Lounge to complete your comments to these students and include your ranking.

Notes:
- 3-3.5 hour time commitment
- Some parking spaces reserved for you.
- Coffee, tea, and snacks available for you!
- There'll be some times when you might be waiting to get a ballot or waiting for a student to come to the speech room.
- After you judge, we welcome you to judge another round if you are interested!

Time slots:

When you sign up, the time slots listed are for the students. However, you are needed before for training, and after for writing feedback. So here are the actual times when we will need you, as a judge:

Sat 2/1 8:00 am - Pattern A Round 1:	7:30 am - 10:30 am
Sat 2/1 10:00 am - Pattern B Round 1:	9:10 am - 12:30 pm
Sat 2/1 12:00 pm - Pattern A Round 2:	11:10 am - 2:30 pm
Sat 2/1 2:00 pm - Pattern B Round 2:	1:10 pm - 4:30 pm
Sat 2/1 5:00 pm - Finals / Round 3:	4:10 pm - 7:30 pm

Enjoy snacks while you finalize your ballots!

Thank you so much for your consideration and your investment in the next generation of speakers!

Sign up here: https://stoahub.org/tournament/silicon-valley-speech-tournament-2025/communityjudgeregistration

Check-In: Parents must check in with their student between 7:00–7:25 AM. After confirming that both the competitor and parent judge are present, the student will be allowed to compete. After check-in, come to Ballot Push so that we can get the ballot pushed and start the tournament on time. When you can, please move your car to street parking to make room for community judges. See the Parking Map for suggestions about where to park.
Ballot Push: Plan to arrive at Ballot Push 40 minutes before each round to confirm if you are needed to take a ballot. Parent judges are essential to the success of this tournament—your willingness to judge is deeply appreciated!
Judging Commitment: Plan on judging at least three rounds, and more if possible. Ballot Push will let you know if additional judges are needed. Be prepared to:
- Judge alternating rounds or consecutive rounds, depending on the schedule.
- Be flexible and prioritize community judges who have volunteered their time, giving up your ballot if needed.
Greatest needs for Parent Judges: The 8:00 AM round and Finals.
Online Judge Orientation is available: Use this Google Form (https://forms.gle/fvaPqdiK4ixCFyHA8) to watch Stoa's 20-minute video before you come to the tournament. The Judge Orientation Team will be available to answer additional questions.
Meals:
- We do not have a set lunch break. Parents will need to eat when they are not judging, and students will squeeze meals between speeches.
- Snacks, coffee, and simple refreshments will be available in the Judges’ Lounge.
- So that you can stay on campus to judge, please pre-order meals during registration or bring your own food.

Judging Policies

If necessary, during preliminary rounds, parents may judge students from their own club under these conditions:
1. The parent has not actively coached that speech.
2. The parent does not have a personal conflict with the competitor (e.g., the competitor is their child’s close friend).
3. The parent can remain impartial throughout the round.
We strive to have three judges per preliminary round and trust parents to honestly assess their ability to judge impartially.
Final Rounds: Parents may not judge students from their own club in Final Rounds.
Judging Events: To ensure fairness and variety, parents should judge each event only once during the tournament (e.g., judge Apologetics one time, not multiple rounds).

Thank You!

Parents, your willingness to serve as judges is what makes this tournament possible. Thank you for helping us run smoothly and ensuring every student receives the feedback they need to grow!

Please confirm:

First Name*

Last Name*

Email*

Phone*

State*

Ballot Preference*

This will be the default ballot method for the judge. Note that if a tournament is using paper ballots, all judges at that tournament will have paper ballots printed.

Judge Type*

Recruited By

Enter the name of the family or student who invited you to judge. If none, you can leave this field empty.