• Registration: online now. (Link below)

• Initial Registration:  In the "School Coach Sign In" click on "Register a new school" and follow the directions.  When finished you will be redirected to the tournament listings.  Select the mifaMLFall09 tournament and proceed with the registration.
• Changes/Modifications:  In the "School Coach Sign In" enter your School ID and Password.  When logged in you will be redirected to the tournament listings.  Select the mifaMLFall09 tournament and proceed with any changes to your registration.

    The Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association will host our thirty-sixth annual Fall Individual Events Tournament on Saturday, December 12, 2009, for middle/junior high schools in Michigan. Birch Run High School will be the site for the three rounds of competition in various speech activities. Each school can have a maximum of four entries (each duo counts as one entry) in all events except for multiple.  In multiple interpretation, a school may enter a maximum of two groups (3-8 students per group).  The Sixth Grade events for both 2009-2010 Tournaments will be impromptu speaking and storytelling.
 
    The rules and regulations for middle school level tournaments are provided in Speech Activities. There is also a special Middle Level section of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) that may be responsive to some of your inquiries.  The rules and regulations, including precise time parameters for each event are indicated on the ballots.    
 
    The topics for Impromptu Speaking will be the news and entertainment media, education/community interests, and family/consumer issues.  There will be a specialized focus on Michigan issues for each of the categories.  One round of competition will be held in each category.  The topics for Extemporaneous Speaking will be from two categories: questions on domestic policy issues and the policies of our current (or newly elected) presidential administration.  All questions for extemporaneous speaking will come from these two areas with each category having approximately the same number of questions (15).  The final round will combine the two areas.  There will be a minimal
number of international questions, although there will be some options for issues pertinent to American activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.   
 
    Contestants must present materials or speeches that have not previously been used at a MIFA tournament.  Each contestant still must be able to validate the source for his or her interpretation script; however, a photocopy of the appropriate pages from the original source constitutes acceptable proof.  
 
    The Middle School Committee would like the forensic community to renew a commitment by participants to age appropriate material in oral interpretation, a guideline on most ballots (Suitability of Selection) in Speech Activities.  It is the belief of the Middle School Committee that selections that contain profanity or sexually explicit subject matter should be discouraged by directors and judges from use at the tournament.  
 
    This will be our fourth tournament using an online registration system.  Please go to
http://ie.hirelesmana.com/login.php to register your school.  For the initial registration, go to the “School Coach Sign In” and click on “Register a new school”.  Follow the directions.  When finished you will be redirected to the tournament listings.  Select the “Middle Level Fall Tournament in Birch Run” and proceed with the registration.  For changes or modifications in the “School Coach Sign In” enter your school ID and Password.  When logged in, you will be redirected to the tournament listings.  Select the “Middle Level Fall Tournament" in Birch Run and proceed with any changes in your registration.   
 
    As you register your contestants online, codes will be generated.  If drops/adds occur, the original codes will not change.  For instance, if you register three contestants in impromptu with codes BIM1, BIM2, and BIM3 and have to drop BIM2, the other two contestants will maintain their codes as BIM1 and BIM3.  Knowing the codes of your contestants in advance of the tournament will allow you to tell each of your students his or her code prior to the tournament.
 
    Judge competence forms and payment can be sent into the MIFA Office.  No entries will be accepted after the deadline for registration, which is December 4.  Fees are payable in advance, if possible.  Checks should be made payable to the Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association (MIFA).  After December 4, all changes must be submitted to the tournament director, NOT ONLINE. You can contact Richard Elias via email at relias@midasfoods.com or by phone at 248-212-2775. Changes in registration prior to December 4 will be allowed without financial penalty (e.g., if a modification in entries prior to or on December 4 alters the judge/contestant ratio, the lower fee will be in effect).
 
    After December 4, even if there are modifications in the school entry, the school is responsible for payment of the fees and provision of the appropriate number of judges per its entry on December 4.  To reiterate, all contestants or schools withdrawn on or after December 4 must pay the specified assessment.  Also, there will be an additional per contestant $20.00 drop fee for withdrawals or cancellations on the Friday (December 11) prior to the tournament.  There will be an additional per contestant $40.00 drop fee for withdrawals or cancellations on the day of the tournament.  A duo and/or a multiple will be assessed the cost of a single contestant cancellation or withdrawal.
 
    Registration fees primarily cover the cost of tournament administrative expenses and awards. The per judge fee is $60.00, if you would like MIFA to hire a judge for your school. High school seniors with at least two years of contest experience in high school individual events are eligible to judge at Middle Level Tournaments. 
 
    Prior to the tournament, you will receive a confirmation, which indicates a school code, contestant codes, and a homeroom.  We ask that you please explain to your students the necessity of remembering their codes and not switching with other students.  The consumption of food in your assigned classroom is unacceptable for this tournament.  If a school fails to adequately maintain a homeroom that it has been assigned, a $25.00 fee to clean the room will be assessed to the school.
 
    There will be a mandatory meeting of directors and judges on the day of the tournament to review developments for the tournament and the implementation of tournament protocol.  Judge and contestant adjustments will be available only at the meeting to ensure that we are able to review appropriate tournament processes with all judges.  
 
    Parents are welcome at the tournament.  The MIFA Middle School Committee has prepared a more comprehensive document to acclimate parents to the tournament process.  If your school has adult, non-judge, volunteers, familiar with the tournament process, to help staff information stations at the tournament, please indicate the names of the individuals on the registration form.  
 
    Birch Run High School will offer a pre-order lunch service.  The order form will be posted on the MIFA website as soon as it is available.
 
    We look forward to having your school participate in our annual fall tournament.  Thanks again for your involvement in interscholastic speech activities.

• Printable Participant Certificate