Interstate Oratorical Association Announcement

From Larry Schnoor:

INTERSTATE ORATORICAL ASSOCIATION

Larry Schnoor, Executive Secretary
107 Agency Road
Mankato, MN 56001
January 20, 2002



Dear Speech Coach,

It gives me great pleasure to announce the 136th contest of the Interstate Oratorical Association to be hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, on April 24-26, 2008. The Contest will be held in Madison, Wisconsin, with the final round being held at the State Capitol. Arrangements are being made to provide you with an outstanding educational and rewarding experience. Our hosts, Professor Karen Morris and her student assistants, Jake Johnson and Christine Zani are working hard on making this a memorable experience for everyone that attends.

The tournament will begin with registration at the Best Western Inn on the Park in Madison, the tournament headquarters. All preliminary rounds will be held at the Best Western while semifinal rounds will be held inside the State Capitol in the Grand Army of Republic Room. The final round will be held in the State Assembly Chambers in the capitol. The schedule for the contest has been arranged to provide ample time to enjoy the culture of Madison and the beautiful Wisconsin countryside.

We shall also be confirming the site of the 2009 contest and acting on bids for 2010 at our annual business meeting. If you are interested in hosting the Interstate, information has been included with this invitation. You may also call for additional information if it is needed. Bids should be in the hands of the Executive Secretary by April 1st.

On behalf of the Executive Committee, I look forward to seeing you in Madison, Wisconsin. Should you not be able to attend, please pass this information on to those from your state that may be interested in participating in this historic annual event.

Yours truly,
Larry Schnoor
Executive Secretary
507-387-3010 (Home)
FAX: 507-387-3068
E-mail: Lgene9535@aol.com

INTERSTATE ORATORICAL ASSOCIATION
Tournament Information

LODGING: The tournament hotel will be the Best Western Inn on the Park (across the street from the State Capitol). A block of rooms has been reserved under “Interstate Oratorical Contest”, and will be held until March 24th. Please make your reservations as early as possible.

The room rate is $99.00 flat (1-4 in a room) plus tax or $129.00 plus tax for a suite. We recommend calling the hotel directly at 800-279-8811 or 608-285-8000. Please indicate that you are participating in the Interstate Oratory when making your reservations. If you are willing to share rooms, please make arrangements to do so on your own.

Best Western Inn on the Park
22 South Carroll Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
608-285-8000
www.innonthepark.net


TRANSPORTATION INFORMATION: Madison, Wisconsin is located in Southern Wisconsin – on Interstate 94.

Dane County Regional Airport (14 minutes to Hotel and Capitol) http://www.msnairport.com/flight/destinations.aspx
Airlines who service the Dane Country Airport
NWA http://www.nwa.com/
American http://www.aa.com/index_us.jhtml
Delta http://www.delta.com/home/index.jsp
United http://www.united.com/

Rental car agencies include Avis (608) 242-2442, Budget (608) 249-5544, Dollar (608) 661-4941, Enterprise (608) 661-4900, Hertz (608) 241-3803,National (608) 249-1614, and Thrifty (608) 661-4940.

**The Best Western Inn on the Park does have shuttle service to and from the airport.

Chicago O’Hare Airport (2 hours and 21 minutes from Madison, WI)
http://www.ohare.com/


DINING AND RECEPTION: A reception for coaches and students will be held on Thursday night at the Top of the Park (top floor of the Best Western Inn), hosted by the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, at the time of registration at the Best Western. The two breakfasts and the luncheons will also be held at the hotel in the Top of the Park Dining Hall .


FEES: Each State Association should pay the annual dues at least 30 days before the contest. If this is not possible, dues may be paid at registration. The sum of $50.00 shall be paid if two orators are to be sent from a state. The sum of $40.00 shall be paid if one orator is sent from a state. REGISTRATION FEES FOR THE TOURNAMENT ARE IN ADDITION TO THE STATE DUES, AND WILL BE $50.00 for each contestant and for each coach. This fee covers the cost of the amenities as well as luncheons that are provided.

LOCATION EXTRAS: Madison, Wisconsin has a variety of fun activities to partake in on both Friday afternoon and Saturday. In addition, there are several things to do within 15-45 minutes driving distance from the capitol. We encourage you to enjoy the state of Wisconsin.

Wollersheim Winery www.wollersheim.com/ (free wine tasting…and tours for 3.00)
Taliesin www.taliesinpreservation.org/ (tours available for 15.00 per person)
Kalahari Resort www.kalahariresort.com/ (one of the world’s largest indoor water park)
The Comedy Club on State www.madisoncomedy.com (2 blocks from hotel)
State Street District www.state-st.com/ (amazing shopping and dining—2 blocks from hotel)
Monona Terrace www.mononaterrace.com (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright—3 blocks from hotel)
Museum of Contemporary Arts www.mmoca.org/ (3 blocks from hotel)
Chazen Museum of Art www.chazen.wisc.edu/home.htm (at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire)
Olbrich Botanical Gardens www.olbrich.org/ (10 minute drive and beautiful to see)
Capital Brewery www.capital-brewery.com/ (15 minute drive)
Apocalypse Paintball www.apocalypsepaintball.com/ (18 minute drive)


JUDGES:
Coaches attending the tournament will judge the preliminary contest rounds. EACH STATE ASSOCIATION OR MEMBER SCHOOL SHALL SEND THE ORATORY COACH OF EACH STUDENT PARTICIPATING IN THE ANNUAL CONTEST TO ACT AS A JUDGE IN THE PRELIMINARY ROUNDS OR HIRE A JUDGE BEFORE THE STUDENT IS ALLOWED TO COMPETE.

IF THERE ARE TWO CONTESTANTS FROM A STATE, TWO JUDGES MUST BE PROVIDED, EVEN IF THE TWO CONTESTANTS ARE FROM THE SAME SCHOOL. The cost of a hired judge will be $75.00. If a school has a problem supplying necessary judge or judges for their entry, please notify the Executive Secretary as soon as possible for arrangements. It is expected that coaches attending will be available to judge through the semifinal round.

RULES:
1. The oration must be delivered without the aid of notes or manuscript.
2. No oration shall contain more than 1800 words. (Although no minimum word limit is established, a 1500 word minimum is suggested.)
3. For purposes of definition, quoted words are those written or spoken by a person other than the orator. Such quoted matter shall be limited to 20% of the total number of words in the oration. Direct discourse, dialogue, or other stylistic devices within quotation marks created by the orator SHALL NOT be included in the 20% total.
4. All quoted material shall be documented.
5. A copy of each contestant’s oration should be sent at least two weeks before the Interstate Contest. All manuscripts should be typed, double spaced and checked for spelling and grammatical errors. Please comply with this request, as it will enable the 2008 edition of Winning Orations to be available at an earlier date. If it is possible, please submit a disk with the script. See additional details as given below. **
6. ALL ORATIONS PRESENTED AT THE INTERSTATE ORATORICAL CONTEST BECOME THE PROPERTY OF THE ASSOCIATION. Please bring this rule to the attention of your students.
7. Copies of the oration should included footnote/endnotes and source material identification.
8. In order to make it easier to complete the publication of Winning Orations it would help if the speech on the disk would have the following: No headers/footers; no page numbers; Have footnotes and references as a separate document; please italicize or underline sources in the text; provide the title if there is one; identify who coached the speech; please use no alternative type size; and provide an email address so if anything needs to be checked, it will be possible to reach you. Thank you very much.


TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, April 24th , 2008
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Registration, (Top of the Park)
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Reception for coaches and students ---Top of the Park (Reception Hall)

Friday, April 25 th, 2008
7:00-7:45 a.m. Breakfast –Top of the Park
8:30-9:45 a.m. Rd 1, Best Western Conference Rooms
9:45-11:00 a.m. Rd 2, Best Western Conference Rooms
11:00-12:15 p.m. Rd 3, Best Western Conference Rooms
12:30-1:30 p.m. Luncheon – announcements of semi finalists Top of the Park
1:30 p.m. Business meeting with coaches Top of the Park
Afternoon is free to enjoy the area, events and sites around Madison.
Saturday, April 26 th, 2008
7:00-7:45 a.m. Breakfast –Top of the Park
8:00- 9:30 a.m. Section A Semifinal Grand Army of the Republic Room (State Capitol )www.wisconsin.gov
10:00 - 11:30 a.m. Section B Semifinal Grand Army of the Republic Room (State Capitol) www.wisconsin.gov
12:00 – 1:15 p.m. Luncheon announcements of finalists -- Best Western Top of the Park
1:30 – 4:00 p.m. Final round, followed by awards -- State Assembly Chambers

Entries should be sent to the Executive Secretary by March 24th. The Executive Secretary will be at the AFA-NIET tournament at University of Texas at Austin and then the NFA tournament at Tennessee State University and will go directly to Madison, Wisconsin following the tournament. If you have not sent your entry to Ex. Secretary by March 24th, or will not see the Executive Secretary at the NIET or the NFA, entry should be sent to the Ex. Secretary via. E-mail: Lgene9535@aol.com