As we all know, 2020 was anything but normal. Having to cancel our tournament was a very difficult decision for the entire board. And after being hopeful that we would be together in person for 2021, we realized that we would again have to delay seeing all of our NIETOC friends and family.
Thank you to Demond Wilson and The Perfect Performance for sponsoring The MASQ as an alternative for our 2020 competition, and helping to usher in many key elements of virtual competition. We are also grateful to Andrew Barrett and the J. Frank Dobie HS program for being willing to delay hosting our event another year. We are optimistic that our long-delayed gathering in Houston, TX, will happen in May of 2022.
Our 2021 tournament will feature a combination of asynchronous and synchronous competition styles, in hopes of being able to accommodate a wide variety of virtual situations. Because of the many changes required to do so, we are delaying both the opening and closing of our registration period this year and are compiling a plethora of documents to help you navigate the process. While there is certainly helpful information on our website, most of the pertinent details for 2021 will be found on our SpeechWire page.
The entire NIETOC Board is hopeful that many of you are able to join us for what will be our 11th national tournament intended to celebrate, once again, the power of the spoken word and the resiliency of the speakers and coaches who continue to advocate for that power–in spite of a global pandemic. In the words of former NIETOC host and all-around great human, Kim Lenger, “Science will get us out of this, but ART will get us through it!”
