FAQ

This section contains answers to frequently asked questions – it should be your first place to consult when something goes wrong. Odds are, you're not the first person to have the problem. It's divided up into loose genres of questions.

Account Issues

I forgot my password!

Click the "Login" link in the upper right, then follow the link for "Forget your password?" You will be taken to a page that will walk you through resetting your password.

I didn't get the Password Reset email

Check your spam folder - sometimes, it ends up there.

I'm a new coach at a school, and I don't have access to our school's current account. How do I get access?

Email us at help@tabroom.com. Please don't create a new school unless you're sure your school has never registered on Tabroom before.

How do I stop getting emails?

Log in, then go to your "Profile" at the top of the page and check the box for "No Emails."

I'm not receiving texts at the tournament!

First, verify your phone number is correct in your profile. Next, you'll need to ensure you are properly linked to your schools student/judge entry. Often, the coach/director of the program just hasn't approved your linking request yet. If you're linked and have the right number, but you're still not getting texts, then odds are you're on TMobile - they sometimes block Tabroom texts as spam. We're working on it.

How do I change my name, name's spelling or phonetic pronunciation?

Log in, then go to your "Profile" at the top of the page. You can change your account's name spelling there, or click Edit Names under the "Judge & Entry Names" section to change/sync your Entry and Judge records with the name in your main account. You can also change the Phonetic pronunciation guide that will print for tournament directors on their Awards Ceremony reports here.

If you change your account name, or the name tied to your various competitor or judge records, Tabroom will text and email you immediately to notify you; that way if someone has gained unauthorized access to your account and decides to mess with your identity, you will know immediately.

Why have I not received my confirmation email? Can you help?

Often school email systems trap confirmation emails as Spam. If you can, check your spam folder to see if it's there. If that still doesn't work, contact help@tabroom.com

I recently just changed my email address, how can I update the email address that I use for my tabroom account?

Yes, just log into Tabroom with your old email address and click the Profile in the top right corner. You will be able to change your account email there. Tabroom will also text and email BOTH addresses to notify you of the change. So, if someone tries to access your account without authorization, you'll know immediately and should contact us at help@tabroom.com.

My student has 2 tabroom accounts. How can I combine them?

Email help@tabroom.com and ask; this operation is an easy one, but it does have to be done by a site administrator.

I accidentally retired one of my students on my competitor’s roster. How do I reverse this issue?

Go to the Retired roster (Red circle with a slash) and find the accidentally retired student; you can then change the Retired switch back to "off" here.

Registration

How do I register students for a tournament?

First, add students to your Student Roster. Then, from the list of tournaments in your circuit, click the Entry link next to the tournament you want to register for.If you don't see the tournament you want to register for, make sure your school is in the correct Circuit. For a detailed walkthrough, see Registration.

I don't see the tournament I want to register for in the list.

Make sure your school is in the same Circuit as the tournament you want to register. You can find out what circuit a tournament is in by viewing the master calendar on the front page of Tabroom (click the logo to get there). Then, make sure your school has joined that circuit by clicking on your username/email in the upper right, and then using the small "Circuits" tab to view the list of circuits your institutions is currently part of.

I'm supposed to use online "On-Site Registration" - where do I go?

Log in, then find the tournament in your list of "Existing tournament registrations." If On-Site registration is open for that tournament, you'll see a big button for "Confirm Onsite." Note that if you have any entry/judge changes, you'll need to communicate those directly to the tournament.

How do I link to my NSDA roster for autopointing?

You need to first link your Tabroom school to your NSDA Points Application account, then either import new students from your NSDA roster, or link up existing students. You'll use the "NSDA Points" section of the sidebar from your Student Roster. For more information, see School Administration.

Results

Where do I find results for previous tournaments?

If you're looking for results from a tournament you didn't attend, use the Results menu on the homepage. If you're looking for your entire school's results, click the Results tab from your main account dashboard. If you're a student looking for your personal results, click "Past Pairings & Results" on the sidebar.

Where do I view my online ballots/RFD's?

Follow the instructions above for finding your personal results, then click the "RFD & Comments" button next to the round you're looking for. If there is no button for a round, that's because there's no ballot/RFD available.

How can speakers view their own online ballots/RFDS?

First, they must register for their own Tabroom.com account: check the How To Sign Up link at left. Second, they must be linked to their entry record on your roster. You can either link them yourself by clicking the Students tab when you first log in, and then the name of the speaker, and entering the email address they used to sign up for Tabroom in the "Link to a Tabroom.com Login" box at the top. You can also un-link students here, if say a student's record were linked to the wrong account.

They can also request a link themselves, if they click "Link your account to a student" under the "Your Account" menu at right when they first log in. That will help them search for their name and school and request a link. You will have to approve this link for them to see their own results; when your Students tab (when you first log in) turns red, that means there are pending requests for you to approve.

Once their account is linked to their record, then logging in will reveal their competitive history and clicking on individual rounds at tournaments will show them RFDs and Comments if the judges entered any.

Why are there no public results for a particular tournament?

If you're looking at the public results site for a tournament and there's nothing there, odds are that the tournament director hasn't published the results yet. Drop them an email. Or, the tournament wasn't hosted on Tabroom.

The results for X tournament are wrong, can you fix it?

Contact the director of the tournament in question and ask them to fix it - we don't know anything about what happened at particular tournaments.

Judging

How do I "link" my account for online ballots?

If the coach/director of your program added you to the judge roster using your tabroom account, then you should already be linked. If not, you just need to log-in and click "Link your account to a jduge" on the sidebar, and then follow the instructions for locating your judge entry at the tournament you're attending. Your request will then need to be approved by the tournament staff.

Where do I go to vote on an online ballot?

First, ensure your account is properly linked. Then, log in (or click your email address in the upper right) - you should see a list of current and upcoming ballots to fill out. Make sure to click "Start Round" as soon as you find out you're judging so the tabroom knows you're there.

Prefs

Where do I go to fill out prefs?

Once prefs are open for a tournament, access your entry by finding the tournament in your list of "Existing Tournament Registrations" and clicking "Entry." Then, go to the Prefs tab for that tournament and select an entry from the sidebar to access their pref sheet.

I'm a student, and I want to fill out my own prefs

For students to be able to fill out their own pref sheets, the coach/director at the school must first have checked the option in their school Settings for "Entries may enter their own prefs." Then, a student can access any active pref sheets from the sidebar after logging in.

Running A Tournament - General

Why are the ballots (paper or online) showing up blank/missing points/etc.?

This is because you either haven't set a Tiebreak set for the round in question on the Schedule, or the Tiebreak set you used doesn't contain the thing that's missing (i.e. Ranks/Points aren't a part of the tiebreak set). If you're just missing speaker points, make sure you've entered minimum/maximum speaker points in the Event settings.

How do I give someone else (e.g. tab staff) access to my tournament?

Go to Settings - Tournament - Access and add them by the their Tabroom account. You can choose what level of access they should have and whether to also list them as a contact.

I made changes to my tournament website in Settings - Website, but the changes aren't showing up.

Just give it a few minutes - it usually takes a little while for the cache to get cleared out your changes to appear live.

All the options under the Schemats menu are appearing blank!

You forgot to set an abbreviation for the events in Settings - Events. - The Schemats menu uses your event abbreviations, so if you didn't enter one, they'll show up blank.

How do I remove a fee/fine from a school?

Access the school's info page by going to Entries - Schools, then go to the "Money" tab for that school. Find the fee/fine you want to remove and click "Forgive & Forget."

How do I configure my tournament for NSDA Autopointing?

If a school has entered your tournament who's roster is linked to an NSDA account, you'll see additional options in the Event Settings. On the "Main" tab of each event's settings, you'll see an option for "NSDA Points" - choose the appropriate NSDA event type for each of your tournament events, and your tournament's results will be automatically posted for NSDA points.

Running A Tournament - Entries

I changed the style for entry codes, but some schools had already registered, and they're still showing up with the old style.

You need to "Recode" the event. Go to Entries - Data, and use the Codes & Names section of the sidebar to regenerate tall your entry/judge/school codes according to your currently selected options.

How do I deal with byes, double wins, double losses, etc.?

If the bye is scheduled (i.e. the last place team in an odd-numbered field), you use the "Debate-wide bye" - no debate is scheduled, and the entry gets a win and average points. This will be done automatically if the bye is assigned by the auto-pairing function. Most other situations, you enter byes/forfeits on the ballot entry screen.

If one entry no-shows/forfeits, give the winner a "bye" (don't check the Win button) and blank (average) speaker points, and the loser a forfeit and zeros for speaker points.

For a double bye, use the "Enable panel-wide bye" link.

For a double forfeit, don't use the panel-wide bye. Instead, click the forfeit box for both entries, and give zeros to all speakers.

How do I deal with Mavericks?

You can choose how a maverick's points are dealt with in Settings - Events - Tabulation and set the mode under "Mavericks get." If you need to drop a single student, access the entry's info sheet under Entries - Events and then use the "Swap Students" box on the sidebar to replace the dropped student with the "No Partner/Maverick" entry. If the person who dropped ends up coming back, just do the same thing in reverse.

How do I publish a list of clearing teams?

From the Schemats menu, choose the event and round you want to publish the list for, check the box on the sidebar for "Alphabetical list on web" and click Go.

How do I publish the elim bracket?

After you have paired the first elim, a bracket will automatically be generated in Results - Web Publish. Just flip the switch under Published to "On."

Running A Tournament - Judges/MPJ

What do the MPJ Placement Weights mean?

For a full explanation, see the section on MPJ Placement Weights.

Can I use leftover judges from one judge group in an event assigned to a different judge group, such as using leftover Varsity judges in a separate JV judge group?

Not really. If you use a single judge group for both Varsity and JV, then pair Varsity first, JV will only use the leftover judges from the judge group. But if you used two separate judge groups, you'll have to manually move judges from one group to the other if you want to use them in a different event/division.

How do I see all judges that aren't linked?

Go to Entries - Judges, then under "All Judges" click "All CSV." That will download a spreadsheet with all the judge info - anybody without info in the email column means they're not linked.

How do I publish a list of judges judging in the next elim (e.g. the night before elims)?

Go to Paneling - Judges - Pools and locate the appropriate judge pool (make sure to populate it with the judges you want published first), then check the box for "Publish." You can also publish a pool of "Standby" judges that should be available to take pushed ballots.

How do I configure a judge burden method to require additional rounds for more teams?

Use the "Rounds owed per entry" burden method, but enter a decimal instead of a whole number. So for example, at a 7 round tournament, you could enter 3.4, which means the first team will require 3 (since 3.4 rounds down to 3), but a second team will require 7 (since 3.4 + 3.4 = 6.8, which rounds to 7).

Running A Tournament - Results

Why aren't my tournament's results showing up?

First, make sure you set each round's "Full Results" to public on the schematic. Then, go to Results - Web Publish, and make sure you have generated any results sets you want to make public, and that each is set to Published = On.

Where do I get results/speaker awards for the award assembly?

Go to Results - Reports and generate any result set you plan to hand out awards for.