SpeechWire: UDL Coaches’ Guide
Getting Started
1. Go to http://www.speechwire.com
2. Log into your head coach account
using the Your Account button at
the top right corner of the screen.
3. At the next screen type in your
username and password. These are
provided to you by your league
when you first begin using
SpeechWire.
4. Click the Log In button. You will
now be taken to the main menu.
5. If this is your first time using
SpeechWire, you will be prompted to change your password. Please choose something you will
remember but won’t be known to anyone else.
If you need to change your password again in the future, then on the main menu, in the second row
of icons, click Change email or password. On the next screen, type your current password at the top
box, then down below, type a new password. Enter it twice to make sure it’s typed correctly, then
click Save Changes.
Managing Your Team
On SpeechWire, each debater on your team will be tracked across his or her debate career, and all their
past participation and performance information will be recorded from tournament to tournament. The
first thing to do when starting SpeechWire is setting up your team roster with the debaters on your
team. This only needs to be done once for every student. Once a student is in the system, their
information will stay in for future tournaments.
To begin managing your team,
click the Team Roster button in
the first row of icons in the main
menu.
This will bring you to the team
roster page, where you can add
new members to your team, view
a list of all current debaters, and
edit their information and status.
Adding Debaters
Before a tournament, be sure that every debater on your team is on your roster. Every debater must be
entered once when you first start using SpeechWire or when the student first joins the team. To help
track students in the debate league, we ask that you provide some additional information on each
student. Only the name of the student is required for tournament entry, but we ask that you fill out the
student demographic information as soon as possible for each student so that your league can track its
demographics. To add a student to your roster:
1. Type their full name into the box next to New member at the top of the team roster page.
2. Fill out the following information when it is available (remember, you can edit a student’s
information any time):
a. Enter the student’s expected high school graduation year next to Graduation year.
b. Provide the gender of the student next to Gender.
c. Provide the student’s race or ethnicity under Race/Ethnicity.
d. Enter their official student ID next to School ID.
e. Click Add member.
Editing and Removing Debaters
Once debaters are on your roster, you can edit their information (for example, to add demographic
information or to correct an error) and you can set them as active or inactive depending on whether
they are still on the team.
To begin editing a debater, click on that debater’s name under the list of Current team members on the
team roster. This will bring you to the Student Information page.
To change a student’s information:
1. Edit the student’s name or other information as necessary in the top section of the Student
Information page.
2. Click Update Information to save your changes.
If a student leaves the team, they should be set to Inactive. This ensures they can no longer be
registered for tournaments. Students are never deleted from SpeechWire. All their past achievements
are stored in the system for future years. To set a student as inactive:
1. On the Student Information screen, click the Set as inactive in the middle section of the page.
Registering For a Tournament
To register for a tournament, return to the
main menu. Then click Tournament
registration in the top row of icons. A list of
tournaments you are invited to will appear.
The director of your debate league will send
invitations to you to each of your
tournaments.
Click to tournament you want to register for
to continue. This will bring you to the
registration page for that tournament.
Viewing Tournament Information
The second row of icons includes links to more information about the tournament, as provided by the
tournament director.
To view general information about the tournament, such as the tournament invite, click General
information. To view any files the tournament provided for download, such as judge descriptions, click
Files for download. To view the schedule for the tournament, click Tournament schedule. To look at the
tournament director’s contact information, click Manager contact info.
RSVPing for the Tournament
The first step in registration is confirming that you will attend the tournament. To do so:
1. Click the Will you attend? button.
2. Select the answer that matches whether you will attend: Yes, No, or I’m not sure.
3. Click Submit response.
Entering Your Teams
Any debaters who are on your SpeechWire roster may be entered for a tournament. SpeechWire’s team
entry screen allows you to select from a list of your current active debaters to enter into a tournament.
Note that if a debater is not yet on your roster, you must add them using the Team Roster page before
you can enter them into a tournament.
Entering Your Judges