Welcome to Duo Interpretation!

Duo FAQs

• Why should I participate in Duo Interpretation?

  Duo is an Interpretation speech event that invites two people to prepare, practice, and present a literary selection together. Participation in Duo will:

  • Improve the ability to work closely with a partner. Duo partners define expectations, make decisions, and set common goals together.
  • Increase original source choices. Partners can play a greater number of characters in more diverse roles, so more literary sources are an option for the duo team.
  • Enhance performance. The use of choreography—planned, deliberate, and synchronized vocalizations and movements—create a dynamic presentation.

• Duo and Digital Presentation Screen Mirroring for Online Tournaments

  Mirrored video is standard for most online platforms. On the NCFCA platform, all speakers will see themselves mirrored on their own primary device screen, meaning that they will see themselves the way they would in a mirror. Judges and other observers will see a non-mirrored, normal view of the presenter. For most events, mirroring is natural and will go unnoticed, but in Duo and Digital presentation competitors will need to factor this phenomenon into their presentation plans.

  Duo

  For Duo competitors who choose to use separate devices, mirrored video creates a unique challenge for blocking, especially in the case of “interactions” between the video boxes. Competitors will see themselves as if in a mirror but will see their partner non-mirrored. The judges will not see either partner mirrored. If blocking plans would be impacted by the mirroring issue, competitors will either need to plan to share a device or plan to work around the mirroring. The competitor whose name comes first (Last, First) alphabetically will appear in the video box on the left when facing the screen and the partner on the right.

  Digital Presentation

  For Digital Presentation, mirroring impacts the presentation itself.

  • If competitors use a separate screen facing the camera, any words or images will appear reversed to the competitor on the competition screen. However, the words and images will NOT appear reversed for judges and other observers.
  • If a speaker uses the in-room screen sharing feature, the words will appear non-mirrored to both the speaker and judges.

• Do we still have a grace period for speeches exceeding the time limit?

  The automatic 2-rank penalty will only be applied after 15 seconds of the speech time limit. Find clarification on overtime in the event guidelines under “Timekeeping Protocols” (see Apologetics as an example), in the Speech Head Judge Instructions, and as an example of a timekeeping rule penalty in the Compliance Penalty Addendum. Keep in mind that while the grace period allows for small mishaps and miscalculations, judges may still consider the time limit of the speech event as they rank. We advise competitors to prepare for these variables by continuing to practice a speech under the time limit.