Assign the Roles

Table of contents

1. Rules for Assigning Roles
2. Incomplete Teams

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For an invite-only debate, the Organizer assigns roles in the Lobby. Click on a participant’s username in their Badge and pick the role from the pop-up menu.

For Open Debates roles are assigned automatically from the sign-up order, so the role menu is not used; the rest of this page applies to invite-only debates.

The Adjudicator entry expands into a sub-menu where you choose the adjudicator’s seat: Chair, Wing, Trainee, or Shadow. The Chair drives the debate workflow; Wings are voting adjudicators; Trainees and Shadows are non-voting roles for learning and observation.

Rules for Assigning Roles

1. You can only assign a role to a participant who is present in the Lobby.
2. Assigning a role that is already taken reassigns it to the new participant.
   • The Adjudicator role is an exception — up to four participants can hold it.
3. If a participant leaves the Lobby (network issue, browser closed, etc.), their role assignment is retained when they rejoin.
4. The Organizer should also assign a role to themselves.
5. The Organizer can start the Preparation stage only when:
   • Each participant in the Lobby has a role assigned, and
   • At least one participant has the Adjudicator role.

Incomplete Teams

A debate can begin even with an incomplete team. The minimum requirement is at least one adjudicator present. This flexibility lets teams practice or compete even when some participants can’t join.