Business Bowl

Coordinator: Neal Wade
Email: nwade@tocc.edu

Competition Objectives

• Strengthen existing Business programs at TCUs and stimulate new interest in Business.
• Showcase talent and skills.

Competition Rules

1. Only one (1) team from each tribal college can compete.
2. Teams will consist of four (4) members, one (1) of which shall be designated as the team captain.
3. Teams shall have one (1) coach and may have one (1) alternate team member.
4. The team captain will be responsible for verifying the coin toss results, choosing the match categories, ensuring the timely arrival of the team for each match and raising any disputes during the competition. Each team member will have a handheld buzzer switch to control.
5. The alternate team member may replace another team member for any or all matches, but the alternate team member cannot be substituted once a match begins.
6. All team members, including the alternate team member, shall be listed on the team’s registration roster. Changes to the roster can only be made in emergencies, documented in writing, and submitted within seven (7) days before the competition.
7. A match may be played with less than a full team. Once the match begins, any vacant positions shall remain vacant throughout.
8. The team coach is responsible for their team’s registration. The coach is not required to attend their team’s matches; however, they shall prepare their team for competition. The team coach should ensure that the team arrives for competition on time, and critique the team and make suggestions for improvement. Coaches cannot compete and cannot raise any disputes during or after the match.
9. The team captain is the only person permitted to raise any dispute or concern about a question to the quizmaster. The dispute or concern shall be addressed as soon as the conflict arises. Once the next question is read, the dispute or concern can no longer be addressed.
10. It is highly recommended that the team captain accompany their coach to the coaches meeting.
11. Any team that arrives ten (10) minutes late for the scheduled start time of the match will have forfeited.
12. Teams will be organized into brackets for double elimination rounds.
13. Team members and spectators shall conduct themselves in an appropriate manner. Spectators are not allowed to communicate in any way with the teams once a match
14. At the beginning of the match, the quizmaster will toss a coin to determine which team will have control of the board to begin the match.
15. Heads will go to the team on the quizmaster’s right; Tails to the team on the left.
16. The captain of the team who wins the coin toss will choose the first source category (book, video, map, etc.) for the first question. After the quizmaster asks a question, the team who answers correctly gains one (1) point and is permitted to select the category for the next question. The last team to answer a question correctly always chooses the category of the next question. This process continues until the final question is read for each of the two rounds, respectively.
17. After a question is read by the quizmaster, either team may buzz in during the initial fifteen (15) seconds to give an answer or request a re-reading of the question. Questions will only be re-read once. After a team buzzes in, the team has ten (10) seconds to respond.
18. The team requesting a re-read of a question is not exclusively permitted to answer; after a question is re-read, a ten (10) second period for discussion and answering begins again where either team may buzz in to answer.
19. After the first reading of a question, if a team buzzes in and answers incorrectly, the other team may request a re-reading of the same question. The team who answered incorrectly will not be permitted to answer the same question again.
20. If a team buzzes in prior to the complete reading of a question, that team may not request a re-reading of the question. If the team buzzing in prior to the complete reading answers the question incorrectly, the other team may request a re-reading of the same question.
21. Only one team member can answer for a given question. If a team gives more than one answer at any time, then both or all answers will be considered incorrect if any of the provided answers are incorrect.
22. If both teams answer the question incorrectly, the quizmaster will provide the correct answer and no point will be given to either team.
23. Each correct answer is worth one (1) point. No point penalties exist for incorrect answers.
24. The only question types are ‘fill in the blank’, true or false, and determining definitions.
25. Questions will come from the following areas of business: Personal Finance, Accounting, Economics, Marketing, and Management.
26. The first team to buzz in gets to answer the question; each team gets five (5) seconds to answer the question correctly; if time expires or the first team answers incorrectly the second team has a chance to answer the question correctly within five (5) seconds. Even True or False questions can be answered within five (5) seconds by the team who hasn’t answered after the first team incorrectly answers a True and False question.
27. Each round is a twenty (20) minute block.
28. The first team to answer twenty (20) questions correctly, or the team with the most correctly answered questions at the end of twenty (20) minutes, is deemed the winner.
29. Only paper and pencil will be permitted, but writing any part of a question is prohibited. No electronic devices.
30. The judge and mediator will keep track of the overall score.
31. 32. Disputes regarding questions and answers will be decided by the judge(s). The Quizmaster may confer with the designated Knowledge Bowl judge(s) to resolve a dispute. Time will be stopped during this interval and restarted following the decision of the judge(s). The decision of the judge(s) is final for the match in play. Teams are limited to 2 disputes per match.

Competition Guidelines and Procedures

• The Business Bowl coordinator is chosen by the host committee. The Business Bowl coordinator will reserve an appropriately-sized Business Bowl location depending on whether an audience will be permitted. If an audience will be permitted to attend then a large conference room will be required; if no audience will be permitted then the coordinator can reserve a classroom-sized room.
• The Business Bowl coordinator will provide periodic updates to the host committee concerning registration numbers and the cost of the Business Bowl supplies and buzzer technology.
• The Business Bowl coordinator may use the proven rules from above and make adjustments as the need arises to adapt to the specific host location, participant-entry size, budget limitations, etc.
• The Business Bowl coordinator might need to recruit ~ two (2) people (faculty, staff, or students) to assist with judging, onsite scheduling, monitoring, and registration and on-site setup of the conference room.
• Suggested Checklist of Materials to bring to the conference: Large dry erase board for the official bracket; master spreadsheet of the registered students/teams; questions for at least forty (40) matches; and the buzzer equipment.
• The Business Bowl coordinator will need to acquire buzzer equipment which is necessary to regulate the time limits and judge which team buzzed-in first.
• Have a firm registration deadline. Postmarked, faxed, emailed, etc. at least seven (7) days before the start of the conference. No exceptions.
• Enter registered students into a master spreadsheet by college/team to ease the checking in process at the conference.
• The coordinator arrives at the conference at least a day before the competition to setup the room reserved for the Business Bowl with at least two (2) tables and to make sure the buzzer equipment works correctly.
• The coordinator may also be the judge and the mediator for the competition but the questions should be pulled from TCUs business textbooks and should be developed with help from each participating region. One (1) suggestion is to have each region provide eight (8) rounds (given 16 registered teams) worth of questions, another suggestions is to have each Tribal College of the host committee provide an equal fraction of the number of questions required.
• There have been historically four (4) rounds (16 teams – down to 8 teams – down to 4 teams –down to 2 teams). This can be managed different depending on the number of teams that register.
• The order of the starting bracket is setup by a random drawing at a coaches’ meeting.
• Once the conference begins, the students are responsible for their own scheduling of other conference competitions.
• The Business Bowl coordinator is responsible for reporting the winning team to the awards’ banquet coordinator.

Registration Deadline: Friday, February 24, 2023

To register for this event, please download the application and email Neal Wade (nwade@tocc.edu):

PDF Document: Download and REGISTER