Rules
1 ) Poems can be on any subject and in any style.
2 ) Each poet must perform work that s/he has created.
3 ) No props. Prop: an object or article of clothing introduced into a performance with the effect of enhancing, illustrating, underscoring, or otherwise augmenting the words of the poem. Generally, poets are allowed to use their given environment and the accoutrements it offers - microphones, mic stands, the stage itself, chairs on stage, a table or bar top, the aisle - as long as these accoutrements are available to other competitors as well. The rule concerning props is not intended to squelch the spontaneity, unpredictability, or on-the-fly choreography that people love about the slam; its intent is to keep the focus on the words rather than objects.
4 ) No musical instruments or pre-recorded music.
5 ) No costumes.
6 ) Sampling: It is acceptable for a poet to incorporate, imitate, or otherwise "signify" on the words, lyrics, or tune of someone else (commonly called "sampling" in his own work. If he is only riffing off another's words, he should expect only healthy controversy; if on the other hand, he is ripping off their words, he should expect scornful contumely.
7 ) The Three-Minute Rule: No performance should last longer than three minutes. The time begins when the performance begins, which may well be before the first utterance is made. A poet is certainly allowed several full seconds to adjust the microphone and get settled & ready, but as soon as s/he makes a connection with the audience ("Hey look, she's been standing there for 10 seconds and hasn't even moved"), the timekeeper can start the clock. The poet does not have an unlimited amount of "mime time." Poets with ambiguous beginnings & endings to their performances should seek out the timekeeper at each venue to settle on a starting & ending time. After three minutes, there is a 10-second grace period (up to and including 3:10.00). Starting at 3:10.01, a penalty is automatically deducted from each poet's overall score according to the following schedule:
3:10 and under no penalty
3:10.01 - 3:20 -0.5
3:20.01 - 3:30 -1.0
3:30.01 - 3:40 -1.5
3:40.01 - 3:50 -2.0
and so on [-0.5 for every 10 seconds over 3:10]
The announcement of the time penalty and its consequent deduction will be made by the emcee or scorekeeper after all the judges have reported their scores. The judges should not even be told that a poet went overtime until it is too late for them to adjust their scores.
Maximum Time Limit: After four minutes, only the emcee may stop a poet from continuing to perform.
8 ) Judging: All efforts shall be made to select five judges who will be fair. Once chosen, the judges will have a private, verbal crash course by the emcee or house manager on the do's and don'ts of poetry slam judging (where they can ask questions).
9 ) Scoring: The judges will give each poem a score from 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest or "perfect" score. They will be encouraged to use one decimal place in order to preclude the likelihood of a tie. Each poem will get five scores. The high and the low scores will be dropped and the remaining three scores will be added together.
10 ) Emcees: The emcee will announce to the audience each poet's name. She will also require that all judges hold their scores up at the same time and that no judge changes his score after it is up. She is expected to move the show along quickly and keep the audience engaged and interested in the competition. Since she must be completely impartial, any witty banter directed at individual poets, poems, teams, or scores is inappropriate. Even genuine enthusiasm has to be carefully directed. The safest thing to do is encourage the audience to express their own opinions.
11 ) Sacrificial Poet: Because no poet wants to go first in the slam, and because some judges, score keepers and time keepers need practice, each slam begins with a "sacrificial poet". This poet performs a piece and is scored as if they were competing in the slam.
12 ) Team Pieces: Any group of individuals who wish to do group pieces in the regular season or the summer season may do so. However, said group piece will receive a two point deduction from the poem’s total score and said group piece will not help qualify any individual for the IWPS or Wowps playoffs and will not be used towards qualifying for the semi finals at the end of the season.
Additionally, any individuals involved in a group piece is unable to compete in any other piece (be it group pieces or solo work) for that evening. Should the team performing said group piece make it to the 2nd round they would have to involve all the same group members in their 2nd round piece and would take the two point penalty in that round as well.
Format for the 2011/12 Winter Season at Van SlamIt's the Winter Season of Van Slam. That means 2 rounds of three-minute poems. 12 poets (or so) poets in round one. The top five advance to round two. Qualifying slams occur (normally) on the 1st, 3rd and potentially 5th Monday of every month. The winners are determined by their cumulative score over the two rounds.
The top 4 finishers of the night acquire points that will help qualify them for the Women of the World Playoffs in January (if you are a self-identified female poet) and the Team Playoffs in April. The winners of these playoffs receive all-expenses paid trips to represent Van Slam in major international tournaments! Get writing!
Poets will be awarded a set number of points per slam, determined by where they finished in the top 4. They will amass these points cumulatively over the course of the qualifying season.
The point system for each night will look like this.
1st place - 16 points
2nd place - 9 points
3rd place - 4 points
4th place - 1 point
5th place - 0 points
Playoff-stage slots are determined by selecting our top 14 cumulative point-scorers up to that point.
In The Last Chance Slam, the priority of entry goes to our remaining top 12 point scorers. Any spots not filled by those poets are then open.The winner and runner-up of the Wild Card Slam becomes the 15th & 16th ranked poets and go into playoffs.
There is a cap of six slams for competing poets, ie each poet may only compete in 6 qualifying slams and no more (The only exception would be in the rare case that there isn't enough poets who still have not slammed six times on the sign-up list. Then, a poet who has already slammed six times could be part of the slam; however, that poet would not be eligible to receive points on that night.)
The cap of six slams will prevent poets from amassing too many cumulative points and then continuing to slam, scoring points they no longer need and that others do.
This does not apply to 'alt' slams, only to qualifying slams, held on the 1st, 3rd and potentially 5th Monday of every month from September to March.
Follow the Winter Season standings and scores on the VPH Forum.
Qualifying for WOWps PlayoffsVancouver Poetry Slam will be sending a representative to the second annual Women of the World Poetry Slam (WOWps) in spring 2012 (details TBA).
The basic guidelines for participation in WOWps Vancouver play-offs is that if you live your life as a woman, and you consider yourself a woman then you are eligible. All competitors should be at least 18 years of age.
WOWps playoffs will be held at Cafe Deux Soleils in January 2012. The top 8 female poets will be allowed to compete.
We will be using a points system to qualify poets to compete. You get points for every poet you beat at a Vancouver Poetry Slam between September and December regardless of their gender. You get 1 point no matter what if you decide to be the sacrificial poet at the Van Slam. You get 1 point no matter what just for participating. Alt slams and youth slams don't count for points. The more you compete, the more points you get and the better chance you have of being one of the top 8. The results from the IWPS play-offs do not count toward WOWps rankings, just as they did not count toward the Van Slam team play-offs qualifying either.
Participating this way does not alter your chances in making the Van Slam Playoffs in April and May. The same system of rankings and scores that we have used for that event will be used for again this season.
The Vancouver WOWPS play-offs in January will be run as the same format as the Individual World Poetry Slam (IWPS) play-offs in that you'll be asked to have 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute and 4 minute poems ready to compete with. There will be a 4-minute round, then a 2 minute round, then a 1 minute round, with no grace period for time in any of those rounds. If there is a tie, the tiebreaker round will be a three minute round.
The Fine Print for Rules JunkiesIn the points system rankings, ties are broken first according to who had the higher finish, and second by points. So, for instance, if at the end of season Poet A had one second place finish, they would have 9 points, and if Poet B had two third place finishes and a fourth place finish, they would also have 9 points. Poet A would receive the higher ranking because Poet A finished higher in a slam than Poet B ever did. But if Poet A and B both had one second place finish, and both had 9 points, and they were tied for the final slot to go to playoffs, the tie would be broken by who had the higher score on their second place finish.
