Home

News & Events
Volunteer
Rules & Schedule
Features
Five Minutes of Fame Open Mic
Workshops
Sponsors
Midwest Venue Guide
Related Stuff

2006 SlamMN! Team

E-mail sign-up

Schedule & Rules

2006-2007 Season

If you have never been to a poetry slam in Minnesota before, you should read the rules before coming to compete. If you have any questions, please email the Slam Masters at slamminnesota@yahoo.com.

So, what's in a team anyway? The "TEAM" for SlamMN! this year will be 5 poets. All five poets will work together from the time they are selected until that National Poetry Slam to fine tune their performances. At the National Poetry Slam, the team will work together to bring their strongest pieces to the stage. There is a chance that some poets may not get to perform in competition, or as individuals in competition.

SlamMN! does not guarantee funding for any of the team members to the National Poetry Slam. As a team, money will be raised to support travel/hotel expenses. If enough funds are raised, then all 5 team members + the Slam Master(s) will be able to use the funds to attend NPS.

The Slam Season is broken into two halves. There are Qualifying Slams that are open to all poets (priority given to those who have not yet qualified for the semi-final events). The top poets at the qualifying slams are invited back for the semi-final bouts. The top 6 poets at the semi-final slams and the 1 poet at the two LAST CHANCE slams are invited to compete at the Team Selection Slam. All 5 team members will be chosen AT the Team Selection Slam.

SlamMN! Poetry Slams will take place TWICE A MONTH (on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month). They are always at 8pm with sign ups starting promptly at 7:30.

The competitive season goes from September through April (if you want to make it on the team). From May - August the Slam Team hosts themed slams that are open to everyone. They continue on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of every month. Themes for the summer slams are determined once the team is chosen.

At each slam held during the regular season, the same rules are followed. These are the...

RULES

SlamMN! follows national slam rules in all of their regular season slams. Slams are open to anyone, however, according to PSI regulations, poets MUST be 21 years of age in order to participate at the National Poetry Slam (some years the host city lowers this age limit to 18). Our local venue is all ages, and I encourage poets of all ages to participate in the local competition. SMALL PRINT: Our venue is NOT screened or censored for content - some content may not be suitable for all age audiences.

SlamMN! slams are run in 3 rounds of competition and scores are cumulative. The qualifying slams are open to 12 poets. 8 poets will continue to the 2nd round and 5 in the third round. In instances of tied scores/scores within 0.1 points of one another, we will extend these rounds to include up to 9/6 poets. The top 3 poets in each qualifying/semi-final slam receive prizes donated by Kieran's Irish Pub.

About the poetry/performance:

• Poets must perform original work.
• THE FIRST ROUND NO-REPEAT RULE: In the first round of EVERY slam, you are required to perform a piece that HAS NOT PREVIOUSLY BEEN PERFORMED during a poetry slam at Kieran's during that season. For those poets that have been on a SlamMN! slam team - you cannot use any poem that has been used in a SlamMN! team chapbook or on a SlamMN! team CD during the year(s) you were on the team. If there are any questions, please contact the Slam Master at slamminnesota@yahoo.com
• Sampling (using a part of another person's poem within your own poem) is allowed. For example, if you quote a line from Robert Frost - you can still use that poem. If Robert Frost wrote the poem and you include a quote from you, you cannot use the poem.
• You have 3 minutes to perform 1(ONE) poem in each round. Poems written in parts (i.e. 8 Haikus About Winter) are allowed if they are performed as one piece.
• After 3 minutes and a 10 second grace period, your overall score will be penalized. Time penalties are -0.5 points for every 10 second increment. For example: if your performance is 3:09:29, you are in the clear. If it is 3:10:01, you will get 0.5 points subtracted from your score. If 3:42:05, then you will have 2.0 points deducted, etc.
• You cannot use props, costumes or musical accompanyment. You CAN beat box, make arm pit noises, whistle, or sing...you cannot break out the kazoo or bring a beat loop.
• The performance of your poem is judged by 5 judges picked at random from the audience. Every effort is made to select a diverse group of judges that preferably do not have any connections to any of the competing poets. SlamMN! is limited by who is at the venue/willing to judge. If a poet has a problem with any of the judges selected, they should notify the host before the competition begins.
• The judges will score each performance from 0.0-10.0. Zero is bad, ten is good. The high and low scores are dropped and the 3 scores in the m iddle are added together. This sum is your score for the round.
• Scores for each round are added together.
  
  

Schedule**

* previously qualified

** Update: Aug. 22 - All dates/events are subject to change. The official schedule will be posted prior to Sept. 12.

SUMMER SLAMS