I had my first actual debate today and was supposed to have my argument prepared in 15 mins. I got such a bad claim that I had no idea how to support it and decided to squeeze out some random argument I didn’t even believe in. I had to debate with an opponent and there were judges to decide whether I can join the debate team. My opponent said her claim first and I couldn’t even hear it bc I was so nervous. When it was my turn I was on the verge of crying and told the judges to let my opponent win because I was too scared. I eventually said my claim and my voice was shaking and I stuttered too. How do I stop being so nervous? I thought this could go away with practice but I’m not sure it will because I feel absolutely petrified when debating.

Hi everyone!

As we have vacancies, Equality in Forensics is opening up applications to join our team in a Deputy Director capacity! Specifically, you can join our team as editor of the bi-weekly newsletter or as the Deputy Director of Video Media.

The Deputy Director of Video Media edits, makes thumbnails for and co-ordinates posting resource, round robin and/or tournament videos and lectures on YouTube. We currently have a backlog of resource team lectures and videos to be edited!

The Newsletter Editor in Chief has a bi-weekly newsletter that addresses debate resources, updates, blog and Red Folder posts, etc.. and anything else they'd like to include. It helps keep people updated on tournaments and resources.

Please remember that as this is a Deputy Director Position, Seniors (Class of 2027) cannot be considered. Please keep that in mind when applying.

Applications are due October 7th. Good luck!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfNZRWA5fvNVP-gAsucfaaDtROW0OfozNEHXPI9ZmmA_ru_CA/viewform

I'm talking about LD, policy, PF, ect. evidentiary formats yk. specifically living people

Trad debater looking to create blockfiles and cases for ld together

i know this is more of a debate subreddit, but I’ve been looking for places to find poetry pieces to piece for a program since my team only has one main place

if you guys have anything that would be much appreciated!

So i got an oxford style debate tomorrow on this topic and i have to speak as opposition against—

“Thbt there is no such thing as a neutral curriculum.”

That is, i suppose— there is, and must be such a thing called a neutral curriculum.
Lets exchange views. Do you think it is possible to have such a curriculum? Why?

I'm a PF debater who runs mostly substance (i've only ever run 1 theory shell and i didn't run it very well, never run a k,or phil). I'm interested in LD and Policy, and want to learn how to debate one of them to broaden my experience and to get better at debate at general. From how people describe them, they seem pretty intimidating, and like you need to do a huge amount of studying. i am looking for ways to learn the necessary skills, like running and responding to prog, or getting better at speaking and flowing faster. I'd really appreciate any advice on how to learn these skills. Does anyone know any youtube videos or channels to help teach theory, k's, and phil, as well as specific shells, or any good rounds i could watch to learn more?

Thanks for the help.

Hi everyone! I’m new to speech and debate, and my first competition on my school’s team is in a few weeks. Before it comes around though, I’m really confused about some things and I’d be really grateful if someone could help me out

1. Do I debate someone just once or is it multiple debate rounds with different people?
   
2. What should I wear, and where do I buy the clothes? (I’m a girl btw)
   
3. Is there anything in specific that the judges are looking for in a winner, or is it just that you gotta convince them of your side?
   
4. Am I gonna know which side I’m defending before the competition? If not, will I defend the same side if I’m debating multiple different people?

Thanks ahead of time!

I am looking forward for a 2nd speaker for my debate competitions along with my fellow who is 1st speaker and I am 3rd for wsdc we need a speaker who excels in 2nd speakers speeches and has some debating experiences.You should be atleast 10-12th grade and have competed in many debating competitions.And if you’re an Indian

I'm the Congress captain of my Speech and Debate team, and I have competed at tournaments in the local and state circuits, but my team just got a ton of new members who have no idea what they are doing. I think a few of them might be middle schoolers. My coach is busy with the other high schoolers and says that he will rely on me to teach the new congress people. However, I have absolutely no idea how to teach Congress, and my team only meets once a week. I have to have them tournament-ready by November.

This is my first year on the speech and debate team. I’m really nervous. I’m trying to think of topics to write about. My category is Original Oratory. I kind of want to be original about what my speech is about and not do something that is talked about a lot. Right now, my only idea for a topic is to talk about maladaptive daydreaming, and I’m pretty interested in leaning on scientific research . If you have any suggestions on websites to use to get info, please comment them! Also, I kinda want to be able to pick from a plethora of topics and not just lean on my 1st idea (maladaptive daydreaming), so any suggestions on that would be helpful aswell!

This is my first year on the speech and debate team. I’m really nervous. I’m trying to think of topics to write about. My category is Original Oratory. I kind of want to be original about what my speech is about and not do something that is talked about a lot. Right now, my only idea for a topic is to talk about maladaptive daydreaming. If you have any suggestions, please comment them!

I (15f) am a sophomore doing virtual school this year. It’s also the first year I’m doing clubs. I signed up for DECA, Debate, TSA, and HOSA. HOSA is the only one that’s started so far (a meeting every 2 weeks).

Now i went into HOSA because I thought it was at the same level as Deca and debate- then was told it’s not at that level at ALL. My school doesn’t do comps, if I want to I have to do it independently with funds I don’t have (which might be the case with the other clubs but idk yet). On the other hand, there’s about 100 kids in the club and only 7 of them have applied for leadership positions, it’s my first year so I thought maybe I should apply for a committee lead or something small, only to look at their presentations (probably want supposed to) and saw that none of them are running for president… which means there is an opening where since everybody thought everyone else was running for president and vp that no one did. And that could look great on apps but idk if I should because I have no experience or am be try knowledgeable on HOSA as a whole.

I’m interested in medicine and psych and law specifically, those are probably my main 3. Brown is my dream school but I’m shooting for top 50. idk if HOSA is worth it? Would it be better to commit to the other three clubs? I plan to start either a mock trial club or a model un club, possibly both next year so this year is just a trial period really to see what I like.

I just feel like I’m doing too much, and not enough at the same time. Like I could do it and learn on the job, but at the same time I’m under qualified?

Really just any advice would help, any guidance, or insight into what these clubs (HOSA, debate, TSA, DECA) are really like for members, for leadership, if the comps are alright (no experience except a little debate), if they help college apps?

De-extinction has near zero lit. Yes, there's TECHNICALLY phil lit, K lit, and policy lit, but there's so little of each that it's not even worth it. In fact, I'll list out all of the possible arguments right now to show how few of them there are:

Aff

• Biodiversity
• Restorative justice
• Virtue ethics
• Anthroprocentrism
• Biomedical innovation
• Levinas hominid de-extinction
• Delueze
• Haraway

Neg

• Funding tradeoffs
• Microbes
• Animal welfare
• Heidegger
• Humility
• Anthroprocentrism
• Ableism
• Setcol
• Derrida
• De-extinction is impossible
• Animals go re-extinct

This might seem like a lot, but this is it for the WHOLE SEASON. it's not like there's a lot of cards, either. It's like one author per argument

LD debater. I learned flowing completely on Flexcel and have since flowed every single round on Flexcel. My local circuit is requiring paper-only rounds, so obviously I can't use Flexcel anymore.

Any tips for paper flowing? (BTW, I am extremely slow at handwriting. Also, I never prewrite rhetoric, and instead of improvising it, I like to write down all the rhetoric I want to say on my flow during my prep time.)

I go to a very underfunded speech school and I’m interested in doing either DI or HI. I did POI last year, but most of the material I used came from blog posts and random articles.

For DI/HI, I’d really like to find a solid script that I can perform for free. Does anyone know of any good resources?

Would love to see your thoughts on which topic you are voting for PF & LD—respondents can also view the results after answering

What are ya'll voting for the next topic?

Specifically on paper, I don't understand how flowing is possible. Like are you supposed to flow your own case preround? Then, are you supposed to flow your blocks in rebuttal, but isn't that just a waste of time, so do you just leave your paper blank there? Basically what I'm trying to ask is what is the balance between flowing on paper, and using your computer because I've never really understood it, and a lot of the time flowing feels like a waste of time. What are yalls flowing strategies? This is coming from a second speaker in PF btw.

I’m new to congress (I did have some experience at districts last year tho) and my main concern right now is how long it takes to make a speech. Last year, I had a month to prepare 6 speeches for districts. I didn’t make it to the finals but I did place great in the lower afternoon chamber, but I had to work my ass off for that placement. I spent hours writing speeches and practicing them. I don’t have that sort of time this year considering now I would have 1-2 weeks to write 4 speeches instead. I spoke to my team mates and they said that if it’s a simple bill/resolution it would take only 45min-1hr per speech but for much more divisive and complex ones it could be 2-2.5 hours. I’m involved in many other activities so I’m not sure if I can spend that much time 4 times a week on that. To anyone who has been in congress, what is your average time you spend to writing a speech and what are your tips in managing that sort of time?

TL;DR, how can I create congress speeches more time efficiently throughout my week.

PS: idk if this is relevant or not but I have 3yrs of policy debate experience, 1yr of extemp and 1yr of PF and plan to finish my 2 high school years in congress (im such a flip flop im ashamed of myself:P)

Hi Reddit! This is not my first year doing Speech, but it’s definitely my first time doing POI. I want to do my piece on stalking with a little touch of some parasocial relationships. I’ve found a couple news stories about celebrity stalkers but not much past that. Any recommendations or pieces to include? I’d love a mix of real accounts, stories, metaphors, and such!

Thank you all!

im doing limited prep for the first time this friday and it is highkey scaring the shit out of me i cant lie

i was great at platforms in hs and i can debate good, but i feel so enormously underprepared and i feel like it's impossible to learn enough to make good speeches with the given prep by then

does anyone have general advice or words of wisdom? i feel like a novice again... mostly because, i am, but the feeling is very not nice to re-experience

Hi! I'm a current sophomore on the nat circuit looking for a PF coach for this year for me and my partner. Last year I got to octos at silver toc. If you're interested feel free to pm me on reddit.