by Jeremiah Mosbey | Apr 10, 2021 | Debate, From Intermediate to Advanced, Negative, Strategy, TP
You’ve just delivered the greatest 2NR of your life. Certain that you’ve just won the round, you sit back in your seat with a grin. There may be one more speech left, but the round is essentially over. You hammered in your points, and demolished the mediocre...
by Ben Brown | Apr 1, 2021 | Affirmatives, Debate, From Advanced to National-Class, Technique, TP
Anybody who’s been in TP or LD debate for any considerable amount of time understands the necessity of delivering a memorable 2AR. After all, being able to give the final speech of the round poses a significant rhetorical advantage to the affirmative–an...
by Ellie Harris | Mar 26, 2021 | Advocacy, Affirmatives, From Intermediate to Advanced
Carefully read a list of numbers, wait a minute or two, and then try to recall as many of those numbers as you can. It’ll probably be easiest to remember the first and last few numbers. That’s because your brain is wired to recall things in order of primacy and...
by Jeremiah Mosbey | Mar 23, 2021 | From Intermediate to Advanced, Judging/Judges, Strategy
A couple of years ago, Harrison wrote a couple of excellent articles (here and here) delving into the different types of debate judges, and the pros and cons of each style. While we all understand the fact that there are different kinds of judges, it’s still very...
by Kyle Lee | Mar 17, 2021 | Best Resources, Debate, From Intermediate to Advanced, Strategy, Technique, Thinking Strategically
In the last article (found here), we covered why over-practice is a real threat to competitive speech & debate success. That article wasn’t saying that practice is inherently bad. It isn’t. Practice is fundamental to improving at anything. But there...
by Patrick McDonald | Mar 13, 2021 | Communication/Rhetoric, Debate, Speaking
Earlier this season, I received a ballot from a judge who was thoroughly and absolutely confused. At the base of her puzzlement was the solitary word: inherency. My partner and I had argued that the affirmative plan had essentially already been passed, and thus...