by Kyle Lee | Mar 2, 2021 | Technique
In my novice year of Speech & Debate, I had an After-Dinner speech in NCFCA. After-Dinner was a comedic platform event that was sadly removed the year after I competed in it. I loved that speech. Well, at the beginning at least. When I first gave it, it was clear...
by Patrick McDonald | Feb 25, 2021 | Speaking, Strategy
Dear friends, not unfriendly acquaintances, others, I have a confession to make. Several days ago, I unearthed the script of the first full-length speech I ever wrote. On a hunch, I opened up the search function via Ctrl + F and punched in a solitary question mark....
by Patrick McDonald | Feb 11, 2021 | Speaking, Strategy
He’s asleep. He’s literally asleep. When that thought pierced into my mind, my initial reaction was one of astonishment. I was roughly halfway through my Persuasive speech, and five feet in front of me was the head judge, his head peacefully at rest on his chair,...
by Ben Brown | Feb 4, 2021 | Concept Analysis, From Advanced to National-Class, From Intermediate to Advanced, Negative, Strategy, Team Policy, Uncategorized
In part 1, we looked at the argument for net benefits being the superior framing as compared to the burden of proof in Team Policy. The short version is that 9 times out of 10, the burden of proof boils down to net benefits anyway. That is, first, if there’s a net...
by Kyle Lee | Feb 2, 2021 | Speech Events, Technique
As I’ve spent more time in the speech and debate community, I’ve realized just how important experience is. Experience builds the background necessary to win rounds and persuade judges. I remember back in my novice year, everything in speech and debate...
by Patrick McDonald | Jan 28, 2021 | Strategy
In my novice year of debate, I had a time distribution problem. Perhaps this was because I enjoyed hearing myself ramble on about irrelevant points or demolishing the applicability of my opponent’s introduction. More likely, it was because my brain had yet to come to...
