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Impress the audience

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Owning the lectern

02Feb

February 2, 2016 by PotentSpeaking Leave a Comment

Credit goes to Samuel Sefzik (several time tournament champion and high-placing debater at Nationals) for the second and third idea. Confident body language sometimes boils down to small details in how you act in a debate round. Some of the things you don’t even pay attention to while debating can affect the judge’s perception of your […]

Phrases — Outweighing their arguments

17Dec

December 17, 2015 by PotentSpeaking 2 Comments

Sometimes, arguments in a debate round are like fireworks on the fourth of July. Everyone’s lighting off their little bottle rockets, roman candles, and maybe even some small mortars. None of these fireworks are really memorable, they only become memorable if they hit someone or if something important happens around one. But sometimes there’s an […]

Phrases — Common misunderstanding

29Oct

October 29, 2015 by PotentSpeaking Leave a Comment

When you’ve been running your affirmative case for a while, you have a pretty good mastery of all the possible arguments that may be run against your case. (Although you may be occasionally surprised by the… creative… arguments people come up with from time to time). There are some arguments, however, that always seem to […]

Preparing for the 2AR

10Apr

April 10, 2015 by PotentSpeaking Leave a Comment

If you haven’t already read preparing for the 2NR, please read that first. I will be skipping several repeated concepts. The last affirmative speech is the most important speech in the round, arguably. It’s the last thing the judge hears. With this power, of course, comes the responsibility to avoid saying things that are untrue. […]

Preparing for the 2NR

07Apr

April 7, 2015 by PotentSpeaking 2 Comments

The last negative rebuttal is the most important negative speech of the round. While you can’t bring up new arguments or evidence, you can certainly bring back a losing round and win. Because this speech is so important, let’s talk about how you can best prepare yourself for it. Note: Some of the best preparation […]

Don’t be a weasel

20Mar

March 20, 2015 by PotentSpeaking Leave a Comment

I’ll get right to the point. By “don’t be a weasel”, I mean don’t be one of those debaters who is constantly looking for a way out of things. I also mean: don’t seem like one of those debaters, because it reduces the judge’s trust in you. Principles Avoid using the word “well” too much. […]

Pretend you’re winning

17Mar

March 17, 2015 by PotentSpeaking 2 Comments

On October 7, 1984, Ronald Reagan obliterated the main opposition to his presidency. Rumors had been circulating that he was too old for the job, and that he was getting Alzheimer’s. During a debate with his opponent, Walter Mondale, he quipped “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going […]

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Recent Posts

  • Drawing a line in the sand using false equivalence
  • Debate traditions that you need to drop
  • 7 Debate Tactics You Probably Don’t Use (but Should)
  • Book Gleaning — Made to Stick
  • Making an Affirmative response sheet

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