Credit for the idea of this phrase goes to Samuel Sefzik. It’s easy for your audience to get overwhelmed in a debate speech. There are a lot of points and plenty of logic floating around in any given debate round. Getting your audience to remember and care about all of your points is usually impossible (unless […]
Preparing for the 2NR
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 […]
Emphasis by positioning
When you need to make a point stand out in a judge’s mind, it’s time to pull out all stops and give them the best you have. One technique I seldom see used is positioning in order to emphasize key points. How it’s done Before I begin, this is not to be overused. Someone who […]
Run less arguments
One of the first challenges for a novice is to fill up all the time in their speech. They are drilled and pushed to get to that 8 or 5 minute time limit and fill up their speeches. And rightly so! The only problem with this approach, a problem that I hope to remedy in […]
Exaggerate your motions
This post is mostly for novice/intermediate debaters. Click here to skip to a more advanced part. There was a group of people in the late 1800s who believed that crowds could be manipulated by a very specific set of gestures. The “elocutionists”, as they were called, had books that they would study carefully, full of specific formulas […]