for some context, i've pretty much only done pf for as long as ive done debate. when i started off i was second speaker but because of partnership conflicts and partner switchups im now a first speaker. case is fine (its lit just reading off of a doc) but my problem usually comes from summary. my summaries are very "rebuttal-like" where i spend a lot of time going on all the details for offense and defense like people do in rebuttal, even tho ur supposed to narrow it down in the backhalf. this also destroys my time management, bcuz summary is pretty short compared to rebuttal when your trying to do the same thing in both speeches. This ultimately leaves me with wayyy too less time to do weighing and stuff (on lay rounds its wtvr ig but on the flow i need to weigh yk).

anyways, what im looking for is how do i become better at efficiently giving a summary?

Hi! Someone gave me the idea to organize a teacher vs teacher debate at my school. Any thoughts? We've got a couple characters that I know for sure like to argue. But:

• What would the resolution be? Do I get two history teachers with different political views and let them have at a history resolution? Or do a sillier one?

• Perhaps more importantly - would this type of thing even get a lot of turnout? Or would it depend on the teachers?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone! I'm currently offering Trad Lincoln-Douglas debate coaching for students looking to improve their skills and become more competitive.

A little about my experience and LD accomplishments:

• Ranked #4 in Ohio for LD Debate

• 23rd at 2025 NSDA Nationals

• 2× NSDA National Qualifier

• 3× Ohio State Finalist

If you or someone you know is interested in LD coaching, feel free to reach out! I'm happy to discuss rates and availability. Feel free to DM me with any questions!

Our local league voted to allow live use of generative AI in policy debate rounds. Not before the tournament but full unfettered live in round use of ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Muse, etc. Email use isn't allowed though. Maybe. So much for telling parents debate teaches kids to think on their feet.

Is there any national rule against this? Has any of league or tournament found a solution for this?

I looked for a server that organises online APD Debates but I could not find any so I thought why not start my own!
https://discord.gg/MCxvnwBd2

I have been doing whip in AP and am starting BP debates. My scores are always less then or equal to 75 in most cases. In my best form i always get 75 but not more than that. I spend a lot of time on rebuttal which I also know is not good and shouldn't be done, but I don't know how to do good wieghing in clashes and how a whip creates the margin for win. And also how to give effective rebuttals and extensions so that your case stands?

In addition to coaching, I teach a speech / communications class. My district requires that we "reteach and retest" failing students.

Many of my assignments are in-class, including the debate unit.

I need some ideas for makeup assignments for the chronically absent, so I can cover my hiney and say yeah, they had an opportunity.

I do NOT want to give them online work. I also do NOT want to give them the opportunity to do presentations to me alone, after school or during my conference period. (That's not a presentation; that's a conversation.)

What do y'all do for makeup work for in-class stuff?

Has anyone heard of/read the book“We’re all going to die tonight?” Apparently it’s new and is about a high school debate team that gets stuck in an Airbnb 🫢I’m curious if anyone thought it was interesting or if the characters are too familiar 💀

It's my first debate since I've joined college (yes first debate ever, not the first inter college debate)

Kinda nervous

Yesterday, I just did my first debate and I did awfully, I'm expecting a different kind of debate I thought it was all critical thinking and on the spot argument however it's all scripted you just need to read your notes during the debate I was really disappointed. Debate should come from the heart not just reading it that's my weakness since I don't have a powerful voice and I didn't really prepared for the script I just made it with AI with 1 hour to prepare for it and I've only made only for the affirmative side of the topic and I don't have any negative speech fortunately we picked the affirmative on the debate.

I was practicing to point facts and look for eror on their arguments but you don't suppose to do that because the question is already scripted you just need to ask for it. I was asking the wrong kind of question because questions should be only answerable by yes or no only.

The debate is modified oxford I still have the blame on this because I'm not aware what kind of debate I would be stepping on to and preparing for a different kind of debate.

We don't have much time to prepare since we have on the job training and research to look into I'm a 4th year student but I'm confident in my analytical skills and critical thinking that's why I didn't prepare that much.

Now I have the burden on me that we lost and I'm extremely disappointed now I'm regretting that I even joined this debate, I failed their expectations

anyone in dmv area available to judge for LD debate at the George mason university tournament? we can pay a little. December 5-6

Hi everyone!

I’m a teacher at an international elementary school in South Korea, where I teach debate to third-grade students who are English-language learners.

I want to mention upfront that I have no formal background or experience in debate myself. I was unexpectedly assigned to teach it, so I’ve essentially been learning as I go, researching, developing the curriculum, and trying my best to teach my students something I’m still learning myself.
My students just completed their second debate ever, on the topic of whether fast-food restaurants should stop giving plastic toys with children’s meals.

It was a challenging topic for their age, and several students missed quite a few lessons throughout the unit. Considering all of that, I was genuinely proud of how they performed.
However, I received some feedback suggesting that their delivery was weak and that their overall performance wasn’t as strong as our first graders’ debate. For context, I did not teach the first-grade students. They have a different teacher, so the two groups were not taught by the same person.

I’m hoping to get an unbiased opinion from people who have experience with competitive debate, coaching, or judging.

I’d especially appreciate feedback on what would be reasonable to expect from third-grade English-language learners participating in only their second debate.

I also have a recording of a first-grade debate that I’d love to have evaluated for comparison, keeping in mind the students’ different ages, topics, and experience levels.

I’m not looking for anyone to tell me my students were amazing just to make me feel better. I genuinely want constructive, honest feedback so I can improve how I teach debate and better support my students.

Would anyone with debate experience be willing to help? I can discuss sharing the recordings privately. Thank you so much!

I'm writing the pro-constructive for the TPNW, and most of it is just data. Is that okay, or should I add my own words/paraphrase more? I'm a novice, and my main contentions are the ecological consequences of nuclear weapons, with a subpoint on colonialism, and contention two: the economy of nuclear weapons. I REALLY want to get into open.

Hi! My name is Dylan and I'm looking to take on some students to private coach.

Here are some of my credentials:

- Have coached/am actively coaching 20+ kids on the local circuit, with many going from never breaking to consistently championing tournaments and getting podium finishes

- Ranked #1 in the state I competed in and ranked as high as top 30 in the nation for public forum.

- Broke at nearly every national circuit tournament I attended; secured 5 bids across 2 years.

- Won nearly every local tournament Senior Year

- Helped build my program up at a small rural public program without funding, so I know how to navigate resource discrepancies and am well-versed in helping kids adjust and achieve success on the national circuit.

I am incredibly open to working with students of any skill-level from any program and would love to coach a team that competes locally or nationally. I am best at teaching tech substance debate and a very in-detail approach to lay adaptation, but also knowledgable and experienced with progressive debate. My rates are well below the average for private coaching and they are negotiable.

Feel free to reach out if you are interested!

Its a 2 min speaking time oxford style debate, i was initially 7th speaker but they randomly made me the closer (the 33rd speaker btw💔) last moment due to some technical issues.

Im confused. What do i do.

Also, please help me out if anyone is willing to discuss this debate topic with me, txt me pls💔💔

Im so lost

so i need to negation and be against “ its better to live in loving family and broke rather than unloved rich family…help

the neg ground on renewables is a lot better, plus there's gonna be less t debates. "offensive" in "offensive military ops" on the AI topic is hella vague bc it could refer to offensive operationally (EG ukraine dronestriking russian military bases) or offensive as in the opposite of self defense. the neg's most accessible impact is nuke war which p much loses when it's weighed against aff impacts like bioweapons and misalignment, this also means that a spark 1ar is a lot more useful than other topics. besides plan-specific nuke war type disads, the only neg generics are the security K, technoörientalism and t-subsets which are fine i guess but def not tide-turning. I like renewables because there's a lot of different aff areas (space based solar power, uranium buybacks, batteries for electronic warfare, data centers, biofuel, tons more im not thinking of rn) but there are really good generic disads with good links like saudi lashout DA, russia fill-in DA, china DA, politics DA, econ DA, which are combined with great advantage counterplans to incentivize the aff to go for disad turns. there's also the ecosecurity K and setcol and bataille and especially cap (subsidies are market solutions) that link to virtually every aff BUT there's still tons of aff ground. The wording is less vague and there's more neg ground.

if you have any fun HI script ideas please comment!! i was thinking of legally blonde (although i am not blonde) or frozen but im not really sure what is competitive

as the title says, I’m second speaker for pf and I NEED help. on our last tournament, we managed to break but because of my stuttering and rambling during final focus, we lost. I feel HORRIBLE about it, but I don’t know how to be more confident, weigh our arguments, or give good rebuttals. its obvious to everyone I’m the weak point of the team, and I don’t wanna let my partner down. Any tips on how to weigh, give good rebuttals, or appear more confident, or even what to do during prep time during PF is GREATLYTYY appreciated. Thank you sm!

Hello. I am brand new at my university's debate team with no prior experience. I attended my first IPDA tournament recently, and did not do the best (as expected). My opponents seems to gather much more information/research than me on the topic in only 30 minutes. How do I optimize my time and gather much more information within that window?

Hello, I'm looking to hire a coach that'll be willing to help me with trad ld. Dm me if your interested

i do varsity ld and was wondering how ix and extemp in general works as I want to try it in an upcoming speech tournament. i have never done a speech event, and my team has no one who (mainly) does extemp.

i really just wanna know how it works. i know you have like 40 minutes to prep your speech and get a question, but thats really all i know

Hi everyone!

I'm competing at the BC Public Speaking Provincial Championships and looking for a judge!

Details:

• Dates: December 12–13, 2026 (about 1.5 days)

• Saturday: 8:30 AM – 7:00 PM

• Sunday: 8:30 AM – 5:15 PM

• Location: Meadowridge School, Maple Ridge, BC

• Requirements: 18+, no longer in high school, fluent in English. No previous judging experience required.

• Compensation: Paid (negotiable)

Judges can volunteer for either day or both days, but must be available for the full day they choose.

Tournament details: https://www.bcdebate.ca/speechprovincials

Please DM me if you're interested. Thank you!

hi! I’m a freshman on the forensics team- from what I’ve seen with our officers telling us about interps, we can do whatever we like (movies, books, etc, something that interests us.)

I’ve chosen Dead Poets Society since it’s 1. my favorite movie and 2. A great storyline to show the pressures of family and the art -> stem pipeline.

Mostly the character I’ll be playing is Neil, however, there’s scenes between characters where popping is necessary and there’s a lot of back and forth dialogue. I know this is typically done in humorous, but the content isn’t funny enough for humorous, yet it seems not harsh enough for dramatic.

I’m coming on here because the people doing interp on my forensics team are all doing humorous.

Is this sort of popping/switching between character allowed in DI?

how are scenes typically transitioned in DI? (in humorous, they like do a signal or sound effect, right?)

I’m sure it’s not all that serious but I’m just trying to make sure on some things before i start memorizing my script. thank you and please be kind considering I’m literally just starting this out!!