Team Policy Talks and Descriptions
The Biblical Role of Government – God set up five different types of government for us. Each has a leader, a task, and a tool for discipline. Understanding these jurisdictions will go a long way to helping you understand how to do academic debate more effectively. Not only will you be able to write stronger cases, and be able to anticipate the negative strategy, but this will carry into your everyday life by gaining understanding why there are so many crises in every sector of society, and what needs done to begin the process of restoration.
Understanding The Constitution – This document is the foundation of our federal government and is overtly or covertly present at every debate round. If knowledge is power, gaining more understanding of what our government is supposed to do as opposed to what they are doing will strengthen your AFF case as well as your NEG strategy. This can also satisfy the school requirement for Constitutional Study. Come and discover some of the genius of this founding document.
Policy Resolution Overview – This is a 60-minute session on the current Policy Debate resolution for your organization for the upcoming season. I will give some history, current issues, as well as some possible case ideas.
Intro to Policy – In this session we will analyze the general form of a Resolution and why that’s important, the general structure and pattern of a debate round, and general debate theory including defining some key terms, understanding the structure of an argument, 4-Point Refutation, the two components of the Affirmative.
The Stock Issues – This session will focus on the explanation and importance of the Stock Issues for both AFF and NEG, and how these tools are a part of every debate round, even if the terms are not used.
Logic, Fallacies, and Debate – What’s the difference between “valid” and “true?” How about contradictions vs. contraries? There are different categories of fallacies, some seen more than others in the debate round, and they can show up anytime someone is speaking, even in CX. Learn how to identify and deal with these infringements on logic.
Evidence Standards – Researching, formatting, and cutting evidence is a key part of Policy debate. So key that most all adjudications are a result of a challenge to the opponent’s evidence. In this talk we will cover what evidence is, and how to ethically cut and present evidence in the debate round, as well as how to identify evidence violations.
Writing the 1AC (Beginner Track) – Writing your own 1AC can seem like a big task, however, there are few activities that will teach the student more about debate than learning this important task. We will look at the organization of the 1AC, where the Stock Issues fit, as well as how to fulfill the AFF burdens. Also discussed will be the two main AFF case structures (Harms/Solvency and Comparative Advantage), as well as taking Sourcebook material and altering it to make it your own.
The AFF Plan (Beginner Track) – The AFF Plan needs its own talk as it is quite unique. We will discuss all the components of the Plan, how they fit together as well as with the resolution. Included will be discussions on solvency, identifying the inherent barrier, plan advocacy, and making modifications.
Negative Strategy (Beginner Track) – The job of the Negative is to cast reasonable doubt on the Affirmative. This can be done in several ways. This session examines the beginning and some intermediate approaches to Negative Strategy including the Division of Labor, using the tools of the Stock Issues, 4-Point Refutation, and DisAdvantage Theory.
Principles of Cross Examination (Beginner Track) – Cross-Ex can be one of the most fun parts of the debate round for those who have mastered it. It can be one of the most frustrating or scary aspects for those who struggle. This 3-minute event can make all of the difference in the debate round. This talk will look at the role/demeanor of the competitor, the kinds of questions, how to ask those questions, how to prepare for CX, and some of the tools you can use. We will also do a few fun exercises that will help you become that person who wins the CX time more often.
Developing Your Flowing Skills (Beginner Track) – Flowing is one of the more difficult tasks to do during the debate round as there are other duties usually involved at the same time, i.e. thinking of arguments, finding evidence, pre-flowing your next speech. There are different levels of flowing depending on experience. We will go through how to flow, use of shorthand, organization, different structures, and do some fun exercises.
Advanced Case Structure (Advanced Track) – There are several other case structures that can be used depending on the AFF plan, the resolution, and other factors. Some cases can be written in more than one structure and may prove more effective with one over the other. We will go over all the case structures, when and why to use them, as well as a couple to avoid.
Advanced Debate Theory (Advanced Track) – In this session we will look at various topics such as the importance of Inherency, Thematic Core, Case Structure, debating both sides of Kritiks, Counter Plans, and Minor Repairs, and more.
Sharpening Negative Strategies (Advanced Track) – Besides the “hand tools” discussed in “The Negative” talk, there are also some “power tools” that can be used by more experienced teams. We will look more into advanced Inherency Presses, Workability, Evidence Evaluation, Impacts, DisAds, and how to research in order to utilize these tools.
Winning Cross-Ex (Advanced Track) – Every CX can be won by either the “examiner” or the “witness.” There are good strategies that can be utilized by experienced debaters that will enable them to win more Cross-Ex times, including lines of questioning, forcing a stance, how to answer tough questions, understanding the objective, the use of rhetoric, and more.