Last changed on
Wed April 14, 2021 at 3:59 AM PDT
Hi everyone! My name's Tiffany and I'm currently a freshman at NYU Stern. I debated in Congressional Debate at Harker for three years and am now back as an assistant coach. Here are a few things I look for the most when deciding my ranks:
1. Clarity and relevance. First and foremost, I need to be able to follow the structure of your speech, understand your arguments, and identify your warrants and impacts with relative ease. Use specific signal words to help with this. This requires both strong argumentation/framing and effective speaking. After meeting this bare minimum, I'm looking for relevance. If you're giving an early round speech, the most relevant arguments are the apparent ones that shed light on the core controversies of the debate. Past that, the best way to make your speech relevant is to directly contextualize it by refuting, mentioning other speakers, or collapsing arguments. After the sponsorship, I'm looking for at least one mention of other speakers in the round. If you're giving a mid-cycle speech, it's not enough to pull out what might have been a super good and unique contention if you don't frame it as a response to the arguments already brought up in the debate OR weigh your impacts against others. By the time late-cycle speeches come around, in order to stay relevant, you have to ensure you're breaking down the debate into a few key points of contention and comparing both sides on these key points. You should always be asking yourself one fundamental question: am I helping my judge assess whether my speech is BETTER than other speeches in the round rather than just am I helping my judge assess whether my speech is GOOD. A good isolated speech does not always guarantee a good speech in a congressional debate round.
2. Speaking persuasively. I will always decide ranks primarily on my first point, especially because clarity and relevance inevitably requires some degree of effective speaking. However, if there are multiple people speaking at around the same level of clarity and relevance, I will turn towards persuasiveness to decide my ranks. For me, effective persuasion always includes conveying genuine concern and a sense of urgency. Conveying genuine concern can be done through utilizing rhetoric and speaking slowly while conveying a sense of urgency often requires momentum-building throughout your speech through varying your speed, volume, and intonation.
3. A few other things to keep in mind.
a) On an online platform, don't read off your screen. Extra points for having a setup and giving your speech standing with a legal pad the traditional way.
b) Provide solid evidence. When in doubt, use evidence.
c) Speak at different points in the debate. For example, if your first speech is a constructive, make sure your second speech is a rebuttal of some sort.
On a final note, please be respectful, kind, and easy to work with at all times. It really does come through in round if you are non-cooperative and dismissive of others, so just make sure to maintain decorum both in and outside of rounds. Debate is honestly a great way to better yourself as an individual and meet some great people along the way, utilize that! Looking forward to being your judge and hope this helps!
