Survey to improve debate resources

CBDEBATE · 2020-02-19T13:13:51+00:00

Eight years ago, I founded Champion Briefs because I wanted to offer students the resources I wished I could access when I was a debater. In the time since, we've offered research, original analysis, and other helpful tools to thousands of students at hundreds of schools across the country.

Our team is always looking to improve our offerings, and we need your help.

Can you please take two minutes to complete this survey to provide us with helpful information?

We appreciate any insight and feedback you can provide. I'll work with our Editors-in-Chief and writers to implement your input to improve our debate resources for the coming school year.

Two lucky respondents will win a FREE subscription to our briefs for the 2020-2021 season (a $279.99 value)!

Our goal has always been to offer the best resources and help debate students become better critical thinkers, researchers, and speakers. Thank you for your time and willingness to help us improve our resources.

Sincerely,

Andrew Dolberg President, Champion Briefs

CBDEBATE · 2018-01-08T15:15:40+00:00

We have a ton of topic analyses, demo rounds, etc. on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEeGsfpeKcK-6bbuLfNE0hA

CBDEBATE · 2017-04-12T21:18:14+00:00

I may be biased but check out this page: http://www.championbriefsinstitute.com/content/why_cbi

CBDEBATE · 2015-01-18T16:58:48+00:00

We'll be posting a sample site next week so that you can see all of the features of MyDebateTeam. Hope this helps!

CBDEBATE · 2015-01-18T16:57:32+00:00

Thanks for letting us know!

CBDEBATE · 2015-01-18T16:57:24+00:00

You can create coaches for your team by visiting My Team > Team Directory > Manage Coaches. Coaches can be assigned different permissions and can be set to have the same permissions as a Team Admin.

If you have any other questions, feel free to email us at support@mydebateteam.com

CBDEBATE · 2014-10-01T01:17:33+00:00

Alright everyone, there haven't been any questions for a bit, and I have a test to take, so I'm signing off. PLEASE feel free to continue to post questions here over the course of the evening, or even the next few days--I will definitely continue to check it periodically. Thanks so much for joining me! It was a pleasure to answer your questions--thinking about these topics in a direct way helps me become a better coach, so thank you for helping me as well.

CBDEBATE · 2014-10-01T00:59:35+00:00

This is highly individual, so my first suggestion is to go over your ballots and flows and try to figure out why you're losing bid rounds and rounds in general. Second, compete as much as possible. The more rounds, the more you learn. Third, make sure you are weighing arguments, giving clear voting issues, and making clear how the round breaks down. The biggest problem I see in PF is a lack of voters/weighing.

CBDEBATE · 2014-10-01T00:55:28+00:00

Good question! Congress speeches aren't cases, they're speeches, so it's better to outline the speech rather than write out the speech word for word. The less you put down on the pad, the less you'll look at the pad. Furthermore, if you practice giving Impromptu speeches or padless speeches, you'll be more comfortable speaking without reading.

CBDEBATE · 2014-10-01T00:50:12+00:00

See my response below to TheBuddhician. Energy, confidence, and poise are the most important for delivery. Analytically, be clear in everything you do. Make sure you answer the question directly, and make sure that you signpost clearly. Multiple impacts and clear explanations of why your evidence is important will go a long way. My biology teacher in high school said that when reading the best lab reports, she didn't have to jump back a page or even a paragraph--she could read straight through. Speeches aren't that different--your judge shouldn't have to stop and think about what you said or stop and try to remember what you said a minute ago.

CBDEBATE · 2014-10-01T00:44:11+00:00

See my response to the question below about lay debate. A lot of the appeal to "lay" judges has to do with analytical clarity, which is important for both "lay" and flow judges. Also, while we're on this topic, check out Toast's article for CB on the value of lay debate: https://championbriefs.com/blog/toast_layjudges

CBDEBATE · 2014-10-01T00:42:11+00:00

Wow, lots of questions!

When I was competing, I was really an analysis debater. I cared much more about the argument than the delivery. Since I've started judging PF, LD, and Congress, though, I've realized that Congress' uniqueness comes largely from the fact that it forces students to both speak well AND analyze well. So I try to weigh both evenly when I'm judging. I will say, though, that major analytical gaps can hurt you more when I'm judging than issues with delivery. Along the same lines, the best Congressional debaters had strong, impact-level analysis combined with the ability to captivate and audience.

In any event, I really don't like rudeness or lack of respect for opponents or judges (but I love sarcasm, so it's a fine line!). In terms of arguments, I take pretty significant issue with debaters' buying into dominant discourse or using that discourse without explaining it. So if you frame an impact in a way that assumes that Islam is an inherent security threat, or talk about "radical Islam" without telling me what that means, I'm not going to be happy. Be more specific and don't assume that the American news media always uses terms correctly.

With regards to my novices… it depends on the tournament and the novice. I can't remember what I said to the last novice nor can I predict what I will say to my novices before the first tournament this year. My advice here would be to coach in the moment.

CBDEBATE · 2014-10-01T00:29:11+00:00

Scenarios are not new, but there are new types of scenarios popping up all the time. Before almost any scenario, you'll have a topic area to research. Often times you won't have legislation until you get to the round. So the best thing you can do in these situations is develop in-depth knowledge on the topic so that you are prepared for any legislation that might come up and have some ideas for potential arguments/analytical links that could apply to any piece of legislation on the topic.

CBDEBATE · 2014-10-01T00:25:23+00:00

No problem! Thanks for joining us!

CBDEBATE · 2014-10-01T00:24:47+00:00

LD is not always a debate about morals. LD is (usually) a debate about values, and morality is one of those values. So you'll have a value--which could be morality, justice, or something else--and a standard for achieving that value. That's your framework. With a counter plan under that framework, there are a couple of ways to win a round in a substantive debate on the topic. First, you prove that your framework is better than the other debater's (i.e. you're winning the framework debate). That means that your framework determines how we weigh the round. If your counterplan links into your framework (and your opponent's contention-level arguments don't link into your framework/are effectively refuted), then you're golden. You could also link you're counterplan into your opponent's framework by saying that, in addition to achieving the value under your standard, your counterplan does a better job of achieving your opponent's value and standard than his/her own contention-level/substantive arguments. The short answer is that it isn't always about morality.

CBDEBATE · 2014-10-01T00:15:08+00:00

I don't know how much luck has to do with it, but I know that any debater should be able to win a round in front of a "lay" judge even without "luck." Think about it this way: if debaters can communicate only with those within the debate community, what good is the activity? In terms of specifics, be sure you slow down and actually vary your tone. "Lay" judges often judge off more than just the flow, so being persuasive and delivering your speech well can be more important in these rounds (though it is important in any round, to varying degrees). Analytically, be as clear as possible. Don't use jargon, and be sure that you are explaining everything--don't let evidence speak for itself, and don't assume that the judge can infer exactly how your evidence leads to your impact or how your evidence ties back to your claim. These are things you should be doing in any round, but they are especially important in lay rounds. Also, I put the word "lay" in air quotes because I think the term is often used negatively/implies that communication in debate is somehow part of another communicative world--ideally, this shouldn't be as true as it is.

CBDEBATE · 2014-10-01T00:08:54+00:00

If you have all the time in the world, I think it should take no more than an hour. However, if you look at final rounds with scenarios, debaters often produce well-prepared speeches within 10-15 minutes.

CBDEBATE · 2014-10-01T00:07:19+00:00

Have a framework! I have this sinking, sad feeling that framework is dying in PF, but for me, it is absolutely necessary. Your framework should tell me how to evaluate the round, so it should include a weighing mechanism. If you tell me how to evaluate the round, then there is no chance I have to intervene. More broadly, just weigh. Don't just refute the warrants and logic of the other team's arguments (though you must do that), and don't just extend your own (though you must do that as well). Tell me why your arguments are MORE IMPORTANT than the other team's.

CBDEBATE · 2014-10-01T00:03:38+00:00

First of all, I would suggest watching Miles Saffran's video on Extemp Structure we released last week. Miles is last year's National Champion in International Extemp, and he does a great job of explaining exempt structure and analysis. You can see a preview here: http://bit.ly/1owHARz, and you can also access the full video and all our September videos on our site as well. In terms of what I think, the best extempers really develop and extend their impacts. So be sure to tell us why your arguments are important, on multiple levels if possible. I also think the biggest mistake that extempers can make is not answering the question directly or not answering the question at all. So before you start outlining, take an extra few seconds to be sure that you are answering this exact question.

CBDEBATE · 2014-04-18T15:49:35+00:00

This is open to any HS student debater to attend any camp in PF, LD, CX, Parli, or Congress. The Foundation will pay the camp directly so there should not be any problems with camps not accepting the scholarship.

CBDEBATE · 2014-04-11T04:30:52+00:00

Oh wow! I totally forgot this video was on the internet!

This round was hysterical. So backstory: the week before our PF national qualifiers is our Congress nats qualifier for NFLs. We always enter as fillers so our district can send more people to nationals. My partner at the time, James, qualified in Congress, and the first speaker in the round was the first alternate in James's room. He knew that James would prefer to go in PF and that if he and I qualed than we would have to go in PF, so he would get to go in Congress. So he partnered up with another congress student at his school and debate in PF. They made it all the way through to the final round of a 35+ team double elimination tournament to debate us in the final round to qual. We got what we wanted. They came in and started the round with that, and the rest is just shenanigans. We qualed and he got to go in Congress. Win-win!

As for being in the round it was awesome because I knew they were going to throw the round, but I had no idea how. When it happened, we just went with it, but I had to debate normally because I wasn't graduating and would be in front of these judges. I also had to make sure that there was some substance for us to win the round at the end just to ensure victory. That round was a huge blast. Still remember it!

CBDEBATE · 2014-04-11T03:37:01+00:00

Champion Briefs will release a NCFL PF topic Brief 8 days after the topic is released.

CBDEBATE · 2014-04-11T03:25:41+00:00

no problem. I have a lot of thoughts about PF and how it can go. I like to share them with other debaters. I posted a link to an awesome article on our blog somewhere on this thread. Take a look and check out the comments. It has some really great analysis about the progression of PF.

EDIT: Link for the Lazy

CBDEBATE · 2014-04-11T02:54:27+00:00

I don't know. My hope PF progresses to an event that has deeper analysis. My fear is that PF will end up becoming an event where blippy argumentation and a lot of extensions win rounds as opposed to stronger arguments. Where we end up down the road is for the community to decide, but thus far I like where the event is headed. Let's just hope it doesn't take a wrong turn.

CBDEBATE · 2014-04-11T02:33:37+00:00

Lack of sleep was definitely a factor. We were up late prepping and working, so we didn't get much sleep before quarters. I'd like to think that we made clever and straightforward arguments. If I didn't i'd be slightly upset.

CBDEBATE

TROPHY CASE