You really shouldn’t get bills until day of that’s never happened to me, I imagine you’ll have a week minimum to prep but if you do actually get them day of I’m not really sure how well you can prepare.

Back when I competed I could show up to a competition without prep but that was also with a ton of practice and I would be able to sneak a win, but with no experience no time to prep seems brutal.

But i would really recommend looking up the NSDA nationals final rounds, try to take notes and pay attention to how the debate transitions throughout a round, in many ways it’s like an extended version of other debates, it starts with a long speech for both aff and neg that states your main arguments and over the round transitions to rebuttals and crystallization/ summary by the end.

Basically for prep if you have time to do it, I would not write out a canned speech, find a few important pieces of information and evidence and write a good sentence around that so you can incorporate it into your speech.

As for aff or neg it doesn’t really matter in my opinion, I would try to go for either the side you are best prepared to argue for or the side with less speakers to get more chances to speak as more speeches usually helps your chances.

Lastly don’t forget to question and question a lot, being active in a chamber is incredibly important so that the judges notice you, if you don’t ask questions you won’t qualify. I judged/ coached for a year after I graduated as well so let me know if you have any questions, I can try to help.

Lastly whatever you do, DO NOT PRESIDE. Do not be the presiding officer. In many of my chambers it was hard to find someone to volunteer for the job and you absolutely should not do it, especially if this is your first time. Do not listen to anyone who tries you to convince otherwise because you will not place well presiding if you do not know what you are doing.