Tournament Time!

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Tournament Time!

• Debate

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What is your image?

• The ancient Greek Aristotle wrote in his Ars
  Rhetorica of the value of Ethos. Ethos is the
  origin of our word ethics and refers to the
  credibility of an orator. Many things contribute
  to the credibility of a speaker gestures, eye
  contact, personal experiences, tone of voice but
  for new debaters the fastest way to attain
  ethos is by studying the conventions of
  competitive debate the clothing, the speaking
  style, the methods of organization and dozens of
  other conventions unique to this culture.

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The Culture of Debate

• The culture of competitive high school debate is
  heavily influenced by the cultures of Law,
  Politics, Academia and others. Increasingly it
  is influenced by technology. If you make
  yourself a student of this culture you can use
  the knowledge you have to become a successful
  competitor.

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Caution!

• As you become a student of this culture, be
  careful about whom you choose to model. Make the
  distinction between what is cool and what is
  successful. Make the choice between what is
  efficient and what is unethical. Remember to use
  the lens of an experienced debate judge what
  might seem cool at school or at the mall may
  seem ridiculously ignorant at a debate tournament
  (and vice versa.)

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The Power Suit
These are the most politically powerful men in
the world That they are all wearing the power
suit is no coincidence!
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Dressing for Competition
The National Champions know the Value of the
power suit Too.
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2005 National Champions
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What does your tie say about you?
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Dressed for success?
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If this guy can wear a tie . . .
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One of these doesnt match. . .
At tournaments, the people still wearing their
suits are Winners they are still competing in
semi-finals or finals. The kids who change into
their clothes for the bus ride Home havent won
much and dont expect to receive any Awards on
stage.
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Ladies, do you have the look?
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All business.
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Suits You.
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Theyre not just patriotic, theyre at Nationals.
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The Good News

• You do not need a wardrobe of dozens of suits and
  ties. Most debaters have one nice suit for
  competition and just change out the shirt or tie
  for the next day. You will see different judges
  every hour, they will not keep track of what
  color shirt you have on they will just want to
  see that you are appropriately dressed for the
  hour that you are competing in front of them.
• Shop around nice suits are usually available on
  sale for a reasonable price.

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Tempus Fugit!
Get a timer buy one or ask your coach for a
loaner. Debaters who are serious about winning
are prepared with the right tools. take the
timer with you to the podium, so your judge
can flow instead of calling out time time your
own and your opponents prep to promote accuracy
and honesty budget your time within a speech
so you dont drop arguments budget your prep
so you save most of it for the 1AR (or
other) time your own extemp draw time so you
can practice your speech time label your timer
with your name and school name, keep up with it

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Be on Time An Important 1st Impression

• Watch your schedule and the postings of times at
  the tournament.
• Set your alarm carefully.
• Get a buddy to give you a wake up call.
• In hotel set alarm AND get a wake up call from
  the front desk.

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FLOW!!! Dont stop if you miss something.
Pre-flow what you will say in response!
Inexperienced debaters say, I dont need to
flow. I just cant write that fast. I cant
think that way. I can remember it all. I tried
to flow but then I stopped. Strangely enough, at
state and nationals, everyone flows. In varsity
division, they werent even flowing is a
synonym for an easy win. Even if you are not
great at flowing, you do not want to reveal this
to your opponents. Flow, and fill in your gaps
as best you can. It is a sign that you will win.
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Im using blue paper so my flow wont get lost
among the evidence on the table.
Im sure glad I have two colors of ink to flow.
Timer
Water
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Flowing on a Laptop

• Allowed in TFA, UIL, and TOC, but no data
  retrieval or internet access. Judge can
  disqualify if wireless access is activated.
• Used mainly for flowing. If you store evidence
  on it you may have to hand it to your opponents
  and risk being unable to flow on it.
• 
  

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Download a Flow Template

• http//www.wcdebate.com/1policy/8-flowtemplate.xls
  
• Change the text colors so that affirmative is red
  and negative is blue (or orange and purple, or
  green and pink)
• Save the template to your desktop once you have
  set it up the way that you like.
• Create a briefcase for flows and a folder for
  each tournament.

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Call Your MOM

• You can be disqualified at some tournaments for
  ringing cell phone (and its inconsiderate of
  other participants.)
• Tell your parents that you will need to turn off
  the phone, and call them when the tournament is
  over.
• Call your parents when the bus is close to home,
  so they can pick you up quickly.
• Remind your teammates to turn off phones during
  competition.

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Awards Ceremony

• Wear your professional attire to receive your
  award on stage.
• Be a gracious winner. Smile. Applaud for
  others. Congratulate your opponents.
• Tradition holds that a standing ovation is given
  for each 1st Place, State Qualifier at TFA
  Tournaments.
• Applaud for each award and represent our school
  by sitting together.
• Shake with your right hand, accept trophy with
  your left.

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Your Mission

• As you begin your competitive career watch the
  winners. Observe final rounds whenever you can
  and watch everything how they speak, how they
  organize, how they interact with judges. Do be
  critical as you observe and weigh any practice
  with your own sense of decorum and balance what
  you see with your coachs advice. Watch other
  winners in fields unrelated to debate winning
  golfers, winning politicians, winning generals.
  Extrapolate what you learn to inform your debate
  career.