HomeSchoolDebate

[VoxAngeli]

...It's for a good reason I suppose.

The fact of the matter is I talk fast. Really fast. Not even my partner understands me sometimes.

I suppose it's because I've gotten better at flowing and I have a greater understanding of NATO. There's so much to say, and very little time to say it. Often I will find myself with ten seconds left and two disadvantages to bring up....

It's possible I may kill the other team on content, but since the judge can't follow me anyway, it's as if I never said anything at all.

Anyone have any ideas for slowing down?
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~***ChArLi*~*MiLls***~

[djcarter]

You are probably not talking as fast as you think.

Check out CEDA/NDT on google video and you'll see what fast really is.

However you are probably talking to fast for this league, it's funny I did a quick practice exercise with my daughter where I played the other team and when I was done she was just staring at me like I was a freak of nature becasue I had slipped into "debate mode" from my high school days.

The only way to fix speeding is practice. Maybe have your Mom read a 1AC then have you respond, if your Mom can't follow you, its too fast.
Granted if you have an ex-debater for a judge you might be able to speed up but you have to win those rounds when the "homeschool mom" is your judge.

THE BIG THING: Don't speed through your arguements if you feel you have to speed to get through everything speed through your evidence but when you are done reading the card slow down explain how this card applies to the case, transition to your next arguement and then introduce your next card and speed away. Also emphasize and slow down during the part in the card that directly makes your point.

Good Luck because ultimately speed is not rewarded in this league, it's all about communication and that means an average person must be able to understand what you are saying and more importantly the point you are making.
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Coach Carter

Information about TEXAS DEBATE CAMP avialable at www.coachcarterdebate.org

Ifnormation on TMM Debate Camp across the country avialable at www.trainingminds.org

Thanks to all the kids who make this site possible and FUN

[The_Sheriff]

It sounds like you are not having a problem of talking too fast as much as you are trying to bring up too many points in one speech.

Here is an exercise you can try in a practice round (or a real round if you want ). Get evidence for five arguments. No more than five...and maybe four if they are complicated. That is the only evidence and those are the only arguments that you bring up to the podium and that you make in your speech.

If you finish before eight minutes, just stop and sit down. The goal here is to learn to pace yourself for just those five arguments.

If you are running them right, you should be doing full four-point refutation. You want to signpost what argument you are addressing, give your response, give your support (evidence), and weigh (impact) it in the round.

If you limit yourself to four or five developed arguments you will probably find that you do not have to speed through them so quickly.

You can have a lot of good points, and a lot to say, but the judge will usually only gravitate towards one or two main issues. By choosing your five best arguments and spending time on those, you invest your time more effectively than making 10-15 arguments and spending 30 seconds on each.

And remember, you are not trying to beat the other team on paper, you are trying to convince the judge. Arguments on the flow are only arguments on paper. It is not what you tell them, but what they hear. It sounds like you already recognize that you need to slow down. My best advice is to focus on fewer arguments to slow down the speed you talk (because you do not feel rushed to make those two more disadvantages ).
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~Gregory Escobar
SIC SEMPER TYRANNVS - Thus Always to Tyrants - Proud Member of the "Virginia is the Greatest State" club

[craigthephilosopher]

Wow....I just looked up CEDA,


...I had no clue.

Lol, check this link out, guys:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5854181095392943176&q=ceda&hl=en
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The Ender.

[djcarter]

I second Greg, work on having fewer well developed arguements.

You spoke about disads, if all your DAs have link, brink and impact (at a minimum) you can't get through more than 4 or 5 and maybe a couple solvency points and you are done.
_________________
Coach Carter

Information about TEXAS DEBATE CAMP avialable at www.coachcarterdebate.org

Ifnormation on TMM Debate Camp across the country avialable at www.trainingminds.org

Thanks to all the kids who make this site possible and FUN

[Wild Flower]

I'm always getting told that I talk to fast as well. Usually in my aff rounds when I'm the 1A. How am I supposed to slow down my 1AR??

I practice reading my 1AC so that I can speak clearly, and try to slow down to empisize the important points, but when it's a lay judge judging, my speed always ends up as a ballot comment.

I'm with you VoxAngeli, even if I don't have any pointers!
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Congrats to Marla!

I'll be back as soon as I have time in the midst of debate camp. But, this is going to be deleted Monday, so why do you care?

As far as SS goes, I'm the only normal one around.

[MadameMe]

make sure that you're enunciating well. You can get away with going alot faster if your speedy gonzales words can be comprehended, whereas if you're talking like your mouth is full of cotton, it's going to be hard to understand you even if you talk slow.
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-Jenna-

---
love, love me do

[History Detective]

[Wild Doogy Plumm]

Ok. Now you're on my don't want to hit list.
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~Doogy~

Most democrats are like the French. Scared of war.

[History Detective]

[Wraith Leader]

The problem with speaking quickly, as Jenna mentioned, is usually a problem with being mushmouthed. Don't worry as much about slowing down as speaking clearly. Read cards (or random excerpts from a book) as fast as you can with a pen in your mouth, and keep doing it until you're comprehensible. Then slow down if you have to; you'll be much clearer and able to communicate understandably at a much higher rate than you did before.
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-Chris

[Irish Man]

Yes. That ^ is the best way to learn to speak clearly. Do it in the bathroom between rounds, even. It will greatly help.
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Peace out,
Shaun R. Connell
Policy|Research|Blog|Forum

The Fred Thompson podcast.

"I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery."
-Thomas Jefferson

[living_for_my_Lord]

Reading evidence with a pen in your mouth works really well - I did that when I first started debating, and it helped a lot! Have you ever sung in a choir? All those diction exercises really work - "lips, teeth, tip of the tongue, " "mommy made me mash my m&ms," all that good stuff. Rather than moving your whole mouth, try using your tongue more. That's what worked for me.
Word economy can sometimes help, though I'm not very good at it.
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Laura
"Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken"
-- William Shakespeare

[Maverick]

[CoachJen]

History Detective-

if your aim is a minute an argument, then that gives you 8 arguments, not 13. spend more time developing better positions instead of blasting through bad or medicore or repititive ones. i always worried about the guys at the tourney with one briefcase because if they weren't complete slackers, whatever they had in there was good. don't confuse quantity with quality. and 1.5 minutes is a long time for one argument unless is a confusion, T, or other Pre-Fiat issue.

Jen

[Wordsmith]

[Wild Flower]

Yeah, I showed that link to my brother...

It took a real life NCFCA tournament to convince him that I don't talk like that when I'm debating!
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Congrats to Marla!

I'll be back as soon as I have time in the midst of debate camp. But, this is going to be deleted Monday, so why do you care?

As far as SS goes, I'm the only normal one around.

[JosiahH]

How do the judges understand what everyone's saying?
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Mindbender: