Impact Calculus Strategy

Always emphasize turns in your IC. Because turns affect impacts directly and determine if they are positive or negative for your team, you need to remind the judge of turns whenever you do IC. Also, forgetting you turned an impact then comparing it can lead to contradiction. For an explanation of turns, see the Rebuttal chapter.

Considering how a judge will receive and understand IC is crucial. Always be conscious of the type of judge you have; experienced policy or debate judges will quickly identify and process IC. New judges or community judges need further explanation and careful vocabulary choices to understand IC. You want to clearly articulate your comparisons for all judges. This means you should always discuss the impact comparison and explain why it matters. The most common mistake in debates is to list off impacts without ever relating them to the resolution or to the judge’s decision. Avoid comparing more than two impacts per argument to avoid confusing the judge and muddying the debate.

Never assume that because you have done IC that the judge buys your analysis. IC is yet another portion of the debate that needs to be reiterated and defended to affect the judge’s ballot.

Don’t be afraid to accept that your argument may have a negative impact if your negative impact is the lesser of two negative impacts. Always think about what you can compare your impacts to against your opponents’ case. Even if your side has negative effects, paint how your opponents’ impacts are worse.

A friendly reminder: Framework is different than Impact Calculus. Framework concerns why the judge should adopt a certain perspective on the round. Framework can shape Impact Calculus by articulating what should be the most important considerations when comparing impacts. Framework does not, however, prevent you from making impact comparisons that do not fall neatly into the Framework.

If you can successfully argue Framework and do Impact Calculus, you have reached what I like to call Decision Calculus. The combination of the big picture perspective and the internal comparisons make voting an easy process. Both tools instruct the judge on voting. With preparation and practice, Impact Calculus will help a good debater become a great debater.