Speech Specific Flowing Tips

Case/Constructive

“Preflow”, or flow your own case before you arrive at the round. Therefore you won’t have to worry about flowing during your constructive. Having a few pre-flowed copies of each case is a great way to start a tournament. The case is the most important speech of the round so get down as much information as possible.

If you are the second speaker, flow your rebuttal as you are flowing your opponent’s case in the adjacent right-hand column. As you listen and note your opponent’s case, make brief notes about your thoughts on rebuttal or evidence that comes to mind that you may want to include in your rebuttal speech.

If you are the second speaker, use your partner’s flow to fill in the information that you miss. If you can glance at it during the first Cross-Fire from where you are seated, do so. If you are the first speaking team your option is to take prep time to check the flows. If you are the second speaking team view your partner’s flow during the first rebuttal.

Rebuttal

Your Opponent’s Rebuttal on your case.

Make sure you place the response adjacent to the argument it answers on the flow. You want to visually leave space where your opponent does not answer your arguments. 

Draw arrows where your opponent did not refute an argument to remind you about extending that part of the case.

Your Rebuttal to your Opponent’s Case

Write your notes adjacent to the argument they are responding to on the flow. This will keep your speech more organized as well as illustrate your coverage of arguments. This should help you identify arguments your team still needs to refute.

Number your responses or draw arrows to corresponding arguments if necessary to keep your rebuttal speech organized.

If you are the second speaker giving the rebuttal, highlight the statements or things you are afraid to forget or skip. Help yourself stay organized with visual cues.

Use lines and arrows if necessary to mark where evidence is being applied.

Use double lines to mark where your opponent does not refute or cover in the rebuttal speech.

A bracket can be used to mark analysis/evidence that is added but not specifically attached to any part of the case.

*If you look to the CON flow example online, it illustrates the use of arrows, double lines, and brackets. A single blue line connects the entire rebuttal of the Carnevale evidence to the card. Also, rebuttal material about the Turn is bracketed to show it was not responding to a specific part of Point 1.

Summary

Make sure that you note/highlight any new rebuttals and information your team will need to respond to.

When crafting your own speech, make sure you get a clear structure written down – without some larger planned structure you will more than likely fall into line-by-line analysis. For a detailed discussion of speech models and how to build a summary, please see the chapters on The Second Half and Summary.

Specifically note any analysis concerning the weighing mechanism and Framework debate.  See the Framework chapter for more details on these aspects of the round.

Final Focus

Flowing only matters if you are the second speaking team, but even the first speaking team should take a few notes to stay engaged. Here, flowing is partially for appearance. You should also flow so that you can fully discuss the round after you find out the judge’s decision; this will also help you assess what could be improved for future debates.

Same as the Summary, you should note any new information if you are the second speaking team. This new information should be discussed in Final Focus if is the first time it has been brought up. You should briefly counter it, but also state that your opponent cannot introduce new information in Final Focus.

Cross-Fire (CROSS-FIRE)

Perhaps the trickiest thing to flow, my rule is to note what issues were covered in Cross-Fire rather than flowing all the content of this speech. Many a time nothing substantial or new will be said in CROSS-FIRE. I would star, highlight, or mark with a “Q” what areas are discussed.

If there is new information introduced, flow it in the rebuttal column.
On the PRO flow example online, “What if top 7?” was a CROSS-FIRE question responding to the PRO summary, written in as if it was rebuttal. There is no need to mark CROSS-FIRE questions differently than speeches. The important thing is to note the information introduced on the flow.

If your opponent or partner says any phrase that bears repeating for rhetorical effect, try and note the exact wording.

Always note if your partner states that you will further discuss or answer any question during CROSS-FIRE time. Though this is not a strategic move, you need to follow through in the next speech. You should avoid pushing the answer off on your partner because it looks like you are dodging the question. This point is discussed further in the chapter on CROSS-FIRE.  

Mark any mishaps that you need to clean up from CROSS-FIRE and address these issues in the next speech. 

Ultimately, the most important thing to do as you work on flowing is PRACTICE. Watch additional rounds at tournaments or attend practice debates and practice your flowing. Find videos online to flow. Flow your favorite rap song. Flow the first segment of the nightly news. Flow a podcast. Over time you’ll see not only huge improvements in your flowing, but improvements in your debating as well.

To develop your Flowing skills it’s going to take time and patient effort, but I guarantee that your debating will improve with work on Flowing. You will build better speeches and more consistently argue your points. Challenge yourself to improve your flowing now and don’t leave it off until you get “good” at debate. Flowing is a prerequisite to good debating, not an afterthought.