What is Flowing?

Flowing is the term for debate note taking. It is what we debaters call the written system of recording the round and the progression of arguments. If you are new to debate, I recommend reading the chapters on the Speeches of PF before proceeding with this chapter. It will be difficult to understand how to take notes during a PF if you do not know how the ideas of the round should progress. Before discussing how to flow, there is one important fact I need to stress.

No amount of research, excellent delivery, argumentative skills, or rapport can make up for poor flowing.

You will never be a great debater if you do not know how to flow. For this reason, it’s important to consider why we flow and what is important to the flow. To help you out, here are my Philosophies of Flowing:

Organize the round for you and your partner.

Debates are messy. Even the most organized debaters get into messy debates. Flowing prevents messiness as well as helps you recover from muddied debates. I include “for your partner” because your flow should be legible and intelligible for your partner to read. You should be able to fill in each other’s gaps of knowledge.

Keep track of big ideas and details.

You must flow every speech of the round. This includes your partner’s speeches and the Cross-Fires. Your flow should capture the entire round. Lazy debaters don’t flow everything. Beyond capturing the big ideas throughout the round, you want to capture details as well. Great flowers note details that they can use as points of analysis, rhetorical persuasion, or turns for their case.

Chart the evolution of arguments.

General note-taking principles can be applied to flowing. Flowing, however, uses a specific format to chart arguments as they evolve in the round. By noting the original argument, rebuttal, and response in a linear fashion, you are charting the argument as it is discussed. You should not rely on your memory of what has been said  on a topic. The pace of the round means new information or analysis is brought up constantly. It is near impossible to mentally keep track of the round. Flowing organizes what is said and allows you to organize your speech content as well.