CONSISTENT IMPROVEMENT

Many competitors dismiss feedback, especially from parent judges that they deem too inexperienced, but those debaters miss the purpose of Congressional Debate. Congress is a persuasion event, and you are roleplaying as a politician speaking to the "common people." Besides, many of your judges will continue to be parents, speech coaches, and teachers, so you need to learn how to get across to them. Read their comments and listen. Use them to understand how you resonated with the judges, and how you didn't. Even if judges do not mention why they ranked you poorly, this can be a sign to work on your lay appeal and reflect. Think about the round. What did you do right and wrong? Importantly, what did those who placed above you do better? After every tournament, make a list of your strengths and weaknesses so that you can use drills to improve. Lets take a look at an example:

 Once you have identified the mistake/weakness, use drills or some other form of practice to target them. If you’re unsure what drills to do, linked here are a variety of practice drills from NSDA. Knowing a judge liked an aspect of your speech is just as powerful as knowing your weaknesses. Display your strengths while simultaneously working on your weaknesses. 

Every team teaches congress differently. Every competitor has their own style and strengths. Seek out new perspectives and learn new ways to approach the event. Equality in Forensics holds countless scrimmages, tournaments, and labs that offer personalized practice and feedback. You may not realize that judges miss or do not believe your arguments, but experienced competitors can tell you why that happens. They have been there before. These organized practices provide enough structure to mimic a real round, but they're set up as learning experiences so that you can experiment. Struggle with late or mid round speeches? Use a low stakes environment to force yourself to give them. 

You can even try judging these scrimmages later on to gain the perspective of a judge. When judging, pay close attention to why you rank some speakers higher than others. What matters most to you? What makes you notice one speaker in a room of 16? Then apply that to your rounds to help you understand how to stand out and place well. 

What makes the best competitors succeed? Find out and watch high level rounds. Check out this document (see right) with ~300 hours of final rounds, or watch previous NSDA nationals finals in the NSDA archives. If you do not break to finals at a tournament, watch and flow the debate. Using your newfound judging prowess, rank the competitors and try to predict who will win. Afterwards, check the tournament results on tabroom and see how close you got. As you flow, ask yourself what you would have added to the debate. What assumptions were made? Try to disprove them and practice writing refutation against advanced arguments. You can do this by writing a crystallization speech on either side and delivering it as practice. 

By now you have (hopefully) poured through old ballots, attended structured practices, and seeked advice along the way. All there is left to do is practice. We have all heard that practice makes perfect, but perfect practice is consistent and intentional. 

Consistency is key. Without it your progress is limited. On some teams, practices are only held to review speeches leading up to tournaments. At other less resourced schools, students are left to fend for themselves entirely. You should be learning and improving throughout the year regardless. Otherwise, you are not going to get better while you spend time elsewhere. Be disciplined and aim to do at-home drills, scrimmages, or labs at least once a week when you are not competing. It is no wonder that consistent improvement requires consistent practice, so make your schedule and stick to it. 

Be intentional. In the same way that every hand gesture and line of rhetoric serves a purpose, your drills should too. You have already spent time using outside perspectives to find your worst problems, so spend the most time working on those. The NSDA's list of Congress drills is a great place to start, but be sure to customize them or create your own. Your practice is your practice. Adjust drills to your ability and needs. You can also reach out on discord or reddit to ask others what drills they would do to improve at XYZ.