Effective Flowing

1. Effective Flowing By Nick Ryan Liberty Debate Institute

2. Why Flow? • To ensure that you respond to all of the opposing teams arguments. • So that you can see which arguments the other team fails to respond to. • Help You In the Class Room • So that you can visually see the progression of arguments, that the judge will utilize in determining a winner.

4. What Materials Do You Need? • Traditional Method • Pen • Paper • New School • Laptop • Excel or Equivalent Spreadsheet program

5. Setting Up Your Flow (Policy)

6. Setting Up Your Flow (Policy)

7. Setting Up Your Flow (LD)

8. Setting Up Your Flow (LD)

9. What Should I Write Down? • In order of importance: • Claims or Conclusions (Tag) • Citation (Author and the Date) • Summary of the Evidence (Claims From the Card)

10. What Should I Write Down? Example of a card read in a debate What you should write down on your flow • 3. Economic collapse causes nuclear war and extinction • Bearden, U.S. Army (Retired), 2000 • [T.E., LTC, U.S. Army, “The Unnecessary Energy Crisis: How to Solve It Quickly,” http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3aaf97f22e23.htm, June 24] • History bears out that desperate nations take desperate actions. Prior to the final economic collapse, the stress on nations will have increased the intensity and number of their conflicts, to the point where the arsenals of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) now possessed by some 25 nations, are almost certain to be released. As an example, suppose a starving North Korea launches nuclear weapons upon Japan and South Korea, including U.S. forces there, in a spasmodic suicidal response. Or suppose a desperate China-whose long-range nuclear missiles (some) can reach the United States-attacks Taiwan. In addition to immediate responses, the mutual treaties involved in such scenarios will quickly draw other nations into the conflict, escalating it significantly. Strategic nuclear studies have shown for decades that, under such extreme stress conditions, once a few nukes are launched, adversaries and potential adversaries are then compelled to launch on perception of preparations by one's adversary. The real legacy of the MAD concept is this side of the MAD coin that is almost never discussed. Without effective defense, the only chance a nation has to survive at all is to launch immediate full-bore pre-emptive strikes and try to take out its perceived foes as rapidly and massively as possible. As the studies showed, rapid escalation to full WMD exchange occurs. Today, a great percent of the WMD arsenals that will be unleashed, are already on site within the United States itself. The resulting great Armageddon will destroy civilization as we know it, and perhaps most of the biosphere, at least for many decades. • 3. Economic Collapse  NW & Extinction • Bearden 2k • Desperate nations take desperate actions, mutual treaties draw in other nations, resulting in WMD exchange, and extinction.

11. Flowing Techniques • Use Two Different Colors • Write Small • Leave Space between Arguments • Leave Space At the top of the page

12. Flowing Techniques • Draw columns if you need to • Find way’s to identify cards from analytical arguments • Label the Top left of your flow • Use Numbers

13. Flowing Techniques • Use identifiers for dropped arguments or voting issues • Flowing is for flowing • Don’t give up • Use abbreviations

14. Debate Abbreviations

15. Flowing Tricks • Pre –flow • Backflow • Lefties • Always Flow

16. Now that the Debate is Done What do I Do With My Flows? • Fold them up and take notes on them • Keep them • Use them to improve your flowing

17. Questions?