0. Developed by Jenny Alme, The Harker School
FLOWING AND FILING
BASICS
Pam have other suggestions for this?
Developed by Jenny Alme, The Harker School

1. FILING BASICS Staying organized is crucial.
Create folders on your computer for different types of arguments. Think about what will help you find things. Examples:
Aff
Case Negs
DAs
Critiques
CPs
T and theory
Language from Pam and Joe
Why slide – overall goal

2. FILING BASICS
Make sure that you change file names as necessary so that you can find them. Ideally, everyone will name their files like this “Basic Title - Tournament - Year - Person” or “Economy updates St. Mark’s 17 Nikhil.” If there is one that is confusing, fix it.
Don’t abbreviate file names—it makes searching harder.
Don’t name files after opponents. “Answers to Rival School” is not useful for the rest of your team.
Lead with key words so that you can find things alphabetically. You’d want to look under “C” for climate neg, not “S” for “Super awesome climate file.”
Language from Pam and Joe
Why slide – overall goal

3. Bottom line… can you find what you need fast?
FILING BASICS
Cut and paste things that you need into your files. For instance, if someone was lazy and a file says “insert impact card here” just go ahead and do it.
Break files in half if it helps you. For instance, if the aff answers to the spending DA are at the bottom of the neg file, you might want to place them into a new document for yourself.
Bottom line… can you find what you need fast?
Language from Pam and Joe
Why slide – overall goal

4. What is FLOWING and why is it so important?
Flowing is the organized set of notes debaters and judges take during rounds. Think of it like a grid where you write responses to arguments next to the original point. You ought to be able to track a thread of arguments from speech to speech, from left to right.
It is an important skill because ignored arguments means that they are considered true. So, your opponents can get away with even silly arguments if there are no responses. Refutation is the key to winning.
Language from Pam and Joe
Why slide – overall goal

5. FLOWING SUPPLIES Every debater should have: Needed: Legal length paper
Pens (many students flow the affirmative in one color and the negative in another)
Banned:
Flowing on notebook paper
Flowing with pencil or gel pen or anything else bright or light
Note: Most students have an easier time flowing on paper so that they can alternate between notes on paper and files on their computers. Some students use their laptops but everyone ought to try paper first.
Language from Pam and Joe
Why slide – overall goal

6. FLOWING GUIDELINES One piece of paper for each position
Pre-marked columns for each speech
Everyone flows every speech (except 1NR can prep during 2NC)
NO LONG HAND SENTENCES!
You can write things out longhand before debates but never in debates—you need to use bullet points on your flow to stay organized and have enough prep time to also find relevant pieces of evidence.
Language from Pam and Joe
Why slide – overall goal

7. FLOWING GUIDELINES
All 8 speeches are represented by a column (for only 7 columns technically, assuming that the 2NC and 1NR are smart and do not bother to repeat each other).
How can you get it all down?
Abbreviations
Symbols
Main idea only (tag)
Practice
Language from Pam and Joe
Why slide – overall goal

8. FLOWING GUIDELINES
Not flowing is essentially forfeiting the debate because arguments that are ignored are treated as true by the judge.
If you miss something, leave a space and:
Fill it in during CX
Ask your partner
Look at their evidence to try to find out what they said
Language from Pam and Joe
Why slide – overall goal

9. FLOWING GUIDELINES
The biggest mistake that students make is to give up on flowing by listening and to try to flow by looking at their opponent’s computer documents.
Teams do not always follow the document and will skip or add things and your map of the debate will be off and YOU WILL LOSE.
Students who adopt this crutch end up significantly behind in skill level relative to their peers who flow by listening.
Language from Pam and Joe
Why slide – overall goal

10. FLOWING GUIDELINES
What if the other team does not flow? It can be harder to follow a disorganized speech.
If that happens, write everything down in a column and tell the judge that you will respond to the points in the order that they made them. You will look awesome in comparison to the non-flow team.
Language from Pam and Joe
Why slide – overall goal

11. FLOWING GUIDELINES
Before your speech, put your flows in the order that you think they ought to be addressed. Tell the judge your order (that is called a road map). Here are road maps that often work well:
1AC: None! Everyone figures out the order as it is delivered.
1NC: DAs or critiques, topicality if read, counterplan if read, case.
2AC: Case and then the 1NC order for the rest.
2NC/1NR: Varies quite a bit but make sure you do not repeat each other! And, make sure you have offense.
1AR: Case, topicality if needed, then their off case in the most to least dangerous order.
2NR: Main offense, then defense.
2AR: Main offense, then defense.
Language from Pam and Joe
Why slide – overall goal

12. FLOWING GUIDELINES After debates you should do two things:
Keep your flows because you can use them to:
Track your opponents’ arguments and share with your team.
Get better—showing a flow to a coach can help us diagnose flowing issues that could be holding you back or enable you to re-give a speech to get feedback.
Take notes! Add notes about the debate to a Word document where you should track every single debate and speech. Note your opponent, side, judge, what the 1AC advantages and 1NC off case were, what the 2NR went for, anything tricky and judge comments.
Language from Pam and Joe
Why slide – overall goal

13. Pam have other suggestions for this?