1. Don‘t just wait for it to happen
How to improve
Don‘t just wait for it to happen

2. How improvement looks like
By the end of the year most of you will be here
That will feel shit!
Go back to debating, magically be better
Most of you are here
Ups and downs
Take a break
Miss the euros break on speaks
You stop improving just by goint to lots of tournaments
New thing starts working out
hate debating, tell yourself to find a proper hobby
You practice and improve
You try something new and do it badly

3. Find your weaknesses Different positions (often PM or Whip) Structure
Thinking about strategy
Using words presisely
Proving how something will work
Proving why something will happen
Proving why it is important
Nuancing your arguments
knowledge

4. Listen to judges Take notes Ask for individual feedback
Ask them how you could have done better
What should I have focused on?
How could I have responded to a certain argument?
Often they would be good debaters and have seen similar motions before so they can sometimes tell you interesting arguments in addition to what happened in your debate.

5. Even the Shitty judges Ask them for additional feedback anyway
Figure out their reasons for why you did worse than you think you actually did
Even if they‘re wrong figure out how you can convince them next time

6. Talk about potnetial arguments
Have chats in the pub
Look at discussions on the communist case file
Think about what you would have to proof to make an argument work and ask others how they would proof it
Talk to good debaters

7. Read up Short articles Wikipedia
BBC profiles (for countries and Institutions)
Youtube videos about concepts (eg. Economy)

8. Meet with your Partners to talk about strategy
What main question is this debate about?
What clashes are there?
What arguments are there on each side?
What do you need to proof to make these arguments work?
How can opening protect its arguments against closing?
What would there be left for closing?
What framing would you use to make your arguments more important?
This will make you feel like you know a debate without having been in it.

9. Listen to good debaters
ACTIVELY listen
Think about their arguments
Think about their structure
What was good about it, that you should do as well?
How do they nuance their arguments?
What framing are they using?
Eventually you will find yourself telling your partner „Do you remember the LO in the final of Warwick IV? – We should run that argument.“

10. Judge
You will get to see speakers that are better than you who you otherwise wouldn‘t see speaking:
 Learn from them
You will see speakers that are worse than you
 Learn from their mistakes
Figure out what the main questions of the debate are and assess which team has done the best job to answer the question in favor of their side.
 It will help you as a judge and debater

11. Talk with different people
Different people have different ideas  pick up their knowledge
Different people have different weaknesses  challenge yourself to deal with them
Don‘t be afraid to ask better debaters to speak with you.

12. Force yourself to try new things & solve your weaknesses
You remember the feedback you wrote down?  use it Focus one one thing during training Be willing to try something new and take a step back „In the training today I will focus on structure“

13. Practice PM speeches Think about a motion Do a speech Record it
Listen to the recording
Think about your mistakes
Avoid those mistakes next time

14. Here‘s a thing that Steven wrote on various things to consider in a debate. It is very, very useful, you should read it and take it as a starting point to find out which areas you need to improve in most.
common-feedback-for-speakers/

15. Here‘s a thing Joe Maes wrote on breaking at an international tournament. It‘s basically on how to improve when you‘re already quite good. However, it is an excellent read for anyone.
step-guide/

16. Any Questions?