Pictured: Mr. Parks personally coaching two teams through a debate round.

A more detailed schedule for speech and debate will be available when you come to camp. For now, here is a general overview of the day-to-day events as well as the topics that will be covered.

Schedule

  • Thursday: Check-in will open at 4:00pm for students and coaches. Light dinner will be available. Sessions end at 9:30pm.
  • Friday: Sessions will begin in the morning at 9am. Breakfast will be served to those staying at the Trefethen home. Debate sessions will continue through the day. Lunch and dinner will be served to all campers. Classes are expected to end at 8pm.
  • Saturday: Sessions will begin in the morning at 9am. Breakfast will be served to those staying at the Trefethen home. Debate sessions will continue through the day. Lunch and dinner will be served to all campers. Classes are expected to end at 8pm.
  • Sunday: Breakfast will be served to those staying at the Trefethen home. Students staying at the Trefethen home will have the choice to attend church with their family or adjourn for their own worship. Sessions will begin in the afternoon at 1:00pm. Debate sessions will continue through the day. Lunch and dinner will be served to all campers. Classes are expected to end at 8pm.
  • Monday: Breakfast will be served to those staying at the Trefethen home. The program will start at 9am. Final showdown debate rounds and closing statements will wrap up the camp by lunchtime.
  • Monday: After lunch, those who wish to remain can participate in Research Camp. Coach will demonstrate research techniques and strategies for writing more effective (and faster) Affirmative cases and Negative briefs.
  • Wednesday: Research Camp ends at noon.

Regular Debate Camp Topics

  • In-depth lecture on the resolution topic (separate lectures for each league)
  • Introduction to Policy Debate - what does a policy round look like, speaker roles/duties, objectives of both teams
  • Introduction to Refutation
  • Writing Affirmative plans
  • How to develop Negative strategies, and a lab exercise to practice them with coaching help
  • More effective Cross-Examination, both asking and answering, with a practice lab
  • Evidence: How to use it, how to debate it, how to refute it
  • Ethics in Policy Debate - competing fairly and showing integrity in researching and presenting evidence
  • Disadvantages - how to run them, how to beat them
  • Solvency - how to argue it, how to defeat it
  • Inherency - what it means and how to argue it
  • What Judges Are Looking For - ways to boost speaker points, improve presentation skills
  • Coached Practice Debates - a coach helps the students with every speech
  • Logical analysis and refutation - how to find logical responses to evidence and arguments

Research Camp Topics

  • Tips on researching debate topics faster and more effectively
  • Tips on organizing evidence in a brief for best results in a debate round
  • Guided research on a new Affirmative case
  • Guided research on a new Negative brief (against the AFF research case)
  • [If time permitting] Guided research on "generic" Negative briefing