A total of 17 ballots were cast and using an IRV vote system the two members are:

Robert Maxwell (on the right)

David Saulet (on the left)

So the new executive committee will be: Danny Cantrell (Rio Hondo), Mike Marse (Cal Baptist), Michael Miller (Glendale), Robert Maxwell (Concordia-Irvine), and David Saulet (El Camino). Thanks to Nick Matthew and Jesus for offering to serve!

First order of business will be to draft governing documents – We’ll try to post those in the next few weeks.

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Four students were interested in serving on the board for next year. Thus, we will need to have an election. The qualifications to vote are that you must be a student from Southern California, competed in at least 1 NFA-LD tournament last year (2009-2010 season), and be interested in participating in NFA-LD next year. Please email me at info@socal-ld.net with your ballot ranking the following four students 1-4. Please rank all four students or your ballot will not count. We’ll use Instant Run off voting system with the ballots (video demo).

2010 Ballot

Your Name: _________________ Your School: ____________
Tournament you competed at last year: _________________

Rank: ___ David Saulet – El Camino
Rank: ___ Jesus Caro – CSU Long Beach
Rank: ___ Nick Matthews – UCLA
Rank: ___ Robert Maxwell – Concordia-Irvine

You can read the candidate statements in the comments to the previous thread. Ballots are due in two weeks by June 24, 2010 to info@socal-ld.net On your ballot please indicate your name, school, the tournament you competed at last year, and your votes in preference order.

So far about 15 people have voted.

Good luck!

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I’m very excited about a new website that I’ve recently learned about called debatehall.com

It is setup very nicely for NFA-LD and I think it would be a fantastic way to keep your LD skills sharp over summer.

Here is a video explaining the head-to-head debate feature:

What I’m thinking is that we could use the 2009-2010 topic and have a few rounds of competition. If anyone is interested in participating please indicate in the comment section. As long as we get at least 5 people we can try and run a tournament. I’ll post the pairings here for each round and then we’d probably have one final round with the top two competitors. Each of the two debaters would have roughly 1 week to finish the debates – perhaps 48 hour deadline once each speech is submitted? CX would have to be in a list format – ie, 5 questions that get asked, and then 5 questions that get answered.

Judging would just be through the site – no official judges…

Let me know if this is something you’re interested in. The nice feature is that it works asynchronously so we don’t have to all be at the same place at the same time. The debate can extend over a week. You would need access to a webcam in order to use the site to debate so please only sign up if you have access.

Please let me know your thoughts! I’m thinking there would be no restrictions as to who can enter – any student is more than welcome.

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The duties of the executive committee are to:
1) Write a constitution for the group
2) Iron out season sweepstakes procedures for 2010-2011
3) Help plan and administer the 2011 Southern California LD Championship.
4) meet twice each year – perhaps at Fall & Spring Champs although the group can decide its meeting time
5) contribute at least 1 post per week to the website

The membership will include 2 active coaches, 2 active students, and me as founder of the site. My hope, however, is that my level of involvement will be minimal and that the 4 other members will decide through consensus. If there is a 2-2 tie I’ll vote to break the tie.

Each member (the two coaches and the two students) will serve a 1 year term from July 1, 2010 through May 1, 2011. May and June will be the months to nominate and elect new representatives.

Coaches

Two coaches indicated their interest to serve so we will not need to have an election.

Mike Marse - Cal Baptist

Mike has been a regular contributor to SoCal-LD since the very beginning in October 2006. His students have consistently won awards in NFA-LD over the past 4 years. Thanks Mike for serving.

Michael Miller – Glendale

Michael Miller has been a contributor to the blog through numerous comments and suggested links for research for the past two years. His dedication to debate is evident in his tireless advocacy and promotion of the best skills of NFA-LD including eloquence, argumentation, and research.

Students

Four students were interested in serving on the board for next year. Thus, we will need to have an election. The qualifications to vote are that you must be a student from Southern California, competed in at least 1 NFA-LD tournament last year (2009-2010 season), and be interested in participating in NFA-LD next year. Please email me at info@socal-ld.net with your ballot ranking the following four students 1-4. Please rank all four students or your ballot will not count. We’ll use Instant Run off voting system with the ballots (video demo).

2010 Ballot

Your Name: _________________ Your School: ____________
Tournament you competed at last year: _________________

Rank: ___ David Saulet – El Camino
Rank: ___ Jesus Caro – CSU Long Beach
Rank: ___ Nick Matthews – UCLA
Rank: ___ Robert Maxwell – Concordia-Irvine

I will let each of the students speak for themselves in the comment section why they should be elected. Ballots are due in two weeks by June 24, 2010 to info@socal-ld.net On your ballot please indicate your name, school, the tournament you competed at last year, and your votes in preference order.

Thanks!

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eSeals 1AC 1.0
Hydrogen 1AC
Free Trade Disad
US Dollar Hegemony Disad
T Violations Sample
Heidegger Sample

One thing that is interesting is that Nick sets up his case very differently than I usually teach. The way I interpret his case is: in the eSeals case Nick set it as: inherency, plan, harms and solvency; in the Hydrogen case he set it as: inherency, plan, solvency, harms.

The way I usually teach the first affirmative constructive is inherency, harms, plan and then solvency. The reason for this is that it tells a really clean story. You tell the judge/audience what’s currently going on and why your policy has not been implemented. You then tell then the bad things that’s happening from the status quo. Third, you propose a plan to address the bad things that are happening in the status quo. Finally, you tell the judge why you think your plan will address the bad things in the status quo.

How do you all setup your cases? For me, hearing harms after hearing the plan would be a bit disjointed. I don’t know why I’m hearing about the negative things in the status quo after hearing about your plan to change the status quo.

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Sprawl DA
OPEC DA
Solar Panels neg
Inherency Fiber Optics

One of my favorite parts of NFA-LD is coming up with new disadvantages to run in debate rounds. Just like the affirmative debater gets the advantage by knowing their case really well as the negative debater you should have the advantage on any new disadvantages that you run in rounds.

Of course the link is always the hardest part but once you get that (perhaps in a good cx question?) you’re golden. You then have two speeches to bring up and finish off the disadvantage debate.

Here are two good disadvantages and a few examples of case specific negative research. My coach used to always tell me that it’s OK to lose to a brand new affirmative case you have no evidence against – once. After that round if you lose to the case again it’s no good since you had time to go research and develop a negative strategy against the case. The solar files and fiber optics evidence David sent in is a great example of that type of work. It’s what will usually separate those who make it to out rounds and those who don’t – winning at least one negative round.

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Definitely check out the files marked frontline. These are files that contain both strategy and evidence specific to an affirmative case. These are key to winning as the negative since you’ve done your work before the round starts. One of the reasons affirmative debaters win so often is because they know their case so well and you’re likely only vaguely familiar with it. However, if you’ve done the work to do a frontline you’re likely ready to win. Thanks again Mat!

CBS-Theory-File
CP – Consult NativesCP – Consult NATO
CP – Exclude Natives PIC
DA – Biz Con
Frontline – Aircrft Carrier Aff
Frontline – ATC Privatization Aff
Frontline – Ballast Water Dumping Aff
Frontline – Cargo Scanning AffFrontline – Evacuation Infrastructure Aff
Indian Reservation Roads take 2
K – The Gift
Space Infrastructure

[The evidence page has been updated]

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Send the files to info@socal-ld.net I’ll make sure you get credit.

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The NFA-LD Debate Cooperative is BACK!

Dates: July 31st – August 8th
Location: Otterbein College – Westerville, Ohio
Cost: $400.00
Registration Deadline: July 16th
Fellows Application Deadline: July 1st

We will again have a fellows program. If you are an upper-class
debater or know any who might be interested, we will select a few
debaters to attend camp for free as fellows. They will be responsible
for lab leadership, research assistance and mentoring. It is the
perfect opportunity to grow as a debater beyond the fundamentals.

For more information on the camp and staff and other announcements,
check out our website at
http://sites.lafayette.edu/forensics…d-debate-camp/

If you are interested in attending or sending any debaters to camp,
please contact me with any questions.

We are also still looking for a few more staff members. If you are
interested, please contact me.

John Boyer
Lafayette Debate
Director, NFA-LD Debate Cooperative

I would encourage anyone and everyone who has the time and resources to consider attending. I know Ohio is a long way from SoCal, but debate camp offers you unparalleled opportunities in terms of skills development and networking. Not only will you have a huge head start on the topic, you’ll make a lot of friends and get better at debate while doing it!

Let’s show the Midwest what the Left Coast is all about.

- Nick

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Executive Committee Me (Danny Cantrell), 2 students and 2 other coaches. I would not vote on any executive committee decisions except to break ties. My hope is that the committee would work through consensus (ie, making decisions that are 4-0 rather than 2-2). The committee would come up with a constitution to spell out it’s functions but right now I’m thinking…

Duties

1) Run and Manage the Southern California LD Championships
2) Create, Administer, and Award the Sweepstakes
3) Post regularly to the site (1 post/week per member).
4) Promote and encourage schools to participate in the event

If you have additional ideas or thoughts please post them in the comments. Given the site is geared towards Southern California only coaches and students from programs in Southern California will be eligible. If we have more than 2 coaches or 2 students run we’ll have elections.

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