by PFDebate LLC on July 3, 2009
Jim Menick at Coachean Life has started his irregular series of articles on Public Forum Debate. Mr. Menick is an experienced coach with an extensive background in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. He uses LD to introduce students to debate. He is exploring Public Forum Debate and preparing teaching materials for his students.
I think this series is going to be useful for those new to Public Forum Debate and especially useful for those making the transition from LD to PFD.
Part 1 and Part 2 were published earlier this week.
by PFDebate LLC on July 3, 2009
VH1’s new pop culture debate show, The Great Debate, will debut on Monday, July 6 at 10/9 Central and will run for five consecutive nights. This show looks derivative of Best Week Ever and will have celebrities focus on such hard-hitting topics as:
- The Simpsons vs. Family Guy
- Madonna vs. Michael Jackson
- Van Halen vs. Van Hagar
- Star Wars Fans vs. Star Trek Fans
- ALF vs. E.T.
- Beyonce vs. J-Lo
The show will have a kickoff event on Monday, July 6 in New York City that will feature Ivy League students. Sneak peeks of the first five episodes are online.
[via Global Debate Blog]
by PFDebate LLC on July 1, 2009
Victor & Tammy Jih won The Amazing Race so CBS has taken a chance on another former debater. Big Brother 11 has cast Ronnie, a 30-year-old Star Wars collector and a national champion in speech and debate.
He is obsessed with video games and often plays more than six hours a day, even to the point of ignoring his wife. Ronnie is a collector of all things sci-fi, especially Star Wars collectibles.
Ronnie is an über BIG BROTHER fan who can recite the order of every person ever evicted from the BIG BROTHER house. This student is most proud of being a national champion in speech and debate, as he feels this activity is where he excels.
I’m sure he will do wonders for the debater stereotype.
Update
His full name is Ronnie Talbot. He is a 30-year-old student at Ohio University. As far as I can tell, when he says “speech & debate” he means speech. He says he is a national champion in persuasive speaking. He placed in a number of events at the Pi Kappa Delata National Tournament this year. This audition interview will tell you everything you need to know.
by PFDebate LLC on June 30, 2009
Before we slip into July, I just wanted to mention that PFDebate.com turned 5 years old this month.
The domain name was registered in May 2004 and the Web site was launched in June soon after the 2004 NFL National Tournament. During the first year of existence, PFDebate.com was an irregularly published blog that primarily focused on publishing links related to the current topic. I doubt that we had many readers that first year and I never bothered to check the server logs to find out.
The last 5 years have been quite an adventure, I’m sure the next 5 years will be just as interesting.
Thanks for visiting.
by PFDebate LLC on June 30, 2009
The 2009 IDEA/NJFL Middle School National Tournament was held this past weekend in San Antonio, TX. In the final round, Nikita Datta & Viveka Advani (CON) from Capitol Debate defeated Ashely Alcantara & Tian Wang (PRO) from Sidney Lanier (TX) on a 2-1 decision to win the Public Forum Debate championship.
Complete tournament results are online.
by PFDebate LLC on June 28, 2009
I haven’t been on vacation, but I have done little more than key administrative maintenance for the past week and a few interesting articles and discussions have popped up in the debate community.
First, just before NFL Nationals began, Mike Bietz wrote about the possibility of travel restrictions in Minnesota. The immediate discussions involve athletics, but it could be extended to speech & debate. Missouri is infamous for its travel restrictions. The proposed Minnesota travel limits are not as strict as those in Missouri.
Second, The 3NR has a follow-up on the discussion about reading author qualifications aloud which we mentioned previously.
Finally, there has been a lot of discussion about judging and Public Forum Debate. First, the PFDebate Forums began discussing whether or not a judge should ever intervene. Chris Palmer has proposed the use of a Public Forum Paradigm questionnaire and then come the PFDebate Forums to discuss it further. Jim Menick is interested in the idea. Please visit the PFDebate Forums and let us know what you think.
by PFDebate LLC on June 19, 2009
In the final round of Public Forum Debate at the 2009 NFL National Tournament, Robert Kindman & Josh Zoffer from Durham Academy (NC) defeated Aditya Gulanikar & Shruti Jaishankar from St. Andrew’s Episcopal (MS) on an 11-4 decision. Kindman & Zoffer are both juniors.
Kindman & Zoffer took 3rd place at the 2008 NFL National and were the winners of the 2009 PFDebate.com National Public Forum Challenge.
The top 14 teams were:
01. Durham Academy (NC) Robert Kindman & Josh Zoffer
02. St. Andrew’s Episcopal (MS) Aditya Gulanikar & Shruti Jaishankar
03. Springfield Central (MO) Brian McGarry & Ben Shantz
04. Taravella (FL) Mickael Silangil & Brian Zakarin
05. Walt Whitman (MD) Itai Farhi & Tom Niblock
06. Brentwood (TN) Katie Thornton & Marshall Cottrell
07. Bellarmine (CA) Parijat Chakrabarti & Vik Singh
08. Mountain Brook (AL) Amanda Grayson & William Schreiber
09. Regis (NY) James Lampariello & Joseph Gasperetti
10. Eagan (MN) Rachel Markon & Christian Reynolds
11. Park Hill South (MO) Gabe Luna & Parker Viers
11. Ridge (NJ) Danielle Taylor & Parsa Salehi
13. New Trier (IL) Zach Collins & Joey Glickman
13. Northland Christian (TX) James Cossey & Jonathan Crews
Complete tournament results are available from the NFL.
by PFDebate LLC on June 19, 2009
In our poll, which was open from the end of the final round until the beginning of the awards assembly, we asked which team won the final round of Public Forum Debate at the 2009 NFL National Tournament. Here are the results:
56% voted CON: Durham Academy
44% voted PRO: St. Andrew’s Episcopal
by PFDebate LLC on June 18, 2009
The 2009 NFL National Tournment Public Forum Debate final round will be between Robert Kindman & Josh Zoffer from Durham Academy (NC) and Aditya Gulanikar & Shruti Jaishankar from St. Andrew’s Episcopal (MS).
The final round will take place at 2:30pm Eastern Central time tomorrow (Friday, June 19). The debate will be streamed live by the University of Vermont. Quicktime 7 or later is required. I recommend trying to get the live stream to work with your setup by looking in on one of the earlier events.
The winner will not be announced until the awards ceremony which begins at 5:00om.
by PFDebate LLC on June 18, 2009
Round 15 pairings courtesy of Victory Briefs Daily.
204 Durham Academy (NC) Robert Kindman & Josh Zoffer
116 Taravella (FL) Mickael Silangil & Brian Zakarin
286 St. Andrew’s Episcopal (MS) Aditya Gulanikar & Shruti Jaishankar
194 Springfield Central (MO) Brian McGarry & Ben Shantz
