FAQ

I 'broke'...is this good?

Yes, breaking is AWESOME! The term 'breaking' in the world of speech and debate means that you advanced past the preliminary rounds of competition to 'outrounds'. This is a good thing!

I am headed to my first meet...what do I wear?

Just as you need a uniform to play effectively on the sports field, you need proper competition attire to be at your best at the tournament. Please see the Appropriate Tournament Attire slideshow on the Team Handouts page.

Where can I see my NSDA Points?

https://www.speechanddebate.org/

Technology Questions

As your student progresses in the debate class it becomes useful if they have their own personal laptop. It does not need to be a super expensive laptop but here are some tech suggestions to help guide your search for a computer.

-DOES NOT need to be a Mac - we would prefer if they had a windows operating computer (if they have a mac that is perfectly okay too)

-SHOULD NOT require everything is saved in the cloud - your computer should allow the ability to save things onto the hard drive.

-If your students has a tablet that is sufficient however, if there is an option we would PREFER that the student had a laptop over a tablet.

Suggestions:

  • 13inch screen (makes it easier for students to read in debate rounds)

  • Processor Speed: 1.8 GHz

  • System Memory (RAM): 4GB

  • Hard-drive Size: 500GB

  • Wireless Internet (A MUST)

  • USB Ports (A MUST)

If purchasing a laptop we would recommend the students have a laptop case - either a backpack that has the special place with padding to put the computer or a laptop sleeve to place the computer in.

Students must have the following programs/software installed on their laptops.

1. Microsoft Word - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/

2. Google Chrome - https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95346?hl=en

3. Verbatim - http://paperlessdebate.com/verbatim/_layouts/15/start.aspx#/SitePages/Home.aspx

4. Dropbox (wait until you get an invitation from a coach before installing and creating a username) - https://www.dropbox.com/

5. Prepd (wait until you get an invitation from a coach before installing and creating a username) - http://prepd.in/

6. SLACK (wait until you get instructions from a coach)- www.slack.com