Stanford National Forensic Institute

This series of programs is designed to be the starting place for students who are just beginning their speech & debate career.  We offer a 1-Week Introduction to Argumentation & Debate which covers the fundamentals and basics of argumentation and debate so that students learn the bedrock skills necessary to enter into one of our debate format specific sessions (ex Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, Individual Events, Congressional Debate, etc) at a more advanced level.  This session will cover argument theory, basic debate research skills, "flowing" (note taking for debate), and other important topics.  In addition, there will be an introductory survey of the specific formats of competitive debate so that students can make an informed choice about which format to choose for their entry into forensics.

We realize that it is daunting to choose your debate format before you come to camp in the summer, so we offer several longer Beginners’/Intro Flex Packages which allow students to continue into the specific debate format of their choice immediately after completing the survey component of the 1-Week Introduction to Argumentation & Debate session:

• The 2-Week Beginners' Flex Package combines the 1-Week Introduction to Argumentation & Debate session with the student's choice of our 1-Week Public Forum Workout, 1-Week Lincoln-Douglas Workout, 1-Week Individual Events Workout, or 1-Week Congressional Debate Workout programs.  Students enrolled in the 2-Week Beginners' Flex Package will learn the basics of debate and will be able to choose which type of debate they would like to work on after the survey component of the first week.

• The 2-Week Beginners' Parliamentary Program combines the 1-Week Introduction to Argumentation & Debate session with the 1-Week Parliamentary Debate Program.  Students enrolled in the 2-Week Beginners' Flex Package will learn the basics of debate in first week, and then will be able to join the 1-Week Parliamentary program one level up from the "beginner" group a starting student would otherwise be placed in.

• The 3-Week Beginners' Core Flex Package combines the 1-Week Introduction to Argumentation & Debate session with the student's choice of our 2-Week Core Public Forum, 2-Week Core Lincoln-Douglas, 2-Week Core Individual Events, or 2-Week Core Congressional Debate programs.  Students enrolled in the 3-Week Beginners' Core Flex Package will learn the basics of debate and will be able to choose which type of debate they would like to work on after the survey component of the first week.

• The  4-Week Beginners' Flex Package Experience combines the 1-Week Introduction to Argumentation & Debate session with the student's choice of our 3-Week Public Forum Experience, 3-Week Lincoln-Douglas Experience or 3-Week Individual Events Experience programs.  Students enrolled in the 4-Week Beginners' Flex Package Experience will learn the basics of debate and will be able to choose which type of debate they would like to work on after the survey component in the first week.

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3-Week Beginners' Core Flex Package

The 3-Week Beginners' Core Flex Package