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Lincoln-Douglas debate flow sheet
One page, one round. Five speech columns in the order they actually happen, a framework band across the top, a prep-time tracker, and space for cross-ex notes and voting issues. Print it at 100 percent on US Letter, landscape, and hand it to your student before their next practice round.
One page, about 6 KB, no fonts to install and nothing to sign up for. Free to copy for a whole team.
What each part of the sheet is for
The five speech columns
AC, NC, 1AR, NR, 2AR, left to right in the order they happen, each labeled with its time limit. An argument made in the AC gets written in the AC column, and every answer to it goes in the same row further right, so you can read across a row and see the entire life of one argument.
The framework band
A dedicated band across the top, shaded, because in Lincoln-Douglas the value and criterion are usually resolved before a judge weighs a single contention. Keeping it out of the contention rows stops it from getting buried when the round gets busy.
The prep-time tracker
Four boxes, one per minute, matching the four minutes most tournaments give each debater. Crossing them off as you go is the whole point: the most common novice prep mistake is not overspending, it is losing track and discovering there is none left before the 1AR.
Cross-ex notes and voting issues
Two boxes along the bottom. Cross-examination answers are where concessions happen, and they are worthless if nobody wrote them down. The voting-issues box is where you draft, during the round, the two or three sentences the 2AR is actually going to end on.
The one habit that makes flowing work
Leave vertical space. New debaters write each argument on the next available line, which feels tidy and then makes the 1AR impossible, because there is nowhere to put three responses to an argument written flush against the next one. Write the argument, then skip down before writing the next. A flow with gaps in it is a flow you can still use in the last speech.
The second habit is shorthand. Nobody flows in full sentences and follows the round at the same time. Abbreviate hard, invent your own symbols, and accept that your flow is a tool for one round rather than a document anyone else has to read. For the technique in depth, including a worked example of a flow filling in speech by speech, see our guide to how to flow a round, and once the basics are there, the spot-the-drop drill is how you check the flow is actually accurate.
Common questions
What is a flow sheet in debate?+
A flow sheet is the sheet of paper a debater or judge uses to take structured notes during a round, with a column per speech so every argument can be tracked from where it started to where it ended. Taking those notes is called flowing, and it is how a debater knows which arguments the other side answered and which they dropped.
How do you use an LD flow sheet?+
Write each of the other side's arguments once, in the column for the speech it appeared in, leaving vertical space beneath it. Every later response to that argument goes in the same row, one column to the right, so reading across a row shows you the entire exchange and reading down a column shows you one speech.
Should students flow on paper or on a laptop?+
Paper first, for at least the first season. Columns on a screen tempt students into typing full sentences, and flowing works because it is fast shorthand that keeps your attention on the round rather than on your notes. Plenty of national-circuit competitors switch to a spreadsheet later, after the habit is already built.
Is this flow sheet free to print and share?+
Yes. Print it, copy it for a whole team, or hand it out at a practice, with no account, email address, or attribution required. It is a single page designed to print at 100 percent on standard US Letter paper in landscape orientation.
Use it against a real case
A blank flow sheet is easier to understand with something to put on it.
Want a coach watching your kid's flow in real time?
A call for parents: talk to our coaching staff directly, no pressure, no obligation. Core itself is month to month, and every session ends in a written progress note, so you always know how it's going.
Still have questions?
Pricing, scheduling, safety, and more, answered plainly, no call required.