The problem weighing solves
At the end of a round, the Pro has an argument about jobs and the Con has an argument about electricity prices. Both have evidence. Both survived the rebuttals in some form. A judge who has to decide which matters more, with no help, will decide based on whatever they personally find persuasive. Weighing takes that decision away from the judge's instincts and gives it to your argument.
The four mechanisms
| Mechanism | The question | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Magnitude | How big is the impact? | "Our impact affects every household in the country; theirs affects one industry." |
| Probability | How likely is it? | "Our evidence describes something already happening; theirs predicts something that might happen in a decade." |
| Timeframe | How soon? | "Prefer the harm that happens next year over the benefit that arrives in 2040, because near-term harms compound." |
| Reversibility | Can it be undone? | "A price increase can be corrected by the next Congress; a lost aquifer cannot." |
A fifth move, strength of link, is really about probability: "Their impact requires four steps to happen, each uncertain. Ours requires one."
Comparative, not descriptive
"Our impact is big" is not weighing. Weighing is always a comparison: our impact against theirs, on a named mechanism, with a reason. The template is one sentence long:
"Prefer our [impact] over their [impact] on [mechanism], because [reason]."
Say it exactly that way in front of a lay judge. Judges write down sentences that sound like decisions.
Where weighing goes
- Constructive: plant the seed. One sentence per contention describing the size and certainty of the impact.
- Rebuttal: weigh while attacking. "Even if you believe their evidence, the impact is smaller than ours because ..."
- Summary: this is the weighing speech. At least a full minute of comparison, on two or three mechanisms, with the reasoning explained.
- Final focus: repeat the weighing from summary in the same words. New weighing in final focus is often disregarded by judges because the other side cannot respond.
Meta-weighing
When both teams weigh, the judge needs to know which mechanism matters more. "They win on magnitude; we win on probability. Prefer probability, because a large impact that never happens is worth nothing." That is meta-weighing, and it is the move that separates teams in elimination rounds. Prepare one sentence of meta-weighing for your best mechanism before every round.
Common mistakes
- Weighing an argument you have not extended. If your contention did not survive rebuttal, weighing it does nothing.
- Using three mechanisms in three sentences with no reasoning. One mechanism explained beats three asserted.
- Waiting for final focus. If the first time the judge hears weighing is the last two minutes, they have already made up their mind.
Weighing lives inside the last four minutes of the round. Read Summary and final focus for how those speeches should be built.
Weighing on the September/October 2026 topic
The data center resolution produces a classic weighing clash: household costs and grid reliability (concrete, near-term, smaller per person) against economic competitiveness and computing capacity (larger, slower, more speculative). A pro team should weigh on probability and timeframe: price effects are documented now, while competitiveness harms depend on a chain of assumptions. A con team should weigh on magnitude and reversibility: a lost decade of infrastructure is not undone by lifting a moratorium. The team that names its weighing mechanism first and explains why it should govern the round usually controls the final focus.
Phrasing weighing for a lay judge
- Instead of "we outweigh on magnitude," say "Even if both of us are right, our harm affects more people, and here is the number."
- Instead of "timeframe," say "Ours is happening this year; theirs might happen in ten."
- Instead of "probability," say "Our evidence describes something that already occurred; theirs is a projection with three assumptions in it."
- Always finish with the sentence you want on the ballot: "So even in the world where their argument is true, you vote pro."
Practice
The weighing drill gives you two impacts and thirty seconds. Do five a day for a week before a tournament. Then in practice rounds, require every summary and final focus to contain at least one explicit comparison; have the judge mark on the flow where it happened.
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