What DebateFlow does during a round

If a tournament official asks what you are running, this page is the answer. It is written to be shown to them.

The short version

DebateFlow records the round, transcribes it, and helps you write your decision and your feedback after you have decided. During the round it is a notepad and a timer. It never tells you who is winning, and nothing it produces is ever shown to a competitor.

During the round

It records and transcribes. Audio is captured while a speech is running and transcribed immediately. The audio file is deleted as soon as the transcript exists - it is never stored.

It takes your notes. Typed notes per team, prep clocks, and a one-tap way to mark a moment while it is happening.

It captures arguments, if you turn that on. The analysis panel during a round is off by default. When you switch it on, it lists the arguments it heard, and that is all: no "dropped", no coverage scores, no chips saying who is ahead. Those words are judgements about a round that has not finished, and a debate is not over until the last speech. Everything of that kind waits until you press Complete Round.

Each round stores what was on. Whatever the setting was when the round started is recorded with that round and shown on its details page, so what you tell a tournament matches what was actually running - not what your settings say today.

Crossfire is timed but not recorded. Nothing is transcribed or analysed there.

After the round

Once you complete the round, the analysis runs: which arguments were made, which went unanswered, which were extended, and how the clash between them went. You then decide, issue by issue, in your own words.

The app suggests speaker points and drafts feedback and a reason for decision. You assign the points, you make the decision, and you can rewrite every word. The suggestion is shown with the reasoning behind it so you can disagree with it.

What it never does

• It never decides the round. No winner is stored or displayed until you have picked one. The analysis's own view of an issue stays hidden until you have committed to yours, so it cannot anchor you.
• It never shows anything to a competitor. There is no competitor-facing screen, account, or output. Everything runs on your device and in your account.
• It is never a source. Nothing it generates is evidence, and neither you nor a debater should cite it as such.
• It never keeps the audio. Deleted immediately after transcription.
• It never sends student names to the analysis. Names are replaced with tokens before anything leaves for a model, and restored only for you. See Privacy & Security.

The rules this is built against

Tournament rules on devices and assistance exist to stop competitors receiving help during a round. DebateFlow is a judge's tool: the help it gives is to the person judging, after the debating has finished, and none of it reaches a debater until you send your ballot.

Two rules are worth knowing:

• Device and outside-assistance rules. Competitors may not receive information for competitive advantage from non-competitors during a round. Nothing here reaches a competitor during a round.
• The generative AI rule. AI output should not be cited as a source. DebateFlow's analysis is never evidence; it is a record of what was said and a draft you edit.

If you are asked to turn it off

Turn Show analysis during rounds off in Settings. You can still record, transcribe and take notes; the analysis simply runs after the round instead. The round will record that the setting was off, which you can show on its details page.