[throwawayjava]

It's worth noting that even among debate activities with very similar (even identical) styles, things sometimes "don't transfer well".

Knowing and understanding the nuances of the the judging pool and the competition are just as important as anything else, so teams that "transfer" between activities are always at a bit of a structural disadvantage. Especially at the elite level where the differences in raw ability and background knowledge start to become imperceptible.