Properly speaking, there is no certainty, there are only people who are certain. ~~ Charles Renouvier

Description of Debate Events

Lincoln-Douglas debate involves two people debating with each other over basic values such as justice, morality, or equality to affirm or negate a bi-monthly assigned resolution.  Debaters prepare opening speeches of 6-7 minutes, question their opponent during cross examination, and then quickly prepare and present a rebuttal.  The round takes 45 minutes and it is intense, but immensely gratifying.  This activity appeals to a wide range of students and the successful ones are good at independent research and at accepting criticism as they learn how to focus their arguments.

The resolution for September/October 2000 was:

Resolved: That colleges and universities have a moral obligation to prohibit the public expression of hate speech on their campuses.                          

Public Forum debate has two flavors: Team (2-person) and Individual. The topics change monthly and generally have to do with current public policy issues. There is a format to follow, similar to Lincoln-Douglas debate, but Public Forum is a bit more relaxed, and humor and poise play a tremendous role in success, as does preparation and overall knowledge of the topic. This event is designed to be judged by laypersons who have a working familiarity with the format--it's not like LD which tends to be judged by coaches and former debaters. PF rounds begin with a coin toss to determine which sides of the resolution the parties will defend. The winner of the coin toss declares the side they prefer, Affirmative or Negative, and the most convincing team wins.

Extemporaneous Speaking

In Extemporaneous speaking you pick three slips of paper out of an envelope. On these pieces of paper are questions pertaining to current events.  You choose the question you are most comfortable speaking about. The questions will deal with current events and domestic issues—some tournaments take them from last Sunday’s newspaper. If it is Foreign Extemp, the topics deal with foreign issues.

Sample questions:
How effective has Bush’s foreign policy been?
Who will be the next US President?
Will democracy last in Russia?
Will there ever be peace in the Middle East?

After reading the options, you choose one topic, and then you have a half and hour to write and memorize a speech (5-7 minutes). This speech is then delivered in front of a judge who judges the speech based on content, analysis of the question, and delivery.  Better speeches include quoted facts, statistics, and comments from articles, citing the source, as in “January’s Newsweek reported that…” or “According to economist Milton Freeman…”

You may notice that at some tournaments, questions are a mixture of foreign and domestic topics. At some tournaments, you can receive questions in both foreign and domestic issues. But at some tournaments, you have a choice between the two. If you choose foreign Extemp, you will not encounter any questions about domestic issues, and if you choose domestic Extemp, you will not have to answer questions about foreign issues (but you may have to speak about US foreign policy).  

The format of Congress is like that of our nations Congress, where participants speak for and against bills and vote on them. You receive a copy of the issues you will debate on, which will be in the form of single-page bills and resolutions, about two weeks before the tournament (actual time may vary from tournament to tournament). When you get to your House or Senate (a chamber with about 20 of your competitors in it), your room will elect a Presiding Officer, and in some cases will decide in what order to debate the legislation.

The Presiding Officer, or P.O., runs the agenda. He/she will call on students to give speeches or ask questions. Different P.O.s will have different "priority systems" for dealing with who speaks first. They will describe their system to the chamber; be sure you pay attention so you'll understand. Participants who want to give a speech, raise their hand when the P.O. asks for speeches for or against. In the meantime, you pay attention to your opponent's speeches, making sure to ask questions whenever you have the opportunity.

Speeches are timed, and cut off after three minutes. After your speech, you have a minute with which to answer questions from your competitors (the P.O., not the speaker, calls on people for questions). At the end of your session (usually an hour or two long), judges decide who is the best speaker based on quality of speeches, quality and quantity of questions asked, and quality of responses to other people's questions.  You will want to prepare a file for each topic on which you intend to speak.  You may refer to your files while others are speaking.

All original speeches are 10 minutes long, at max. There is no minimum length, but you're encouraged to shoot for about 9:30 or so. You write and memorize your speech before the tournament, and usually use the same speech for the whole year. Because you write your own speeches, creativity and good writing ability are a must. And because you must deliver a memorized speech, you must learn to develop a good, natural speaking manner.

Original Oratory is a speech to inspire. You're trying to convince your audience to do or  think something different, like work harder, be more honest, get more involved in community issues or in the family, etc. This event is very delivery intensive: if you don't think you can "work a crowd," don't enter this event.

Orators are very charismatic people with pleasing voices. They know how to make people feel good about themselves, and they know how to make others feel good about them. They are good writers who write moving speeches without being preachy.