Public debate

Public debate may mean simply debating by the public, or in public. The term is also used for a particular formal style of debate in a competitive or educational context. Two teams of two compete through six rounds of argument, giving persuasive speeches on a particular topic.

Before the round takes place, the teams are designated as either the Affirmative or the Negative. The two teams are then given three topics from which to choose. The Affirmative is given first strike which means that they remove one of the topics from the list. The Negative then is left with two topics to choose from, and will choose which topic they wish to argue by again using their strike and removing the topic they do not wish to talk on. The two teams will then have fifteen minutes to formulate the case they wish to present. At the end of the fifteen minutes the teams reconvene and begin the debate.

The members of each team are referred to as the following;

Prep-Period : 15 minutes

Leader Affirmative: 7 minutes

Leader Negation: 8 minutes

Member Affirmative: 8 minutes

Member Negation : 8 minutes

Leader Negation Rebuttal: 4 minutes

Leader Affirmative Rebuttal: 5 minutes

As with any debating style, the individual timings may vary between tournaments

At the beginning of each speech the speaker is expected to thank their partner, the opposition, the judge and anybody who is watching. While not explicitly important it is a formal nicety that is expected of each debater. To ask a question a member of the opposing team stands up and waits for the speaker to take their question. Questioning may occur at any time during the debate with a few exceptions.

Note that if a speaker refuses to take a question, it can reflect badly on the speaker. Also, a speaker must not ever directly insult or attack their opponents, only the points they are making. Similarly, when a speech is being given side talking is not allowed as it can distract the speaker. The only way that someone may show approval of a topic is to knock on the desk. During a rebuttal speech the speaker is not allowed to bring up any new points of information or talk about anything that has not already been covered.

The leader of the Affirmative is responsible for several key points in the debate. As the first speaker they must define the resolution that they selected earlier. For instance, if the resolution is Resolved: this house would abandon the use of torture on enemy combatants. the Leader of the Affirmative would be responsible for defining the meaning of this house , enemy combatants and any other key pieces of the resolution. Whatever they fail to define the Leader of the Opposition is then free to define, which can spell disaster for the Affirmative. The Leader of the Affirmative is also responsible for presenting the plan. the plan is the way that the Affirmative will carry out the resolution. Working off the example resolution above, the plan would be something like, " Congress will pass a law expressly stating that any and all forms of inhumane treatment towards peoples in times of war or peace would be expressly forbidden at any level of command". If the Affirmative fails to present a plan the negation can claim that they win automatically because the Affirmative did not give them a concrete procedure to argue against and effectively Ruined the educational value of the debate . After this the Affirmative uses the remainder of the time to outline his case.

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