Consciously or unconsciously we debate in everyday life. We are continually communicating our ideas and attempting to convince others of them by verbal reasoning, using our analytical thinking, speaking and listening skills. Debating is a way of improving these communication skills.

MC ROLE
The responsibility of the MC is to introduce the topic, the teams and the individual speakers, and to announce the result.

TEAMS
There are two teams of 3 speakers, an Affirmative Team which argues in support of the topic, and a Negative Team which argues to disprove the topic. Both teams must define the topic from their point of view, develop a consistent team line to prove their own case and disprove that of the opposition.

The duties of the speakers for each side are:

1st Speakers: Define the topic. The Negative speaker accepts the Affirmative’s definition or justifies any amendment, then rebuts the Affirmative’s line of argument.
– Outline their team’s line
– Present examples to support their team line

2nd Speakers: Rebut and continue attack on opposition line
– Defend their own teams arguments
– Present further examples to reinforce their teams line

3rd Speakers: Continue to rebut and attack opposition line
– Sum up teams line
– Show own team line to be superior to the opposition line
* Negative speaker is not permitted to introduce new material

ADJUDICATION
The adjudicator will score each speaker on the content of their speech, the structure of their argument and the manner of their delivery.

MATTER (out of 40 points) – Content
• Did they show they understood the issue?
• Did they have a range of relevant, accurate and persuasive facts?
• Was there evidence of research?
• Was there analysis of the research?

METHOD (out of 40 points) – Structure
• Was the individual speech organised and structured?
• Did they rebut sufficiently?
• Was there an effective summary of the main points?
• Did they reinforce their team line?
• Did they go over/under time?

MANNER (out of 20 points) – Delivery
• Did they make sustained eye contact?
• Did they effectively use notes or read too much?
• Did they use effective gestures, body language and enthusiasm?
• Did they effectively use vocal variety?