WORLD SCHOOLS DEBATING FORMAT

Each speaker in the debate has a different role. These rules are intended to facilitate as fair a debate as possible, both by ensuring that clarity in the topic up for debate is established and to ensure that both teams have a reasonable chance to engage with the other side’s arguments. The key thing to remember is that the speaker roles are intended to enrich the debate not to limit what a team can do.

First Speakers

The first speaker of proposition is responsible for:

• Defining the motion 

• Outlining the arguments that proposition will bring (their team’s case)

• Explaining which speakers will present which of those arguments

• Presenting part of the case for their side.

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Similarly the first speaker of the opposition is responsible for:

• Challenging the definition and providing a new one (but only if they think that definition is unfair).

• Outlining the arguments that proposition will bring (their team’s case)

• Explaining which speakers will present which of those arguments

• Responding to the arguments of first proposition (this is called rebuttal) 

• Presenting part of that case for their side.

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Defining the motion is about giving a clear explanation of what the motion means to ensure that all speakers and judges are clear on the topic being debated. If the two teams argue about very different things, then it becomes hard to pin down what exactly the disagreements between the teams are. 

Second Speakers
 

The second speakers in the debate are responsible for:

• Continuing to defend their definition (if required)

• Continuing the argumentation presented by their team. This will include defending their previous speaker’s points from the rebuttal the other team has made

• Offering rebuttal to the other team’s case

• Making new arguments to support your case

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The emphasis of these speeches should be on the new material presented, rather than the responses. As a rough guideline proposition should spend 2-3 minutes responding, whilst opposition should spend 3-4 minutes responding to the other team with the rest of the speech dedicated to new substantive material building on the case.

Third Speakers
 

The third speaker’s role is to respond to the other team. The bulk of the speech should be dedicated to defeating the arguments brought by the other team in detail, whilst also defending the case that your team-mates have brought from the attacks that the other team has already made (think of this as rebutting their rebuttal!). It is technically permissible to dedicate 1-2 minutes of time to additional arguments in support of your case, however this must be flagged in the first speech and the emphasis should still be placed on rebuttal.

Reply Speeches

The reply speech must be delivered by either the first or second speaker of your team; it cannot be delivered by the same person that delivered the third speech. It is also worth remembering that the order switches after the first three speeches of each team, so the opposition reply speaker gives their speech straight after the opposition third speaker and the proposition reply speech is the final one of the debate (see “Speaking Order” above). Both of these speeches are four minutes in length as opposed to the eight of all other speeches in the debate and no POIs can be offered during them.

The reply speech is intended to explain why their side has already won the debate. They do this by boiling the debate down to the two or three overarching points of contention (often called the clashes of the debate) and presenting why their team’s side won those points. They are not expected (and will not have time) to go into detail in explaining why they won each individual argument and point made or deal with every example brought up in the debate. They are instead a high level explanation of why the judges should vote for their side. It is often helpful to think of these as a biased adjudication or a biased news reporter giving an account of what happened in the debate from their side’s perspective.