Although this is as simple, basic and probably goes without saying, it is sadly quite common amongst many aspiring Asian debaters. To stop short of what makes all the difference to an argument, is basically an invitation for a closing team to sweep it through a clincher that you introduced but never made full use of.
To complete a point, the main idea is to be able to ask as many relevant questions as to what is exactly the point you’re making. That is to show that there are indeed harms and those harms are correlated to be from the proposal at hand and to conclude with an expression of the logical path of direction you are trying to forward. In other words, an argument must be concluded through an expression that could satisfy the outcome of what you’re trying to prove. This outcome is often referred to as your burden of prove or your stand.
Do not assume that adjudicators know what you mean and how the argument support your stand, instead, take the time to make that link for them.

4. Less reliant on Notes

As many of us may have experienced, we normally have less time to prepare in a BP debate. With 15 minutes prep and often split-second extensions, it is sometimes overwhelming how impromptu it is. Since teams need to communicate with each other and prepare your own speech in an intense environment it is quite a skill to have to be less reliant on notes.
It is not giving a speech from memory, but debaters that are able to write very little and maybe number them for structure, may very well have more time to communicate and more importantly listen to everything that has been said before the speaking turn arrives.
Ability to speak with flow and sense by mere reference to a few numbered words and phrases is no easy feat. The only way to master this is to practice it as many times as you can. Some people can multi-task, and some do it by staying sharp. That’s how cool boys describe reading consistently and keep practicing thinking skills. Plus you’ll benefit through your seemingly more engaging eyes.

3. Clarity

Yes, we all know how messy a 4-team debate can get. All you need is one eccentric individual in Opening Government to drive the other four team nuts. So how important is it for you to be clear in BP style debating, well, it’s very important.
Being clear for opening teams can refer to having a clear objective that is audible to everyone, any resemblance of structure will normally help with clarity. Try disclaiming certain aspects of your case after claiming some or specifying what is included and excluded in the debate and why.
Being clear for closing teams can come from simply spending some time clarifying what the debate is about. Often, this is when the opening is unclear and an opportunity to create a new center for the debate could be a golden nugget. Creating a summary of what happened in the opening half helps, maybe even laying down two or three brad principles derived from the opening as a guide as to where and how the debate should proceed.
After all, we mortal souls are debating at the mercy of the adjudicator that’s watching, and often a confused adjudicator is a random one. It is a moral duty for a team to clear up the debate as much as possible and stories have been told about how adjudicators reward teams who make their life easier.

2. Strategic POIs

There is only a strategic POI to ask. Other POIs do not exist. Well, they do.
A strategic POI is one that is asking with intent of leading it somewhere. So as long as you have a reason to ask that POI, then that POI is strategic. If you stand up at every wrong thing your opponent say to try and correct the, then this part will help you hopefully.
Try asking POIs that makes your opponent discuss issues which you have introduced. This is not telling you to be defensive, but always try asking with the intention to create awareness for your contribution to the debate. We don’t know if it’s a good idea to remind an opponent of an argument he/she has obviously missed, so as to faulting it on them for leaving it standing. However, a clever POI, on top of a strategic one will be able to balance the “not helping your opponent” aspect and the “re-establish or strengthen your contributions” aspect with a single question.
Another trick is to attack the core ideas presented by an opposing team. If a question can take out the logic of a core principle or an ideal, you will score big for it. Trying to cause doubt to the credibility of an argument that causes a lot of damage to your case is a trick to consider too.
Finally try killing off your opponents arguments by changing the Point-of-View (POV) of the situation. Considering that every argument must be made from a particular perspective or context, then by pointing out a more realistic context or to change the POV could not only cause damage but may very well strengthen your position and argument all at once.

1. Becoming the jack of all traits

The story goes that there was once a World Champion who prepared for worlds by only mastering 25 hot topics that was current and popular at the time the world championships was happening. Because the topics were diverse enough, it covered most of the main areas like social, politics, economics, etc.
In doing so, his team brushed up on popular terminologies within each area, looked up supporting examples, trends and the likes to support current ones. Maybe it got to brushing up of popular names that are often mentioned on particular subjects.
When it got to the world championships, his team was lucky enough to go through the preliminary and final rounds to eventually win it. They had enough knowledge to manipulate situations that saw their arguments through. They became World champions because they were “Jack of all Traits”
With the need for closing teams to produce an extension, it is quite possible to win a debate with a single argument and awesome rebuttals. Often, teams going through break rounds may pray to be a closing team because there are good at it. If they keep picking a closing side all the way, they may end up winning it with a single argument until the end.
To be able to do it however requires you to know more about the things you are going to talk about. To be able to look at it from different stakeholders will definitely allow you to look at issues more holistically. Even if you are an opening team, knowing a little more might allow you to evaluate what perspective are the more pertinent one and will more likely dominate the discussion in the debate. By introducing it early, you will seem relevant till the end.
Of course reading more is better but are you reading like you’re preparing for a BP debate?

This article is contributed by;
Adiba Shareen Al’ Ayubi
Chair of WUDC 2009/2010 (Turkey)
Winner All-Asians Intervarsity Debating Championships2007

Malaysian Institute for Debate & Public Speaking (MIDP)
www.midp.com.my

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I’ll agree to the extend that there’s lots to cover, but that doesn’t mean you’ve got to spend all your time reading. The more important thing is to plan what you read, by knowing what you’re looking for rather than just read whatever you see.

The second thing we need to understand is that activities such as debating are based on communications. Which easily translates to this famous saying; “Practice makes perfect”. The difference between applying it to everything else you engaged in is that when it’s based on communications, anyone can master it. A good analogy is our everyday communications. A Malaysian will know or at least expected to be able to speak Malay and converse with others in the community on a daily basis. So everyone can learn to speak a particular language no matter how foreign it is. However, if the language is not spoken for a long time, you tend to slowly forget it. However, because its communications, the more you speak it, the better you get at it, no matter who you are. It’s different when you talk about football though, some people will never be able to make their school team no matter how much they train. The talent part of it is based on practice when it’s communications but more variables play a part when it’s something else, like Football or Ping-Pong.

So what has this got to do with reading less? Well, the idea of this article is to persuade you to make a realization that when reading as a competitive debater, it is more important for you to read a little everyday than to wait till it’s Sunday and spend 10 hours trying to keep up with what has happened all week. If only we are to test two debaters of similar match, one reading a little everyday while the other does 10 hours every Sunday, I’ll have my money on the former.

As a debater, you need to practice your thinking power, your ability to quote examples and respond dynamically to an unexpected question. What then is better than practicing all those and more by doing a little at a time but do it consistently. The best way to upgrade your manner is by speaking more, it’s just that with matter, loading up would need more than a Sunday a week.

In conclusion, I assure you, that reading half an hour a day is better than 10 hours a week! The latter is better than not reading at all though

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Prep is one of the most important aspects of debating. The guide below therefore represents an idea of how prep should work. The more important thing though is for debaters to take ideas and develop their own system of prep. That said, I hope this will be a good starting point.

Enjoy!

Prep should be divided into 3 sections and every section should last around 10 minutes (for 30 minutes prep).

Within the three sections, every debater play different roles, dividing responsibilities and optimizing the limited time that you have.

1- Role of the first speaker

1st speakers take 10 minutes to him/herself and starts building a case with points (roughly, in point form, all general stuff, outline)

2- The “bigger picture”

Look at the debate from the macro-level, the bigger picture, set the whole case with points, to do this, you must develop a system of thinking systematically and fast.

3- Role of the second speaker

2nd speaker uses the 10 minutes to prepare individually an opposition’s case. To do this, you should also develop a system of systematic thinking so that you can ask probing questions in a limited time.

Each speaker has to play an active role during prep

4- Role of the third speaker

3rd speaker should use the 10 minutes to ask strategic POIs as if it’s coming from the opposing side. Try to find as many as possible, and try to separate questions based on feasibility/mechanisms, principles, clarifications, etc. To try to be as relevant as possible, try to figure out what will possibly be the 3 big issues in this debate and try to ask probing questions into that issue.

5- Build a case that everyone can agree and defend

The next 10 minutes is time for you to work as a team, to build a case that you can all agree and defend. 1st speaker presents his case and reasons for it, 2nd and 3rd speakers will ask questions according to their respecting preceding individual roles. So 2nd could be asking rebuttal based questions and 3rd will be asking POIs that may damage the case. While doing this, all must bear in mind the time is limited and compromises and choices have to be made in fine tuning or adjusting your approach and reasons for the case you are now trying to create. While doing this, the 1st speaker should be jotting down and modifying the case according to what is agreed upon. In fact everyone should be jotting down so that they will not forget certain crucial facts and be sure that everyone is on the same page.

6- Constant reminding each other

In the last 10 minutes (although you may only have 5-6 minutes left because you were looking for venue, motion selection), The 1st and 3rd speaker should be setting the case up together while the 2nd speaker could try and prepare most of his speech. This should be done by constant reminders to each other if anything crosses you mind or if you find yourself unsure of certain positions.

7- Write final case on a new clean paper

The final agreed case should be done on a new piece of paper so that it’s not confused with earlier notes. It’s extremely crucial that your paper is clean and easy to read so that you don’t miss anything out.

8- Go through your case

All of you should go through your case a few times to avoid an obvious mistake of carelessness as a result of over-confidence or something.

It’s also important to go through it so that you are constantly refreshed about your case. This could help with ensuring consistency.

9- Remember an effective prep time plan

This will give you the extra edge over your prepared levels in comparison to your opponents.

You’ll almost automatically know what they are going to argue, thought of and argued out solutions to their concerns and forces your opponents to think more thoroughly within the allocated speech time, the kind of high level and systematic approach with somewhat lower levels of stress like what you did in prep.

The moment the opposition panics, you almost certainly have the debate.

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