Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Overview of Public
Forum Debate
Sides
In most other forms of debate, the debaters are assigned
sides before the round begins. In Public Forum Debate,
this is determined with a coin toss. The team that wins
the toss may choose which side of the resolution they
would like to defend or whether they would like to speak
first or second. Depending on which choice the winning
team makes, the team that has lost the coin toss makes
the remaining choice. For example, if the winning team
selects which side it wants to defend, then the losing team
chooses to speak either first or second. Strategies for the
coin toss are covered in Chapter 13.
Because debaters cannot always control the side of the
resolution they must defend, they must be prepared to
Speeches
The debate itself is broken down into a series of speeches
based on the speaking order selected during the coin toss.
This makes Public Forum Debate unique among debate
events in that the con, or negative, team may begin the
debate. Both teams and speakers alternate speeches until
the conclusion of the debate.
Public Forum Debate includes four types of speeches:
the constructive, the rebuttal, the summary, and the final
focus. It also includes three questioning periods, called
crossfires. The order of a PF round is as follows:
CONSTRUCTIVE SPEECHES
The constructive speeches are the teams first opportunity
to deliver and establish their prepared arguments, also
called a case. These speeches are typically fully scripted.
The first speaker from each team will read their case, which
will include evidence in support of or in opposition to
the resolution depending on the side of the team in any
given debate. Once the first speaker has finished, the first
speaker from the second team will stand and deliver their
case. Typically, no direct clash between ideas occurs at this
point in the debate. (Constructing individual arguments
for a Public Forum case is covered more thoroughly in
Chapter 3; a more comprehensive exploration of Public
Forum cases as a whole is provided in Chapter 7.)
REBUTTAL SPEECHES
After the first crossfire, the second speakers on each team
deliver the rebuttal speeches; this is the first opportunity
for each team to refute, or answer, the arguments made
by their opponents. In this four-minute speech, the speak-
ers are charged with disproving their opponents cases
with their own analysis or with evidence from third-party
sources. The first speaking teams rebuttal will focus on
refuting their opponents case; the second speaking teams
rebuttal must both refute their opponents case and also
respond to attacks made against their own case. (The pro-
cess of refutation and rebuttal is covered in Chapter 9.)
Speakers stand and address the judge during the rebuttal
speeches and speak extemporaneously from notes. After
the rebuttal speeches, the second speakers from each team
participate in the second crossfire period, which follows
the form and style of the first.
GRAND CROSSFIRE
Following the summary speeches, debaters participate in
the grand crossfire. The grand crossfire is very similar to the
other crossfires, except that all four debaters participate.
The debaters address one another and the judge but gen-
erally remain seated. The grand crossfire is notorious for
escalating tension, so all participants need to be mindful
of decorum. (Strategies and guidelines for grand crossfire
are provided in Chapter 8.)
FINAL FOCUS
The last speech of the debate is the final focus, which is
delivered by the second speaker. No new arguments may
be made in the final focus; instead, the speaker concen-
trates on analyzing the arguments that have been made
already and detailing for the judge why, on the merit of
those arguments, her team should win the debate. (The
final focus is addressed more fully in Chapter 10.)
Preparation Time
In addition to the eight speeches and three crossfire periods,
each team has two minutes of preparation time, usually
Rounds
Each tournament is structured differently, but most have
both preliminary rounds, sometimes called prelims, and
elimination rounds, sometimes called elims or break
rounds. Everyone in the tournament debates in the pre-
liminary rounds. At the beginning of the tournament,
teams are randomly matched against opponents. As the
KEY CONCEPTS