Debating is about developing your communication skills.

It is about
assembling and organizing effective arguments, persuading and
entertaining an audience, and using your voice and gestures to convince
an adjudicator that your arguments outweigh your oppositions. Debating
is not about personal abuse, irrational attacks or purely emotional
appeals.

A debate is held between two teams of three members each. These two
teams will be referred to as the Affirmative and the Negative. Members of
each team are assigned positions as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd speakers. For each
debate, a motion is given. After the motion is given, teams are given thirty
(30) minutes to prepare for each debate.

Each of the speakers will deliver a substantial speech of seven (7) minutes
duration and either the 1st or the 2nd speaker on both sides will deliver
the reply speeches for their teams. Reply speeches will be five (5)
minutes.

AFFIRMATIVE TEAM.

The job of the affirmative team is to agree with (or 'affirm') the motion
(topic). It will consist of three speakers. The affirmative team will speak
first in the debate in Substantive Speech session. But in the Reply Speech
session, the Affirmative team speaker will speak after the Negative team
reply speaker. Each speaker in the team should fulfill the role of that
speaker. At the end of the debate the team should observe debating
etiquette. The team should sit on the right hand side of the chairperson.
The seating arrangement is (from nearest to the chairperson): 1st, 3rd,
2nd. This is to make it easier for the first and second speakers to pass
rebuttal material to the third speaker.
NEGATIVE TEAM.

The job of the negative team is to disagree with (or 'negate') the motion
(topic). It will also consist of three speakers. The negative team will speak
last in the debate in substantive speech session. But in the Reply Speech
session, the Negative team speaker will speak first before the Affirmative
team reply speaker. Each speaker in the team should fulfill the role of that
speaker. At the end of the debate the team should observe debating
etiquette. The team should sit on the left hand side of the chairperson.
The seating arrangement is (from nearest to the chairperson): 1st, 3rd,
2nd. This is to make it easier for the first and second speakers to pass
rebuttal material to the third speaker.

CHAIRPERSON.

The role of the chairperson is to control the debate. She or he should sit
between the two teams.

The duties of a chairperson are 1) to announce the names of the teams

which are participating. 2) to open the debate by welcoming all the
attendants 3) to introduce all the debaters by calling the debaters one by
one. He or she should then 4) to announce the motion (topic) of the
debate, 4) and to mention the names of all adjudicators in the debate.

Then, she or he should tell the speakers and the audience the debate
format used in the debate. It also explicitly mentions how long each
speech will be for, giving the minimum and maximum times, and calling
upon the Timekeeper to demonstrate the sound of knock.

The chairperson should then welcome the first speaker of the affirmative
to open the debate.

After that speaker has concluded his or her speech, the chairperson
should then wait for the adjudicator's (if there is only one adjudicator) or
Chief Adjudicator's (if there is a panel of adjudicators) nod to proceed and
then to welcome the next speaker (the first speaker of the negative team).

This process should continue throughout the debate in the following order:

In Substantive Speech Session:

1st Affirmative.

1st Negative.

2nd Affirmative.

2nd Negative.

3rd Affirmative.

3rd Negative.

In Reply Speech Session:

1st Negative Reply Speaker

1st Affirmative Reply Speaker

At the end of the debate the chairperson should do one of the following.

1) If there is only one adjudicator, the chairperson should wait until that
adjudicator indicates his or her readiness and then announce the
adjudicator to give the result of the debate.

2) If there is a panel of adjudicators, the chairperson should announce that

the adjudicators are going to retire for some minutes (5 minutes
maximum) for a short meeting to consider their decisions. The
adjudicators will then leave the room. When they return, the chairperson
should (a) call the adjudicators one by one to give his or her oral
adjudication and announce the winner in the debate or (b) to let the chief
adjudicator to give oral adjudication and announce the team won the
debate.

The chairperson's role in the debate is now over.

TIMEKEEPER.

As the name suggests the timekeeper keeps the time in a debate. This
means that he or she times how long each speakers speaks and rings a
bell (a knock) to indicate that certain amounts of time have passed.

To ensure fairness in a debate each speaker is given a maximum time that

he or she is allowed to speak for. This is generally expressed as X minutes
and Y seconds, For example "the speaking times for tonight's debate will
be 4 to 6 minutes".

The standard equipment of the timekeeper is:

1 digital stopwatch

(an analogue one will do but it is much more difficult to use).

1 bell.

(if a bell is not available a glass and spoon is good, although hit the glass
with care. Or rapping something hard, for example knuckles, against a
desk is also good. Whatever is chosen it should be very clear and obvious,
many a nervous speaker has failed to hear a bell because it was too soft.)

Pen and paper.

(at the end of the debate the adjudicator will need to know exactly how
long each speaker spoke for. This should be recorded during the debate
and handed to the adjudicator after the last speaker has spoken.)

At the start of the debate the chairperson will call upon the timekeeper to
demonstrate the bell. In five minutes debating, the indication of 3 minutes
speaking having expired should be given by one knock (or a tap of the
desk etc.) and the indication of 5 minutes speaking having expired should
be given by two knocks (taps of the desk etc.). The grace time is 20
seconds; so at 5 minutes and 20 seconds there must be a continuous
knock. A sample of timing and knocking indication must be given during
the chairperson's introductory remarks and should be used consistently
throughout the debate tournament.

VENUE.

A debate can be held just about anywhere from a school classroom to the
stage in any stadium or a hall. In all cases the actual part of the room
used for the participants in the debate is the same and is laid out
according to the following diagram:
If you look at it, the affirmative team sits on the right whereas the
negative team sits on the left, and the chairperson accompanied with the
timekeeper sits in the middle.

The adjudicator will sit with the audience (at the bottom of the diagram)
as she or he is supposed to see the debate as the audience does. When
the adjudication is delivered, however, the adjudicator will come to the
front of the room and address all present.

When speaking, a speaker should come out from behind the desk and
stand in front of the people (the teams, the adjudicators and the
audience) and the chairperson together with the timekeeper sits behind
the speaker.

ADJUDICATOR.

The adjudicator decides the outcome of the debate. There may be one
adjudicator or adjudicators may sit as a panel (always an odd number).
The adjudicator does not bring with him or her any expert knowledge of
the topic, always presuming the average knowledge of the average
person, but will bring expert knowledge on debating. The adjudicator will
give marks each speaker according to the prescribed rules of scoring
available. If you still have to go that far, then a printed information is
available, including the SMK ENGLISH DEBATING HANDBOOK which can be
purchased from the Foreign Language Installation of VEDC Jakarta for the
price of Rp. 100.000 per copy (complete with a copy in VCD).

AUDIENCE.
The role of the audience is to enjoy the debate. The audience should
applaud as each speaker is announced, as each speaker finishes speaking
and when the result of the debate is announced. The audience should
participate as any polite audience would, applauding, laughing and so on
at appropriate times. The chairperson may ask any poorly behaved
audience member to leave the room.

ETIQUETTE.

Like many similar activities, there are established forms of good behavior
in debating.

While a speaker is speaking, she or he has the floor and, unless debating
in an Australasian Parliamentary Style, it should not be interrupted. This
includes comments interjected by the audience or other speakers as well
as disruptive behavior from the other team or the audience.

In the name of fairness, speakers should sit down soon after their
maximum time has expired. In some competitions a continuous knock is
sounded after the speaker spends 5 minutes 20 seconds.
At the end of the debate the losing team's captain should stand and
congratulate the winning team publicly, thanking to them for the debate.
The winning team's captain should thank to the other team, the debating
officials (chairperson, timekeeper and adjudicator(s) and the audience.
Both teams should then shake hands.

It is considered poor sportsmanship to argue with the adjudicator about

the result. If a gross breach of debating rules has been enacted then a
formal appeal can be given, in writing, to the Chief Adjudicator. Otherwise
discussions with the adjudicator should be to clear up any unclear points
or to get some debating tips. Adjudicators are very happy to give such
advice.
ADVANTAGE

Allows one to see a different point of view

DEBA
TE

1. Why a chairperson/MC is very important in a debate?

2. Why the position of each speaker are very close to each other?

3. HOW TO DO A REBUTTAL IN A DEBATE