Organization and persuasion

Many individuals new to debate will not understand the mechanical order and arragement, as well as presentation of debate speeches.

Because judges must listen to an hour of continuous dialogue which switches position on the topic every seven minutes, a highly organized and divided speaking presentation is paramount to communicating with an audience without losing them.

Each speaker must begin with a preview and introduction of the subject matter which will come forth in the next seven minutes. This should be substantive enough that the judge can foresee the subject of the forthcoming speech, but brief enough it does not obstruct the remaining material. Introductions ideally boil down the primary persuasive point of the speech into a short paragraph, identifying what the speaker's position on the topic is and why that position is justified. The preview, also called a roadmap, introduces each discrete block of argument with a single sentence or phrase, enabling the judge to identify the nature of each argument. The bulk of the speech is further divided into matter addressing previously raised arguments and matter further developing one's own individual position. Speeches finally end with a brief identification with the concepts raised throughout the speech and a final note about the strength of one's performance.

This last point is critical because it aides the judge in deciding how well each individual has performed -- if you can't determine yourself how you did compared to your competitors, why should your judges? This in fact the single best opportunity to convince your judge that you in fact provided the most persuasive and most important arguments, even if you didn't. While your judges may not have felt strongly about the arguments you made beforehand, identifying now why they are superior to the arguments of others forces the judge to compare the entirety of your arguments to the basis of what others argued and evaluate the comparison on the spot. Should your address be remotely convincing, they will absorb your advocacy of why your speech was superior.