General Tips by English Debate Gurukul. “General Tips” is the topic of today’s video. We are currently publishing a series called “Introduction to English Debating”. “General Tips” is the 17th class of our new series “Introduction to English Debating”. In this series, you will get to know all about English Debating.
General Tips
Important skills for debating
To meet the judge’s criteria you will have to develop certain skills, consider the following:
- Your points must be relevant to the topic.
- Provide evidence whenever you can and not your personal opinion.
- You must put aside your personal views and remain objective when you debate so your argument remains logical. You can be passionate about a topic but interest can turn into aggression and passion can turn into upset.
- Consider the audience’s attention span – make it interesting, for example, don’t just present lots of complicated statistics.
- Use rhetoric to persuade – consider using the three pillars of rhetoric:
- Ethos – the ethical appeal
- Pathos – the emotional appeal
- Logos – the logical appeal
- Use notes but keep them brief and well-organised. Use a different piece of paper for rebuttals.
- Similar to looking at conclusions to create rebuttals, think comparatively by asking yourself “How does my plan compare to what’s happening now/what would happen in the world if the other team won?” You can win the debate if you can make comparative claims about why your arguments matter more than the other team.
- Only tell jokes if you’re naturally good at it otherwise this can backfire.
- Flexibility is important because you might get allocated the side of the argument you don’t agree with. You’ll have to work hard to overcome your views. Also, use this insight to think of the potential arguments you might make and then plan for counterarguments.
Voice
- Speak clearly and concisely.
- You must talk fast enough to have the time to deliver your speech but slow enough so you can be understood.
- Project your voice to the back of the room.
- Incorporate dramatic pauses.
- Emphasize important words and vary your tone appropriately.
Confidence
- Have a relaxed pose and posture.
- Avoid filler words.
- Know your material.
- Emphasize using gestures and avoid nervous gestures.
- Maintain eye contact with the audience.
Language
- Keep your language simple to avoid confusion.
- Refer to the opposite side as: “My opponent”.
- When making a rebuttal say: “My opponent said…, however…”
- Don’t exaggerate – avoid the words “never” or “always” etc.
- Avoid saying that a speaker “is wrong”, instead say that “your idea is mistaken”.
What to avoid
- Falsifying, making up or altering evidence.
- Publicly disagreeing with the judges’ decision.
- Attacking a speaker rather than an idea.
- Acting aggressively or offensively towards debaters, judges, audience, etc.
- Interrupting other debaters as this can suggest that your argument isn’t very strong.
- Disagreeing with facts or obvious truths.
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