DAV (Debaters Association of Victoria) HELP!

[joseph_wu]

Hey guys,

Kinda new to this ATARnotes thing, hope I'm posting in the right section. Now to be honest, I'm not a great debater and somehow have ended up in this debating competition in Victoria.
We have 5 topics to debate, 3 of which are secret debates. I am wondering how on earth you can possibly argue any points in a secret debate without solid facts or points supporting your argument. Is it all opinion based? If anyone has participated in a secret debate previously, could you please tell me how it runs down?

[nerdmmb]

Hey guys,

Kinda new to this ATARnotes thing, hope I'm posting in the right section. Now to be honest, I'm not a great debater and somehow have ended up in this debating competition in Victoria.
We have 5 topics to debate, 3 of which are secret debates. I am wondering how on earth you can possibly argue any points in a secret debate without solid facts or points supporting your argument. Is it all opinion based? If anyone has participated in a secret debate previously, could you please tell me how it runs down?

Hi Joseph,
Last year I began debating and so far I've participated in 2 secret topic debates. It's no different to a normal debate other than the fact that you'll need to really work on your speed.

You'll need to arrive at the venue an hour earlier- so for example if your debate begins at 8pm, you'll need to be there at 7pm. My advice would be to arrive at least an hour and a half earlier so you can converse with your friends, and really kill the nerves.
The topic will then be revealed and all teams will rush back to their allocated rooms to prepare their speeches.

Out of the 2 secret topic debates that I've participated in, I won one and lost one.
In the debate that I won, our team worked together very well. We tried to discuss the topic and briefly outline our points so that it is not repeated. Then in the remaining 45 minutes, we began writing up our speeches. Meanwhile the third speaker began preparing a few possible rebuttals by considering the opposing teams points. I happened to be the third speaker. What I also tried to do was sum up my teams points so that during the debate, I was focusing solely on rebuttals which you should be doing.

Teamwork is key. Make sure that your teammates do not become too dependent on you and that you also don't depend on them too much. It's important that each of you work fast and work hard and to avoid distracting one another.

Those who finished writing their speeches earlier began practising in the room while the other team members completed their speeches.

You are permitted to bring along 2 classmates/friends to assist you while you are preparing your speeches.

My recommendations would be to also bring along some newspapers just for reference and of course just in case, the topic is political.
Also, if you struggle with writing a speech in an hour, then try to jot down points and improvise on the spot. Don't speak too fast- a strategy our team always uses is that when one of us gets up, the other team members cough twice to signal to them to correct their pace.

Also, try asking your friends to think of some possible rebuttals as well. Even the first speaker otherwise it may really hinder the quality of your speech.

Overall, just enjoy it. It's a really challenging (in a fun way) and extremely helpful skill to have- to be able to write a speech so quick and present it.

Also try to double check whether your team is affirmative or negative because usually teams are unaware and so only get provided with an extra 20 minutes to prepare new speeches.
But enjoy the experience and regardless of whether you win or not, remember that this is a highly rewarding and unique experience that will be very helpful.

You could also, for full preparation, try doing a practise debate at school whereby the teacher reveals a secret topic and you debate- it will help you to further improve your teams performance!

Good luck and please feel free to pm me for any other questions
 

[pi]

I am wondering how on earth you can possibly argue any points in a secret debate without solid facts or points supporting your argument.

If you keep up with the news etc. and have a general interest in current issues, there are plenty of arguments in your head

Then in the remaining 45 minutes, we began writing up our speeches.

I respectfully disagree here, for A and B Grade, writing "speeches" is a bad idea. Not saying I was a great debater in my time (not as good as my younger bro) but you should really be constructing a set of key points. Whether that be on cue cards on on loose A4 paper, it's up to you. I'd say you've wasted a LOT of time writing a speech. From what I have seen, the top teams do not write speeches.

then try to jot down points and improvise on the spot.

ie. this is the sign of a good debater.


Ok, how I would spend the time with my team assuming 1 hour:
10min - brainstorm. We had 4 people in the room, whoever knew the topic best on the day would debate it. Brainstorm for ideas, both on our side and on the other side, just make a list of arguments.
15min - have a discussion about what points are the most important from the pool of arguments you have. Decide who gets what points. Each speaker should ideally have a couple of points each.
Rest - two people on each speaker role, one person assisting the speaker in fleshing out their arguments. Personally I liked having a few A4 pages for my points and I'd just loosely write the order of what I wanted to say. Write a few key words or facts, some terms that were important to mention etc. Nothing close to a formal speech though, or even formal dot-points. If you have time, you can rattle off a quick speech of your positive material to your partner.

I'm not a fan of "pre-made-rebuttal", I think it's pretty cheap and largely ineffective against quality opposition.

[cute]

You've all covered pretty much everything, but I'm just wondering what Grade you're in for debating and what venue? I've got a debate coming up and it'd be interested if we were going to the same one.

[joseph_wu]

You've all covered pretty much everything, but I'm just wondering what Grade you're in for debating and what venue? I've got a debate coming up and it'd be interested if we were going to the same one.

Hey, sorry for the VERY late reply :S I'm actually in the Ringwood region of the B grade. I can see that you attend Nossal High School, so I believe you are in another region. However, maybe if both our teams get into the finals of our region, we might be able to see each other!

[EvangelionZeta]

At a high school level you shouldn't really need to know many facts beyond what you might read in the newspaper on the front page to do debates well.  Logic is key.  I'm more than happy to help people out here if they want some advice on how to do specific debating motions - I currently coach the top-ranking team in the ACT high school competition :p