Preparation time and Positions

1. Preparation time and Positions

2. What are we covering? • Preparation time • Summations • Extensions • First half of the table • (For anyone who is new to training this should be a useful session and will hopefully cover some things you might have missed earlier in the year)

3. Preparation time • There are 3 ways to prepare and I’ve named them for ease of reference: • The interactive method. • The individualist method. • The combined method. • There are also 3 stages to each method, all three have the same stages and we’ll look at each in detail, they are: • Idea generation • Idea comparison • Argument construction

4. The stages (Idea generation) • Idea generation is the stage in which you come up with ideas, potentially alone or possibly with your partner. • When preparing it is just fact that once you have heard what someone else believes the debate is about you will start to think of points based on that concept. • However, if you haven’t heard any concepts you will likely generate your own ideas and therefore your own substantive points. • This leads to two possible methods of idea generation…

5. Idea generation • Option 1 is to not communicate with your partner -it sounds backwards but bear with me- this will force you to come up with your own ideas. • This is advantageous because we all have our areas of specialist knowledge, this means your points will be based on a different concept to your partners and thus you will have a large number of points to use in the debate. • Option 2 is to communicate with your partner from the start of preparation time. • This is advantageous in situations where one or both speakers know nothing about the subject, if one speaker knows nothing about the motion there is no point in them trying to come up with points on their own.

6. Idea generation • The idea generation stage should take no more than 5 minutes, but be aware that it is totally acceptable to come up with an idea after this point and that 5 minutes is just a guideline. • It is usually advantageous to go with option 1, this allows you to have the most options when it comes to entering the second stage… Idea comparison.

7. Idea comparison • The idea comparison stage of your preparation time is the bit where you communicate with your partner. • You will do a number of things in this stage: • Firstly you will explain your points to your partner and you will each make a note of the other person’s points. • Secondly you will decide on a “case line”, this is the theme of your speeches; what stance you are taking. • Thirdly, after deciding on a case line, you will know which points are good and which are bad. • Finally you will want to divide up the points you have decided will win you the debate or alternatively if you are second half you will move to the next stage.

8. Idea comparison • There are a couple of other things you can do in the idea comparison stage: • Decide which points you think the other team will bring up and come up with arguments against them. • Start to come up with POIs that you think will be applicable. (we will talk about this a lot on Monday in advanced training) • This stage should take up to 5 minutes, again this is just a guideline and each debate you are in will vary.

9. Argument construction • The final stage of your preparation time is fairly obvious, this is where you start to flesh out your points with analysis. Generally I wouldn’t advise communicating in this stage unless there is something you have missed, the other person is probably frantically writing their speech. • The amount of time you spend on this stage is dependant on a couple of things, your position and how long you spent on the other stages. • If you are in second half you can spend less time on this stage and your extension speaker can write their speech whilst the debate is happening, if you are in first half I recommend up to 5 minutes.

10. The methods • Interactive • The interactive method will have a very short individual prep period if any at all, most of the preparation time will be taken up by the idea comparison period and the argument construction period. • Idea generation: ~1 minute • Idea comparison: ~8 minutes • Argument construction: ~6 minutes

11. The methods • Individualist • The individualist method of preparation will consist of a very large idea generation and argument construction period and a very short idea comparison period, this is useful if it’s a debate that you have done before with your partner. • Idea generation: ~7 minute • Idea comparison: ~2 minutes • Argument construction: ~6 minutes

12. The methods • Combined • The combined method is the happy middle ground, it’s usually the best method to choose and if you are new to debating or an old hand this will serve you well. It’s advantage is that you will have a well rounded, well thought out speech. • Idea generation: ~5 minute • Idea comparison: ~5 minutes • Argument construction: ~5 minutes

13. How to prepare on your paper • At this point you might have noticed that you have been writing for about 10 of the 15 minutes worth of preparation time you are given, this is because notes are invaluable to debating. • When writing down your notes in preparation time it is useful to try and make a flow chart that will easily show you the logical progression of your points. • Conversely it is a bad idea to write word for word what you are going to say, notes and headings are generally a much better approach.

14. The page • Why the United Nations has an unreliable army. • The UN receives most of it’s troops from developing nations, this makes it unreliable. • The United Nations troops  nations like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria. • Nature of troops  unreliable. • Troops from developing nations  simplistic training  carry out atrocities  rape. • Problem because UN seen as bad at job. • Troop unreliability  UN unreliable.

15. The debate itself • Now that we’ve covered the issue of how to prepare for the debate, we’ll look at some of the ways you can improve your performance in the different positions in the debate. • Summation speeches are the most under-rated, they are also possibly the most powerful speech in any debate; they can change the direction of the debate in an instant, and we’ll look at how. • There are a few basics we need to cover before we begin…

16. Summation (The basics) • No new substantive arguments can be added by this speaker. • The speaker should bias their points in favour of their side. • The speaker should bias in favour of second half of the debate. • The speaker should try and find the clash within the debate.

17. Summation • There are a few ways you can structure your summation speeches; Chronologically, Proposition the opposition or by theme. • Easily the best method is by theme, so we’ll concentrate on that so you know what to aim for. • When summarizing the debate by theme you are required to look at the arguments presented and pick out the main themes…

18. Summarizing by theme • The way to do this is simple, you look for the most talked about (or most important) issues and you group them together into groups and these groups become your themes. • Your themes then become the titles for your points. • They are your “points of clash” or put simply the bits where your side disagreed with the other side and why your side was right. • The material in the “points of clash” should be drawn primarily from your partners speech, unless it wasn’t important.

19. Defensive or aggressive? • When you summate a debate you will want to attack the other side whilst simultaneously defending your side. You could consider a summation speech as 5 minutes of rebuttal and answering rebuttal. • When you explain why what your side said was good that is defensive summation. • When you explain why what their side said was bad that is aggressive summation. • Aggressive summations are always better, but always make sure you plug any gaping holes in your side’s case at the same time.

20. How to be defensive • When your opponents have put holes in parts of your side’s case your job is to plug them up. • You are able to give new analysis in summation but you can’t give new information. This means if there is a big hole in one of your side’s main points you can add new analysis to fix it but you can’t make it into a completely new point. • You can (but it may be a bad choice) tactically choose to leave holes in the points that first half of the table made, this allows you to focus on making what your partner said watertight.

21. How to be aggressive • An aggressive summation is essentially 5 minutes of rebuttal, you take their points and you show step by step why points your side have made make them invalid. • The best way of doing this is to say “1st proposition have told us X but clearly when my partner told you Y it proved this wrong for reason Z” • You can add new analysis here (where Z is) as long as you reference back to your partner, in this way the information seems like a repeat of what your extension said.

22. How to summate on paper • I’ve stolen this from Warwick, they’ll forgive me…

23. Stuff summation can do • Summation doesn’t have to come up with any points during or before the debate, so the summation speaker should: • Give the extension speaker points. • Give the extension speaker rebuttal to use. • Give a lot of POIs. • Spend their preparation time coming up with rebuttal and POIs. • Not give away what your extension speaker is going to be talking about in a POI.

24. Extension • Extension is one of the easiest positions to be in the debate, you get the maximum amount of time to prepare your points and you know which points are going to be relevant well in advance of your speech. • Not only that but you have two people coming up with points during preparation time and only one speech to fill. • Extension speakers can either add entirely new information or extend on something that has already been said in a new or better way, but before we talk about this lets cover the basics…

25. Extension(The basics) • The extension speaker: • Adds new information to the debate. • Adds new analysis to the debate. • Rebuts the speaker directly before them as well as the first half. • Should not be afraid to scrap sections of their speech and write new points once the debate gets underway. • DOES NOT CONTRADICT THE FIRST TEAM FROM THEIR SIDE… • (Or at least not blatantly)

26. Extension • In extension you have the advantage of seeing the debate unfold before speak, this gives you a huge insight into which points are good. • You should add new information in such a way that it pokes holes in the other team’s case. • If the first half of the table has made a good point badly you are totally within your right to steal it and make it well. • If your points are extensions not new, make sure you flag them.

27. Contradicting without er… contradicting • It is sometimes the case that you will be in extension and the first half of the table on your side will have lost their minds. • Perhaps they have told you that Somalia is in South America and Brazil wont be happy with the increased refugees from and intervention. • If this happens you are encouraged to put the debate back on track, a good way might be to say “We think first half had some great points but we think these principles can be equally applied to Africa…”

28. Even if • It is sometimes the case that either the first half of the table from your side has been destroyed or possibly they have talked utter rubbish, obviously it’s a bad idea to follow their example however you can’t contradict them. • In this situation a useful tool in extension is the “even if” argument. • “We think first half has given you a convincing case as to why out opposition is wrong, but even if we accept that they are right –which we don’t- these principles still apply…”

29. First half of the debate • It’s just true that the 2nd 3rd and 4th speaker in every debate has a similar job, but there are a couple of interesting pointers I can give you to make your lives easier in first half. • Firstly 1st proposition 1st speaker should define every possibly ambiguous term in the debate, they should also give a convincing mechanism. • There is no point in giving an amazing speech and forgetting the basics, you’ll end up in a debate about the mechanism and the points you made will be lost.

30. First half teams generally • First half teams need to create clash, quickly. The second half teams have the advantage of seeing you play your hand up to twenty minutes before they play theirs, this gives them a huge ability to point out or create clash in a way you don’t have. • You can avoid this to some extent by giving the best and most relevant material to the first speaker in your team. (top loading) • This technique forces clash on important points early on, and if you can create clash early your points are more than likely to be the ones talked about during the debate.

31. First half teams generally • Top loading can sometimes mean that your second speaker has very little material to work with. • This is fine, the clash which you create from the top load should provide you with enough rebuttal to make into points. For this reason it is sometimes useful to only have one point written down as second speaker, then write the rest in their speeches. • Another tip is to show presence in the debate once it reaches bottom half. If you have created clash there is a large chance that your points are still relevant, if that is the case then POI second half and force them to engage with your material.

32. And a quick final word about speaker order • Generally it is the case that more experienced speakers can come up with rebuttal easier, for this reason they should always speak second. It also allows you to shore up any holes a less experienced speaker might leave whilst still giving them the most important points. • After a while you will come to prefer a specific speech in each position, that’s fine just make sure you can do every speech at a push. • Find a debating partner, this will allow you to develop strengths.