Welcome to Warwick

Debating Society!

The plan for today

Short

introduction to the British

Parliamentary debating format

Split

off into groups of eight

Have

a 3-5 minute speech debate

Feedback
Casual

from judges

drinks at the Dirty Duck

Announcements!

NAMDA Novice
When?
Who?

October 31st

All the novices!! (it is a novice only competition)

Where?

Lancaster

How

do I sign up? Facebook Group-->Pinned Post->Google Form

What

do we pay? Your reg fee +1/3 of your train

tickets costs

When

is the deadline? October 21st

WDU Debate
October 22nd
7PM MS.01

Firstwhy formal debating?

Speaking practice-builds confidence and presentation

skills

Develops on the spot critical thinking

Broadens knowledge/makes you aware of issues in the

world you might have not known about

Great for planning essays!

Ultimately, ITS A LOT OF FUN

Common fears

Ive

never debated before

Im very bad at public speaking

English is not my first language

Im not a fan of confrontation

Practice makes perfect!

Overview- BP format

Every round/game has a motion which will be

debated. An example motion to be debated is: This
House Would Pay Smokers to Quit Smoking

There are 4 teams involved in each debate. Each team

is composed of 2 speakers

All speeches are the same length

Teams

Out of the 4 teams, 2 are on the Government bench and 2 are on the
Opposition bench.

On Government bench:
Opening
Closing

Government(CG)

On Opposition bench:
Opening
Closing

Government(OG)

Opposition(OO)

Opposition(CO)

Despite there being benches, all 4 teams compete against each

other!

BOTTOM HALF

TOP HALF

Opening Government (OG)

Opening Opposition (OO)

1. Prime Minister

2. Leader of Opposition (LO)

3. Deputy Prime Minister

4. Deputy Leader of Opposition

(DLO)

Closing Government (CG)

Closing Opposition (CO)

5. Member of Government
(MG)

6. Member of Opposition (MO)

8. Opposition Whip (OW)

7. Government Whip (GW)

Points of Information(POIs)

Short interruptions in the speech of somebody on the opposing

side

Allowed only outside of protected time

Can be accepted(in which case you say the POI) or refused(in

which case you have to sit down) by the speaker
1 MIN

3 MINUTES

1 MIN

Structuring a speech

Don't forget
about this bit!

So...what are you going to say?

1. How many substantive points you are going to make
2. What those points are and briefly explain why they are
important
3. Explain that you are going to do rebuttal first, and how
many points you will have
4. Do rebuttal(you will learn about this soon)
5. Sign-post first substantive point
6. Explain first point
7. Do the same for the rest points
8. With about 15 seconds to go, summarise what you've said