Guide on Style �in Schools’ Debating

There is no one ‘style’ in debating – multiple different methods can be equally compelling.

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Speakers can be:

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• Calm & Clear
• Aggressive
• Emotional
• Humorous/Sarcastic

There are however techniques that can help a speaker’s style in a debate:

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• Confidence
• Written material/cue cards
• Voice
• Generate empathy
• Humour

Speakers should aim to be CONFIDENT:

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• Deliver speech with positive body language (e.g. standing tall in the room, not pacing around the room)
• Maintaining eye contact with the audience, not team mates or reading from notes
• Not taking long awkward pauses within a speech

Speakers should aim to use WRITTEN MATERIAL/CUE CARDS in a persuasive manner:

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• Use refill rather than cue cards
• Write out an outline of the speech (and individual points) but not word for word
• Write outline to allow for material to be added later
• Use hand gestures where effective

Speakers should aim to use VOICE in a persuasive manner:

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• Vary tone and pace of their speech, particularly when moving from different parts of the speech (e.g between substantive points)
• Short pauses can be an effective tool to gather the attention of the audience
• Place emphasis on particular words in a speech

Speakers should aim to use HUMOUR if possible within their speech:

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• Building blocks of humour include exaggeration, reversal, pantomime and irony
• Political or topical jokes can be useful
• Amusing pop-culture references, quotes or analogies
• Don’t be afraid of attempting to tell a joke

Speakers should aim to use EMPATHY:

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• Voice and facial gestures can be used to communicate emotion;
• Speaking slowly with a deeper lower voice can be an effective way to demonstrate that a judge should care about a point;
• Facial expressions and body language should demonstrate empathy.

The following are videos of different speakers from the World Schools’ Debating Championships which point out effective methods of style.��(Right click each image and click ‘open hyperlink” to view the video. Internet is required)

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This speaker has persuasive style because:

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• They speak slowly and calmly and are easy to follow
• They do not use cue cards and instead give direct eye contact to the audience
• They convey urgency in their voice when mentioning the state of the environment which conveys to the judge the importance of the environment
• When they move to a different issue of rebuttal, they pause and slow their pace which is effective to make the audience listen and make the speech less monotonous

This speaker has persuasive style because:

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• They start their speech by speaking slowly and build up pace throughout their introduction. This is effective in gaining the audience’s attention;
• They stand tall in the room which displays confidence;
• They stress words (such as “perpetuated”) and repeat words (such as “millions”) for rhetorical effect;
• They effectively use hand gestures to signify important sentences in their speech (and don’t overuse them such as the speaker in the previous video).