How Speech and Debate Works

Events and Categories

Speech and debate offers a wide variety of events, generally grouped into two main areas:

Debate Events

These are head-to-head contests focused on argumentation, research, and persuasion. Common formats include:

• • Policy Debate: Two-person teams debate complex policy issues with heavy research.

  • Lincoln-Douglas Debate: A one-on-one style emphasizing values and philosophy.

  • Public Forum Debate: Two-person teams discuss current events in a more accessible format.

  • Big Questions Debate: Individual or two-person teams debate broad, philosophical questions.

Speech Events

These focus on delivery, performance, and creativity. They include:

• • Original Oratory: Students write and deliver a persuasive speech on a topic of their choice.

  • Informative Speaking: Students teach the audience about a topic using evidence and visual aids.

  • Extemporaneous Speaking: Students prepare a short speech in 30 minutes on a current event question.

  • Interpretation Events (like Dramatic, Humorous, or Duo Interpretation): Students perform selections from plays, books, or speeches with acting and expression.

Student Participation

Students can choose to specialize in a single event, becoming deeply skilled in one area, or they can participate in multiple events across both speech and debate. This flexibility allows competitors to explore different strengths—some enjoy the fast-paced clash of debate, while others thrive in the creativity of interpretation or the structure of original speeches.

Tournaments and Progression

Throughout the season, students compete in local tournaments hosted by nearby schools. These tournaments give them valuable rounds of competition and feedback from judges. Success at the local level prepares students for the more competitive region tournament, where they must place highly to qualify for the state tournament. The state tournament is the culmination of the season, bringing together top competitors from every region to determine state champions in each event.

The Role of the NSDA

The National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) is the primary governing body for high school competition across the country. In addition to providing rules and resources for events, the NSDA runs a points system: students earn points every time they compete, based on participation and performance. These points add up over a student’s career and translate into levels of distinction (such as Merit, Honor, Excellence, Distinction, and Premier Distinction). By graduation, many students have achieved high levels of recognition that reflect their dedication and success in the activity.

General Debate Terms

• Resolution – The statement being debated (e.g., "Resolved: The United States should…").

• Affirmative (Aff) – The side supporting the resolution.

• Negative (Neg) – The side opposing the resolution.

• Constructive – The initial speech where debaters build their case.

• Rebuttal – A later speech focusing on refuting the opponent’s arguments.

• Cross-Examination (CX) – Period of questioning between debaters.

• Flowing – The specialized note-taking method used in debate to track arguments.

• Tagline – A brief label summarizing an argument or piece of evidence.

• Impact – The importance or consequence of an argument.

• Framework – The lens or set of values/principles for evaluating the round.

• Burden of Proof – The responsibility to prove one’s claims.

• Clash – Directly responding to the other side’s arguments.

• Ballot – The decision form judges complete after a round.

Types of Debate Events

• Policy Debate (CX) – Team debate emphasizing evidence, plans, and disadvantages

• Lincoln-Douglas (LD) – One-on-one debate focused on values and philosophy

• Public Forum (PF) – Two-on-two debate with accessible, public-centered topics.

• Congressional Debate (Congress) – Students simulate U.S. Congress by debating bills/resolutions.

• World Schools Debate (WSDC) – International style combining prepared and impromptu motions.

Evidence & Argumentation

• Card – A piece of evidence with a citation and excerpt.

• Cutting Cards – Selecting and formatting evidence for use in debate.

• Turn – Showing how an opponent’s argument actually supports your side.

• Drop – Failing to respond to an argument.

• Extension – Carrying forward an argument across speeches.

• Weighing – Comparing the importance of competing impacts (e.g., magnitude, timeframe, probability).

Speech & Delivery

• Extemporaneous Speaking (Extemp) – Limited prep speech using current events.

• Original Oratory (OO) – A memorized persuasive speech written by the competitor.

• Informative Speaking (Info) – A memorized educational speech, often with visual aids.

• Interpretation Events (Interp) – Performance-based categories (Dramatic, Humorous, Duo, Program Oral Interp).

• Casing – Developing a structured speech or performance.

• Blocking – Planned movement during an interp performance.

Tournament & Judging

• Flighted Rounds – Two debates scheduled in the same round time, back-to-back.

• Speaker Points – Scores awarded to debaters based on speaking quality.

• Rankings – Judge’s placement of competitors in individual events.

• Breaking – Advancing past preliminary rounds into elimination rounds.

• Bye – A round without an opponent (given automatically).

• Tabroom – The website that runs tournaments

• NSDA Points – Points awarded by the National Speech & Debate Association toward degrees of distinction.

Slang & Jargon

• Spread – Speaking very quickly to present more arguments (“spreading”).

• Dropped Argument – An argument not addressed, treated as conceded.

• Prep Time – Time allotted for teams to prepare between speeches.

• Kritik (K) – An argument critiquing underlying assumptions or ideologies in the resolution/case.

• Theory – An argument about the fairness or rules of debate itself.

• Permutation (Perm) – A test of whether both sides’ arguments can be combined.