Public Forum Division Rules/Expectations:
Public Forum’ is NEDA’s unique pre-prepped debating competition!
Public Forum is a partnered debate event, with a predetermined topic voted on by the membership prior to each semester. While teams will often prepare their arguments beforehand, Public Forum debaters should not read directly from a manuscript or memorize their speeches word-for-word; instead, an extemporaneous speaking style, where notes/evidence contribute to your familiarity with your argument, enables spontaneous, conversational dialogue, and an ability to respond to the evolving line of argument throughout the debate
The debate is to be treated as a pre-policy debate. There are no policy requirements even if the resolution is phrased as a policy resolution. All debates should focus on if the resolution is true or false and should be judged using that same standard.
Debaters may quote research to support their claims or use common knowledge/reasoning to support their claims. Quoted material should not carry more weight than in an argument using common knowledge/reasoning just because it is quoted.
Teams will always be assigned as either Affirmative or Negative by the tournament scheduler. At most tournaments, the Affirmative team will automatically go first; in some tournaments, however, teams will flip a coin at the start of the round to determine whether Aff or Neg is ‘team A.’
The first 4 speeches are an opportunity for a team to establish, clarify, and defend their position while undermining the stand taken by the opposing team. The final 4 speeches involve summary and typing up loose ends – new arguments should not be offered during the final 4 speeches.
- This doesn’t mean the final 4 speeches are mere repetition of things already said; extending constructive positions and responding is essential and not considered a new argument.
- Both teams have 2 minutes of prep time to use throughout the speech; it’s assumed that neither team will use prep time before a crossfire dialogue.
Public Forum Format:
- First Affirmative Speaker (1A) – 4 minutes
- First Negative Speaker (1N) – 4 minutes
- First Crossfire (1A & 1N) – 3 minutes
- Second Affirmative Speaker (2A) – 4 minutes
- Second Negative Speaker (2N) – 4 minutes
- Second Crossfire (2A & 2N) – 3 minutes
- Affirmative Summary (1A) – 2 minutes
- Negative Summary (1N) – 2 minutes
- Grand Crossfire (ALL) – 3 minutes
- Affirmative Final Focus (2A) – 1 minute
- Negative Final Focus (2N) – 1 minute
