- 1). Gather a group of four people who want to participate in debating. Two teams will each have two people. If you plan to hold the debate in front of a classroom or student body, schedule the time for the class or school calendar in advance.
- 2). Choose a judge or a team of judges. Judges can be instructors, professors of another class or school, recognized debate professionals, recognized community members or anyone who can remain unbiased about the participants.
- 3). Print out a scoring sheet for the judge(s) to use when the debate time arrives. Another approach is to print multiple sheets and let an entire class or large group of students keep score as well as to have an official judge.
- 4). Select a moderator. This person is sometimes also the adjudicator, but it's good to have someone else keep track of time for speeches, as well as to keep the event on track overall and to keep emotions in check.
- 5). Decide on a topic for the debate. The topic must be one with pros and cons or at least two possible points of view. For example, debate topics can include global warming, paying taxes, genetically modified foods, alternative health, college versus the work force, stay-at-home dads, and thousands more. Select one and let the two teams define and approve it.
- 6). Assign an overall debate time, such as 30 minutes or one hour. Set limitations for speeches, such as 4 minutes for opening comments from each team, then 3 minutes to present each point, and 3 minutes for rebuttals. Write up the "rules" of the debate so all participants know the requirements.
- 7). Set up the space where the debate will be held. Individual podiums are ideal, facing the intended audience. However since only one person speaks at any given time, having one podium is fine. Have chairs for all participants when not speaking. Also provide a separate desk or table for the judge(s) and moderator. Glasses of water, notepads and pencils are additional touches you can provide. A clock and stopwatch should be available as well.
- 8). Begin the debate with an introduction by the moderator or host of the program. (In some cases, several debates are scheduled back to back.) Members of the teams may be introduced and the topic is declared. Stay fully on schedule.
- 9). The moderator invites the first speaker to offer opening remarks about the topic from her perspective. Then the opposing team offers opening remarks. Next follows the actual debate, with teams going back and forth in timed speeches to share their thoughts on the subject. Rebuttals follow each group of speeches from both sides.
- 10
Tally scores from the judge(s) to determine the "winner" of the debate. Winners are decided (scored) by their preparedness, their manner when speaking, their language and ability to convey their ideas, and the relevance and appropriateness of their arguments.
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