DOs and DO NOTs....Very General Lessons from the Saturday Debate...Review Part 2

I will not take names in this Article at all, unless absolutely necessary. I have been into public speaking for a long time now. If not practicing it directly for particular phase, at least related to it indirectly. For this reason more than anything else, I respect it and take great pride in it. There are few things that need to be understood about the art of debating. It is probably the most difficult and in more ways than one, the most coveted public speaking prize that we have at the level of college competition. People must understand, and this refers to the Saturday Debate, that decorum is an essential part of the proceedings. By this I do not mean that there shouldn't be argument. A debate would be a needless activity if didn't actually debate in the true sense of the word. But doing it, without respect for the opponent attempt speaks volumes of a person's immaturity.
lesson number 1 : Do Not cross Question unnecessarily. You will lose the confidence of the moderator as well as the audience
lesson number 2 : Do not be stupid with rebuttle, you will make a fool of yourself, and get your opponent in a very strong position.
lesson number 3 (very prejudiced opinion) : SHOW RESPECT FOR FEMALE OPPONENTS, BEING RUDE IS UNCOOL. Being caustic is still acceptable. Most judges will destroy you for this without even realizing it themselves

We didn't have a lot of time to prepare and there were a lot of bloopers with the team formation, given the logistics of getting 4 member teams together in the first place, so the judges allowed paper reading in this case

Lesson number 4 : Do not read from the paper. That's the job of a newsreader. Even if you keep a paper with you, know your place on the page so that you can look at the audience most of the time, and still refer to your sheet in case of blooper...BE WILLING TO IMPROVISE

Lesson Number 5 : Please be creative with content. CREATIVE is the keyword. One point repeated again and again in different rhetorical styles in not going to win you favours. If you can't convince them, confuse them will not work with a judge who is even half listening to what you're trying to put across

Lesson Number 6 : We let people off, but in a professional debate, while taking ideas from the internet is obviously allowed, picking up rhetorics straight off the net from someone else's speech is classified as PLAGIARISM.

Lesson Number 7 : As long as you follow all the above, treat it like a debate, draw blood, be passionate. That is the only way to be honest to this art