CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK - Rules of Debating

BARODA DEBATING SOCIETY
Where Great Minds Differ – In Civility


To prevent proceedings degenerating into a slanging match, a set of rules have been proposed for this forum of debating. They seem a little complicated at first, but once you’ve seen them in action you’ll see they’re pretty straightforward. They exist to keep an argument (more or less) civilised, they’re not there to intimidate anyone!
STRUCTURE OF THE DEBATE
Debates start with a motion, which takes the form ‘This House Would…’ or ‘This House Believes…’ or something similar. The debate is begun by the “table speakers” - three or four of them (thus named because they sit on each side of the table at the front of the room), who form two sides, the proposition and the opposition, each with three speakers. An Anchor of the Debate society chairs the debate and briefly introduces subject of the DEBATE and about the “ table speakers ”
A task of the proposition is to define the motion, and then persuade you (participants) to vote in favour of it. For example, if the motion was ‘This House Would Want Compulsory Voting in India’, proponents would need to tell the house exactly what they’re going to do with those who don’t vote – just make them non-conformists in a democratic society, or pack them off to a second grade treatment by working out disincentives, or perhaps line them up and shoot them !
Meanwhile, the task of the opponents is to tell you why the proposition is wrong. The opponents might offer you an alternative policy, or they might argue for the status quo.
Table speakers usually have five-six minutes each in which to make their case, with each proposition speech followed by an opposition speech. Of these five-six minutes, the first and last minutes are “protected time” (i.e. no one can interrupt), but during the middle three-four the audience may ask questions in the form of ‘points of information’ (see later on). The start and end of the protected time are indicated by a bell. Sometimes, if there is a really high-profile speaker, or if the debate is particularly explosive, the anchor may give the speakers up to seven minutes – but they’ll still only get 2 minutes protected time.
After up to 8 table speakers have had their say, the debate moves on to the most interesting bit, the floor speeches.
FLOOR SPEECHES
This is where you (rest of the participants) get your say. At this point, anyone present in the audience (”on the floor”) is welcome to make a speech (after obtaining a consent of the Anchor), either in support of the motion, against it, or if you don’t agree with what either side has said, you can speak in abstention too.
Floor speeches are limited to a maximum of three minutes in length, but if you just want to say a few words and make a short point, it’s fine to speak for only a few seconds. (Brevity will be appreciated !) Either way, the first and last thirty seconds are protected time, while in the middle two minutes, the audience may offer points of information.
Floor speaking is the perfect arena in which to hone your public speaking skills and your ability to think on your feet, and after each debate, a small prize is awarded to the best floor speaker. Speeches from the audience are what makes the debate dazzling, so go on, have a go! (Of course with maintaining a high civility quotient (revisit the tag line every time you are tempted to stray !) all through.
POINTS OF INFORMATION
Chances are that at some point during the debate, any particular participant ( an eager beaver !)may be bubbling with indignation at what someone has said. Don’t worry, outside the speaker’s protected time you don’t have to contain yourself, you can jump up (but don’t jump off the room of debate!) and make a point of information. Stand up and exclaim ‘Point of information!’ or something similar. The speaker isn’t obliged to listen to what you have to say, and may, with the permission of the Anchor, just tell you to sit down, but if they let you, you can ask a question or point out a fact that may have escaped the speaker’s attention. POIs should be kept short – they’re points, not speeches. 15 seconds is a real maximum.
POINTS OF ORDER
These are much more serious, and should be used with caution. A point of order is used when the rules and conventions of debating are being seriously broken. For example, if a speaker is being seriously offensive or rude to another speaker, a point of order might be raised. The chair ( Anchor of the Debate) then decides what action, if any, should be taken.
SUMMATION SPEECHES AND THE VOTE
After floor speeches are over, the debate returns to the table, for summation speeches lasting four minutes, one from each side. The opposition summates first, thus giving the proposition a final word in the debate. Summation speeches can’t be interrupted by points of information.
Finally, the crucial part of the debate is the vote. Voting is done by a show of hands, and you may vote for any one of proposition, opposition or abstention. If the proposition gets the most votes, the motion is carried, and if the opposition gets the most votes, the motion falls. Abstention votes (generally) can’t win – they are effectively meaningless – they’re just a protest vote.
After the vote has been announced and the floor speech prize awarded, proceedings move to the High Tea Lounge Area, where increasingly incoherent debate and socializing continues……..until frantic calls of searching enquiries from debaters’ homes!!!!! B’coz mobile phones can be switched on only after the formal proceedings of the Debate Society Meetings are over.
WHILE CONCLUDING…..
Every once a while if any speaker/participant strays (which is possible, after all we are humans) into a temptation to air his views/points in a slanging tone, please remember the tag line of this forum’s heading, which reads “ GREAT MINDS DIFFER – IN CIVILITY ”. If each one of us imbibes these words in letter and spirit, I am sure BARDOA DEBATING SOCIETY is destined to have an abiding existence.