Im kinda nervous...

This website tells you more than I'd ever be able to write here. Some great stuff:

http://debate.uvm.edu/default.html

Also, the guidelines to this very website are good:
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2595

If you follow those guidelines and the opposition doesn't good judges should give you points just for being more professional...

But I wouldn't get too deep into all the above one day prior to the debate.

Be confident, get a lot of sleep, review your information. When possible, use the other side's information against them. Quite effective and unsettling to the opposition.

Thats all I'm sayin for now....Good Luck! :wink:

Thanks alot!

Good Luck!

The most important thing to remember in order to have a successful debate is to listen. Most arguments carry within them their own counterarguments, and a keen listenenr can pick them out and fling them back in the debater's face.

Not sure what kind of a debate you are going to have, but in school we have two kinds- extempore and the debates where you are made known the topic a week in advance. For the last six years, I have been a regular participant in the latter.


Now, what my experience has taught me:

1.If you have a debate a week ahead, practice everyday that week for two hours.
2. First begin by reading through the material a few times. Do the initial work, enunciate any meanings that are unclear, get all pronounciations right.
3.Now, you got to learn.
4.When you practice, keep a bottle by hand and practice non-stop, if the debate is timed, use a stop watch.
5.A day before.....Relax, breathe deeply
6.Record your debate in audio form, play it and see where you get voice modifications wrong.
7.When you plunge into bed, for a nights nap, recite the whole speech out in your mind.
8.Visualize

Do your best!

and yes, if you flunk your speech in the middle, just take a deep breath.....that works in those critical moments, i know!

No need giving suggestions NOW. How did it go?