Congressional

Debate Advice
from Isaac Slevin
National Circuit Competitor, Coach, and Judge
It’s important to balance speaking slow and fast,
sometimes one may try to pack in as much possible
into a three minute speech.

However, as tempting as it is, understand that the

more words you have, the less impact you provide
because it’s more difficult to follow cluttered
arguments.
A recommended and important drill to practice is to record yourself
giving a speech, either one you’re prepping for an upcoming tournament
or one you gave recently at a previous tournament. Watch the speech and
transcribe it in a Google Doc.

Your best critic is yourself. You’ll be able to see where you take up
necessary time and learn to cut that out when you’re writing future
speeches. This makes your arguments clearer, your cadence slower, giving
the time to enunciate each word and slow down for maximum effect.
Every argument should have:

- A one sentence claim

- A one sentence warrant
- A couple sentences per piece of evidence
- No more than two pieces of evidence, 95% of the time
- A strong impact that gets to the point
- It’s easy to inadvertently add verbiage and unnecessary
explanation but there’s always a way to say more than
with fewer words.
Vocal Variation. Important when impacting.

It’s difficult to follow real world impacts in arguments

when they are given in the same tone cadence and speed as
the rest of your arguments.

Slow down, change your tone, and alter your cadence.

When reading arguments off a In chambers of talented speakers and debaters,
computer or piece of paper, most vocally emphasizing the important parts of your
debaters sound like they’re giving Ted speech will make you stand out with both flow
Talks. (information) and lay (delivery) judges.

They sound knowledgeable about their

argument but when it comes time to
talk about its impact on a topic, their
voices stay the same.
“What I did to improve my vocal variation my senior year was isolate my arguments
evidence and impact. Then I’d deliver them. For evidence, unless it had an impact within
it, I focused on keeping my voice Ted Talk-y to sound fluent and knowledgeable. As I
transitioned into the impact, which was 2-4 sentences long. I’d slowly raise my voice,
taking pauses after the most impactful sentences. A timely pause in a round of speedy
speakers is extremely helpful. Then for the very last sentence, I’d drop my voice to
below its normal volume, creating a contest with the previous sentences that holds the
chamber’s attention. I would just practice that over and over again with different pieces of
evidence and different impacts, trying to control my tone and volume to maximum effect”
- Isaac Slevin