South Dakota Forensic Coaches Association
Leadership in Speech Activities

The Newest Debate Division: "Public Forum Debate"

"Public Forum Debate" uses current controversial topics suitable for public forum debate. Research can be accomplished by reading newspapers and magazines and by regular Internet searches.

Sample Topics:

• Airline pilots should be armed in the cockpit (November 2002 topic).
• The United States is losing the War on Terror (January 2004 topic).
• The U.S. should drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (January 2003 topic).
• SAT scores should not be used as a basis for college admissions.
• The Bush tax cuts should be made permanent (December 2002 topic).
• The death penalty should be abolished in the United States (February 2003 topic).

Format/Time Limits:

• Two speakers per team
• Teams flip a coin to decide who speaks on which side of the issue and who speaks first.

A round between teams from White River and Faulkton could go as follows:

White River wins the coin flip, chooses the negative/con side; Faulkton chooses to speak last

(2 minutes preparation time for each team = 33 minutes total time for one round)

Read more detailed guidelines for Public Forum/Ted Turner debate from the National Forensic League (at NFL website -- .pdf format requires Acrobat Reader)

Update your rule books! Rule Changes for the 2003-2004 season.

Sample Public Forum Ballot (Microsoft Word format)

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Last updated 2007-05-30 10:12:01 -0700