Students attending each tournament are divided up into sections of 10-30 (usually 15–20, the NSDA recommendation is 18). These individual rooms are called chambers, and sometimes labeled as a "House", or "Senate," depending on the region and the tournament. During each phase of a tournament (preliminary and elimination), there is at least one round, often referred to as a "session." The National Speech & Debate Association defines a session as having: • Ten minutes of time allocated for each student (average is three hours for 18-20 contestants) • Election of a presiding officer • New seating chart (necessary accommodations for students with special needs may be made) • Resetting of precedence/recency • New legislation that has not been debated in a previous session at that tournament • The same contestants stay in one chamber, until the tournament advances to the next level of elimination. While larger tournaments may have preliminary rounds that precede elimination rounds (semifinals, finals, etc.), smaller tournaments may not have elimination rounds and may recognize and award students in individual chambers.
Setting the agenda Rounds usually begin with a method for determining which bills will be debated and in which order, referred to as the docket. This most commonly happens with a nominated docket at the tournament, although some areas have a system of informal caucusing or highly organized committees, which convene to review legislation that has been subdivided by the tournament to address a specific topic area, such as is done in the National Catholic Forensic League. A common committee structure includes: "
Public Welfare," "
Economics," and "
Foreign Affairs."
Speeches Congressional Debate speeches last up to three minutes and 10 seconds. From 3:00 - 3:10, the Presiding Officer will gavel the speaker down, getting louder before cutting the speaker off at 3 minutes and 10 seconds. The first speech on each legislation, known as the "authorship", goes to the person who wrote the legislation, or from the same school of the author. (However, many tournaments use legislation from the NSDA, in which case anyone can give the authorship.) If nobody from the author's school is present, another debater gives a sponsorship speech (sometimes called the first affirmative), which is functionally identical to an authorship. This first speech is followed by a two-minute questioning period. One three-minute speech in opposition (negation) follows it, with another mandatory two minutes of questioning. After these initial speeches, debate alternates in favor and opposition to the legislation with three-minute speeches and one minute of questioning. Within each speech, contestants develop two or three organized, logical arguments supported by credible evidence for why the chamber should vote for or against the given legislation. The general format of a speech is as follows: •
Introduction: Usually, speeches begin with some sort of attention-getting device, such as a quotation (which could be humorous, shocking, or sad) or statistic. The introduction is tied to the central thesis of the speech, as the speaker urges the chamber to vote in support or opposition. Sometimes, the two or three main lines of argument are previewed to give the audience an idea of where the speech is leading; however, some criticize this practice as a waste of limited time. •
Contentions: Two or three arguments for or against the legislation. Each contention is explained in the speaker's own words and supported by evidence from reputable and relevant sources. •
Conclusion: The speaker often restates their 2 or 3 contentions and returns to the attention-getting device from the introduction to give the speech thematic unity. Alternatively, conclusions can consist of merely 1 or 2 sentences, such as "For these reasons you must pass/defeat this bill/resolution/legislation."
Questioning Questioning, traditionally, has been the standard set by the debate rules. After a speaker has given a speech, they are subjected to a minute of questioning (typically two, thirty second blocks, or during the first aff/neg speech, two minutes with four blocks), where the speaker and a questioner engage in back and forth dialogue with minimal moderation from the chair. This is used to sometimes build arguments that the questioner uses in a later speech, similar to
cross-examination in other competitive debate events. At tournaments where this is practiced, the presiding officer is either required or strongly advised to keep a separate questioning priority, to ensure
equal opportunity for questioners. Several tournaments have piloted this method since the National Speech & Debate Association suggested this as a result of discussions with its Congressional Debate Rules and Recommendations Committee in 2009. Rules typically do not allow for "prefacing," where students formulate a statement or argument as part of their question; rather, they must simply ask a question, and only a question. However this rule may not be present at some tournaments, or there may be some exceptions allowed. Some leagues and tournaments still use a protocol where the balanced of unused speaking time is reserved for questioning, rather than having a specific period. While some student questioners feel the need to ask if the speaker yields, this is unnecessary under procedure, because the standing rules of the organizations and tournaments provide specific parameters for questioning periods that already establish when questioning begins. == Procedure and presiding officers ==