Athens Spring In Person Tournament
2024 — San Francisco, CA/US
Elementary Congress
Event Description:
About the Event
In Congressional debate, competitors role-play as members of the United States congress. Prior to the round, debaters will have reviewed the topic, selected a side, and outlined their arguments. The entire “chamber” (all debaters in the round) will debate, alternating between 3 minute speeches and 1 minute cross-examination periods until every debater has had at least one opportunity to speak. Each session will debate one “bill” (proposed legal legislation) that is assigned to each round before the tournament. To keep the tournament on schedule, the full round should take one hour or less. Judges, (if needed) please remember (and remind Presiding Officers [POs - defined below]) to begin wrapping up the round at the 45-50 minute mark.
Event Format
During each round, students will roleplay Congresspeople debating the pros and cons of a proposed piece of legislation (a bill). The majority of the round is student-run. Generally, the round will alternate between affirmative speakers (speaking for the bill) and negative speakers (speaking against the bill), with a brief period for questioning after each speech. This will continue until the debaters decide to take the bill to to a final vote.
Round Procedure
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Each round will consist of one judge and 8-12 competitors.
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First, students will use a single ballot election to elect a presiding officer (PO). The elected presiding officer will manage the round and will be ranked among the competitors in each round for how well they execute round procedure. In addition, at their discretion, the PO may participate/present arguments in the debate following the standards of precedence and recency (speakers who haven’t spoken take precedent; of those who have spoken, those who have spoken least recently take precedent). POs are not required to present arguments and should not be docked in the ranking if they do not.
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The debaters will raise their hand indicating which side of each bill they will debate on. From that point, the presiding officer will conduct the round.
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You may intervene if necessary to keep the round on track, but should primarily take notes on the debate, particularly capturing feedback notes for each student as the round progresses.
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The debate will be conducted in order of Affirmative speaker, then cross-examination, then Negative speaker, then cross-ex., aff, cross-ex, neg, cross-ex, and so on - until every debater has had at least one chance to speak. Speeches shall not exceed 3 minutes.
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After each speech, there will be a 1-minute period for cross-examination. During cross examination, other competitors may raise their hand and, if called upon by the PO, may ask the speaker questions. The speaker will answer those questions to the best of their ability.
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Note: Use of the internet is not allowed during this time. Students may not look up answers to the questions they are asked.
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Students on the same side of the debate will often ask each other questions (i.e. an Aff-debater will ask another Aff-debater a question). The questions aren’t necessarily going to be posed to make the speech look worse or more flawed than it is, and that is okay.
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Questions should also be tracked by the PO and taken in order of precedence and recency. When judging the PO’s performance, it is crucial that the judge is mindful of how well the PO allows everyone in the room to participate if they want to.
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Time permitting, all students should get a chance to speak at least once before the round is ended. Arguments are to continue until a student motions to “return to the previous question” (end debate and go directly to a vote). If the motion is seconded, the PO will hold a vote on the motion. If the motion passes, then the PO will run an official vote on the bill.
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The results of the final vote should not influence your ballot, as you will be judging the speakers on their individual performances in the round, not the results of the final vote.
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All students should remain in the competition room until the final vote is complete.
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To keep the tournament running in a timely manner, judges should dismiss students immediately after the final vote.
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After all students have been dismissed, the judge should immediately fill out and submit their ballot on Tabroom.com. It’s vital that judges submit their ballot before providing any verbal feedback to students.
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For an extensive guide on Congressional debate norms, specific motions and procedure, and how to judge please see this Congress Guide. The table of contents is great to navigate the document, as it is extensive. Note: To make the tournament accessible to more students, this tournament’s Congress event uses a simplified process and structure, and a round time-limit of one hour. When/if the linked Congress Guide above conflicts with this guide, default to this guide.
Judging Criteria
Judges should evaluate each speech based on the following criteria:
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Time Management: A well-prepared speech should be 3 minutes nearly on the dot, with a 10 second grace period (i.e. 3:03 is a great time for a speech, and so is 2:54, but 3:17 is too long and 2:45 is on the short end). Time management should not weigh as heavily as structure, content, and delivery, but should be considered when judging.
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Structure: Speeches should be well-structured, clear, and easy to follow. Speeches may range from one argument to many; All arguments should be well-developed.
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Content: The speech contents should be relevant to the topic, engaging, and well-organized. Originality, nuance, scholarship, and use of high-quality, scholarly supporting evidence/examples should be rewarded. The quality of an argument should be weighed, in part, by how well it’s supported.
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Delivery: The speaker should deliver the speech clearly and effectively, using appropriate protection, vocal variety, body language, eye contact, and other presentation skills. If you feel entertained and persuaded listening to a speech, that’s a good sign. In Congressional Debate, decorum and formality should be rewarded.
Scoring Procedure
Once all speeches are completed, the judge will use a ranking system to score the round. The overall “best” speaker in the round should be ranked 1, the 2nd best speaker should be ranked 2, and so on. Every speaker should be given a rank; Ties are not permitted. In Congress Debate, a judge must weigh both the quality of the presentation and the quality of the arguments when deciding who the best speaker is. DO NOT VERBALLY DISCLOSE RANKINGS TO COMPETITORS.
Feedback Writing
For students, feedback is one of the most educationally valuable resources at a tournament. Judges must provide each competitor with written feedback on their speech. Feedback should be positive and encouraging, but should also include clear, actionable constructive suggestions for student improvement - particularly as it relates to the judging criteria above. To keep the tournament running on schedule, please keep feedback concise.
Example Feedback:
“Overall, great job! Your thesis was clear and you presented a well-supported argument! One area for improvement is presentation. Be sure to speak with confidence and projection, and try to cut down on verbal static like “um.” Furthermore, you would benefit from sourced evidence to support each of your arguments - you only had one source. Keep up the great work!”