Hi, I'm currently an NSDA Alumni and I've been competing in various tournaments including State and nationals during my high school career including Debate, public address, and interp events.
Congress :
Presiding officer: I expect the PO to play a meticulous leadership role in maintaining fairness and the process of debate. You also must know the rules correctly in various situations and resolve them without problems in conducting the parliament.
Member: I do not require a perfect speech style and memorization like a speech in an actual parliamentary session, but I expect you to breathe with the audience and effectively make them understand your opinion. The first few speeches should be a little more constructive and focus on the introductory argument, the middle speeches should focus on rebuttal and expansion, and the last speech should focus on resolution and conclusion. Also, I consider the answering questions and the speech style as important elements in a parliamentary session, so do not focus only on giving a speech. This is a debate to convince others of your opinion.
World Schools: One thing to remember before starting the debate is that World School expects a different style of debate compared to PF or LD. The most important aspect of a speech is not simply to convey information quickly, but to convey clear ideas or cohesive opinions. Also, because this is a debate where debaters consider not only domestic backgrounds but also global backgrounds, they must use a variety of novel and creative ideas and thoughts.
I value the framework, logical progression, and maintaining a clear connection between the main points, and I also value the style of the speech, such as using various movements or emphasizing certain parts to communicate with the audience. I also recommend using POIs at least twice, but use POIs in a timely and effective manner rather than disrupting the debate too much, and the ability to respond calmly to these POIs without panicking is also important.
Public address (OO or Info etc..) : First, your argument should be persuasive and have a natural flow for OO. And for Info, it should not simply state information, but be structured so that the audience can easily understand and follow. For content, I highly value presenting a new perspective or your unique perspective on a real-world issue. Also, dig deeper into the surface of the topic. I also think that connecting with the audience is important. It’s not enough to simply memorize the speech perfectly; use effective humor and connect with the audience to make it easy for the listener to understand and focus on the topic. Finally, use evidence or data to support your points in both cases, but don’t overdo it. This can tire and overload the audience.
Interp : Whatever piece you use, I expect you to understand every part of the material deeply, and I expect you to connect with the content emotionally and intellectually. It is very important to describe different characters with clear and different voices and expressions. Make it easy to distinguish between characters through some characteristics or actions. Also, since interpretation events are very important for audience participation, you need to have points that grab the audience's attention at certain moments.
