HOW A ROUND WORKS

Introduction

Most debate events are structured, with clear rules on how a round is structured and run. Congressional Debate is unique; it’s an event run by the student competitors, similar to  how Congress is run by the Representatives or Senators for which the chamber is comprised.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t rules. Just like Congress, there are specific procedures that must be followed. But instead of being able to just ‘do’ the things or them not being allowed in a round, there are processes that must be completed in order for actions to be taken.

Just some of the things that follow this Parliamentary Procedure include the election of the Presiding Officer (debate’s equivalent of the Speaker of the House), the deciding of the legislative docket, the order of speakers and questioners, and dozens of motions that range from taking a break to voting on legislation.

Judges don’t run the round, debaters do. So it’s important to understand how a round works in order to effectively participate within the round.

Most tournaments follow procedures outlined in the National Speech and Debate Association's 54-page Congressional Debate Guide.  This resource works as an abridged version of that guide.

Procedure in congressional debate roughly follows Robert’s Rules of Order.

How a Round Works

This resource page has an accompanying slideshow,  created by Equality in Forensics Operations Director C.J. Getting, a 2023 TOC Semifinalist in Congressional Debate. Check it out!

The Presiding Officer Election

Depending on the tournament, your round may or may not have a parliamentarian (parli). A parli is a judge, usually someone familiar with congressional debate, responsible for running the round until a Presiding Officer is elected. If you don't have a designated parli, someone will have to volunteer to serve as pro tempore (protemp), which means temporary Presiding Officer.

Technically, the Presiding Officer (PO) election is begun by the parli or protemp at the start of the round. But in reality, these elections begin before the round has started. Here, candidates write their last names on the board at the front of the room indicating that they wish to run for the position.

But after candidates have indicated their interest and all competitors and judges are present, the parli or protemp will ask to officially begin Presiding Officer (PO) elections. While rules vary depending on your circuit, the most generally accepted procedure begins with nominating any fellow competitors who have shown interest (written their name down) for the position.

Nomination procedure might go something like this:

Then, those who accept  these nominations give short speeches about why they deserve the position. These speeches are given in reverse order. So, if the order of nominations was Representatives X, Y, and Z, then Representative Z would give their speech first, followed by Representatives Y and X.

From there, everyone votes and a PO is decided for the session. The election is usually conducted by the parli or protemp using secret ballots with runoff elections, so be sure to have sticky notes or pieces of paper ready.

If you’re interested in giving a PO election speech and running the chamber, take a look at our Presiding Officer resources page.

POing and Procedure

For quick access, check out this slideshow on Presiding and Procedure, created by Equality in Forensics Directors Athena Tian and C.J. Getting.

For more information on how to be an effective Presiding Officer, check out our resource page on Advanced POing.

The Docket Election

Once a PO has been elected during the first round of debate, their first act should be to accept docket nominations. Simply, a docket is the order in which the chamber debates legislation. If you are particularly interested in debating a specific bill, you should lobby to put it towards the beginning of the docket. If there’s a bill you don’t want debated, you should encourage that bill to be placed at the end of the docket.

Typically, 2 legislative items are debated per session, although there are exceptions where 3 might be debated. So for preliminary rounds with 3 sessions, keep ideal bills within the first 6-7 legislative items, and anything else outside of that. For outrounds, work with the chamber to decide how many bills will be debated and then determine the docket based on that.

Similarly to PO, docket elections begin before the round has begun. In this case, that means working with the chamber to determine what bills are liked and have good splits and choose an order that best fits the interests of the chamber. Sometimes, the docket might even be fully decided even before its official election.

Either way, proper procedure is required for docket elections to run smoothly. Here’s what that might look like:

Here, secret elections are not typically used. Instead, debaters just stand up or raise their placard to indicate their vote in favor of a particular docket, eventually giving the chamber its official order of legislative items to be debated. Throughout the round, this docket can still be changed, most commonly though tabling and untabling bills, although this is uncommon.

Speeches & Questioning

The PO will first call for an authorship speech. These are speeches by the person who wrote the bill, or other students from the same school as that person (the standards for who qualifies to deliver an authorship vary by circuit and preference). They automatically get the first speech on that legislation if they want. Anyone who qualifies for an authorship stands up and waits to be called on by the PO If the tournament is online, it is more common to hold up a “placard” or large index card with your name clearly written on it. It’s also a good idea to use a placard for in-person tournaments, so that it is easier for the PO to identify and call on you.

If there are no people that have authorships on that bill, they will then call for a sponsorship. This is another word for the first affirmative speech. Anyone in the round is eligible to deliver the sponsorship of the bill . Again, anyone who wants to give a speech should stand up or raise their placard and wait to be called upon.

Some small details regarding round procedure can be different across the same tournament.  Often, in local leagues, novice competitors have the title of ‘Representative,’ while varsity competitors are ‘Senators.’ In open divisions, or at national circuit tournaments competitors are ‘Representatives’ until they reach elimination rounds, in which case they are 'Senators.' 

During the speech, the PO will ‘gavel’ at certain points. If you’re in-person, this is usually banging a literal gavel on the table. If you’re online, it’s more likely some placards with time signals on them. Ultimately, when and how a PO gavels is completely up to them, but the NSDA has a standard procedure that is generally followed.

After the author or sponsor has given their speech, the PO will call for questioning, or cross-examination. It’s never a bad idea to question someone, so you can use these opportunities to get in a few questions if you want. Otherwise, the PO may end up calling the same person twice in the same round of questioning. This may end up preventing them from questioning later, since questions are distributed based on how few someone has given.

Cross-examination may differ by tournament. Some leagues, especially local tournaments, use 'indirect questioning,' where a questioner asks the speaker a single question and then sits back down. Many leagues, including most NatCir tournaments, use 'direct questioning,' where the questioner has a set time (usually 30 seconds) to ask the speaker questions. These questioning periods are referred to as a block. This often means the questioner asks 2 or 3 sequential, related questions.

In national circuit debate, it is conventional for the sponsor and first negation speech to receive 2 minutes, or 4 blocks of questioning, while all following speeches receive 1 minute, or 2 blocks of questioning. However, these rules vary by circuit, especially when the tournament uses indirect questioning.

The PO will then call for the first negation speech, and the process repeats. The Representative or Senator mentions their name and waits for an indication, delivers their three minute speech, and answers questions. The process will repeat for the 2nd affirmative, 2nd negation, and so until there are no speakers left. It is technically allowed for one person to give two speeches on the same bill - it is not disallowed by the NSDA, and most NatCir tournaments will allow it, but it is almost never strategic or necessary.

If you’re interested in learning more about Authorship and Sponsorship speeches, read our resource on them here. For information on other types of speeches, click here.

Before you begin your speech, introduce yourself to the chamber, telling them your speaker code if necessary, and then wait until your judges and PO are ready:

“Hello, I am Representative [your last name here] speaking for the [1st/2nd/etc.] time this legislative session on the [affirmation/negation] of [bill name]. I am at the leisure of all those above me, please give me any indication and I will begin.”

This information lets judges know who you are and what to do behind the scenes so that they can rank you and give feedback. During this introduction, you can also make a connection to your last name that lets judges know how to spell it, especially if you don’t already have a placard with the name spelled out. Now, you should wait for the judges and PO to give you some sort of signal to begin. Upon the reception of said indication, usually a thumbs up or head nod, you can begin your speech.

NSDA Standard Gaveling Procedure:

1 gavel tap at 2:00
2 gavel taps at 2:30
3 gavel taps at 2:55
Countdown with fingers from 3:00-3:10
Gavel down from 3:10-3:15

For more information about questioning, check out our Cross-Examination resource page.

Cross Examination Slideshow

For quick access, check out this slideshow on Cross Examination

Motions

The most unique part of Congressional Debate is motions, which allow debaters to do a large variety of things that may not occur automatically throughout the course of debate. But just because they aren’t automatic doesn’t mean they aren’t important. Motions do everything from voting on legislation, to giving you a break in-between bills, and just about anything else you can think of.

As a PO, these are necessary to know and memorize. But even as a competitor, knowing these motions gives you the ability to assist the chamber in efficiently moving through the round. Below is a non-comprehensive list adapted from the NSDA’s Guide explaining congressional debate’s most common motions.

Table of NSDA Motions

While the specifics of a motion are determined by the variables in the table, here’s a basic explanation for the procedure for both motions with majority requirements, and another up to the Presiding Officer:

Majority-Required Motions

PO-Decision Motions