What is debating?

 The dictionary would just give you the standard meaning that debating is about arguing about a subject especially in a formal manner, but debating is way more than that!

Well in my view debating is a fun activity in which we examine ideas and policies with the aim of persuading with an organised structure. It allows us to consider the world around us by thinking about different arguments, engaging and opposing views and speaking strategically without raising your voice and infuriating your opponents. Our aim is not to make them angry but to make them agree with our views. Debates mostly at school level have a team of 3 participants. The Interjector and participant speaking for and other participant speaking against. The Interjector is the person whose job is to interject not when the speaker is speaking but after he/she has spoken and to ask them questions and to confuse them or prove that their point is not valid or wrong. The questions can be made on the spot or we can prepare them before the debate but preparing them on the spot is better unless and until you know what your opponents are going to speak. Interjection is all about Rebuttal.

From the other 2 members of the team 1 person speaks FOR the motion while the other speaks AGAINST the motion. Even you can write your debate on the spot only if you can understand your topic as there are many points to get on Rebuttal. Most of the debates have 3 judges who are passouts and have successful careers or are old experienced people who have excelled in their lives. Then comes the chairperson who in my view are mostly children from higher classes like 11th grade or 12th grade. And then finally come the audience and your fellow competitors. You should include and greet all of them in the starting of the debate and then introduce yourself.

I usually start my debates by saying this:-

Good Morning respected judges, teachers, members of the jury and my fellow opponents/ audience/dear friends. I Abhinandan of class so and so am here to give my debate on the topic....

I will speak in favour of the motion/for the motion/against the motion.

That would be pretty easy to memorise and actually it isn't necessary to greet your opponents and the members of the jury but i guess you increase your chances for winning and get more points by doing so... The most important thing to remember about the introduction and greeting is that you never should stop in middle of what you are saying if you aren't confident then you should take your debate on a paper along with you because stopping in middle of the intro or greetings is a sign of shame and people would think that you don't want to great them and you're just doing that to gain points( Well that's our aim xD), but you shouldn't.

Now moving forward, we have to introduce and tell about our topic to the audience in 2-3 lines and make it short. After you feel that you have spoken enough then move on to tell about the Cons of the topic if you are speaking for the motion and Pros. if you are speaking against the motion.

Explain them by using daily examples of which the audience and the judges would have been aware of and are common. The minimum time to speak in a debate in my view is 1.5 minutes and max in most of the debates is 2.5. After doing so,  comes the last part of the debate, i.e ending the debate and also thanking everyone to listen to you. You can do this in many ways such as stating a quote which would be related to the topic and said by some intellectual and famous person or by saying something that is pretty sensible but funny and at the same time related to the topic.
Well, there was a debating competition in which I intended to take part in, but I compered it, which was better, but I had memorised a debate, so that incase I would have got a chance to speak I could speak. So, the topic of the debate was "Google Making Our Memory Obsolete!" I had intended to speak For the motion so, I had planned to end my debate by saying that any part of our body which gets obsolete, slowly vanishes like the tail as stated by Charles Darwin and then I had to thank everyone for their patient listening. So, to be a successful debater, the first step is that you shouldn't have stage fear and you should be pretty expressive and energetic. Then you should add some spice to your debate, make it funny, interesting and at the same time informative. You should also be able to voice your opinion, speak on the spot for Rebuttal and also to answer the tricky questions proposed by the Interjectors. I myself hate interjectors because no matter how good your debate is, if you don't answer their question properly and fluently, then you lose a huge number of points and the chances of you winning reduces.Now, the last thing that I want to say to you is it doesn't matter if you win or lose, well yeah it would hurt a lot if you had practiced all night long and then lost. Never lose your heart guys! Well now talking about winning or losing remember, keep your eyes on the prize, and make the judges feel that you are the most worthy participant to receive it and I'm sure you'll get it!
Speaking about prizes, there are 2 prizes for best speaker For the motion 1st and 2nd, then there are 2 prizes for best speaker Against the motion 1st and 2nd and then there are 2 prizes for the best injector 1st and 2nd. All the best guys!!!
Ps. I will post a debate every 3rd day on the topics which are nowadays in the news and are on demand.