Secret and Advised Topics

 

Beginning in Round 3 all A Grade and B Grade teams will be given Secret Topics, and all C Grade teams will be given Advised Topics. These debates will differ in many ways from those with prepared topics, as you now only have one hour to prepare your team’s case.

 

 

The Structure of the Round

 The structure on the night will be as follows:

  1. Arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the announcement of the topics so that your team can assemble, find out the room where your team will be presenting your debate and whether or not you have an allocated room for preparation.
  2. Topics will be released from the DAV Desk (usually in the small lecture theatre which opens out onto Brighton Grammar’s senior school quadrangle) exactly one hour prior to the debates commencing. This will be at 6pm for B and C Grades and at 7pm for A Grade.
  3. The DAV will take a roll immediately before the topics are released. If your team is not present for the roll call you will be disqualified.
  4. You will then have one hour to prepare your case on the given topic. You may be allocated a room to prepare in. If you are not allocated a room, find a space where your team can prepare in private.
  5. Have a plan for your preparation and stick to it. Someone should be in charge of keeping time so that you to make sure you stay on track.
  6. You should go to your room with about 5 minutes left before the scheduled start of the debate. Use the remaining time to brainstorm rebuttals, etc.

 

 

Keeping to a Schedule

Split up your time however seems best for you. The most important thing is that you keep to some sort of schedule so that you don’t run out of time to prepare. If you would like a guide, you might want to use the following schedule, but the best thing to do is to play around, practice and figure out what works best for your team:

  • Brainstorm definitions (5 minutes)
  • Brainstorm arguments (10 minutes)
  • Pool definitions and ideas, and identify main arguments (10 minutes)
  • Split arguments (5 minutes)
  • Prepare speeches (15 minutes)
  • Compare speeches and arguments (5 minutes)
  • Anticipate rebuttals and move to room (10 minutes)

Again, feel free to make up your own schedule; just make sure you stick to it!

 

 

Advice for Secret/Advised Topics 

  • Have dictionaries, pens, paper, palm cards, newspapers, and whatever other materials you feel you will need handy.
  • Only bring in materials if you are familiar with them and know where to find relevant facts quickly. It’s no use bringing newspapers from the last week if you haven’t read any of them and don’t know what’s in each one. Be economical with your time.
  • You cannot use the internet of any electronic devices. If you do so you will be disqualified. However, you are allowed to bring with you any printed materials you want.
  • Have a place ready beforehand where you can run off to and begin your preparation. Effective utilization of time is crucial, and you don’t want to be searching for a room only to find that they are all locked.
  • Do not bring mobile phones, iPads or computers. These must be left at home or given to an adult before the topics are released.

 

 

Debate Planning Pro Forma

One of the most important things when preparing for a secret topic is to make sure you still follow the same clear, comprehensive structure that you would for a prepared debate. To help you with this, the following template has been created to help guide you through the process of preparing for a secret topic: