We're committed to helping students and coaches access the best & most timely resources to improve their speech & debate strategy! We plan to bring you frequent blog posts highlighting the most effective performances and practices we've seen in recent tournaments and competitions.

Debate is a long-term investment that pays off far beyond your first practice or competition. At the beginning, many students may feel nervous about speaking in front of a judge or organizing a club meeting. But the pattern is often the same... Once students actually try it, debate becomes a an enjoyable and transformational experience! 

When trying to establish debate programming within a school, we recommend highlighting to parents, administrators, and students that debate is training for the future! Debate is so much more than a resume builder. Debate prepares students to succeed throughout their educational journey. You learn how to think quickly, communicate clearly, research deeply, lead confidently, and speak to anyone. These skills matter in every field and every career. Debate is preparation for university, internships, interviews, entrepreneurship, public leadership, and more.

For international students, debate provides opportunities for students to connect with peers in their region and around the world. Participating in debate helps your school become part of a global conversation. When you help bring debate to your school, you are not just joining a club, you're bringing future opportunities to students. International schools that host TOC qualifying tournaments allow students from their country, region, and beyond the opportunity to compete and collaborate.

The hardest part of debate is getting started! Students often feel nervous about speaking in public or competing against peers but just getting students started can often be enough to assuage concerns. Debate is a powerful investment schools & students can make in their students that all starts with starting a club!

Almost every debater later says the same thing: “I did not want to go at first — but debate changed my life.” If you take the first step, the transformation will follow. Debate is one of the most powerful investments a school or student can make, and it starts with simply deciding to begin.

Whether you are offering a Point of Information (POI) in World Schools Debate or asking questions during cross-examination in Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, or Public Forum, the same skills apply. Both situations require listening closely, thinking quickly, and putting pressure on the other side’s arguments. Many debaters are ineffective when asking questions and POIs, using precious time for clarifications or providing their opponents time to make additional arguments. Below are five ways to improve your questions:

1. Keep it short and succinct

POIs and CX questions should be short and succinct. Short clear questions are far more effective than long drawn out ones. The more time you spend building up a question or a POI the more likely your judge or opponent will get lost in the question forcing repetition or missed connections.

2. Try to focus on the main arguments

Listen for what really matters in their case and focus your question there. Challenge the evidence, the logic, or the assumptions that hold their argument together. If you hit the core, the rest becomes weaker.

3. Avoid yes/no questions

The best questions give you something to use later. Asking questions like "Don't you agree that...?" or "Am I right that...?" give your opponents opportunities to answer with simple one word answers. Also, your opponent is likely not going to agree with you given the setup of the debate so these questions can be unproductive. Try to get your opponent to admit a flaw, create a contradiction, or open the door for a point you want to make in your next speech. Don’t just look for a win in the moment.

4. Stay professional

Confidence matters, but don’t confuse that with being aggressive. Judges notice when a debater stays calm and respectful under pressure. Ask with purpose, not hostility. Similarly, keep your cool when answering questions and avoid showcasing aggression.

5. Pay attention to your judge(s)

Ultimately, POIs and CX questions are opportunities for you to convince your judge about the strength of your argument or the weakness of your opponent's arguments. When asking and answering questions, pay attention to your judge and any nonverbal cues they may be giving during the question/response. This can help you pick up on which parts of the question/response to integrate into further speeches and which parts to leave behind. 

Looking for tournaments to test your skills, compete with peers from around the world, and secure your bids to the 2026 Tournament of Champions? The International Speech and Debate Initiative is hosting the ISDI-TOC Qualifying Series this season! 

The ISDI TOC Qualifying Tournaments are open for registration on Tabroom.com and are linked below! These are internationally focused online TOC qualifying tournaments.

ISDI #1 - October

ISDI #2 - November

ISDI #3 - January

The tournaments are virtual tournaments created with international students in mind. We are utilizing a schedule that favors international timezones to allow for increased participation from students around the globe! With offerings of speech & debate events, there is an event for everyone.

We also encourage you to attend other TOC Qualifying tournaments that work for your schedule! For a full list of TOC Qualifying tournaments, please click here. TOC Qualifying tournaments occur across time zones, modalities, and locations.

Choosing a speech or debate event to participate in can be a difficult choice! There are lots of options & opportunities between the various speech & debate events. This blog post outlines some of the most popular speech & debate formats recommended for international students!

World Schools Debate

World Schools Debate is the flagship international format used in the World Schools Debating Championships and many cross-cultural events. It offers a blend of British Parliamentary and American debate styles. World Schools Debate emphasizes well-rounded speaking—blending logic, style, and global awareness. It values persuasive delivery, logical consistency, and the ability to respond respectfully and quickly.

World Schools is particularly well-suited for international programs because it levels the playing field across educational systems and allows for both content depth and stylistic flexibility.

Public Forum Debate

Public Forum is one of the most popular formats in the United States and is rapidly expanding globally due to its clarity, relevance, and team-based structure. Public Forum values real-world research, clear communication, teamwork, and rhetorical adaptability. It balances formal debate structure with accessibility for new students, making it ideal for programs seeking to scale quickly or reach diverse student populations.

Public Forum is well-suited for students with any level of experience or involvement because it allows for a combination of public speaking, topic research, and audience persuasion.

Original Oratory

In Original Oratory, students craft and deliver a 10-minute persuasive speech on a topic of their choice. The speech must be memorized, original in content, and supported by evidence and personal insight. Topics range from social justice and mental health to cultural phenomena or education policy. Students are judged on argument construction, organization, delivery, and emotional engagement. Original Oratory values originality, storytelling, and performance.

Original Oratory is well-suited for students with a passion for performance, research, and public speaking.

Impromptu Speaking

Impromptu Speaking is a limited preparation event in which students receive a prompt—typically a quote, word, or abstract concept—and have only 7 minutes (often 2 minutes prep, 5 minutes speaking) to organize and deliver a speech. This format encourages quick thinking, creativity, and structure under pressure. Impromptu is especially useful in training students for real-world communication scenarios like interviews, classroom discussions, or civic engagement. Impromptu is well-suited for students interested in improving their critical thinking and public speaking skills.

Dramatic Interpretation

Interpretation events challenge students to perform published works of literature—prose, poetry, or drama—with strong characterization, emotional depth, and narrative understanding. These events blend acting, analysis, and public speaking. In Dramatic Interpretation (DI), students perform a 10-minute excerpt from a published dramatic work, such as a play, novel, or screenplay. The focus is on emotional storytelling, character differentiation, and dramatic intensity. While no props or costumes are allowed, students use voice, facial expression, and body movement to bring the piece to life. Dramatic Interpretation teaches empathy, literary analysis, and emotional discipline. Dramatic Interp is well-suited for students interested in performing and connecting with audiences on an emotional level.

The amount of different speech & debate events can be overwhelming at first, but ultimately the collection of events showcases the opportunities available for students to compete in formats that best align with passions and interests! ISDI tournaments offer many of these events, allowing you to try out different formats and learn what works best for you. For more information, check out the Learning tab of our website!

Participation in speech and debate isn’t just about trophies - it can boost your academics, sharpen your communication skills, and even strengthen your college applications.

If you’re passionate about speech & debate and are considering continuing your career in college, here are some quick, practical tips to help you get started - whether you’re about to start working on college applications or are preparing for your first ever tournament.

1. Research Schools with Speech & Debate Programs

Start by looking at colleges that align with your academic interests. Once you have a list, check whether those schools have active speech & debate teams.

Many U.S. universities offer a variety of formats, including:

• Policy Debate

• Lincoln-Douglas Debate

• Parliamentary Debate

• Individual Speech Events

Look for programs that highlight their commitment to forensics to improve your chances of finding a team and community that works for you! 

2. Reach Out to Coaches

Don’t be shy! College coaches want to hear from students interested in their programs. You don’t need to be a TOC winner to be a recruit. Coaches often look for:

• Strong work ethic

• Passion for learning

• Potential for growth

Emailing a coach to learn more about a program shows initiative and can open the door to scholarship opportunities or admissions support.

3. Connect with Current Students

Talking to team members can give you insight that websites and brochures can't. Ask about team culture, time commitments, balancing school and competition, and differences between high school and college competition. These conversations can help you figure out where you'll thrive as both a student and competitor.

4. Highlight Debate in Your Application

Debate teaches skills that colleges want their applicants to have including:

• Research and writing

• Critical thinking

• Public speaking

• Leadership

Use your personal statement or extracurricular section to explain how participation in speech & debate has shaped your identity, your academics, and your goals. Admissions officers often look at how an applicant would fit in the broader university community, so showing an openness and willingness to learn and communicate is a valuable way to demonstrate your fit!

5. Start Early

The earlier you start exploring, the more options you’ll have. Building relationships with coaches and programs early can give you an edge later in the process. Even if college feels far away, it’s never too soon to start thinking about your future.

Participating in speech & debate in college can be an exciting extension of your high school experience as well as a powerful way to grow personally and professionally. Even if you decide not to compete for all four years, I highly encourage giving it a chance!

WSDC 2025 in Panama City has come to a close after nearly two weeks of fierce competition between nearly 60 delegations from around the world! Congratulations to Team India for winning the tournament!

I was fortunate enough to attend the 2025 WSDC as a judge for Team USA. Throughout my time judging and watching debates, I picked up on a few key practices and processes that set the best competitors apart. I hope these takeaways are useful to you!

1. Effective Speech Organization: 

Effective and structured speeches were the hallmark of the top speakers at the 2025 WSDC. Rather than using the speech time to openly talk about the topic, the best speakers structured their speech with numbering and sub-pointing, explaining where in the debate they were referring to and keeping the debates organized and easy to flow. Even if you make all the right arguments, disorganization impacts the ability of judges to receive round winning information. Focusing on effective structuring and a logical flow ensures that judges and audience members pick up on the core of your argument.

2. Thoughtfully Answering POI’s: 

Debaters responses to POI’s can either bolster their case or doom their arguments. Given the pressure associated, it can be tempting for debaters to rush to answer the question. The best debaters at WSDC thought through the POI’s and their responses before answering. Taking an extra second to ensure the response is well formatted is better than rushing into an answer that undermines your case, so don’t allow the pressure of the moment get to you!

3. Confident Delivery & Non-Verbal Communication: 

Throughout the debate, it is important to maintain confidence and comfortability. Debaters that seemed disengaged or defeated during the debate were more likely to lose, even if they were still very much in the game. Whether you’re giving the reply speech, walking back to the bench, or asking a POI, it’s important to always act like you’re ahead! Confidence is key - especially in close debates!

4. Direct Argument Engagement: 

Although many debaters implicitly address their opponents arguments by forwarding their own, the lack of direct clash can make argument evaluation difficult for judges. The best debaters I saw at the 2025 WSDC directly engaged with their arguments through pointed refutation. Talented debaters would emulate the format of “Our opponents say x, but y”, which allowed for more clear clash and better argument development throughout the debate. Don’t just assume your judges know the relevance of arguments you’re making - clearly apply them throughout your speeches!

5. Be Realistic: 

You’re probably not winning 100% of every argument across the flow. Being realistic about this can really help your case by showing your awareness with the context of the debate. You don’t need to win 100% of every argument to win the debate - just more than what your opponents win! Making comparative “even if” statements and qualifying your statements to show your understanding can help judges write their decisions in your favor.

WSDC 2025 in Panama City truly showcased the best and brightest debate talents from around the world. By implementing these five practices in your own debating, you can rise above the competition no matter what event or league you participate in!