Start with cards that already work.

Motion and side

Motion: [This house would ___]

We are: [affirmative / negative, proposition / opposition]

Team line (one sentence): [The core reason our side is right]

Every card that follows should support this line.

Open

“Good [morning / evening], [principal / guests], families, and the class of [year].”

Pause and look across the graduates before you begin.

Plan

• Topic: [___]
• Purpose: "By the end, my audience will understand [___]."
• Type: [explain a process / describe a place or object / tell the history of / explain a concept]

Informative means teaching, not persuading. Keep your opinions light.

Before you speak

• Committee: [___]
• Topic: [___]
• Country or delegation: [___]
• Speaking time: [often 60 to 90 seconds; check your conference]

Know your country's position, not your own personal view.

Hook

Grab attention in the first ten seconds with a question, a short scene or a striking fact you have checked.

Model: Picture this: [short scene that shows the problem].

Plan

• Topic: [___]
• What I want the audience to do or believe: [___]
• Who they are and what they already think: [___]

A persuasive speech asks for change. Know exactly what change you want.

Settle and greet

Good morning, [school name]. Good morning, [Year groups / staff / visitors].

Wait for full quiet before continuing. Smile.

Greeting

Good [morning/afternoon], [teachers and fellow students]. My name is [name] and I am in [Year/Grade and class].

I am running for [position, such as class representative or student council member].

Opening

Good [morning], [principal's name], teachers and students. My name is [name], and I am standing for [school captain / head student / head girl / head boy].

Optional hook: When I arrived at [school name] in [Year/Grade], I [first memory].

Your job as first speaker

• Set up the debate so everyone knows what it is about
• Define the motion fairly
• State the team line and case split
• Deliver your share of the arguments

You have no one to rebut yet, so your clarity sets the tone for the whole round.

Introduce yourself and the poem

Good [morning/afternoon]. My name is [name], and I will be reciting [poem title] by [poet].

If it is your own poem: I wrote this poem about [subject].

Greeting

Hello [house name / staff and students]! My name is [name] from [Year/Grade and class], and I would love to be your [house captain / prefect / sports captain].

Hello

Hello, my name is [name].

Today I brought my [object].

Attention getter

Start with something curious about your topic: a question, a short story or an object you hold up.

Model: Every day, you probably [everyday action linked to topic] without thinking about [hidden part of it].

Case at a glance

• Resolution: [___]
• Our plan in one line: [___]
• Advantage 1: [___]
• Advantage 2: [___]

The first affirmative constructive is usually pre-written. Practise it until delivery is smooth.

Your job as second speaker

• Rebut the strongest points from the other side
• Defend your first speaker's arguments
• Add your new arguments

Usual split: about a third of your time on rebuttal, the rest on new material. Adjust to your format.

Your job

A reply or summary speech is a biased review of the debate. You are not adding new arguments. You are showing the adjudicator:

• what the key questions were
• how each side answered them
• why your side's answer was better

Check your format's rules on new material.

Greeting

“[Principal], teachers, families, guests and my fellow graduates: good [evening].”

Breathe. Look at your class first.