I wonder if you could give me some tips for a debate I have to that I'm extremely scared and sick about doing. The debate I'm doing is a 2 on 2 debate and I have to contribute a lot to it. The problem is I'm so nervous I can't even listen to what their saying during the rebuttal so I cannot come up with good questions or answers. I'm so scared and my teacher is one of the guys where he believes people should face their fears and he's really strict. After this, I have to do a 1-on-1 debate!
Okay! I actually have this exact same problem, so let me just give you some of the tips that I use for debating.
1. Do you know what topic you’re going to be debating? If you do, then look up the most common opposing arguments for it online ahead of time.
2. Come up with rebuttals for all of the opposing arguments.
3. Write them down. Even if you can’t bring cue cards with you, still, write them down. It might help you remember them in the heat of the moment. And if you can bring cue cards with you to help you remember while you’re having a blanking out moment, then do it.
4. Talk to your teacher about your anxiety. I have brought this up to every single teacher I’ve ever had, and they’ve always been very obliging about it. I’ve never actually had to use it before (I’ve always been able to power through it), but it was very comforting to know that the option was there if I needed to use it.
5. If you have any medication that you can take to combat stage fright, take it before your debate. (i.e. if you have a prescription for Xanax or propanolol or anything like that.)
6. Practice debating. Join Facebook debate groups (ex. Debate, MasterDebaters, Partisan Exchange, etc). Join TinyChat debate pages (ex. tinychat.com/redpillz - I have to warn you, though, there is a lot of offensive shit that gets said on there; but it is a great place to learn how to debate. I also go to that room, so I’d be more than happy to introduce you to it; you can just come and watch and learn, if you’d like. Debating on TinyChat is actually one of the biggest ways that I overcame my fear of public speaking).
7. Practice debating with a friend. If you want, I’d even be happy to practice debating with you on Skype or something like that.
That’s all I can think of for now, but I hope the advice helps. I particular recommend that you look up the topics and come up with rebuttals beforehand, or bring cue cards with you to help you remember in the heat of the moment.
















