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Middle School Novice Curriculum Guide
Public Speaking (2PAC)
We’ve gone over the argumentative part of debate, or the part that deals with the content of what you’ll say in each round. But there’s another important part of debate, and that’s the oratorical part, which deals with how you’ll say it.
While a judge may not decide a round based on how good you sound, they do assign speaker points to you and your teammate after each round, and judges tend to be more convinced by teams that make their arguments clearly and compellingly.
So how do you do that? We use an acronym, 2PAC, to remember all the different things to consider when speaking publicly:
2: Two Ways to Communicate. They’re called verbal (spoken) and non-verbal (unspoken). Verbal communication includes the tone of voice you choose to use, while non-verbal communication deals with things like eye contact and hand gestures.
P: Presentation. Your appearance and attitude. It’s more than how you dress – it’s also whether you look organized and prepared. If you stand up before your entire speech is organized, for example, or you don’t use all your speech time, it can hurt your presentation.
A: Audience. Who you’re talking to. Make sure to use language and words that are appropriate given the situation. Think about it like this: would you talk to your teacher the same way that you talk to a room full of kindergartners? Probably not.
C: Content. The actual arguments of your speech. See how this is just ¼ of the acronym? There’s a lot more to debate that just the words that you’re using.