Is a debate club or a public speaking course worth it?

Is it worth learning public speaking in a debate club or in a public speaking course? Many of those who contact us are confused about the question, so here is a short guide regarding the differences. Let's hope it helps the choice, and if there are still questions, you should Contact to our team.

What do you achieve in a debate club compared to a public speaking course

A debate club is a competitive social setting where debate-style speeches (only) are trained and practiced. The public speaking course is a learning-practical process where you learn and practice a wide variety of speech and persuasion techniques. It is therefore understandable that the course imparts performance skills and confidence, while the debate club is not designed to impart skills but only to practice and strengthen them

Convince vs. prove

Another difference concerns the rhetorical side - the public speaking course prepares the students to give a speech in an interesting and persuasive manner, with an emphasis on Improving content and style and their adaptation to the context. On the other hand, the debate places an almost exclusive emphasis on the content, with the requirement from the participants to bring strong and convincing arguments and nothing else.

The style is almost not counted in the debate, therefore speakers often reach the finals with basic failures such as eye contact problems and monotony. An important emphasis is that in a debate they speak at a speed that would prevent any 'normal' audience from understanding and being convinced.

Fear of crowds in the club versus fear of crowds in the course

The public speaking course is the best framework in Israel for those who want it Overcome fear of crowds Therefore, emphasis is placed on creating a strengthening experience (even if it is difficult and challenging) and correctly dealing with failures. The debate club is largely intended for those who have already learned to control their fear and bring them to a higher level.

Unlike university debate clubs, The school's debate club for public speaking It is largely intended for course graduates who suffered or still suffer from fear of crowds. It is not designed to solve the fear of the crowd (that's what the course is for), but it is designed to practice all the tools learned in the course and then upgrade the skills.

in other debate clubs and in debate competitions The participants have to take care of themselves, and if someone has a fear of the audience or failure, it's his and his partner's problem.

Differences in conduct and experience

In the public speaking course, you learn many types of speech, and then apply them in a wide range of situations, so there are many types of simulations and exercises. Debate is a type of sport with rules that are arbitrary in nature: just like in football there is a yellow and red card while in basketball 5 fouls are counted. That is why there are some areas where the rules of the debate differ from the content of the course.

• Speech time: In the debate, the speeches are limited to 3 or 4 minutes each. In the course some of the speeches are not limited at all and those that are receive a wide range of times - between one minute and ten minutes (in the debate competition the speeches are 7 minutes 21)
• preparation time: In the debate, the preparation time is fixed and limited (usually 20 minutes). In the course, on the other hand, you practice preparation over a very wide range of times that simulates the real world: some exercises are given a minute, some are 10 minutes, some are an hour, there are exercises with a day, exercises with a week and even one exercise with a month in advance. (In debate competitions, the groups get 15 minutes).
• Groups: In the course, participants practice speeches alone, while debate is a team sport. In the club, they usually work in pairs and sometimes in threes. We make sure that each pair has a new participant and an old participant to produce learning.
• Questions and interruptions: In the course you learn how to manage questions from the audience in your favor when some exercises have questions and some don't. In addition, a significant part of the questions in the course is not a disturbance at all, but people who are interested and want to learn. In a debate, the questions are a means for opposing groups to interrupt and increase the pressure on the speaker.
• feedback: In the course, each participant receives constructive criticism designed to make him a better speaker. The instructor explaining to him how his speech was and how he could improve in terms of preparation, content and style. In the debate, the judgment explains who won and why, and the emphasis is on the quality of the arguments and the contradiction.

Differences in the tools and abilities acquired in a debate compared to a speech course

The fundamental difference is that in the course you acquire tools in an organized and prepared manner, while in the debate the tools are acquired through trial and error (and also from imitation). In addition, a public speaking course teaches a very wide range of public speaking skills: persuasion, training, presentation, briefing, feedback, greeting and more. On the other hand, the debate club puts a lot of emphasis on developing arguments, quick thinking and speaking under pressure

style and rate of speech

In a debate, you speak faster than in any other type of speaking in front of an audience (class, presentation, briefing), and the style is sharp and sometimes more aggressive. You have to learn not to take it to heart, and silence people when necessary. The course teaches a variety of styles: how to guide a complicated topic, how to introduce yourself, how to greet at an event and more.