International Marketing Debate: Guidelines for Competing Teams

Here are the guidelines for the class debate on Saturday. As I have said in class, the debate is your mid-term requirement.

First, let us answer a fundamental question: why debate?

The process of debate offers profound and lasting benefits for individuals, for societies and for the global community as a whole. With its emphasis on critical thinking, effective communication, independent research and teamwork, debate teaches skills that serve individuals well in school, in the workplace, in political life and in fulfilling their responsibilities as citizens of democratic societies. Once students have learned how to debate, they are better able to critically examine the pronouncements of their political representatives and to make informed judgments about crucial issues. - International Debate Education Association

As students of Marketing and Business Administration, you should develop confidence in presenting an idea, taking a position and defending it, and convince other people to accept your position as their own. These skills are necessary in real life- during a job interview, when pitching a plan or a product to a client, or when marketing a product to your target customers. You must learn how to make sound arguments, learn to get your facts and make these facts work for you. You must also learn how to accept a differing opinion, demolish and ultimately, win an argument. Lastly, our debate exercise will allow you to work in teams, do research together, and conduct your presentations with grace under pressure. This debate exercise will test all these, plus your understanding of International Marketing.

Now the rules.

We will be using a modified Oxford-Oregon debate format. For reference, read the rules of debate and some helpful tips to do well in a debate and apply the modifications as I have explained it in class last meeting.

You will be judged according to the following criteria:

Evidence (or substance of facts and arguments presented) - 25%
Delivery (how the arguments are presented) - 30%
Interpellation (how questions were answered; how you question the opposing team) - 30%
Rebuttal/Closing Speech (how you counter the arguments presented by the opposing team) - 15%

The best speaker on the other hand will be judged according to (1) content or substance of the arguments, (2) quality of delivery and (3) teamwork.

For content (40%), the speaker must demonstrate:

Relevant, reasonable and consistent arguments with a defined structure and coherent points. Introduces some evidence to support argument. It should be of high quality argument, imaginative and coherent. Sound arguments should be backed up by examples or evidence, and must deal fully with the subject and is challenging for the other side to respond to.

For delivery (40%), the speaker must:

Have a good quality performance in which the speaker only uses brief notes occasionally, only uses wild hand actions where appropriate and has a confident air which is rarely put off by the acrobatics of other competitors. The speaker speaks clearly and makes eye contact with the panel and the competitors and does not appear to be rushing or dragging out their speech.

The speaker must speak confidently at the perfect tempo and must be able to deal with heckling and requests to give way effectively. He/She must never lose his/her place and appear to have the entire debate under his/her control.

For teamwork (20%), the speaker must:

Show clear evidence of team preparation with each member aware of the topics he/she is to cover to avoid excessive repetition of the partner's arguments. References to partner's arguments appear natural and unscripted.

Remember that the debating teams must present their arguments based on:

• Whether or not it is Necessary? (Necessity)
• Whether or not it is Beneficial? (Beneficiality)
• Whether or not it is Practical? (Practicability or Do-ability)

You may view the following videos as further references:

Good luck!

(Next up is guidelines for Special Teams/ Jurors)