Speech & Debate Club

Current Topics

https://www.speechanddebate.org/topics/

Sep/Oct Public Forum Topic – Resolved: The United States federal government should enact a moratorium on hyperscale data center construction.

Sep/Oct Lincoln-Douglast Topic – Resolved: Outer space colonization is a moral imperative.

Registration

Please register on the Meridian World School webpage for Speech and Debate

Get ready for 2026-2027 Speech & Debate Club with these important dates!
Annual Membership Registration - Annual Membership Registration ($52.30) will open on Wednesday, August 19, and it will close at 9 PM on Thursday, August 27. Membership is limited to the first 49 high school students to register. Students who participated last year will need to register again this year, including officers. No late registration will be available. Complete the registration form and pay the registration fee from the link on the Speech and Debate Registration webpage. Check your registration status.
Annual Participation Fee invoices will be issued via MySchoolBucks on Monday, August 31. The Annual Participation Fee is due Tuesday, September 8. The Annual Participation Fee is $150 if paying by check, or $156.90 if paying though MySchoolBucks. My School Bucks has a 4.6% convenience fee.
Tournament Fees: $30-50 to compete (covers the competition fee for the debater/speaker at a specific tournament as well as facility fees/judging costs)
Interest Meeting - Check out the Speech and Debate Club on Thursday, August 20 at 4:10 PM in HS 1.11.
Annual Membership Registration - Register Wednesday, August 19 through 9 PM on Thursday, August 27. No late registration is available. The Annual Membership Registration fee is $52.30. Register on the Speech and Debate Registration webpage. Check your registration status.
Annual Participation Fee - Annual Participation Fee invoices will be issued via MySchoolBucks on Monday, August 31. The Annual Participation Fee is due Tuesday, September 8. The Annual Participation Fee is $150 or $ if paying though MySchoolBucks.
Weekly Meetings - Speech and Debate Club will meet weekly on Thursdays in Mrs. MacFarland’s room HS 1.11 from 4:10-5:10 PM starting Thursday, August 20th through Thursday, April 15th, 2027. Please note the first official meeting will be Thursday, September 3rd.

Tournament Schedule

Tournaments - Speech and Debate Club members will have the opportunity to participate in local tournaments.

The Speech and Debate Tournament Schedule is an evolving document dependent on when host schools announce tournament details. The following dates are subject to change. Please contact the club advisors with any questions.

TFA Tournament Spreadsheet Region 3

Point Chart for 26-27

Local Tournaments

5 Tournaments

September 25-26 at Anderson High School
October 16-17 at Cedar Ridge High School
November 13-14 at McCallum High School
December 11-12 at Dripping Springs HIgh School
Jan 29-30 at Westlake High School

Deadlines

Tournament 1 - Anderson High School

Tournament Dates: September 25-26 FRIDAY VARSITY ONLINE, SATURDAY IN-PERSON

Tournament Location:Anderson High School at 8403 Mesa Dr. Austin, Texas 78759

Tournament Participation Fee amount: $30-40, to be confirmed the last week in August
Tournament Commitment due by: Thursday, September 3 (first regular meeting)
Tournament Participation Fee invoice issued by: Friday, September 4 (no school for students)
Tournament Participation Fee invoice due by: Friday, September 11

Tournament 2 - Cedar Ridge High School

Tournament Dates: October 17 --SATURDAY IN-PERSON ONLY

Tournament Location: Cedar Ridge High School, 2801 Gattis School Rd

Round Rock, Texas

Tournament Participation Fee amount: $30
Tournament Commitment due by: Thursday, September 17 (first regular meeting)
Tournament Participation Fee invoice issued by: Friday, September 18 (no school for students)
Tournament Participation Fee invoice due by: September 24th

Tournament 3 -McCallum

Tournament Dates: November 14 --SATURDAY IN-PERSON ONLY

Tournament Location: McCallum High School (5600 Sunshine Drive, Austin, TX 78756)

Tournament Participation Fee amount: Coming by Thursday, October 15
Tournament Commitment due by: Thursday, October 22
Tournament Participation Fee invoice issued by: Friday, October 23
Tournament Participation Fee invoice due by: Friday, October 30

Tournament 4 - Westlake

Tournament Dates: January 30--FRIDAY ROUNDS 1&2 FOR VARSITY DEBATE; SATURDAY IN-PERSON

Tournament Location: Westlake High School (4100 Westbank Dr, Austin, TX 78746)

Tournament Participation Fee amount: Coming Thursday, December 10
Tournament Commitment due by: Thursday, January 5 (first meeting of 2027)
Tournament Participation Fee invoice issued by: Friday, January 6
Tournament Participation Fee invoice due by: Friday, January 13

Qualifying-required Tournaments

TFA State

Qualifying for State:

Please note that only Varsity-level members can qualify for state.
To qualify for state, students need to earn 14 points.
Points are earned by advancing to outrounds at local tournaments and dependent on entry numbers (more entries = more points)
You get points when you make the quarter finals (2pts), semi finals (4pts) and if you win (6pts). Points can vary though depending on the events and numbers.

TFA topics for LD and PF will be based on NSDA topics

Tournament Dates: March, TBD

Tournament Location: TBD

Tournament Participation Fee amount: Thursday, February 11
Tournament Commitment due by: Thursday, February 18
Tournament Participation Fee invoice issued by: Friday, February 19
Tournament Participation Fee invoice due by: Friday, February 26

General Information

Advisors

Martha MacFarland, m.macfarland@mwschool.org

Jennifer Radebaugh, jennifer.radebaugh@mwschool.org

Weekly Meeting Time

Thursdays from 4:10-5:10 in Mrs. MacFarland's room, HS 1.11.

Terms for Participation

26-27 Terms for Participation

Public Forum

Lincoln-Douglas

Intro to Utilitarianism

Cross-Examination

Meridian Competitive Events

Public Forum

According to NSDA, "As a team event, students who compete in Public Forum need to be able to work well with a partner. Balanced teams, both in terms of preparation before debates and contributions within a debate, helps provide a competitive advantage during tournaments. PF looks at current event topics. Students who do Public Forum must be prepared to debate in front of judges without any formal debate training. Being able to persuade a range of judges is a central component to this event. Additionally, PF is focused upon debating varying resolutions that change frequently, which exposes students to a variety of topics during a singular competitive season.

Lincoln Douglas

According to NSDA, "Lincoln-Douglas Debate typically appeals to individuals who like to debate, but prefer a one-on-one format as opposed to a team or group setting. Additionally, individuals who enjoy LD like exploring questions of how society ought to be. Many people refer to LD Debate as a “values” debate, as questions of morality and justice are commonly examined. Students prepare cases and then engage in an exchange of cross-examinations and rebuttals in an attempt to convince a judge that they are the better debater in the round."

Current Topics for LD
Values in LD Debate
Framework vs Contentions in LD
Resource Table
Value Comparison Worksheet
Intro to Philosophy PPT (only accessible if you have a Meridian email due to copyright reasons)

Value: Quality that people consider important.

Criterion: “a standard of judgment or criticism; a rule or principle for evaluating or testing something” (dictionary.com).

Original Oratory

According to NSDA, "Original Oratory is a speech written by the student with the intent to inform or persuade the audience on a topic of significance. Oratory gives students the unique opportunity to showcase their voice and passion for their topic. An Oratory is not simply an essay about the topic—it is a well researched and organized presentation with evidence, logic, emotional appeals, and sometimes humor to convey a message. Topics may be of a value orientation and affect people at a personal level, such as avoiding peer pressure, or they can be more of a policy orientation and ask an audience to enact particular policies or solve societal problems. "

Requirements per NSDA: originally written by student, no more than 150 directly quoted words (about 10%), speech is memorized, 7- 10 minutes

Judging Criteria: Judges will look for 1)Importance (how significant the topic is),
2) Relatability (How personable the delivery is? How this impacts people?)
3) Originality (How unique and inventive is the delivery? Are the supporting examples interesting and engaging?)
Mrs. MacFarland also suggests following a specific format: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Format

Examples of Competitive Events

Public Forum Nationals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUnyLbeu7qU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7fKEsZohYY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxQ8Pdetg2E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBXgdVG5fUk&t=1283s

LD Nationals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw6Nvv8UMbU&t=1011s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFFOLNdSOWE&t=500s

Original Oratory

Check out the videos from National Speech and Debate Tournaments below:

Original Oratory

According to NSDA, "Original Oratory is a speech written by the student with the intent to inform or persuade the audience on a topic of significance. Oratory gives students the unique opportunity to showcase their voice and passion for their topic. An Oratory is not simply an essay about the topic—it is a well researched and organized presentation with evidence, logic, emotional appeals, and sometimes humor to convey a message. Topics may be of a value orientation and affect people at a personal level, such as avoiding peer pressure, or they can be more of a policy orientation and ask an audience to enact particular policies or solve societal problems. "

Requirements per NSDA: originally written by student, no more than 150 directly quoted words (about 10%), speech is memorized, 7- 10 minutes

Judging Criteria: Judges will look for 1)Importance (how significant the topic is),
2) Relatability (How personable the delivery is? How this impacts people?)
3) Originality (How unique and inventive is the delivery? Are the supporting examples interesting and engaging?)

Mrs. MacFarland also suggests following a specific format: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Format

Original Oratory –This is a persuasive speech, which attempts to convince, inspire, stimulate thinking, or move the listener to action. The subject should be of political, economic, social, or philosophic significance and should be limited to a specific topic. The orator may use any suitable pattern of organization, which will provide a clear, logical development of his/her thesis. The oration should be the result of research, analysis, evaluation and personal conviction. An oration is not an essay; it is a speech. Thus, emphasis should be placed on oral communication and the student should remember that direct, communicative speech, not stilted or artificial delivery is their goal.

Follow Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Format

Attention --hooking your audience
Need--establishing the problem
Satisfaction--providing a solution
Visualization--describe life as better after solution
Call to action--urging people to take action toward cause

Check out the videos from National Speech and Debate Tournaments below:

Step 1: Brainstorm Topics

Think about a problem in society that you would like to see improved.

Consider a few list to get you thinkings: 110 Original Oratory Topics; Best Oratory Topics,

Possible Topics:

Step 2: Research and Outline Ideas

Outline & Research Template

Step 3: Draft your speech

Step 4: Practice--this should be a speech based on memory. Yes! You can do it!

Helpful Links

Google Classroom: Club members should work with advisors and officers to join the Google Classroom for Speech and Debate Club.

Free Online Courses for PF: https://academy.debatedrills.com/