Crossfire CODEY HAWKINS UNIVERSITY OF WEST GEORGIA 2015 GEORGIA DEBATE INSTITUTES
Basics Crossfire is about asking questions, not making statements. Face the judge and audience Have a goal to achieve from crossfire. Crossfire is only 9 minutes out of an entire round, and each session is only 3 minutes. You should make a plan before the round with your partner and coaches What pit of doom do we want them to fall in? How can we get them to concede their link? What should we avoid asking them that could make us look stupid? Hawkins, 2015
Control the Crossfire Be polite, it’s not good to be the school bully. “I HAVE FOUR QUESTIONS AND IF YOU DON’T ANSWER THEM ALL RIGHT NOW YOU ARE GONNA LOSE!” The judge in the back of the room is going to think you are rude and stupid and likely dock your speaker points and have a harder mindset for you to meet to win the debate in his/her mind. Hawkins, 2015
Control the Crossfire Do not let the person who won’t be quiet talk all day. Politely tell them that their answer was sufficient or that they aren’t here to give a rebuttal. Remember to be as polite as possible. Be as clear as you can in order to get the answers that you want Hawkins, 2015
3 basic lines of questioning Clarification – asking for information Ex: Your NYT card says … Fallacy – exposing flaws in your opponents arguments Ex: But this NYT card was written … Argumentation – setting up arguments for speeches Ex: So if this NYT article says … then how can… Hawkins, 2015
Questioning to avoid Questions that are irrelevant. “What other topics unrelated to this resolution has your author written? Don’t be angry in your tone. Don’t cut off other people frequently Don’t try to force a confession – “IS IT TRUE YES OR NO?!?!” “Would you agree…?” Avoid killing ethos “That was stupid” “yeah, right” “Its simple economics, just take an econ class dummy” Hawkins, 2015
Challenge Evidence If you assume their evidence is good and perfect you have probably already lost. Ask for the source/article – what they are, hiding, what short cuts, how qualified? Explore bias Hawkins, 2015
Recovery Mode Activated If you mess up with an argument and they ask about it, fix it and explain it in a different way If they continue to ask open ended questions, talk until they stop you. It is their time that they are giving you to give the judge a reason to buy into your argument that would have failed if they just had been quiet. Hawkins, 2015
Control the space Your goal in this round is to make the judge vote for you. Make eye contact If someone asks you a question and you are looking at them while they are looking at the judge, then it makes you seem like you do not know as much about the resolution as the person who just asked you the question. Hawkins, 2015
Answering Questions Look at the audience and be polite; you are persuading the judge. Answer question in a straightforward manner Do not fall into a pit of doom that you can’t dig yourself out of What I mean by this is you need to identify a series of questions that will allow your opponent to set up a link or impact that flows to their side. If you do not anticipate the direction in which their questions go then your opponent will succeed in pushing you into the pit of doom Hawkins, 2015
Answering Questions Answer questions by referencing your evidence This will build your credibility dramatically with the judge, and they are hearing the card yet ANOTHER time! You want them to be thinking of that card that says exactly what you need in order to win that debate round. You use your evidence because it should be GOOD EVIDENCE with GOOD AUTHORS. Hawkins, 2015
Answering Questions Think about questions from a judges perspective. How would the judge like to see me answer this question? Do not look shifty, look confident – the judge can tell if you are doing some weird twitching think or bouncing your leg up and down. If you are getting destroyed and you can tell, slow down the pace of the crossfire, it will make it hurt you less. Hawkins, 2015