1. Congress: The Game

2. Rules of the Game You navigate the minefield of political caucusing and jockeying for judge approval using Parliamentary Procedure The object of the game is to earn the highest score from the judges by demonstrating your influence over the congress.

3. Role Playing You are a senator or a representative – refer to yourself and others as “Representative ____” or “My esteemed colleague, Senator ____...” You give speeches either affirming or negating the legislation on the docket You vote using your placard to either pass, fail or table legislation You vote for and run for the position of Presiding Officerthe position of Presiding Officer

4. How to Win Give great speeches that score high on the 6 point scale. Answer your fellow congresspersons’ questions well by knowing your legislation inside and out. Use your questions to help your “friends” and hurt your “enemies” Caucus for what you want. Be a mover and shaker. Bend them to your will. Play to win. Be charismatic and charming, draw supporters to you. Make even your opponents wish you could win. Give the judges what they want.

5. The Notebook Copy of every piece of legislation, highlighted. Outlines of speeches on both aff and neg on every piece of legislation (for competition). Amendments for the legislation that needs this strategy. A fact, quote, statistic or concept that guts your opposition’s opinion on every piece of legislation. Inconvenient truths that will make everyone in the room change his mind on the issue. Chart of Parliamentary Motions. Your Forensic Resume or application for P.O.

6. Team Strategies Enter enough competitors so that there are several from our school in each Congress room. Divide the work and share speeches and information. Vote as a block when needed. Oppose each other on a key issue to get more speech time. Elect a member of our team as P.O.

7. Writing Legislation Set font to 12 point Times New Roman Double space Set your margins to 1 inch. Word sets the left and right to 1.25 inches. The top line has your title, then leave one line blank, then type your legislation. It should be a maximum of 18 lines. On the next line, type "Respectfully submitted," and use the right justified button to move it over, not the tab or space key. On the line after that, type your school's name and use the right justified button to move it over, not the tab or space key. Number the lines last, after you complete the entire bill or resolution.

8. Name of Legislation:_____________ AffirmativeNegative Possible Questions Reason with analysis Statistic to support bill Example of need/harms Reason to reject with analysis Statistic to show problem with bill Examples