User:Educatress/sandbox

BEHES
About Behes

Behes is an organization aiming to promote effective communication, public speaking and debate in India and beyond through language labs, workshops and tournaments.A community of debaters that continues to grow is our pride and joy, and all a debater needs to do to join the community is attend an event nearby!

As a debater progresses through a season, the difficulty scales up leading to the Season Finals,as debaters get well versed in the format and interpretation of the reading material provided.

In the 'Behes' format, a debater doesn't just prepare your debate at home and go to the podium to read it for 5 or 10 minutes in front of an audience and judges. It has a different procedure.There is reading material provided on which the motions at a tournament are based, and this reading material can be viewed from the 'How to Prepare' section of the Behes website . All the debates are impromptu, with a maximum preparation time of fifteen minutes allotted to the teams.

How to Behes

A 'Behes' debate flows in the following manner :

1: The adjudicator flips the coin to decide the proposition and opposition team before announcing the motion.

2: The adjudicator will announce the motion and give 15 minutes to both the teams to prepare their arguments. Participants are allowed to use any kind of device (mobiles, laptops etc.),the internet or reading material in any form during this preparation time.

3: After 15 minutes, the first speaker from the proposition team for the motion) will come forward and present his/her arguments.   S/he can speak for 3-4 minutes. The adjudicator will tap once when 3 minutes are over and twice after 4 minutes.    Any arguments presented beyond this time won't be considered, however the speaker can complete his/her sentence after the tap.

4: After a gap of 60 seconds the first speaker from the opposition team will come forward and speak.

5: In this way, speakers from each team will speak alternately with a gap of 1 minute between each speaker.

6: The adjudicator will announce the winner at the end of the debate after all the speakers have spoken, and the scores have been tabulated.

Rules :

1. Each speaker can speak only for 4 minutes.

2. Any kind of electronic device cannot be used after the preparation time is over. However use of notebooks is permitted while speaking.

3. A preparation time of 60 seconds will be given after each speaker.

4. The adjudicator is not allowed to give her/his feedback after the debate.

5. The adjudicator's decision is the final decision.

Scoring Criteria :

Every speaker in every debate is scored separately on three criteria-

a. Matter (Content) :- What was the actual argument(s) presented by the speaker? Were any actual examples, facts or studies stated? If so, how relevant were they?

b. Manner (Presentation) :- How good was the speaker's body language and poise? How well did s/he maintain eye contact? Did she/he use their voice and well?

c. Method(Structure) :- Were the speaker's arguments structured in a way that they were easy to understand? Was every point elaborated sufficiently? Did the speaker's rebuttals flow naturally?

Note :

Every tournament is held in a knock-out format with one winner (and one best speaker) emerging at the end of two days. All our adjudicators have been trained in the finer points of this format of debate.

The Behes Team

Salil Singh He is a debate coach who loves his work and 'Behes'. Having been awarded as one of the three Best Coaches of the Year from over forty countries at the 2014 World Scholars Cup, he now wishes to make the activity of competitive debate available to as many students in India as possible.

Arushi Mehrotra

She nurses a strong interest in debate in all its forms,having been involved in this activity since her school days.Described by her cohorts as the voice of reason in The Behes Team,she is the Crew Director and is responsible for planning and executing 'Behes' tournaments.

Adit Pujari Known for his humorous and descriptive debating style.Adit Pujari has won the 14th best debater at the 2013 WSC Tournament of Champions at Yale University. Once a student of Salil Singh and after having trained students with him for several months,he now joins Behesas their Oratory instruction director.

References

1. http://behesdebate.com. 2. http://behesforall.blogspot.in. 3. https://www.facebook.com/behesdebate.