Keys to Great Debate Preparation
Aug 11, 2015We all watched the recent Republican presidential debates and we were quick to pick the winners and losers.
Here we analyze how to have a successful debate regardless of the office you’re seeking.
Too often, people think a funny zinger wins it while an awkward gaffe or strange mannerisms can lose a debate.
It’s my belief that many times debates are won or lost before the candidates take the stage.
The first key to performing well in a debate is knowing whether or not the specific debate request is something you should accept.
Far too often, candidates will accept a debate or forum request without knowing anything about it.
Key preliminary questions:
- Who is sponsoring the event?
- How many people do you expect?
- Who’s being invited?
- Other candidates?
- Audience members?
- Media?
- Will it be televised or recorded on camera?
- Who’s moderating the debate?
- Who’s asking the questions?
- Moderator?
- Audience?
- Candidate to Candidate?
- Will there be opening/closing statements?
- What are the time limits?
- Opening
- Closing
- Answers
- Rebuttals
- How is the time enforced?
- Can you bring notes?
- Will you be seated, have a table or be at a podium?
You’re probably thinking, “man, that’s a lot of details to know before even accepting the invitation. Why is that so important?” The truth is that the more high profile your race is the more likely it is that you will need to ask even more questions in advance.
It is important to ask these questions because you’ll probably find that most organizers haven’t thought out all of these details and you could very well help shape this debate to be a more beneficial format for your abilities.
Additionally, you may find out this particular event isn’t a fair fight because it’s sponsored by groups that support your opponent or the format isn’t a good setup for you.
Once you’ve received the answers to those questions and accepted the invitation, it’s time to start prepping for the debate itself.
The keys to success on the stage is preparation, discipline, poise, pivoting and being comfortable in your own skin.
This is where debate prep is critical. Not all practice is created equal.
As legendary Green Bay Packers Coach Vince Lombardi said, “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”
With that axiom in mind, you’ve asked the relevant questions for format, you know whether you need to prepare an opening and/or closing and the time you have for opening, closing, answers and rebuttals.
These rules should shape your prep sessions. Time constraints help you make your answers more crisp. In the recent Republican debates, it was clear that some candidates were better prepared for the time crunch than others. The less time you have the faster you need to get your message out.
The other good thing about time constraints is they help maintain message discipline. Message discipline is always critical but in a debate where the coverage is boiled down to a couple of soundbites, you need to get your key points out well.
This is why you must have a timekeeper involved in your debate prep.
Short, crisp answers and talking points will serve you well from a debate to fundraising asks to a voter’s doorstep. Use that preparation for the debate and beyond.
Now, you need to have questions to prepare for. The best course of action is to have a few key advisors work to compile a long list of possible questions. Don’t forget to include gotcha questions, too. From there, the campaign manager should review the questions and think of multiple angles to ask those questions and see if anything is missing. Asking the same question from different angles will help the candidate develop poise and the ability to pivot.
First, you need to remember that questions are really offering broad subjects. Now, we have more and more questioners that want to pigeonhole candidates to a narrow question. Don’t take the bait.
Debates are about communicating with the voters not about answering narrow, off-base questions of moderators.
Practicing ways to answer the broader subject of a question and pivot back to your message and talking points is the most important thing to ensuring success on debate night.
Through practice, you’ll have a better grasp of the issues and potential questions so you can exhibit the poise people expect from their leaders and representatives.
This will also help you when an unexpected question or comment occurs. Being poised and deliberate will help you gather your thoughts and use your prep work to answer appropriately.
Finally, you need to be yourself. Far too often, candidates try to be someone they aren’t. Authenticity shines through and the lack thereof is equally noticeable.
If you’re not funny, don’t try to make jokes or wisecracks. It won’t go well.
If the real you is abrasive or hot-headed, you can still be fiery or edgy but you need to work on not taking it too far. Taking constructive criticism during your prep session will be immensely important to your success under the lights.
That is one reason you should videotape your debate prep and the actual debate. Thinking again about football and Coach Lombardi, you should review the practice film and game tape.
A debate should be an opportunity to share your message with voters on a level playing field. Take advantage because you won’t have too many situations where voters are voluntarily listening to what you have to say.
As you can see, a lot goes into effective debate prep but these are a few of the principles that will help you win your debate and hopefully win your election.
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