The most important element of world schools is a globally focused narrative- move away from US and Canada-centric systems.
If you’ve made the cut for a district or city team in World Schools, congratulations! If you’re able to join World Schools as just another debate event, welcome! World Schools Debate (WSD) is very similar to the parliamentary in that there are three-person teams and many impromptu motions. For the basics and strategies, check out the textbook here.
Assuming you now know about speeches and motions, let’s get into how to do well in WSD. Focus should be primarily on narrative, especially in impromptu motions; every speaker and speech should refer to your team’s story or anecdote that was used to introduce your case. Whether it’s a historical example or a realistic story about an individual who would be affected by the motion, carry the story all the way to the reply. Think of the series of speeches as chapters of a book: a book without consistent points, themes, and characters is boring and confusing. Inversely, watching characters and ideas grow to a satisfying conclusion is most interesting to read.
The story of your team’s case is further solidified by what my coaches call a ‘team line.’ Team lines should be short and memorable. For example, on a motion about parenting and child happiness, a team line could be: ‘Discipline should not win over attention.’ if you’re proposing more feeling-centric parenting systems. You won’t necessarily get bonus points if your team line has rhyme or alliteration, but so much the better since those devices are easy to remember. As your team line is the lynchpin of your case, it too should be repeated in every speech to drive home your point.
More so than any other debate event, people matter in WSD. Including personal anecdotes and examples is encouraged. Of course, it takes a bit of planning to lead into a personal story to make it feel like part of the case rather than a tangent. A good place to add in a personal story is in the middle of a constructive in either the second or third speech, after the necessary rebuttal and response to attacks. Keeping with the previous parenting example, after rebutting the opposition’s piece in the proposition 3rd, the speaker could tell about a time where their own parent chose kindness or quality time with their child over pushing for orderly behavior and how this gave the speaker a more positive outlook on life. Stories can be humorous, sad, or simply reminiscent, but they should be appropriate and reflect positively on the speaker and team instead of making them seem dangerous or less credible (think: nothing illegal, morally questionable, or discriminatory). These stories add character and humanity to the competitors and their cases; seeing where theory and reality collide is one of the most important parts of a world schools round.
Making sure that your cases include overarching narrative, team lines, and personal stories makes rounds vibrant with personality unique to WSD. Always have an outline of these things for your team to follow to create continuity and rhetorical flow. Don’t spend too much time on these elements as you still have substantives and rebuttals to deal with, but don’t rush through the story of your case since you want your judges to really resonate with it. Just remember – story + substance = success. Good luck!
~ Jewell
Dynamic Debate Advice 
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