What is PF?

What is Public Forum Debate?

By Dev Menon

Abstract

The Public Forum (PF) Debate is primarily a High School debate format that is competed across the nation and the world. Two teams of two will debate each other, typically lasting 45 minutes. One team will affirm the resolution (they are pro/for the argument). The other team will negate the Resolution (they are con/against the resolution). This Debate format was created to be more accessible, given the wake of more high level debates involving Progressive Argumentation and Speed Reading (Spreading). Topics in Public Forum are also referred to as “Resolutions”. In this intro, we will be going over the ways PF Works.

Topic Matter
Topic Duration
Speech Times
What Does it Mean to Affirm?
What Does it Mean to Negate?

Topic Matter

This refers to what the topics are about. In PF, topics alternate between U.S. Domestic Policy Decisions and the International policies of other Countries. Examples:

Resolved: The United States federal government should require technology companies to provide lawful access to encrypted communications. (November - December 2025 [25-26 School Year])

Resolved: The People’s Republic of China should substantially reduce its international extraction of natural resources. (January 2026 [25-26 School Year])

Topics use the word Resolved in front of them to form the debate into one where the resolution can end up resolved by the end of the debate. Either Resolving to Negate or Resolving to Affirm.

Topic Duration

This refers to the length of each topic. The first High School Debate format (Policy/CX) has one topic per year. Public Forum has one topic for September-October (Septober). One topic for November-December (November). And one topic per month for every month leading up to the National Speech and Debate Association Nationals Tournament. The reason those first four months only have 2 topics is due to it being the main season for local debate circuits in the U.S.

Speech Times

Speech times in the PF Debate are designed to be much shorter so that the average person can comfortably watch the debate and understand it. Speaking positions are divided into the first speaker and the second speaker.

First Speaker:

The First Speaker reads the Constructive and Summary.

Constructive: your arguments for affirming or negating the topic.

Summary: the most important speech in the round for your judges to begin fleshing out the final arguments and understand which side to lean on.

Second Speaker:

The Second Speaker will be in charge of Rebuttal and Final Focus.

Rebuttal: The speech in which you refute the opponent's argument that they stated in their constructive..

Final Focus: The final speech that each team gives, which is supposed to give the main things the debate has boiled down to and map them out for the judge.

Crossfire:

After both sides give their speech, there will be a questioning period or “crossfire” between the speakers of the teams. After both constructive speeches, only the first speaker will ask the other speaker questions regarding their arguments. After both Rebuttals, both second speakers will ask the other questions about their rebuttals. After the Summary, the last crossfire will occur in which both speakers from both teams will ask each other questions about the arguments brought up in the round.

As seen above, the speech times get progressively shorter. It is the job of the debaters to begin shortening arguments to a point at which there is a clear winner based on one or two arguments that have been collapsed on.

This link will take you to a video that will show you how a PF Debate round works: NSDA Nationals PF Finals 2023

What does it mean to Affirm?

Affirming means to be FOR a resolution. You affirm the resolution to be passed or proven true. Within a debate round, each side has a burden that they must fulfill to win a round. The affirmative burden is to prove the resolution true. Most resolutions use the word “should” as the burden word. In the example of the “U.S. Federal Government Should do X,” It is the affirmative burden to prove that it is true that the U.S. The federal government SHOULD do X. Resolutions are vague claims on purpose so that each debate creates truth or lack of truth by the end of the round.

What does it mean to Negate?

Negating means to be AGAINST the resolution. You prove the resolution false and that it should not be passed. In a Debate round, each side will have a burden. To win a round, the negative must fulfill its burden of proving the resolution is false. In the example of “The People's Republic of China should do X…” The burden of the neg is to prove that the People's Republic of China should not do X. The vague claims that the resolution makes are strategic by the Wording Committee so that debaters will be able to fulfill their burdens.

Definitions:

PF: Shorthand for Public Forum, referring to Public Forum Debate.

NSDA: National Speech and Debate Association. The National association responsible for running debate across the country and Nationals tournaments.

Affirm: To be Pro for the Resolution

Aff: Shorthand for Affirm

Negate: to be Con against the resolution.

Neg: Shorthand for Negate

Round: A Single debate session that happens, multiple times during one tournament.

Resolution: The Topic that will be debated for the next period of time. (1-2 months)

Advantage: The Advantage of the resolution, something good the resolution does, and the impact of not doing the resolution.

Disadvantage: Disadvantage of the resolution, something bad the resolution does, and the impact of doing the resolution. Affirmative Argument

Analytic: an argument that is not from a source but from the personal analysis a debater makes against their opponent's arguments. Negative Argument.

Block: A Piece of evidence read in refutation to a claim the opponent made in their arguments.

Blockfile: Teams will typically have a file of blocks, which is so they have evidence to read against arguments.

Ballot: What the judge fills out to confirm the winning team.

Card/Evidence: The formatting of an article or paper in a certain way in which a debater can read from ethically.

Cite: the citation of the source the evidence came from.

Contention: A Name given to the arguments a debater makes in constructive.

Dropped/Conceded: an argument that goes unresponded to by the opponent after you have made it.

Extension: the way a debater brings an argument to the next speech by saying a brief summary about it

Flow: The way a debater takes notes in a round and a specific format of notes to follow the way the round goes.

Uniqueness: Why the argument is unique and worth talking about

Link: how your argument connects to the topic you are debating

Impact: The big thing happens if we don't or do the resolution.

Pairing: The notification regarding which team you will be competing against on a debate round.

Hit: Teams refer to debating another team as “hitting” a team.

Powered: Rounds will be paired in a way so that one team debates another team, depending on their record after the first 2 rounds.

Prep Time: The allotted time allowed in around for a team to converse with each other to finalize arguments and plan out their strategy. Debaters only have 3 minutes in one round.

Weighing: Comparing the impacts of either side and proving that your impact is worse than the other impacts for a specific reason. E.g. “Our impact of a recession will happen faster than their impact of a war.”

Septober: The term used to refer to the topic that spans the duration of the months September and October

Nocember: The term used to refer to the topic that spans the duration of the months November and December

Resources:

National Speech and Debate Association PF Textbook

National Speech and Debate Association PF Lesson Plan

National Speech and Debate Association PF Guide

Debate Drills PF Intro

Debate Drills General PF Resources

Atlanta Urban Debate League PF vs Policy Analysis

Atlanta urban Debate League PF Speech times

DebateUS PF Intro

DebateUS PF Format Intro