Public forum debate, also known as crossfire debate, PFD (sometimes pronounced, pofo, or pufo), is a style of debate practiced in National Forensic League, Texas Forensics Association, and National Catholic Forensic League competitions.
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Public forum debate can be compared to a nationally-televised debate, such as 'Crossfire' in which the debaters argue a topic of national importance, typically one involving foreign or domestic policy as opposed to Lincoln-Douglas' more philosophy centric debate, in terms that a "common" person would understand. Similar to policy debate, the debate in public forum debate is conducted by teams of two people alternating speeches for their side, either affirming or negating their topic. In contrast to policy and Lincoln-Douglas debate, there is little focus on extreme speed or arcane debate jargon or argumentation theory; instead, successful public forum debaters must make persuasive and logical arguments in a manner that is accessible to a wide variety of audiences. Because of its strong relevance to the real-world and ability to develop life skills, public forum debate has exploded in popularity since its introduction into high school debate by the National Forensic League. Some might think of public forum debate as a less formal form of NEDA Debate.
Each team will ideally argue both sides equally (usually twice, however larger national tournaments include six rounds, plus additional "break" rounds) or, as suggested by the NFL website, will start with a coin flip. Whichever team won the flip used to be able to choose speaking order or which side to advocate, and the team that lost the flip was able to choose from the option that is left. (i.e., if the winners of the coin flip choose to advocate "Pro," then the losing team can decide speaking order). However, in some states the pro side always speaks first. In other cases, entire states adopt rules toward this in formal debate. In Minnesota for instance, all formal debates begin with the pro. Unlike in policy debate and Lincoln-Douglas debate, in public forum debate, the proposition or affirmative side does not necessarily speak first. The NFL website states that, while states may choose whether or not to include the coin toss, the NFL encourages it; and all NFL tournaments will be conducted with a coin toss in public forum, to allow for uncertainty and strategy.
The debate begins with the first team's first four-minute constructive speech. In this speech, one of the members of the team gives arguments either for or against the resolution, depending on which side the team is speaking for. Strictly speaking, the custom in public forum debate dictates that when debaters speak (both for speeches and crossfire), they should face forward towards the judge, sometimes from behind a lectern. However in some tournaments, it is customary for debaters to remain seated and face each other during crossfire. Next, the other side is permitted to give its first four-minute constructive speech in which not only arguments may be presented, but rebuttals to arguments from the first speech as well. However, rebuttals are almost always not presented until a team's second constructive, and are frowned upon in some states/tournaments, and the first constructive generally consists exclusively of prepared material.
Following this speech, the first speaker from the first team joins the first speaker from the second team at the podium if one is provided (in the absence of one debaters stand by their desks) and the first three-minute "crossfire" begins. The first speaker begins crossfire by asking a question to the second speaker. In crossfire, the two debaters directly ask each other questions and answer questions of their opponent. Crossfire may be used, like cross-examination, to ask revealing questions in an attempt to expose a weakness in the opponents' arguments, but it is often used as a way to further develop and attack arguments through discourse.
After crossfire, first team's second speaker gives a four-minute rebuttal speech. After they have rebutted their opponents case, they move on to "rehab" their own (rebut the opponents rebuttals in an attempt to nullify them. Although, this only applies to the second speaker as the first team should not have had any points rebutted yet.) Then, the second speaker of the second team gives a four-minute constructive speech following this same format. Following this speech, another three-minute crossfire ensues between the two second speakers.
The first speaker of the first team then gives a two-minute summary speech of the debate, which includes further rebuttal of the opponents case and reiteration of the first team's case, and the first speaker of the second team does the same. After this speech, all four debaters participate in "Grand Crossfire". Grand Crossfire is similar to crossfire except that all four debaters can ask and answer questions of each other. The speaker that gave the first summary speech begins Grand Crossfire by asking the first question.
After Grand Crossfire, each team's second speaker has a chance to give a two-minute (formerly one-minute) speech called the "Final Focus," the first team giving this speech first. This speech is also referred to as "The Last Shot" (depending on what state you are in), a holdover from the event's earlier days. In the Final Focus, the speaker is given one last chance to explain exactly why his or her team has won the round. No new arguments are allowed in the Final Focus, but new evidence to support previous arguments is allowed. This speech is often the determining factor for a judge's decision in a closely contested round, as it allows the judge to hear which arguments/evidence each team views as the most important to his or her case, and summarizes the entire debate.
In NFL sponsored tournaments the winner of a debate round earns 6 NFL points, and the loser of the round earns 3 NFL points. These are the same points given for policy debate and Lincoln-Douglas debate.
A Public Forum debate follows this timing schedule:
| Team A: First Speaker: Constructive Speech | 4 minutes |
| Team B: First Speaker: Constructive Speech | 4 minutes |
| Crossfire (between first speakers) | 3 minutes |
| Team A: Second Speaker: Rebuttal | 4 minutes |
| Team B: Second Speaker: Rebuttal | 4 minutes |
| Crossfire (between second speakers) | 3 minutes |
| Team A: First Speaker: Summary | 2 minutes |
| Team B: First Speaker: Summary | 2 minutes |
| Grand Crossfire (All speakers) | 3 minutes |
| Team A: Second Speaker: Final Focus/Last Shot | 2 minutes |
| Team B: Second Speaker: Final Focus/Last Shot | 2 minutes |
Each team also has a total of two minutes of preparation time ("downtime" or "prep time"), which they can use before any of their speeches. This time is spent at the debaters' discretion (plotting arguments, finding weaknesses in the opponents' case, etc.). Each team is allowed to use its allotted prep time in whatever increments it chooses. The debaters ask the judge to use prep time as needed, and then tell the judge when they are ready to begin their next speech. The judge then stops the clock and records the time remaining of the original two minutes, which that team can use later.
A standard and comprehensive system based on the elo rating system was implemented in 2010 by Fantasy Debate to nationally rank Public Forum debaters. An alternative ranking system, based on Tournament of Champions qualifying tournaments, was also launched in 2010.
Resolutions (topics to be debated) change every month. Past and present resolutions include:
NOTE: The resolution used to be: Resolved: An Islamic cultural center should be built near Ground Zero. Due to much controversy, the NFL changed the topic to the one above within 24 hours. PFDebate.com's blog posts and ensuing comments document the responses to both.
See http://www.nflonline.org/Main/CurrentTopics for current topics.