What can debate students learn from the presidential debate? Preparation matters.
Now that a few days have passed since the first presidential debate, there seems to be at least one constant theme in the analysis: it pays to prep. Hillary Clinton is widely credited with winning this debate, as well as giving one of the more memorable lines of the night.
I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. And yes, I did. And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president, and I think that’s a good thing.
This line was met with applause from a crowd that was instructed to be absolutely silent. Competitive debate typically shares very little with what people see on television. They focus on single topics rather a series of questions. Speeches are longer and more complex. And the closest thing to a moderator is the judge, who renders a verdict about who won rather than decides the subjects the debaters will discuss. Still, there are lessons that are universal in debate, and proper preparation is one of them.
The differing approaches to how the candidates were preparing was being discussed even before the debate. Clinton took a disciplined approach She gathered into binders information about various likely topics. She practiced late at night to match the conditions of the actual debate, which would extend through midnight. On weekends she practiced twice a day. Clinton made sure to have full length mock debates with a person designated to stand in for Trump.
Trump’s approach is much less conventional. His aides explained that he planned on drawing from his experience in reality television and entertainment to keep the focus on big picture stories about jobs, the economy, and making America great again. Trump doesn’t spend much time trying to familiarize himself with facts and figures, and doesn’t see the value in complete mock debates.
But Clinton had another edge that Trump did not. She faced a single opponent, Bernie Sanders, for much of her primary. All of Trump’s debates were with multiple opponents, where his short interjections while others spoke allowed him to steal the spotlight from everyone else. Plus, with more opponents, answer times have to be shorter per person. When Trump had to speak for extended periods of time, his answers quickly went off on tangents. Sanders’ laser focus on income inequality meant that Clinton had to be able to sustain a discussion a single topic for extended periods of time.
A combination of circumstance, and sound preparation strategy created the foundation for what would be a dominant debate performance by Hillary Clinton. While presidential debates share little with academic competitive debates, disciplined preparation is a requirement for both.
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