posted 5th May 2026
Silence and debating don’t seem like natural partners. Debating is all about non-stop talking, surely? In fact, silence can be a very powerful tool for a debater - if used in the right way in preparation time.
In short prep debating, you have fifteen minutes to prepare, during which time you are only allowed to communicate with your teammate. It’s tempting to think you should spend all that time talking, discussing the motion, sharing ideas and tactics. Wrong. You need more silence than talking. That’s how the 555 rule works.
This is the 555 rule.
First five minutes - silent time
In this time, write down as many arguments as possible for your side of the motion. Don’t say them. Don’t talk about them. Don’t worry about how good your ideas are - quantity over quality. Don’t even sneak a peak at what your teammate is writing. Just write down your ideas, as concisely and as fast as can.
Second five minutes - talking time
Look up from your notebooks. Share your ideas. Talk about them. Be willing to challenge any of your teammate’s ideas you think do not work; but also be open minded and humble enough to let them defend their ideas, and to challenge yours. A successful relationship with your teammate needs this level of candour and trust.
Once you’ve separated the wheat from the chaff, prioritise. Pick the top ideas. You need three per five minute speech (two if speeches are three minutes long), so that means you need either six or four per team, depending on speech length. Then rank your ideas in order. You want to start with strength, so give the top three or two to the first speaker, and the next three or two to the second speaker.
Third five minutes - silent time
Back to your notebooks. Prepare separately for your speeches. Write an outline paragraph for each idea (bullet points only - never write it out in full). This is a vital time for speech preparation, so don’t interrupt each other.
If you follow the 555 rule, you will be fully prepared by the time the signal comes to return to the debating room. Remember: when it comes to preparation time, speech is silver, but silence is golden. Or, to put it another way, silence wins 2 - 1.
