Speech and Debate
Think. Speak. Inspire.
Who We Are
We are a competitive collegiate forensics team and an OFFICIAL UC San Diego program within the Department of Communication! Through public speaking competitions and debates, we help students develop their public speaking, argumentation, and leadership skills. We offer our resources and coaching to undergraduate students interested in competitive speech and debate events. We take great pride in creating the next generation of leaders and representing UCSD in tournaments across Southern California and beyond. See the tournaments in which we’ve competed on our Archives page. Additionally, check out the most recent UC San Diego Today article discussing COMM-80 and our achievements over the year.
Speech
We compete in many different speech events, ranging from impromptu speeches where you are given little time to prepare and give a speech (Impromptu and Extemporaneous Speaking), to TED-talk style prepared speeches (Original Speech Events), to even theater/drama style performances (Interpretation Events).
Debate
We compete in the following Debate formats at most Speech and Debate tournaments: NPDA, IPDA, and NFA-LD.
Volunteer To Help
While only undergraduate students enrolled at UC San Diego can compete on our team, we are still happy to accept help from graduate students, alumni, parents, and other community members! Our program is supported by the University, but we are still always on the lookout for volunteer judges!
Still Have Questions?
Visit our FAQ for more information, or visit our Coaching & Events Page to learn more about what we offer to our members! Find recaps of our past tournaments in the Archives. If there’s anything we’ve missed or you would like to know more about, feel free to Contact Us.