What You’ll Learn
- How to research moderators and opponents
- How to prepare briefing memos for a political debate
- How to physically prepare your candidate for a debate
- How to run a debate dress rehearsal
- How to debrief your candidate’s performance
Why This Is Important
As a member of the Communications Team, you’ll play a large role in ensuring that your candidate is ready to face their opponent(s) in a political debate. A successful debate appearance will give voters an opportunity to get to know your candidate, and provide an opportunity for earned media coverage, so it’s important to ensure that your candidate is prepared to face the debate stage. This course will provide you with a guide for how to properly research, brief, and prepare your candidate for a successful debate.
Key Resources
- Political Debate Prep Worksheet
- Talking Points Worksheet
- Messaging Document Example
Related Trainings
- How to Prepare Your Candidate for a Political Interview — As a Communications staffer, you will play a large role in ensuring that your candidate participates in successful interviews. This course will serve as a guide for your role in interview preparation before and after your candidate’s interview
- How to Prepare Your Candidate for Political Events — Part of your job as a member of the Communications Team is ensuring that your candidate is prepared in advance for every external campaign event
- How to Prepare Your Candidate for a Political Forum — Your candidate needs to be ready to face a moderator and the voters. This course will provide you with a guide for how to properly research, brief, and prepare your candidate for a forum
Morgan Harris
Trainer
Morgan Harris is founder and managing partner of Acacia Consulting Group. He has served as a communications consultant for campaigns of all sizes, including gubernatorial, congressional, state legislature, mayoral, and city council races. An expert in message strategy and delivery, he has more than 20 years of experience in public relations and marketing, handling clients including Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, IFC Films, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, IFC Films, and Cirque du Soleil. Morgan lives in Chicago with his cats and his Netflix account.