Point of order

Points of Order (often abbreviated POOs) are forms of communication used “solely for identifying rules violations or gross misrepresentation”  in a Parliamentary debate round. POOs do not technically have a formalized equivalent in either Team Policy debate or Lincoln-Douglas debate.

Format
In a POO, one debater stands to point out an egregious rules violation or misrepresentation that the person who’s presently speaking has supposedly made. Generally, the debater presenting the POO stands up and states, “Point of Order!” and then outlines that debater’s objection very briefly (in Stoa, a maximum of 15 seconds is allowed for a POO). Unlike a Point of Information, which the presenting speaker can refuse and cannot be raised in protected time, a Point of Order must always be heard regardless of whether it is protected time or not. The judge can verbally respond to a POO by saying short phrases along the lines of “point well taken,” “point not well taken,” or “point taken under consideration.”