For all you Literacy majors...I need help

I've enter a rather large 2-day long debating tournament in Western University in London, Ontario. Anyway, the tournament is in a couple of days and let's just say I'm having fluidity problems. The problem is that ALL of the debates will be impromptu which means I'll have little (around 20min) to no time to prepare for them. Each speaker will make a 10 min speech which includes approx 3 min of rebuttal. All our resolutions will be truisms, that will usually not be taken literally. For example, BIRT(Be it resolved that): The time is at hand or The barbarians are at the gate, etc...Anyway, the affirmative or government side must define the resolution and the opposition must discuss their counterpoints using that definition. For example, one can define "The time is at hand" as "Procrastination is unproductive" or "The Time Magazine always presents interesting current news".


Anyway, I just need a lot of advice on the best way to deal with rebuttal and no-brainer phrases to fill up time. I know that in debating some tend to twist or bend the truth or sometimes blantently lie to support their points. If you have debated before and you're good at it, I'd love some advice.

BTW, I almost forgot. We're doing a formal parlamentary debate hence the governement vs. the opposition.

Intelligence is not merely the wealth of knowledge but the sum of perception, wisdom, and knowledge.