Andrew Pallant

My club has a long history of having a debate night as a challenge with another local club.  I have never participated in a debate and the closest to watching a debate is at times of political elections.  Our debates are interesting.  They have specific rules of conduct and structure.  What I was not prepared for and heckling.  In our rules, we allow team members as well as the audience to heckle the debaters.  It was truly an odd experience.

I did participate despite my reservations.  I ended up being the opener for our team.   Our team was structured with 3 people.  The first person was the opener who would clearly state the team’s position, and present the first bit of backing material.  The second person would support and add more material.  The third person was not allowed to present more material, but rather summarize the position of the team and close.

Now here is another twist to the debate.  You only know about the topic for one minute.  You have one minute to prepare with your team.  The first person has two minutes to start.  The second person has only two minutes as well.  Finally the third person has precisely one minute to summarize and close.

My team was very supportive.  As stated, this was my first debate.  The other two people on my team has seen this style of debates, hosted debates or participated in the debates.  I would do this again.  I learned how to present ideas quickly and back them with credible information.  It was an exciting night with lots of laughs.  While watching the local politics on TV, I had noticed that they perform these types of debates in their meetings.  It is good to see a practical use of this skill.  I would encourage anyone to participate in these types of debates or activities.