Scary Debate

What do you remember of the last 31st of October? That it was scary, overwhelming, and tough? For most Barcelona citizens, it was because of this huge strike paralyzing the city. For the members of Barcelona Toastmasters club, it was definitely the memory of this excellent session dedicated to Halloween. We had our first team debate this night. A scary, overwhelming and tough night. 

2 teams: the affirmative team composed of Ruben Martinez, Lucie Arnaudies and Judit Permanyer and the negative team composed of Hans Pubanz, Cristina Hernandez and Luis Alberto. They had to discuss about the fact that Halloween has become too commercial.

3 evaluators, Pilar de Obeso, Agnieszka Gut and Marisol Cifuentes, evaluating respectively the content of the arguments, the delivery and of the overall debating session.

The room was full of pumpkins, ghosts and spiders... The people were undoubtedly weird. A priest that looks dead, a baby vampire and a scuba diver... Everyone was there to support or shout at the two teams. 

     

The exercise was difficult for the debaters since they had to manage the interjections made by the public and the opposite side. It’s not something we’re used to in Toastmasters. And excellent practice for impromptu speeches to refute the opposite arguments. An amazing team work  where the two groups had to develop together a case and support each other. 

The feedback of this session were very positive. Entertaining, original and full of learning experience. Even the two guests who were there for the first time had a good time. A bit surprised though... They promised to come again to make sure we’re not that scary normally...

Or are we?