The Great Debate

by Stephany Bonnie Byrne

Stephany Bonnie Byrne

It had never been done before. Could we really pull it off?

Oh, not to say it had never, ever been done; a couple of the local clubs had been known to do it, you know the big guys, the “Heavy Hitters”. But for certain Lake Mary Toastmasters had never done this. But finally deciding that we could, we should, Lake Mary announced it would hold its very first “Great Debate Contest” on the last day of January 2012. But what would we argue? Banning Pit Bulls? Socialized health care? Retesting older drivers? Seemed that the list of quality of life issues was endless.
So what were we to debate on?

Why, the answer rang out strong and clear. It was a subject so important that it impacts the lives of virtually everyone, everywhere. Lake Mary's teams were going to debate the proposed law to ban the usage of cell phones while driving. Toastmasters quickly signed up to be on a team: it was then that I found out just how passionate people were about their view point. Husbands and wives were polarized on this issue of talking while driving, even squaring off on opposite sides.

Soon we had the when, the where, the who, and the what; missing, though, was the how.
Just how were we to organize this new under taking into a regular hour meeting?
How would it flow? Would it be interesting enough? What are the rules? Who judges? What would be the criteria?

Luckily for us we had Deborah Delacy on board: veteran, parliamentarian, and toastmaster extraordinaire. She quickly came up with judging sheets, criteria, and the all important speaking order. We set the time allotments, coached the captains, and eagerly anticipated the fun!

Teams were organized into Team A-Affirmative (for the ban) headed up by Captain Scott Thomas and Team N-Negative (against the ban) lead by Captain Suzanna Letchford.

And great fun we did have on Great Debate Day! Set into our programs were judging sheets for all! (The teams decided to let everyone attending the meeting including guests could cast a vote!)

Both teams researched, presented, argued and rebutted, summarized, and held their ground. Either the Negatives were a wee more persuasive or the “judges” themselves disdained a ban on cell phones usage, but when the dust settled we had a winner!

Shot down was the proposed ban on cell phone usage while driving. All participants got certificates for competing; the Winning Captain Suzanna Letchford received the Toastmaster black- ribbon Gold Achievement Medal.

This new experience was so special, yet so typical of this great organization.
Toastmasters: a fun time of learning, stretching and growing in an interestingly profitable way; to launch into something different and leave the comforting harbor of sameness.

A good time was had by all!