The Mini-Debate Marathon is a special open house event for members and guests of the Toronto Debating Society. Normally, membership is required to participate in a debate – but tonight participation is open to all. Try your hand at debating in a fun and frivolous environment with new hands and old hands to help newcomers and guests participate.

The evening will consist of several mini debates between two speakers, the Prime Minister or the responding Leader of the Opposition. The PM will speak for 2:00, the LO will respond for 3:00 and finally the PM will have the final word for 1:00. The winner will be chosen by a show of hands from the audience.

The speakers can chose the debates, and the positions they wish to take during the evening.

Implementation instructions for education executive

• The event is chaired and hosted by the education executive. The education executive shall be speaker for each mini-debate.
• There are two debaters in each mini-debate. Each mini-debate lasts for a total of approximately 8 minutes. (See below for timing breakdown).

Procedure for selection of topics

• The Speaker prepares a list of topics and submits the list to the President at least one week prior to the meeting for discussion and to ensure that the topics are “debatable.”
• The List is printed at the back of the meeting Agenda. The speaker invites the audience to submit their names to debate for or against the motion during the break. Participants sign up on one single sheet at the front table. They are asked to make a note of when their turn is up on the back of their own copy of the agenda.

Debate procedures

• The Speaker runs the mini debates from the list in sequential order. Twelve mini-debates should be scheduled for the marathon.

Timing

• The speaker is responsible for ensuring that the timing is adhered to by each participant, and can interject if the debater continues beyond the allotted time. Time keeping provisions are as follows: