Members Join Debate Festival

 In Toastmasters, the club meeting is at the center of our learning. Yet, that is not the only opportunity for us to learn. There are other possibilities, too. Some examples include speech contests at the area, division, district, and international levels. There are district-sponsored educational events as well. On top of that, some clubs organize their own events inviting members of other clubs.

One such case was the Debate Festival organized by Speak-up Toastmasters Club on September 24. The club is an "advanced" club that features debating as part of its program. (The category "advanced" means clubs under that category only accept membership applications from existing or former Toastmasters.) The Debate Festival was conducted using a "Parliamentary Debate" format, a kind of impromptu debate where the topic is announced on the spot and the debaters only have 15 minutes to prepare.

Our debaters, Momo, Tamiko, and Yocchan, were not familiar with debate in this format but decided to join the event. They held numerous practice sessions to be better prepared and a lot of members volunteered to join these practice sessions taking the role of their opponents. Among them was Molly, who had only recently joined the club and was quite familiar with parliamentary debating. She volunteered to observe the practice session and provide comments to the debaters. Her comments were detailed and insightful indeed.

With the debaters' efforts and support from other members, they performed well and placed second in the Festival. Congratulations!! This serves as a perfect example of Senri's Teamwork spirit.