Authentix Coaches' debateMATES program was developed in 1999/2000 by a former president of downtown Toronto's WCB Toastmasters Club. It initially went by the name debateMASTERS. One Thursday evening just into the new Millenium WCB & IT Toastmasters held their first public debate in Toronto’s elegant Manulife building. An artist, Adam Mus, and a coach-consultant, Angus Cunningham, had created a web site to describe the rules and ethics of a novel debating process. On it they assembled some publicly available research of relevance to a debate Motion in the environmental field carefully crafted to draw attention to issues that were then being only lightly debated, but that have since become roiling national and international debates. Email messages to approximately 75 Toastmasters and a few others drew visitor’s attention. A measure of its success can be gauged from the following results:
After-the-event debriefing in the pub -- of both the issues joined and of the personal performances of the principal “protagonists” was unable -- it must be said, to focus enough clear energy to make the new debating format a sustaining commercial reality. But .......... The debateMATES' program includes four web-based components: |
… Debate Plan
… Next Debate
... Last Debate
... Debate Rules
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