PHOTO: Refutation drill at 13 November workshop

Through the years I have known and worked with a number of Slovenian debaters. Many of them are part of the Faculty of Social Sciences Debate Society in Ljubljana.

They invited me over for an evening of debate instruction. We engaged in a refutation drill where I give an argument and they have 30 seconds to refute it, we comment on the job they did, and then they get another argument. This way you are constantly hearing them or speaking to them and it is very efficient. I stress the use of the four stage refutation process, which is:

1. They say....

2. We disagree,,,

3. Because... (insert refutation)

4. Therefore...

It seemed to work quite well (it always does) and I threw in a few humorous arguments near the end to lighten the mood.

After that they had asked me if I could talk about the second two teams in British Parliamentary debate in terms of requirements, strategy and preparation. I did that, and I also threw in my material on how to summarize the debate and make your arguments look bigger than theirs.

After that we adjourned to the Cafe Amerika for a beverage and a nice long chat, with several of them starting a communication consulting business. I advised and encouraged them.