A step-by-step guide

Debates are a great way of getting students thinking about serious issues, and it provides a forum for unanswered questions and misunderstandings to be turned into knowledge and firmer opinions.

For a truly successful debate, you need to attract people from both sides of the fence - for example, pro-vivisection as well as anti. This makes for a lively and fun experience, and may change a few minds in the process!

The following advice uses a vivisection debate as its example, but can be easily transferred to a vegetarian/meat eating debate or hunting debate. 

There are two ways you can go about organising a debate:

Firstly, it could involve only students whereby you have one or two knowledgeable students from your uni/college to take up their preferred positions on the subject matter. They will outline their main points of argument, then encourage debate from the audience.

The second route you could take is to invite notable specialists in the area to be the leaders of the discussion. This would work in the same way as the previous option, but tends to provide for a more serious debate - which could be good or bad. Inviting in professional outsiders may intimidate the audience and they may not speak up, but at the same time the knowledge imparted will be of that much higher quality and may attract a larger audience.

Either way, you need to ensure the people sitting at the debate tables know their stuff. By getting others to run the debate (unless you are exceptionally proficient in, say, the ins and outs of vivisection vs alternative methods) this allows you to take a backseat and not be the centre of attention in front of a potentially large audience.

Your main job here, besides organising it in the first place, is to introduce the debate, the people, signal to each speaker when their time slot is over and then announce the winner at the end.

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So, where to start? Here are Alexia's 8 steps for organising and running the debate:

1. Decide whether you are keeping the debate in-house (just students) or inviting external speakers from the professional world. Then pick your people! I'd go for two from both sides, and preferably (but not essentially) of both sexes.
2. Finding students to speak on vivisection is easy if you are at a science focused uni/college, so go to the head of the department or a friendly member of staff and explain what you're doing. They will hopefully then find you two students! If the courses aren't very scientifically based where you are, either advertise for students to come forward or ask around your friends. There may also be a university debating society you could ask.
3. Finding professionals isn't as hard as you'd think either. Approach national organisations who campaign on the issue; the Dr Hadwen Trust, Safer Medicines Campaign and Animal Aid can all provide scientists opposed to vivisection, and the Research Defense Society or Oxford Uni's PROTEST are only too keen to speak up for animal experiments. If you have any difficulty finding people, contact us and we'll help you.
4. Once you have your speakers decided upon, next you must come up with a date and time. This must be at least a few weeks or a month in advance to allow for preparation and the word to spread far and wide!
5. When you give the date and time to the speakers, you may find that they cannot do it then, and it may change a few times but be accommodating and patient. Next you should book up the lecture theatre or room, which should allow for at least 100 people (you never know!). To do this you will need to ask reception for the correct department.
6. Once all of the essentials have been taken care of, then start on the promotion - the fun part! Create a poster that can also be reduced to flyer size and post around the campus. Ensure all of the important information is included, such as the date, time, place and who is taking part, but try to make it as visually attractive as possible, using images and large fonts. If you are a SAAC member you can download one of our customisable posters. Before posting around, check with the campus staff and union that you can stick up posters where you want.
7. Other opportunities for promotion include the union website, uni/college radio and print media, and even in local shops but be aware that this may attract non-students to the debate. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but decide early on whether or not to keep it exclusively for your fellow students.
8. On the day of the debate arrange to meet the speakers at least 45 minutes before it begins. This will give you time to run over the rules, check that any Powerpoint presentations they have brought with them work on the room's computer and just generally get to know them a little to make the introduction a little easier.

A good and fun addition is to take a vote at the beginning: who is for vivisection and who is against; and then at the end. Get someone reliable to count the hands, and then see what the difference is. The side with the most converts wins!

Top tips:

• If your side wins, tell the world! This is a victory and media coverage or just general spreading of the news can only be a good thing.
• Remember that this event may bring potential new members for your group, so come prepared with a pad and pen to take down their details. You could also have the group's contact details on slips of paper, like a makeshift business card.
• No matter how much distaste you may feel towards a speaker, treat him/her as a guest and a human being. Acting aggressively or downright rude will gain you no points in the long run and will give the group a bad name, possibly affecting future attempts at organising a debate.

GOOD LUCK!

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