Venue: Kirwan Theatre

Date: 20th September

Time: 7pm

Tuesday night in Lit & Deb is Workshop Night where, over the course of 20-odd weeks, fresh-faced novice debaters are transformed into machines of logic and rhetoric.

The first workshop, on the 20th of September, is an informal introduction to the society and the world of arguing for fun. Bring your friends and learn how to defeat someone twice your size using only your words!!

Afterwards, we will hit the town for an intro to Galway nightlife!

Intermediate Workshops
Workshop 11 – 19th January 2010
15-Minutes Prep: Strategies & Tactics
Approaches to the 15-minutes preparation time in Mace Debating. Time management, point generation and tactical considerations will be discussed.


Workshop 12 – 26th January 2010
Baby Steps: Logic Progression & Point-Building
How to internally structure and construct points to prove your case, and how to build up from first principles to those killer lines.


Workshop 13 – 2nd February 2010
From The Other Side: Judging Debates
To prepare for the Irish National Law Debates, a workshop on judging Mace debates. What matters in picking winners in debates, from role fulfillment to engagement to depth of analysis.


Workshop 14 – 9th February 2010
The IR Information Dump: Everything You Need To Know About The World of Acronyms
Workshop focusing on information about geo-politics needed for International Relations Debates. Why the UN is crap, why the EU is not, what the NPT is and why anyone should care about ASEAN or South Ossetia.


Workshop 15 – 16th February 2010
Maidens Workshop
A workshop on Maidens style of speaking, a 3-on-3 individual style. Role fulfillment and the differences from Mace style will be discussed. Followed by the semi-finals of Galway’s internal Maidens championship.


Workshop 16 – 23rd February 2010
The First Half: Claiming All The Ground
The positions of 1st Prop and 1st Opp in Mace Debating. How to build models, crucial rebuttal and how to claim the substantive bulk to defeat the second half will be discussed.


Workshop 17 – 2nd March 2010
The Second Half: The Art of the Extension
Workshop concentrating on 2nd Prop and 2nd Opp. Learn how to find and use good extensions, move the debate on and summate effectively.


Internal Mace Final – 9th March 2010


Advanced Workshops: “Debating is War”
Workshop 18 – 16th March 2010
Framing the Debate: Where Theory & Tactics Meet
Workshop on creating a mental framework for individual debates to allow you to conceive their philosophical cores and thus make astute tactical decisions. Concepts such as imperatives and burdens will be examined in detail.


Workshop 19 – 23th March 2010
Framing the Debate 2: The Whiteboard
A continuation of the previous week’s teachings, taking an in-depth look at specific motions and breaking them down to their constituent bits.


Workshop 20 – 30th March 2010
Beyond Buzz Words: Destroying Debating Myths
There are no absolute truths in debating, and the only certainty is that the other side is wrong. Take the final step on the road to debating enlightenment, the realisation that everything you’ve learned is a lie, but that nobody else has figured it out yet. Followed by the annual Galway Australs competition.