​GCVD has its first successful debate!​

December 1st, 2012

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We just finished our first debate ever at GCVD! It was centered on whether Castro Valley should incorporate or not and was held in the Castro Valley library.



 

Despite being held two days before Thanksgiving, the hall was packed! At approximately 120 people, it was standing room only, which indicated that Castro Valley residents do indeed care what happens to their town.



Something we’re obsessed with here at GCVD is providing value to our community. We want to ensure that our mission is beneficial to Castro Valley residents as much as possible. Thus, when folks came up to us after the debate and began thanking us for putting the debate together, we were thrilled. Many even said that GCVD is exactly the type or organization Castro Valley needs.



To that end, our post-debate survey, which most of the attendees filled out, has helped us figure out how to improve our debates so our audience members come away better satisfied. Thank you to everyone who took the time to give us some input! We read each and every survey and found your comments and concerns valuable!



There were three common themes were:



1) Audience participation



Many attendees expressed their desire to voice their own opinions on the subject. They felt constrained writing their questions onto an index card.



It’s important to understand why index cards were used. In prior debates, we have seen first-hand how audience members can sometimes go off on tangents before actually asking their question at a microphone. Yet others use it as an opportunity to rattle off a polarizing stump speech without ever actually asking a question. In both cases, valuable time is lost that could have gone to answering a helpful question.



We wanted to ensure that every audience member could ask a question while remaining anonymous, thus making the question-and-answer session much more open. The index card format allowed us to do that and encouraged audience members to formalize their questions on the space of an index card. That way, more questions could be answered in the time we had allotted.



Going into the future, we’ll be brainstorming better ways of encouraging audience participation so that everyone who wants to voice their opinion can. There are a number of methods to accomplish this. For example, we could in fact install a microphone with a one minute time-limit where audience members could ask their question. Or, we could implement a “supporting speaker” portion in the debate where audience members can stand up in front of the audience and be part of the debate for a short while.

If you have any suggestions, feel free to let us know!



2) Structure



Some audience members were confused as to the structure of the debate. Though the moderator gave a brief overview of the debate format at the beginning, remembering it for the duration of the event is difficult. Thanks to your input, we’ll be putting together a pamphlet where attendees can quickly look over format and get their bearings for our next debate.



3) Fact-checking



Many attendees wanted a way to formalize the facts debaters were using, some even asking for a Powerpoint presentation. While we don’t think a Powerpoint presentation is in the cards (at least, not yet), certainly having the facts forces debaters to be more accurate in their claims. Right now, we are compiling a post-debate report where audience members can take a look at the reference materials debaters used while preparing. Since GCVD is a independent third-party debate facilitator, the post-debate reports themselves will contain no bias or tampering with information. It will be just the materials they used, nothing more and nothing less. These reports will be available on our website - go to the debate menu bar and click “Post-Debate Reports”.



Given the information-rich society we live in, it’s only natural that we want facts for ourselves as we hear arguments. Filtering through the internet to find these facts in real-time is a feat we cannot accomplish right now. Google can only do so much.

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Moreover, asking debaters to divulge their sources prior to a debate (so we can print them out for the audience to look at) may discourage them from debating. Part of debating is doing your own research and finding the one “trump card” that will help you win an argument. That's what makes debate exciting! 



Nonetheless, we're hard at work thinking of better ways to provide audience members with fact-checking methods!



Thank you again to everyone who participated in the survey. We hope to bring you an improved debate next time!