Debating with flair!
During my days at university I joined the Afro-Caribbean society. Amongst the events they organised were debates and talent shows. But what if someone came up with the ingenious idea of blending a debate show and a talent show? Well a good friend of mine from uni who also happened to be my one-time flatmate did just that. The result is The Flair Debate Show. Up till now I haven't taken part as I am not much of a public speaker. I usually shy away from these things. Mind you, I won a prize in a speech competition in school. Please note that this is a rare opportunity to big myself up and I sure am grabbing it with both hands!
One day my friend invited me to one of the shows. My curiosity, coupled with my support for my buddy, made me accept the invitation. I booked online and paid about £9 for the ticket. On Sunday I went to the event. It took place at the Light E1 Bar which was not far from Liverpool Street station. However it took me half an hour to find it! The topic of the evening was "Should police officers be armed?" There I was worrying my little (or big - your mileage may vary!) head off that I was going to miss part of the show only for it to be delayed by more than an hour!! This was thanks to one of the three judges who was none other than DJ Spoony from the garage group, The Dreem Team (Eh-eh woooah!).
Once the show finally kicked off my friend acted as MC. There were two teams - the red and the blue. We were provided with a red card and a blue card as well as a piece of paper and some yummy cupcakes! Each team had to debate in three rounds. The first round was called the Mace Round which involved team members presenting their argument in the usual manner. Unfortunately they had limited time to speak and so the babblers were cut short. The second round, and this is where it gets interesting, was known as the Flair Round. There the participants delivered their argument in the form of either rapping, singing, spoken word or poetry. The final round was the Summarizer Round where a third member of each team would summarise the main points of the argument. The three judges gave their critique and I could tell which one was the Simon Cowell of the bunch with the phrase, "I don't mean to be hypercritical" fast becoming his catchphrase (cough - Spoony!).
The show had various performers such as comedians, singers and spoken word artists. My favourite spoken word artist is Lionheart. Here is a link to one of his works.
'No Make Up Today - LionHeart' - Spoken Word.
At one point we were asked to raise our cards to let people know which team performed the best. There was also an opportunity for the audience to ask questions or to give their opinion on the subject. The judges then picked the winning team and their prize was vouchers for a Thai restaurant. I enjoyed the show and attended two more. The topics were about online dating and bad parenting. The website is www.theflairdebateshow.co.uk if you would like to know more about it. You are welcome to attend any one of these shows.
Au revoir.
One day my friend invited me to one of the shows. My curiosity, coupled with my support for my buddy, made me accept the invitation. I booked online and paid about £9 for the ticket. On Sunday I went to the event. It took place at the Light E1 Bar which was not far from Liverpool Street station. However it took me half an hour to find it! The topic of the evening was "Should police officers be armed?" There I was worrying my little (or big - your mileage may vary!) head off that I was going to miss part of the show only for it to be delayed by more than an hour!! This was thanks to one of the three judges who was none other than DJ Spoony from the garage group, The Dreem Team (Eh-eh woooah!).
Once the show finally kicked off my friend acted as MC. There were two teams - the red and the blue. We were provided with a red card and a blue card as well as a piece of paper and some yummy cupcakes! Each team had to debate in three rounds. The first round was called the Mace Round which involved team members presenting their argument in the usual manner. Unfortunately they had limited time to speak and so the babblers were cut short. The second round, and this is where it gets interesting, was known as the Flair Round. There the participants delivered their argument in the form of either rapping, singing, spoken word or poetry. The final round was the Summarizer Round where a third member of each team would summarise the main points of the argument. The three judges gave their critique and I could tell which one was the Simon Cowell of the bunch with the phrase, "I don't mean to be hypercritical" fast becoming his catchphrase (cough - Spoony!).
The show had various performers such as comedians, singers and spoken word artists. My favourite spoken word artist is Lionheart. Here is a link to one of his works.
'No Make Up Today - LionHeart' - Spoken Word.
At one point we were asked to raise our cards to let people know which team performed the best. There was also an opportunity for the audience to ask questions or to give their opinion on the subject. The judges then picked the winning team and their prize was vouchers for a Thai restaurant. I enjoyed the show and attended two more. The topics were about online dating and bad parenting. The website is www.theflairdebateshow.co.uk if you would like to know more about it. You are welcome to attend any one of these shows.
Au revoir.
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