Lesson three: some parliamentary procedure
New information:
3.1 Introducing POINTS of INFORMATION (POIs): Anyone can stand up, say "Point of information!" and ask a short question, or make a short statement; (short = 15 seconds). This is fun!
It's usually a member of the opposing team, but sometimes someone on the floor.
(We might, later, be more formal: " On that very point, sir!", or "On a point of information!")
3.2. The speaker can accept the interruption, saying " Yes, please" , and letting the questioner speak, before returning to his/her speech. There is NO further dialogue. The questioner must sit down again immediately.
3.3. The speaker can refuse to accept the point of information, saying " No thank you " or " Declined .", and the questioner must sit down (immediately, and without any protest.)
3.4. If several students stand up to make POIs simultaneously, the speaker decides which of them (if any) can speak.
3.5. The speaker will probably answer the POI in a few words or sentences, and should not look at the questioner, but at the audience , and should not indulge in a private discussion (even now speaking to an audience, or to judges, not to the opposing side).
It helps to start the reply by saying "Ladies and gentlemen..." or "Madam Chair..."
3.6. Why ask POIs?
It is NOT to add information to the debate;
It is NOT to elicit any genuine information from the speaker; but...
The intention is to knock the speakers off balance, to make them forget their train of thought,
or to subject the speaker to ridicule for having said something inane.
3.7. What is asked in a point of information?
It can be a clarification. It can question the facts and ask for a source.
It can be a witty comment, a pun, a reference to something topical, classical or literary.
It can be a short statement giving a source or a fact at variance with the speaker's.
It can be, and often is, a red herring.
It can be sarcastic or ironical, but not personal ( ad hominem ) and not vituperative or rude.
3.8. So as to be fair, no POI is allowed in the first or(in any longer speech) in the last minute .
3.9. The same performance as last time: a debate, with as many POIs as possible , but this time with each group collecting their own arguments, i.e. no common board work.
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