Prepare and practice purposefully : John Lamont MP – Event of Monday 28th September 2026
Wednesday 30 September 2026 at 12:24
Visible to anyone in the world
Edited by Frederique Lanoix, Wednesday 30 September 2026 at 12:26
The MP John Lamont has kindly agreed to give tips about debating skills. The event which took place on 28th September 2026, was an hour long and accessible on Zoom. The OU Debate Club was very thankful for the intervention and the insight provided by the speaker because of the quality of the advice as well as the relevance of the tips to the club’s aims.
Overall, the event gathered about 45 people, which shows that there is an audience for this type of interaction at the OU.
Before continuing, please have a look at the OU Debate Club website to stay up to date with the upcoming debates, news and events: OU Debate Club | Debate is open
Some of the tips given included the followings:
General:
• Make it more relatable
• Have your speech drafted several days or weeks before giving the speech
• When possible, think about the difficulties of the argument
• To help you with that, you can check the Ronald Reagan speech after the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986 (have a look at the Netflix documentary or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DqilE4AAa-M?si=anwze3hrjqEYScAy)
• What you can retain from the US President Ronald Reagan speech is:
1. The speech must have depth
2. You need to be able to speak to young people – simple and relatable
3. You should cover the reasons why funding is important when applicable
4. Articulate, structured and prepared
5. And social media-digestible: Make pauses for editing purposes
6. Understand and take people’s challenges and make them more vivid as well as engaging for your audience
7. Work on your delivery (tone of voice, pronunciation, accuracy).
8. Know how to deal with points of challenge by fully understanding the topic(inside/out)
• What does preparation mean?
1.It involves testing your speech with your team or people that you know. It is a storytelling practice where you engage with your audience. Therefore, you should understand the ramifications of the main issues that you present in detail.
2. As practice makes perfect, you should have your own style, which can include tone of voice and add some appropriate jokes.
• Social media focus:
1. Mention people by their names
2. Practise beforehand to avoid keyword mistakes or people being wrongly named
3. Be aware that AI is increasingly relied upon by MPs to prepare their speech
4. The best use of AI should serve you to prepare for the opposition's key arguments. Thus, you can be fully able to deal with points of challenge.
• How to improve and get a well-delivered speech?
1. Join a political party
2. Attend the House of Commons(Feel it, hear it, witness it) it is a form of engagement; alternatively, you can watch Parliamentlive.tv - Commons
3. Get feedback (make sure you don't have long pauses when giving a speech; avoid stumbling over words)
Prepare and practice purposefully : John Lamont MP – Event of Monday 28th September 2026
The MP John Lamont has kindly agreed to give tips about debating skills. The event which took place on 28th September 2026, was an hour long and accessible on Zoom. The OU Debate Club was very thankful for the intervention and the insight provided by the speaker because of the quality of the advice as well as the relevance of the tips to the club’s aims.
Overall, the event gathered about 45 people, which shows that there is an audience for this type of interaction at the OU.
Before continuing, please have a look at the OU Debate Club website to stay up to date with the upcoming debates, news and events: OU Debate Club | Debate is open
Some of the tips given included the followings:
General:
• Make it more relatable
• Have your speech drafted several days or weeks before giving the speech
• When possible, think about the difficulties of the argument
• To help you with that, you can check the Ronald Reagan speech after the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986 (have a look at the Netflix documentary or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DqilE4AAa-M?si=anwze3hrjqEYScAy)
• What you can retain from the US President Ronald Reagan speech is:
1. The speech must have depth
2. You need to be able to speak to young people – simple and relatable
3. You should cover the reasons why funding is important when applicable
4. Articulate, structured and prepared
5. And social media-digestible: Make pauses for editing purposes
6. Understand and take people’s challenges and make them more vivid as well as engaging for your audience
7. Work on your delivery (tone of voice, pronunciation, accuracy).
8. Know how to deal with points of challenge by fully understanding the topic(inside/out)
• What does preparation mean?
1. It involves testing your speech with your team or people that you know. It is a storytelling practice where you engage with your audience. Therefore, you should understand the ramifications of the main issues that you present in detail.
2. As practice makes perfect, you should have your own style, which can include tone of voice and add some appropriate jokes.
• Social media focus:
1. Mention people by their names
2. Practise beforehand to avoid keyword mistakes or people being wrongly named
3. Be aware that AI is increasingly relied upon by MPs to prepare their speech
4. The best use of AI should serve you to prepare for the opposition's key arguments. Thus, you can be fully able to deal with points of challenge.
• How to improve and get a well-delivered speech?
1. Join a political party
2. Attend the House of Commons(Feel it, hear it, witness it) it is a form of engagement; alternatively, you can watch Parliamentlive.tv - Commons
3. Get feedback (make sure you don't have long pauses when giving a speech; avoid stumbling over words)