ESU debating alumnus Gerry O’Donnell tells us about his experiences and the teachers who made him, and why he’s happy to judge for us today
When did you first come across the ESU and its competitions?
I was at St. Mungo’s Academy in Glasgow, then a selective state school, which had a long tradition of debating. There was a debate club on Friday evenings after school and I thought it was enthralling. I was a shy kid and I just loved the interplay and confidence that was on view – I thought I’d really love some of that.
How were you coached?
The late Willie McLaughlin ran the club and he was absolutely tremendous. He wasn’t a great orator, but he was a great educator. He set up these debates every three or four weeks and then would give us crits. We’d get a paragraph of feedback and a mark pinned on the noticeboard and we were all desperate to see them and, if we did badly one week, to improve. We started entering external competitions and when we took part in the ESU’s Scottish debating competition, there was a guy called John Russell who coached me and my debating partner Patrick Byrne. He gave us so much time, inviting us over to his home in East Kilbride every Sunday afternoon to go through our arguments. He was never prescriptive – it was always: ‘have you considered….?’; ‘if you say that, there’s a strong likelihood that a counter-argument might be…’; ‘have a read of this article in The Economist…’ And then Patrick and I would do a draft, read it out and, if we got a blank look, we’d know that we had to go back and try again.
What do you remember about the competition itself?
It was 50 years ago this year when Patrick and I went over to Edinburgh, to the Mary Erskine School for Girls, as I recall, and we won. The prize was the Inverclyde Trophy and a trip to America, which took us to New York, Cape Cod and Boston. We were expected to go to the local school in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, which had a student body so big they’d divided it into two intakes – mornings, which started at 6.30am, and afternoons. I was put into the morning intake and being woken up at 5.30am to go to school didn’t feel like much of a prize some days! But, joking apart, we had a blast.
What did you get out of debating on a personal level?
More than anything, I think it was the confidence. John Russell was brimful of confidence – he knew he was good at his job and some of that undoubtedly rubbed off on the two of us. And then there’s the format of debates and public speaking which is usually that people are obliged to listen to you. For a shy kid, that’s great. You don’t have to walk into a crowded room and make friends, you can just say what you think. Sure, there might be a question, but it’s a great opportunity for you to be heard and to get your message across. I enjoyed it so much that I continued at Glasgow University where I won best maiden speaker, most improved speaker and best speaker in succession. Charles Kennedy, the late Lib Dem leader, was my partner in my second year – we won an inter-university maiden speakers competition.
Alongside the confidence, there was also the fact that we were discussing interesting topics that we might not cover at school, and the feeling of being invested in; that definitely made a mark.
What skills did the competition give you?
I went on to have a pretty long sales and marketing career in which I had to make clear, well-structured, persuasive presentations, which all came from my debate training. Likewise having strong openings and perorations [conclusions] – we were very big on that. Then, in the final part of my career, I took on a corporate affairs directorship where, all of a sudden, all of those more public-facing skills I’d learnt came to the fore. I found myself writing speeches for other people (of course, I felt they never delivered them quite as well as I would have done!).
I’m a product of the analogue age and some of the stuff I knew and did in my job has already changed, but the tradecraft of public speaking and debating is timeless. The skills I learned then are every bit as valid now.
What difference do you hope you are making as a volunteer judge?
I hope I can help the young people realise that public speaking and debating isn’t just about the competition, it matters in life. I know that these skills, be they presentational or teamwork, can play into success. There’ll always be occasions, even if it’s just a team meeting, where you’ll be required to get on your feet. You might even have some competition within whatever organisation you’re in for that kind of task, and it helps if your hand is up first and you’ve got a degree of confidence about you.
And above all, I just hope they feel encouraged enough to keep going and improve or, if they’re in the audience, to give it a go.
What would you say to other people thinking about volunteering for the ESU?
The knowledge and tradecraft you have is valuable to others and this is a great opportunity to unpack it and pass it on before it’s too late.
