How will the Questioning work?
Questions will be submitted by the general public and the attending audience through the Questions of Scotland website prior to the debate.
Submissions will close 72 hours before the debate.
Throughout the debate the presenter will ask for feedback from the audience.
Venue & Date
Equinox TV are currently in negotiations to confirm booking of the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. We have already decided that this will definitely be the venue for the debate but are currently working out details regarding the arrangements.
Tickets for the debate will be supplied through the Usher Halls booking service and will go on sale as soon as a date has been confirmed.
The debate is scheduled to take place in August 2012.
Invited Political Parties
Invitations have been extended to the following political parties (Alphabetical Order):
Conservatives (Scotland)
Labour (Scotland)
Liberal Democrats (Scotland)
Scottish Green Party
Scottish National Party (SNP)
Scottish Socialist Party (SSP)
Announcement of Respondents
A list of confirmed respondents will be supplied to the press in a formal press release in June.
Ticket Pricing
Tickets will be on sale to the general public for £12.50 each. If you pre-register now you can get your tickets for £10.00 when they go on sale. Pre-registration is free.
Filming
Filming will take place over 3 segments with 2, 20 minute intermissions. In total this will equate to 3 hours.
Filming / the debate is expected to begin at 6.30.
The debate will be filmed in front of a live audience expected to be up to 2200 people.
Footage will be compiled and edited over a two day period following the debate.
Transmission Format
Transmission of this debate will be provided through online media streaming from the Equinox TV and Questions of Scotland sites.
A secondary copy will also be provided on the Equinox TV You-Tube which is expected to go viral within hours of upload.
In order to reach as wide an audience as possible, TV networks may express an interest (have expressed interest) in transmission of the transmitted debate. In this instance they will be given permission to transmit the debate no earlier than 48 hours after we transmit.
The debate will remain online until at least the 2014 referendum.
This debate will be a pilot debate and if successful, production of two more large scale debates will be scheduled between now and 2014. 12 other smaller regional debates will also be scheduled.
General Press
Members of the General Press will be invited to the debate when the formal press release is sent out in June.
Stage Layout
There will be a total of 7 lecterns on stage; 6 for respondents and 1 for the presenter.
The respondents will stand in an arc facing the audience.
The presenter will be at the left of the stage to be able to face the respondents and for ease of movement when turning to face the audience.
Respondent Sequencing
To ensure fairness respondents will be asked to comment in sequence and given exactly the same amount of time to comment on any given question.
Questions will have been assigned a time limit of 60 seconds, 90 seconds or 2 minutes based on their complexity. When the time limit has been expired the presenter will direct the next respondent to answer.
Each respondent will have the opportunity to respond but must complete their answer in the time allotted by the presenter.
The presenter will ask the question and state the time given for answers. The presenter will then direct the first respondent to answer.
This sequencing is to ensure that each respondent has the same amount of time to answer the question. It is also to ensure that the person who answered first in the previous question will answer last in the next. As the debate continues the sequence will continue to rotate ensuring equal opportunity to comment and an overall fair debate.
On occasion a comment or statement may be made by a respondent which is directed at another respondent. In this case the presenter may ask that respondent to comment on said comment or statement under an allotted time limit.
Throughout the debate the presenter may ask for several comments from the audience. If a comment takes the form of a question directed at one or more respondents, the presenter will ask affected parties to respond. In this case the presenter will allot an appropriate time limit to respond to the question. The presenter will then continue back to the standard sequence.
Security Arrangements
Once the debate begins, those who leave the hall will not be allowed back in until intermission.
Audience members will not be permitted re-entry to the hall unless they have their ticket stub.
Press releases
We will be doing a formal launch and press release in June 2012 to promote the debate to the Scottish public.
Project Budget Policy
Equinox TV is committed to assisting the regeneration of the Scottish Media and Production industries.
As part of this pledge, we follow these simple guidelines.
- All profits derived from advertising revenues, distribution rights or other monetary sources are pushed back into the company in order to expand our programming remit and the range of shows we produce.
- All of the shows which are produced are free to air on the Equinox website.
- Equinox TV will always utilise SME production companies and staff within Scotland to ensure that other Scottish businesses benefit from our projects.
- Equinox TV strive to be ambassadors for the Scottish Media and Production industry and present Scottish talent to the rest of the world.
- Equinox TV aims to setup academies in the not so distant future to begin training apprentices and students in the fields of Sound & Video Engineering, Production, Graphic Design and Media.
- Equinox TV intend to expand and ensure that other Scottish businesses benefit from our success.
Charitable Donation
Equinox TV have pledged 5% from the price of each ticket to the M.S. Society for Scotland to help assist them in research for finding a cure for the disease.
