Before You Speak: The Art of Preparation

Mehdi Hasan calls it "The Document." Before every major interview on MSNBC, he compiles a comprehensive research dossier on his guest. Their past statements. Their contradictions. Their credentials and where those credentials fall short. The strongest version of their argument. And the traps he can set using their own words.

In Chapter 15 of "Win Every Argument," Hasan writes: "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." He estimates that preparation accounts for 80% of winning any debate. The other 20% is execution.

When we built DebateClub, we started with a question: What if an AI could build The Document for you? Not a generic summary, but a strategic brief that reads like Hasan himself wrote it. This is how we did it.

The Strategic Brief: Where Everything Begins

Most AI tools would take your inputs and turn them into a bulleted list. We rejected that approach immediately. Hasan does not prepare with bullet points. He prepares with context, narrative, and strategic implications.

So we built the Strategic Brief pattern. When you create an opponent profile in DebateClub, you can fill in up to 23 optional fields across three categories. But instead of dumping those fields into prompts mechanically, we synthesize them into a flowing narrative that reads like a colleague briefing you before a high-stakes meeting.

RAW FIELDS (what you enter):
─────────────────────────────────────
Topic: Universal Basic Income
Position: FOR
Audience Type: Professional
Audience Disposition: Skeptical
Opponent: Dr. James Morrison
Opponent Organization: Cato Institute
Opponent Credentials: Labor Economics PhD
Opponent Past Statements: "UBI would 
  destroy the work ethic"
Opponent Contradictions: Supported cash
  transfers for veterans in 2019

STRATEGIC BRIEF (what the AI receives):
─────────────────────────────────────
Your debater is arguing FOR the motion:
"Universal Basic Income should be 
implemented."

They will be presenting to a skeptical
professional audience. Expect resistance.
Acknowledge their concerns early, use
judo moves to concede valid points,
then pivot to your strongest arguments.

Their opponent is Dr. James Morrison
from the Cato Institute. He has 
credentials in labor economics, but
his track record shows a contradiction
worth exploiting: he predicted UBI 
would "destroy the work ethic," yet
later supported veteran cash transfers.
This is trap-worthy material.

STEELMANNING THEIR CASE:
Their strongest argument will likely
center on inflation concerns and labor
market disincentives. Their best
evidence includes CBO deficit studies.
Prepare counters for these specifically.

This brief flows through every AI generation in the system. The opening statement generator sees it. The receipts generator sees it. The zinger generator sees it. Every piece of prep is contextually aware of your specific situation.

23 Fields, Three Categories, Zero Required

We organized the opponent profile into three categories, each mapping to specific chapters in Hasan's book:

Every field is optional. If you only know the topic and your position, the system still works. But the more context you provide, the more tailored your preparation becomes.

Deep Research: Finding What Others Miss

In Chapter 3, Hasan emphasizes that "the most compelling evidence is often buried beyond the first page of Google." He tells the story of researching John Bolton's ties to MEK, a formerly designated terrorist organization. That evidence was not on page one. He had to dig.

DebateClub offers two research systems. System A uses Firecrawl to scrape specific URLs you provide. System B uses Google's Gemini Deep Research agent, which autonomously searches for 3-20 minutes, synthesizes findings, and returns a comprehensive report with sources.

The research is then fed into all subsequent prep generation. Your receipts come from this research. Your argument frames reference it. Your zingers can quote from it.

What Gets Built: The Complete Prep Arsenal

Once research is complete, the system generates seven categories of prep materials. Each is specifically designed around Hasan's methodology:

The Prep Chat: Your Research Assistant

Sometimes you need to ask a specific question about your research. "What evidence do I have against their inflation argument?" or "Summarize the key statistics from my sources."

The Prep Chat is a RAG-powered chatbot that has access to everything in your prep materials. All your research articles. All your generated openings, arguments, receipts, zingers, and closings. The full Strategic Brief. And your last 10 messages for conversation context.

The chatbot is aware of your strategic context, so its answers are tailored to your specific audience and opponent.

Watching It Work: Real-Time Progress

Strategy generation is not instantaneous. Deep Research can take several minutes. So we built a real-time progress tracker that shows you exactly where the system is:

Phase 1: Researching      ████████░░  [3-20 min]
Phase 2: Extracting       ██████████  [~30 sec]
Phase 3: Generating...
   └─ Openings            ██████████  [~15 sec]
   └─ Arguments           ████████░░  [~20 sec]
   └─ Receipts            ██░░░░░░░░  [~20 sec]
   └─ Zingers             ░░░░░░░░░░  [~15 sec]
   └─ Closings            ░░░░░░░░░░  [~15 sec]
   └─ Opponent Intel      ░░░░░░░░░░  [~20 sec]
Phase 4: Storing          ░░░░░░░░░░  [~5 sec]
Phase 5: Complete         ░░░░░░░░░░

Each phase updates in real-time as the AI works through your preparation. You can watch your arsenal being built.

Before the Debate: The Prep Screen

Once generation is complete, you land on the Prep Screen. This is your war room before battle. You can:

• Review all generated materials organized into tabs: Openings, Arguments, Receipts, Zingers, Closings, Opponent Intel, Research
• Select which opening and closing you plan to use based on your audience
• Query the Prep Chat for specific questions about your materials
• Add your own research via the "My Research" tab for AI extraction

And critically: this is not just a review screen. It is accessible during the live debate via a floating button. Your prep is always one tap away.

The Bottom Line

Hasan's preparation methodology is not complicated. Research deeply. Know your audience. Know your opponent. Steelman their best case. Set traps with their own words. Have your evidence ready with timing guidance.

What is complicated is doing all of this for every debate. That is why most people skip it. And that is why most people lose arguments they should win.

DebateClub automates the 80%. You provide the context. The AI builds The Document. All that remains is the fight.

"Preparation is not optional. It is the foundation upon which everything else stands. The speaker who walks in unprepared is not just foolish, they are disrespectful to their audience and their opponent."- Mehdi Hasan, "Win Every Argument"

Next in the series: what happens when you step into the arena.