Friday 09 December 2022 at 6pm - 8pm
British Parliamentary Debate: Workshop & Training Session
The resurrected Goodenough Debating Society will host its second workshop at 18:00, this Friday, 9th of December, at the LH Churchill Room!
This is the last workshop of the term, and the last free workshop until we courses will have to be paid for in advance to prepare for our show debate at the end of the year. Don't miss your chance to try it out if you haven't already!
This time we will pair both experienced debaters with novice debaters, and we’ll dive deeper into Argumentation (Vertical and Horizontal) and learn how to improve our stakeholder analysis. The class will be tighter, so we’ll start at 18:00 sharp and end at 20:00 as well. Personal feedback over dinner ?? Please bring a pen, paper, and a bottle of water. The Spring term will also have the intermediate debate training to build upon the skills learned in the beginner's course. Finally, we aim to do a grand show debate in the Great Hall in the summer, giving a spectacular Oxbridge-style debate performance to all of Goodenough college.
Topic: Beginner-friendly workshop where we will recap on the basic rules of British Parliamentary-style debate, and build upon introductory topics such as structuring arguments, and we’ll dive deeper into Argumentation (Vertical and Horizontal) and learn how to improve our stakeholder analysis.
Curriculum for 'Introduction to Debate', running throughout the Winter term and Spring term.
Classes:
Introduction to the Format British Parliamentary Debate (November 10th)
Basic Argumentation and Stakeholder Analysis (December 9th)
Vertical and Horizontal Argumentation (2023)
Strategic Argumentation (2023)
Big Picture Debating (2023)
Format: First, we conduct the workshop where you will learn the debate fundamentals, then we move on to a BP Debate novice spar simulation, with personal feedback.
Capacity: For this session, we are capped at 16 attendees. Places are limited, as the training spar in the second half can only hold 1 group of 8 people.
Where and when: The first workshop is at the London House, Churchill room, from 18:00 sharp until 20:00 on the 9th December (this Friday). Please arrive 15-minutes ahead of time to secure a seat, as we're capped at 16 attendees.
Price: This workshop is free, but for the rest of the training for this term, it's 30 pounds advanced payment in total to attend all three of the remaining classes. Everyone is welcome to stop by to see if it's for you! This session is open for all as a test-run.
This is a paid course due to an external debate mentor, but this is also to ensure that we have commitment: you will have to attend all 5 of the debate classes this term to qualify for the intermediate course in the next semester. This is especially to ensure that people who commit will be able to compete in tournaments at a competitive skill level. We cannot have a different set of students in each class, as the classes build upon each other. (If you have any financial difficulties and want to attend the course, speak to me after the first event and I'll sort something out).
About the instructor: Abhijith Subramanian is a world-ranking speaker (top 100 in the world), and an experienced international adjudicator and has coached The London Business School, Reading University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, The Zimbabwe National Team and in several schools across Europe. He served as the Vice-President of the Pan London Debating Society and an accomplished international speaker and judge. He’s also an Oxford, Cambridge, Hart House, Trinity, Leiden finalist speaker and has won 5 tournaments. He has judged 20 grand final rounds at prestigious tournaments, including Edinburgh, HWS, and at the LSE.
Why Debate: It's possibly the single most useful transferable skill you can have in any profession, and will not only master your public speaking skills, but train you to think on your feet, note-take at an alarmingly high pace, listen and distill large amounts of information intently, and become a dynamic thinker on various topics in politics, philosophy, economic policy and beyond. Debate's ultimate aim is to teach you how to structure what your mind is made of: thoughts, to practice how to articulate them.