Our Debate Academy is a crash course of four weeks on public speaking and debating that the Utrecht Debating Society offers to its new members. It consists of three evenings in which we prepare you for the small internal competition amongst all new members on the fourth evening. On the first three evenings, we will invite some of the best speakers the Netherlands has to offer to provide a workshop for you in debating and public speaking. After the workshop, we will practice debating under the guidance of experienced judges who can provide excellent feedback.
The Debate Academy is the ideal way to familiarise yourself with the debating world and our society. While enjoying a beer, you get to know the other new participants and our members. The older members will be the judges, and please feel free to approach them about UDS or something else during the evening!
Of course, we will end our evening together at ‘t Pandje (our go-to pub in the heart of Utrecht) to close off our evening. ‘t Pandje is the perfect place to get to know our Utrecht gezelligheid and all our members.
The Debate Academy will take place in the Locke building in University College Utrecht (Campusplein 17, 3584 ED Utrecht) at 19:00 on September 20th, September 27th, October 4th, and October 11th. The Debate Academy is free of charge! You can also join our open evening at 19:15 on the September 13th. Check our IG and Facebook page for more details!
Previous Debate Academy experience by Elmar Schmidt:
Even though I still have a long way to go to what can be considered a good debater, I am staggered by the progress that I have made since I started just eight weeks ago. My fear of speaking in front of an audience is dramatically reduced, I am calmer and can think more clearly during the debates and my arguments are becoming more structured.
Register here for The Debate Academy!