Debating does not have to stop because students have holidays. This is what Debattierklub Wien thought and invited to their 3rd debating seminar at the University of Economics in Vienna.

Two seminars were provided on 17th of February 2010, one focusing on OPD (Offene Parlamentarische Debatte) and the other on BPS (British Parliamentary Style).

Leonhard Weese, Florian Prischl, Jakob Reiter and Melanie Sindelar taught the seminars focusing on OPD rules. It was primarily intended for school pupils and teachers that want to bring debating to their schools. More than 40 students came to be introduced to the rules, the case setting of motions and exercises about structure and argumentation. During the seminar, different motions about introducing uniforms at schools or the banning of violent video-games were discussed. All the exercises were done because of one aim: succeeding the final debate of the 3rd Viennese Debating Seminar: “This House would legalize all drugs”. Students as well as teachers agreed: we have to debate again as soon as possible! In the meantime, Lio Kaufman was holding his seminar about BPS. Practice makes perfect, as we all know, and therefore various exercises on argumentation took the centre stage of the seminar and were by this chance also filmed to maximize the learning effect.

Die Teilnehmer des Seminars: Schüler, Lehrer, Debattanten

With over 50 participants the 3rd seminar of the Debattierklub Wien has not only been big, but also very instructive. We built case and logical arguments, we held whip speeches and seen ourselves on video – summarized: we have practiced towards the goal every good speaker has: to develop and get better.

msi / tr