First things first: If you don't like Irish weather - just wait 15 minutes. It'll be better after that. And then again, after 15 minutes, it'll be worse than ever. And so on. That is only made up to by the people. They are amazingly friendly. You cannot get lost even if you are drunk as hell... there are people everywhere to help you. Only obstacle: The Irish accent. As soon as you get used to it, you're fine. It doesn't matter if you're booked for the finals at Euros or if you're ...

"Ich bin ein Berliner", "I have a dream" and "Yes we can"! Speech may change the world - but where can you learn that? Of course, in a debate club! The team of show "Sommerzeit" of the Austrian broadcaster ORF with presenter Reinhard "Jesi" Jesionek visited Debattierklub Wien to learn how a debate works and what you can do in a debate club. The presenter joined the debate on the topic "Should all search for extraterrestrial life be stopped immediately?" together with the Viennese debaters and was thus able to experience first hand how a debate club breeds excellent debaters ...

This article is not available in English. Please read the German version to learn about which teams, free speakers and adjudicators made it to octos at the Deutsche Debattiermeisterschaft (DDM), or German Championship in Heidelberg. ...

The weekend around in mid-April could have been named the European weekend of debating. Beside the German Regional Championships, the Dutch Nationals and Lund Open the American College in Greece hosted this year's Athens Open. In addition to the usual high qualitiy debaters that the Balkans have to offer, the tourney featured quite a remarkable number of previously unseen institutions. For once there were various institutions from Paris who showed how this month’s Paris IV is both part and a catalyst of spreading BP debating around Europe. From Germany Aachen and Paderborn ...

Please find here the cover-ups we have gathered for you on the German regionals. Please do not hesitate to read the German version of this article. There you may learn more on what the press writes about the Western German regional (WDM) as well as what debating societies like DK Wien and DC Freiburg have to say about this year's Southern German regional in Bayreuth. Oliver Hörtensteiner, the tabmaster of this year's Southern German regional put the tab of the competition online. You may also find the tab of WDM 2011 online. glx / apf ...

The Debating Union of Vienna established a new project with one of the most prestigious international law firms, Baker & McKenzie: they cooperate with the so-called "Baker & McKenzie Debate Club". The first Baker & Mc Kenzie Debate Club will be hold on 6th and 7th May 2011 and places the best and most eloquent students together to test their reasoning and public speaking skills. tr

“Oxbridge“ among the top ten debating societies of the world? Of course, one may assume to find those two oldest deb socs in that list – but who else is to be listed there? Colm Flynn, former chair of the WUDC Council, is the founder and editor of the internet blog World Debating Website. There he has published his “Worlds Debating Rankings 2011“. According to this, the top ten comprises four Australian institutions and only two English ones – Oxford and Cmabridge Unions. Even an institution from the Philippines is listed among them. The most successful debating society from under ...

This is an article about debating evenings, regularly hold in Vienna with support of Citry of Vienna and the Chancellor of Austria. Please read the German version of this article.

You may get the Debattierklub Wien's view on their great and first-ever Vienna IV by reading their article "Vienna IV - The full Story". And if you are able to understand German, do not hesistate to get Vienna-IV-tabmaster Jakob Reiter's view on debating by reading an interview by viennarama.at.

You may find recordings of semis and the finale, the tab and a lot of pictures. Follow our links. See Vienna IV Semis, Vienna IV Final and Vienna IV Winners Announcement. You may find Vienna IV fotos on flickr. Speakers Tab and Team Tab are online, too.

Semi-finalists have just been announced in Vienna! Semis break Vienna IV 2011 Colgate Extra Weiß (16 Ranking Points, 955 Speaker Points, Austin Schwartz, Travis Steele) Bonn Schumeter (14, 935, Lukas Haffert, Volker Tjaden) Galatasaray Ottomans (13, 929, Engin Arikan, Denizhan Kilic) Deree B (13, 921, Jim Kotzias, Eirini Damianaki) Heidelberg Early Blossom (13, 911, Jan Lüken, Marcus Ewald) Brits It means nothing to me (12, 921, Oscar Avery, Feng Cai) Belgrade Tik Tok (12, 907, Goran Jankuloski, Tijana Mejalkovic) SciencePo (12, 907, Stephane Wakeford, xxx) Adjudication Christoph Jäger (DK Wien) Derek Lande Filip Muki Dobranic Gudrun Lux (DC Bonn) Isabelle Loewe (DC Bonn) Kimon Ioannides Leonhard Weese (DK Wien) Lio Kaufman Maja Cimerman Manos Moschopoulos Marietta Gädeke Marko Cirovic Michael Shapira Milan Vidnjevic Rosie Halmie ...

Vienna calling: Following that call are debaters from all over the international debating circuit. From Friday to Sunday, the Austrian capital will see speakers and judges flocking in from the Netherlands, Ukraine, Greece, Slovenia, Germany, Turkey, Romania, Serbia, England, Ireland, Russia, Croatia, Macedonia, France, Kosovo and the USA. The all assemble at the first Vienna IV ever to be held by Debattierklub Wien (DKW). Six prelims will be staged at Vienna’s University of Economics and Business with seven-minute speeches. The format is British Parliamentary Style (BPS), language of debate is English. The final will be held in the Festsaal of ...

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. ...

The Association of Debating Societies at Universities (VDCH) has now grown to 70 debating societies. The umbrella association represents debating societies in Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Jan Lüken, current president of VDCH, is proud to announce that just recently four new debating societies have become members of VDCH. These are AFA Wien, Debattierclub Zürich, DUEbattierclub Duisburg-Essen and Streitkultur Berlin. Streitkultur Berlin is a kind of "branch" of Streitkultur Tübingen and as such an advocat for the format OPD (open parliamentary debate, a format widely spread in Germany). The executive board is formed by Christoph Krakowiak, Helen Leutloff and Julia Dragon. ...

We're sorry, this piece is not available in English. Please read the German version of this article to learn more about what deb socs from Stuttgart and Vienna have to say on Botswana Worlds 2011 and what Berliner Zeitung reports on the Berlin Debating Union, the future host of Worlds 2013. ...

On his blog, Manos Moschopoulos compiled unofficial tabs for ESL and EFL respectively for the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds). He did so based on data provided by Leela Koenig, judge at Botswana Worlds, and the competition's language committee. So far, official ESL and EFL tabs have not yet been published by the adjudication team of CA Logandran Balavijendran. According to Manos’ compilation, a correction of the Top Five EFL Speakers has to be noted: “Simon Belak (Ljubljana C) and Andreas Lazar (Stuttgart A) are joint top EFL speakers (initially, they were announced as 2nd and 1st respectively),” Manos ...

The full tab of the World Universities Debating Championships 2011 has been made available online already! The CA team put it on the homepage of Botswana Worlds. Naturally, Achte Minute does have a focus on the results of  VDCH teams and speakers. Hence, to lighten the burden for you, our loyal readers, we compiled their results. ...

Breaking news from Botswana: Results of our VDCH teams after round 6 leaked from Gabs and we have it all here for our loyal readers. Colm Flynn provided photographs of the tab on his World Debating Website. So how are our German and Austrian teams doing in Gaborone? ...

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Registration for the Vienna IV is now open - save your spot for the first international intervarsity in Austria, to be held March 4th to 6th, 2011. The participation fee is 30 Euros per person (speakers and adjudicators), which includes accommodation at the youth hostel Brigittenau and all meals. Debates will be held in English, under the rules of British Parliamentary Style. To register, send an email to info[at]debattierklubwien.at with the following information: Institution, number of teams, number of judges, and contact details. Institution may send adjudicators, but there is no obligation to do so. The team cap per institution is three. ...

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Schnitzel and debating in Vienna: For the first time ever, the Debattierklub Wien (DKW) is going to host the Vienna IV in the Austrian capital from 4 to 6 March 2011. Pre-rounds and semi-finals will be staged at Vienna’s Wirtschaftsuniversität while the final will take place at the downtown campus of Hauptuni. Chief adjudicators are Isabelle Loewe (EUDC-Champion ESL, English as a Second Language), Manos Moschopoulos (acting ESL runner-up) and Steven Nolan (CA Galway Euros 2011). Language of the tournament is going to be English, debates will be held in BPS. In case many non-native debaters register there will be ...

In today's general assembly, the Debattierklub Wien elected a new executive board. Leonhard Weese, who lead the club through the last year, will remain as chairman of the board. He is flanked by Jakob Reiter as secretary, Melanie Sindelar as press secretary and Stefan Zweiker as treasurer. fnp / glx

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Martin Zintl of Debattierclub München reports from the Red Sea Open 2010 from a Munich perspective (linked article in German only).

Stefan Zweiker of Debattierklub Wien reports from the Red Sea Open 2010 from a Vienna perspective. There he gives kudos to a very comfortable schedule and does not forget to mention the culinary amenities of the tournament: "We had the luxury of a whole day reserved for arrival and departure (travel planning support was included, too). There was the very comfortable fact that we did not have to finish with the generous breakfast buffet before 10am. A fully air-conditioned bus then carried us the 500m to the  campus of the Ben Gurion University, every day, so that we never had a ...

Less than four months until the worldwide debating circuit assembles in Gaborone, Botswana for the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC, a.k.a. Worlds) 2011 from 27 December 2010 until 4 January 2011! But before you open your new textbooks and work on your Setswana, the official language besides English, stop and check the technicalities. You need to make sure you have made your final payments. The conveners point out that banks charge a fee up to 25 US-Dollars for international wire transfer. Those who forgot about that fee may pay cash or with a check during physical check-in in Gaborone in ...

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