About us:
President: Gareth Bentley gbentl@essex.ac.uk
Vice President: Gavin Lucky glucky@essex.ac.uk
Treasurer: Tyron Wilson twilsob@essex.ac.uk
Secretary: Beth Gudgeon bgudge@essex.ac.uk
External Relations Officer: Fraser Bridges
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The University of Essex Debating Society provides a friendly and open environment in which all individuals are welcome to come and enjoy themselves by giving their views on the wide variety of subjects we discuss.
We meet once a week on a Thursday at 5pm in 6.300 (we usually debate until about 6-6:30pm so you can turn up any time prior to 6:30pm). We are happy to use a variety of debating formats to suit our members but do try to develop their ablities and confidence to the point where they are comfortable with the British Parliamentary Debating Style with speeches lasting 5 minutes each. Members of the society have the opportunity to influence the subjects which we debate.
Those who wish to put their debating skills to the test can do so as we are regular visitors to debating tournaments. We successfuly competed at Imperial College and University College London during the 2009/10 academic year. In 2010/11 we competed in the Kings College London tournament and hosted a public speaking workshop by the oratory expert Max Atkinson.
Finally the society is about fun. We frequently enjoy a drink in the SU Bar after our session finishes on a Thursday and other social opportunities are offered.
Some simple advice on Debating can be found HERE
Books Owned by the Debating Society for loaning to members:
Madsen Pirie, How to Win Every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logic
Alim Merali, Talk the Talk: Speech And Debate Made Easy
Robert Cockcroft and Susan Cockcroft, Persuading People: An Introduction to Rhetoric
Aristotle and George A. Kennedy, On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse
Aristotle, The Art of Rhetoric: Art of Rhetoric
Dominic Hughes and Benedict Phillips, The Oxford Union Guide to Speaking in Public
Trevor Sather, Pros and Cons : A Debater's Handbook
James J. Murphy, Jon M. Ericson and Raymond Bud Zeuschner, The Debators Guide
Anthony Weston, Rulebook for Arguments
Signing up: