We argue for fun
We are the Debating Club Aachen. As a student initiative at RWTH Aachen University and a registered association, we practise competitive debating as one of more than 50 student debating clubs in the German-speaking world. We meet every week to practise arguing, presenting and disagreeing respectfully in debates with fixed rules and randomly assigned positions.
Arguing as a sport
Debating is a team sport for the mind that trains the ability to argue and to give persuasive speeches. Together with their teammates, participants have only a short time to prepare, without any outside resources, to defend a randomly assigned position on a contested question. The teams then take turns giving speeches in support of their position. A jury assesses these speeches according to a fixed set of rules and decides at the end which team won the debate. The judges then explain their decision and give the participants feedback on how to improve their speeches in the future.
Debating teaches you how to build and analyse arguments, so you can defend your own views better and disagree more productively.
Debating trains a confident presence when speaking and presenting in front of an audience, a skill that helps in many areas of life.
With national and international debating clubs meeting at tournaments and training weekends, debating is a great way to make new connections.
How do debates work?
Debates always follow a fixed set of rules. In our club, we alternate between two formats with different focuses: the strongly content-focused British Parliamentary debating (BP) and the rhetoric-focused Open Parliamentary Debate (OPD, Offene Parlamentarische Debatte):
BP debates consist of four teams of two speakers each, two of which take the proposition side and two the opposition side. In each of the eight speeches, with up to seven minutes of speaking time each, the teams try to convince the jury purely on the basis of logic and content. Based on this criterion, the judges compare all teams with one another and rank them from first to fourth place.
Open Parliamentary Debates consist of two opposing teams of three speeches each, plus usually three independent speeches whose speakers may choose their own position. In speeches of up to 7 minutes (team speeches) or 3:30 minutes (independent speeches), the speakers try to win over an audience with both their arguments and their language. On the audience's behalf, a jury assesses them against a fixed catalogue of criteria, such as persuasiveness of language, presence and expertise.
Debates in German
SemiTemp ST 7, Schinkelstr. 15
Debates in English
SemiTemp ST 7, Schinkelstr. 15
Our German and English debates take place every week and are open to everyone who is interested, not just students or members of RWTH Aachen University. No prior experience is needed, and we are always happy to see new faces! If you are coming for the first time, feel free to send us an email or a message on Instagram or Discord beforehand.