P4HE Debate Club (4 week block)

This is a course for people who love arguments. Not shouty, Eastendersy, “getoutofmypub” arguments, but arguments where you use all your powers of persuasion to make a case that wins over the hearts and minds of your listeners. Through games, mini-debates and examining some video excerpts from great speeches, we’ll explore and practise techniques to inspire, change minds and bring people together. Topics will range from the just-for-fun to the serious, and you’ll have the opportunity to develop convincing arguments about a cause you .care about (or, for an extra challenge, one you completely disagree with!).

Week 1: Sell, sell, sell!

Many speakers are selling an idea to an audience, whether it's “Vote for me!” or “Buy the’ll look at ideas for speakers from the world of sales, from the language you use to build rapport, to problems and solutions and how you "sell the sizzle, not the sausage.”

Week 2: Plucking the Heartstrings

A good speaker has to appeal to heart as well as head. In this session we’ll look at how you can harness the Big 4 emotions to drive home a message.

Week 3: Ten Words Paint a Picture

They say a picture paints a thousand words, but successful speaker manage to paint pictures with their words that bring their message alive in the minds of an audience and make it easy to remember. We’ll look at great word-pictures from some of the best speakers, past and present, and see how a single idea can run through a speech to make it even stronger.

Week 4: Argumentag Wrestling

We’ll finish this four-week block with some games of Argumentag Wrestling, a fast-paced debating game in which you and your team will pit your wits against another, sometimes changing the direction you are arguing half way through!