LUMS summer camp: Speakers prepare for another season

Six training sessions held on competitive debating.

LAHORE:

Students at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) learned various debating techniques at a six-session workshop organised by the Debates and Recitation Society at Lums (DRUMS) this month.

At the six two-hour sessions, students polished their English and Urdu language debating skills and learned about various debate formats such as British parliamentary and Asian debating.

The sessions began on June 10 and ended on June 28. Many of the roughly 50 students who attended said they were looking forward to participating in debating competitions as part of DRUMS next year.

“It was a good opportunity to learn about the technicalities and the procedures of debating,” said a participant. “Not knowing the structure of the debates often makes you a weaker opponent, so this has made us stronger for the upcoming debating season.”

Veterans from the local debates circuit such as Saad Idrees, Ali Javaid, Daniyal Asad, Aisha Ahmad and Basharat Saeed gave lectures at the workshop.

They discussed the importance of staying calm and focussed under pressure and of preparing well before debates.

“The summer debates workshops were held to introduce beginners to the basics of argumentation and debate,” said DRUMS vice president Muneeb Farrukh. “We take debating very seriously here at Lums.”

Anum Sohail, a member of DRUMS, said the workshop helped newcomers overcome their fear of public speaking. “The workshop began with the basics. It’s not easy to speak in front of a crowd and proving an argument is even tougher. We aimed to show the new debaters that it can be fun.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2011.