German-language Debating Championship in Vienna

How is one supposed to imagine that? Debating as a championship?
Well, it's good that I quickly understood that one can win or lose a debate. In my head I always win them.
But to get a somewhat better impression of how the whole thing works with persuasion, one can watch the finals of debating tournaments.
As a university-affiliated debating society, we also participate in these mostly inter-university competitions.
In the Campus Debates series organised by the Association of Debating Clubs at Universities, teams from Germany, Austria and Switzerland participate.
After tournaments in Heidelberg, Hanover, Marburg and Hamburg this season, our longest trip was now coming up.
In Vienna, a German-language debating championship in person was finally waiting for us after several years. The last few years, due to Corona, were conducted either completely digitally, or with digital preliminary rounds and finals held on site.
In Marburg we had become West German Vice Champions, which earned us the right to send three teams to the DDM 2022 in Vienna.
On Friday 3 June we set off in the morning together in a VW bus to avoid the stress of the approaching 9 euro ticket in a relaxed manner.
In the afternoon we reached Vienna, drove straight to our hostel, and after check-in with the organiser, the Debating Club (with a K, we're in Austria) Vienna, we searched the adjacent 10th district for an original Viennese pub.
There we had the food and drinks explained to us, and ultimately most of us ended up with the classic, Wiener Schnitzel with potato and herb salad.
Some other participants had arrived days earlier to enjoy beautiful Vienna, but those who had set off on Friday evening reported to us at the joint barbecue on the Danube Island about chaos at train stations and cancelled trains. It was slowly becoming clear that one of the favoured teams would not make it to the tournament in time due to train cancellations.
The next morning things really got going.
In the impressive main building of the University of Vienna in the historic centre, after a small breakfast and announcements, we got straight down to debating in the well air-conditioned rooms.
Without our top team, we had arrived with relatively modest ambitions; it was more about fulfilling personal goals and soaking up the DDM experience.
In "British Parliamentary Style", 4 teams of 2 speakers each compete against one another.
Every 2 form government and opposition, but all four teams compete against one another.
The government represents a pro opinion, the opposition then gives a counter opinion.
In the first preliminary round it was about whether the film "Don't Look Up" had more negative than positive effects on the environmental movement.

After that, the judges have the task of assessing who had the better arguments and ranking the teams in an order from one to four.
One of the most important factors is that you only find out the topic 15 minutes before the debate begins and thus have very little time to prepare.
Similar to the Swiss system, in the next rounds the best teams then compete against the best and the weaker ones against the weaker ones.
After 4 preliminary rounds, which also covered core working hours, media monopolies and the Austrian training guarantee, a pub crawl through a dozen pubs in Vienna's old town was scheduled as evening entertainment.
But after we had sat in the university for 10 hours in the best weather, monsoon-like rainfall suddenly poured from the sky.
After we had left the hostel in the best weather in the morning, we now took refuge, completely unprotected and soaking wet, in the next Irish pub.
Apart from us, several other debaters had also fled there, and we spent the evening winding down with them over one or two cold drinks.
When we wanted to head towards the tram to St. Stephen's Cathedral during a break in the rain, we found ourselves in a pub two streets further on, where some of the organisers had set up camp. We couldn't help but have one or two more shots with them under peer pressure.
At 8 o'clock the next morning, breakfast continued.
Preliminary rounds 3 to 5 provided us with further excellent debates on topics such as youth football, unanimity mechanisms in the EU and gamification in the workplace.
Since the quarter-finals were also taking place that evening, it was announced who had qualified for the final rounds. The best 16 of a total of 64 teams qualified. It quickly became clear that the years-long dominance of teams from Berlin and Tübingen was coming to an end; Berlin had no team in the top 16, Tübingen only one.
Instead, four of the top 16 teams were from Hamburg and three from Heidelberg.
None of our Würzburg teams finished at the top, but our judges Rebecca and Sven both qualified for the final rounds due to their good performances in the preliminary rounds.
Traditionally, a gala evening always takes place at the end of Saturday at a DDM.
So it was here too. Due to the distance, a return to the hostel beforehand was rather inconvenient, so most people had already brought their clothes and suits with them and now changed into spontaneously prepared changing rooms.
After one or two long and contentious judging discussions about who had prevailed in the quarter-finals, we finally headed towards the gala evening.
Hardly had we arrived when very heavy rain set in again; fortunately, we hadn't got wet this time.
After it got late in the Red Room at Comida y Ron at an after-party, we now sought refuge, better prepared in some cases, with umbrellas and jackets over our heads, in the underground towards Reumannplatz.
The rain had one good side: despite the heat during the day, one could sleep pleasantly at night.
The next day saw semi-finals and the final.
For the final, a constellation of teams from Hamburg, Hannover, Heidelberg and Freiburg emerged.
In the great festival hall of the University of Vienna, the teams debated the topic:
"This house believes that the people here in this room will experience a foreign policy peaceful development of China over the course of their lives."

The team from Freiburg, which was at best regarded as an outsider before the tournament, confirmed its good performance from the preliminary rounds and even surpassed it.
Sonja Soko and Jonathan Dollinger from the Freiburg Debating Club are German-language debating champions!
After the final, the decision came relatively quickly as to whether we should spend another hour exploring Vienna's city centre in the sweltering heat or head straight into the air-conditioned bus towards home. After the exertions of the last few days, we quickly agreed and set off on the return journey.
Overall, a wonderful tournament, for which we would like to thank the organisers, the Vienna Debating Club. We would also like to thank the Juristen ALUMNI Würzburg e.V. for their financial support.
If you also fancy a debate or even a debating tournament, feel free to visit us. You can find more information and insights on our Instagram @debattierclub.wuerzburg, amongst other places.

Sven Bake