We had an amazing training session this week. Emma Eastwood, the JCI UK National President visited us and kindly hosted our session. After a summary of the art of debating, we split into teams of three people and had 15 minutes to plan our approach and discuss our subject.

Teams comprise of a chairperson and two main speakers. The chair introduces the topic and the two main speakers. Each speaker then has three minutes to cover their argument and to answer any questions, interruptions and comments from the opposing team. The second speaker continues the argument, preferably on a slightly different tangent to add weight to the team's overall discussion.

Teams argue either 'for' or 'against' a topic; the team proposing a motion being knows as the 'government' and thus the 'opposition' speaks against the subject.

In a lively set of exchanges, we debates the pros and cons of 'all drugs should be made legal' and 'the world would be a better place if it was ruled by women'. These are certainly two topics with plenty of scope for discussion and lively debate.

This evening is just a taster for other JCI events of a similar nature. At National Convention in November, we have several UK-wide debating sessions. Winners have the opportinity to go forward to next stages at the European Convention. Success here leads on to a greater stage and higher stakes at World Congress.

Well done everybody! I certainly enjoyed myself and all the speakers came away with a smile and valuable experience for the futute. Thank you Emma for an amazing evening.