The traditional debate competition organized on the Bourg-en-Bresse campus allows students from all disciplines to face-off in teams of two in a verbal jousting on imposed topics, such as the ones from this year: “The best way to predict the future, is to create it”, “The house is burning and we are looking away”, “Is an avocado better when it’s ripe"* or “Horror is human”.
 

“The quietest people often have the loudest personalities"

This was the theme given to the four finalists during the final match, which allowed Maxime to reveal his talents as a public speaker to public and win the ultimate prize :
" The competition was a fantastic experience. It allowed me to really work on myself and know myself better. Never in my wildest dreams would I think to speak in front of 300 people and even less so, to win this sort of competition; What I take away the most is the pleasure I got from doing it: speaking in front of a public (a watchful one at that!) was really exceptional. It brought up emotions difficult to describe. 

If I could convince another to student to participate in next year’s competition, I would say that you have to dare to be yourself. That may seem a little cliché, but you need to be able to agree with your speech, with yourself – our words are so much more convincing when you are lit up by what you are saying and believe it to be authentic.

It was also a big exercise on stress management and self-confidence, which are important tools in the workplace. Moreover, wanting to being a professional trainer in conflict management, I am certain that the public speaking competition has given me skills that will help me attain that goal.”



 

2 iaelyon students in the semi-final on 23rd June

23 participants studying in a variety of disciplines took part this year: students doing law, management and history, but also technology at University of Lyon 1 and students studying to be teachers at INSPE Lyon.
Four finalists – of which two were students from iaelyon- qualified for the semi-final. Maxime Chaussinand and Alex Cagnes (first-year student of the Master of Wealth Management) from iaelyon, as well as Valérian Ellul (Bachelor of History) and Sélin Karabulut (Bachelor of Laws)


* n.b. a French wordplay on the word avocado, which is the same word for a lawyer