Yogyakarta – EDS (English Debating Society) UNY did not expect the high enthusiasm coming from the participants of “Workshop on Debating” in learning about debating. Approximately 130 students of State University of Yogyakarta registered themselves to join “Workshop on Debating” on 12 February 2026. The number of participants exceeded the initial target of 75. This achievement was the first breakthrough throughout the early journey of EDS UNY since its new period.
“The enthusiasm exceeded our target. We targeted it to be 75, but the actual number was nearly twice of our target. Participants also showed remarkable interest in debating through their active participation,” stated Labbyta, one of EDS UNY’s staff and Workshop on Debating committee, in her post event testimony.
The workshop was held in Moh Amien Meeting Building located in Faculty of Education (FIP) Yogyakarta State University. Throughout the planning, preparation, and the D-Day, EDS UNY was assisted by Kemahasiswaan UNY. Both parties worked in harmonious cooperation with the same mission to find the next potential debaters to represent UNY in both National and International scope debate competitions. The primary focuses of the event itself were the socialization of academic parliamentary debating, British Parliamentary system debate, and the explanation of the technical flow for NUDC – KDMI UNY internal selection.
At 15.00, the workshop was begun by two Master of Ceremony (MC). After doing the opening act, the MC forwards the event to the key speakers of Workshop on Debating, Kak Citra Dewi Harmia and Arif Burhanuddin. Both speakers were EDS UNY alumni who excel in debate and public speaking. Kak Citra herself was the brightest debater of EDS UNY and successfully represented UNY twice in WUDC (World University Debating Championship). Arif Burhanuddin is also the adjudicator for LDBI (Lomba Debat Bahasa Indonesia). Both Kak Citra and Arif explained the British Parliamentary debatingsystem and technical strategy for debating.
During the explanation, there was some interactive session between the speakers with some participants. The participants voiced out their opinions and minds about the case study provided by the speakers. They were eagerly answering the questions and conveying their arguments despite being newbies.
After the Q & A session with the speakers, there was an additional session of debate demo. The participants for the demo were Sofia, Nami, Marvin, and Alvita; with Sofia and Nami debating in English, while Marvin and Alvita debating in Bahasa Indonesia. This session became the final session before the event ended at 18.00.
Overall, the event went well with enthusiastic and active participants with competent speakers. This workshop became our first successful program in our initial month of new period. Hopefully, the next programs of EDS UNY will be even better.
– Angely Sofia Komara –
