Hello Debate Society members! I hope you’re all doing well and making your plans for what you’re going to do once lockdown is over! As for me, I plan to co-lead Debate Society back to in-person debates!
The presidency requires me to have a vision for the society going forward, a dedicated commitment to making the members’ and participants’ experience great and upstanding management and organisational skills.
My Vision: I’ve been a member of the Debate Society since my first day at University and I remember how included I was made to feel from the very first day; so I would like to start by reinstating that warmth and ensuring that everyone is made to feel welcome. In hindsight, I know that it was the first few sessions at debate that made me want to stay, I promise to keep that spark for all sessions throughout. Secondly, I hope to expand the society’s reach. In coordination with the new social secretary, I hope to revamp our social media so as to increase the reach of our society and get more members - conveying to them that we aren’t just students who like to debate, but we’re a bunch of friends and it’s not all as daunting as it seems, focusing on spreading word about the social aspect of the society.
Next, I hope to get more external speakers for the society so as to break the Monday session, Wednesday training session weekly cycle; be it lecturers, speakers from outside our uni and not necessarily politics-centric speakers all the time either. Any of the members can suggest who they would want to have invited and the society will seek to send out an invitation if it is possible.
Further, I hope to make training sessions fun again. It will not be the trainer simply throwing information at you, but rather an interactive session which members would look forward to, rather than avoid.
But primarily, I thrive on feedback and I hope to instil that for the society as well. As always, any feedback of any sort, whether it is suggestions for improvements, new ideas, etc is appreciated. Additionally, I will send out a message on our society’s group chat every two weeks or so asking what you did or did not like about the recent sessions and from the conversation that would hopefully follow, I would take notes and be mindful of those going forward.
My Qualifications: strictly with regards to our society, as I mentioned before, I have been a member since my first day at uni and am currently serving as the External Administration / Competitions Officer this year so I believe I have good knowledge of how the society works and have had the fresher-newbie perspective and also the committee-side perspective.
In the organisational and managerial sense, I believe people who know me well can testify that I’m a hustler, I plan my work days in advance and up till now, it has all gone very well. Academically and professionally at Uni, I believe my work ethic has benefitted me immensely as I’ve been able to obtain scholarships and as a side project, made a mapping application that’s now funded by Microsoft and Queen Mary itself. I believe I can put that ethic to my work as Co-President of the Society and take it to new highs. But primarily, I pride myself in being an avid learner and I will not hesitate to ask for help from the current and previous Presidents who would have been in the same place I am, I will seek to improve the society and the members’ experience all the time.
Now, on a slightly personal note, Debate Society has helped me grow at Uni like nothing else has. My flatmates, my closest friends, my first time at a pub, my first time doing British Parliamentary style debating and so much more has come to me from this society and I hold it all close to my heart. It has helped me both socially and academically. I understand that this year you all might have seen less of me; in the first semester I was trying to scale my application and the incubator sessions I was a part of were conducted at the same time Debate sessions were and now, in the second semester, I am at home in India and due to the time difference, debate sessions start after midnight for me.
By the time you all read this, I am probably on a flight or back in London!
More so, as understandably, for those of you who are wondering how to say my name, do not worry, you can address me as Ani, that would be alright.
So please, Vote Ani for Male Co-President and I hope to take our society to new highs in the new academic year!
Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions!
