Wisconsin Speech and Debate Society

The Wisconsin Speech and Debate (forensics) Society invites you to join us.

All Badgers may take part in our training, including Honors, exchange, visiting, and special students, all class standings, all majors, departments, programs, schools, and colleges (yes, the graduate school and the professional schools too!).

We welcome all levels of experience, from none to high-school national champions. No experience is necessary or expected. Experienced speakers will also have much to learn as they adapt to intercollegiate Speech and Debate.

No fees.

Members of The Wisconsin Speech and Debate Society (WSDS) train to become better speakers and debaters. We pursue both education and excellence. We practice every week and compete against students from other universities. If you want to become a better public speaker, travel, and become part of a vibrant community, then WSDS is for you!

Our members may compete in any of the eleven individual speech events of the National Forensics Association. We are particularly strong in impromptu, persuasive, informative, extemporaneous, and after-dinner speaking.

We also compete in British Parliamentary (BP) Debate—the format of the World Universities Debating Championship—and Civic Debate. We provided training in both. Even though we focus on BP and Civic Debate, we are interested in debate of all formats and wish to be the home of all Badger debaters.

If you're interested but still have some specific questions, contact us!