Refugee suffering and our lack of empathy, microaggressions and their far-reaching consequences, climate fatigue and how to counter it — these are just a few of the themes being explored by students taking part in Students’ Speakers Corner. The eighth edition will take place on Thursday 30 April from 12 to 2 pm at the Learning and Innovation Center. It’s the perfect way to spend your lunch break, enjoying a salad or sandwich while listening to passionate speeches from young speakers with a message.
Better speakers
Students’ Speakers Corner not only gives a voice to students from VUB, EhB and ULB, it also helps make them better speakers. Participants get the opportunity to sharpen their public speaking skills through a masterclass in rhetoric, extensive coaching, and a video recording of a shorter version of their speech in a professional studio. Structure, stylistic devices, storytelling — everything you can use to deliver your message effectively and persuade your audience is covered during the preparation. Tips and tricks ranging from Cicero to Obama.
At the actual Students’ Speakers Corner, the format is simple: each speaker delivers a speech of up to five minutes on a topic of their choice. No slides, of course. Just a stage and a microphone.
Origins
The Universitaire Associatie Brussel (UAB) launched the initiative eight years ago. VUB and EhB quickly and enthusiastically joined in, encouraging their students to bring out the best speaker in themselves. The first edition took place on 3 May 2018, outdoors on the street next to Bozar. At the time, Students’ Speakers Corner was part of Difference Day, a major event on freedom of speech and expression held at Bozar to mark World Press Freedom Day on 3 May. Former VUB rector Caroline Pauwels (1964–2022) was the driving force behind Difference Day. Since Difference Day has now come to an end — partly due to government budget cuts — Students’ Speakers Corner continues on its own.
Urgent themes
Previous editions have been highly successful, attracting a considerable audience, especially fellow students, who came to listen to the speakers and their messages. In their speeches, students have highlighted injustices and pressing issues such as disinformation, discrimination, body shaming, lack of understanding towards the headscarf, and insufficient research into female sexuality, as well as global concerns such as Gaza and Ukraine… The list is long: le monde tourne mal.
Other speakers aimed to foster understanding, for example of introverted people, antidepressants, or the benefits of microdosing psychedelics. There has always been a rich mix of speeches in Dutch, English, and sometimes French.
Some participants opted for a more philosophical or poetic approach, or went all-in on slam poetry, with powerful, moving stories about why humans should behave more like beavers, or how too many words around us threaten to suffocate us.
Would you like to watch the speeches from previous editions? Relive them on YouTube.
Come and listen on 30 April
The eighth edition once again promises a rich showcase of themes that move students and reflect the spirit of the times. If the weather is good, Students’ Speakers Corner will take place outdoors in the beautiful amphitheatre of the LIC. If the weather gods are less kind, we will move indoors, where the space is equally suited to unleashing all that youthful rhetorical fire on an enthusiastic audience.
So, see you on 30 April, from 12 to 2 pm at the LIC. Don’t forget to bring your listening ear — nothing more is needed.