I don't have a lot of experience with progressive LD, not as much as much as most circuit judges that you will run into, but as long as you articulate and explain your argument well enough, I should be able to understand it. I am somewhat conflicted with spreading in LD, so I am a bit susceptible to arguments against it in general but if both debaters are fine with it then feel free to go all out. I will say clear 2 times before i stop flowing you all together. I usually am pretty kind when it comes to speaker points, as long as a debater does not say something racist, homophobic, transphobic, or sexist. I do not want to see any attempts to exclude your opponent from the debate space. Develop clear, concise arguments, provide evidence for those arguments, signpost and apply your arguments and have fun.

Andrea Sisti

I have teams that participate in Lincoln Douglas, Policy Debate, Public Forum Debate and Congressional Debate.

Public Forum Paradigm:

I enjoy a clearly organized debate. Organization is key to maintain clash throughout the round.

SPEED: From my experience, debaters that card-dump and speed through speeches sacrifice a great deal of clarity and persuasiveness that is the fundamental in nature of Public Forum debate. Typically, the amount of evidence added to the case when spreading through speeches is not worth the sacrifice. I would rather hear fewer contentions and quality arguments over quantity.

Read arguments that have a clear link to the resolution. Also, be sure to provide clear warrants for your impacts. I appreciate big impacts, but it is critical that you flesh out your impacts with strong internal links. Explain and extend and make sure that you emphasize what is most important in the round. Provide clear voters in those final speeches.

Don't be abusive with time. When the timer goes off, I stop flowing. Plan your speeches accordingly. Keep track of your own time as well as your opponent's. You and your opponent are responsible for keeping track of times, including prep.

Make sure that your cards tell the same story as what you are saying. If cards come into question and it's fundamentally important in my decision, I will call for them at the end of the debate. I do value the quality of evidence highly in the round. 1 quality card outweighs 5 poor pieces of evidence.

If you have any questions, please ask me prior to the round.

Avoid arguments that are homophobic, sexist, racist, or offensive in anyway. Be respectful to your opponent and judge.

Overall, this is your debate so have fun with it and get creative. Best of luck.

Congressional Debate Paradigm:

As a Congressional Debate coach, I enjoy rounds with a lot of clash, creative speech structures, fiery speaking, and thoughtful questions. In terms of delivery and argumentation breakdown, I value speeches as a 50/50 split in importance. Delivery and content are equally important in my mind.

I understand you may be hesitant to give speeches early on in the session for lack of clash, but I won't take that into account when ranking. However, as the session progresses, there should always be direct refutation.

Please be passionate in your speeches, but remember decorum and professionalism. Respect your opponents.