I have 3 years of experience competing in Public Forum debate in high school. I mainly want to see comparative weighing of arguments and evidence, especially in the final two speeches. I would prefer to see analysis driven debate rather than evidence dumps. Speed isn't really an issue as long as you speak clearly. If you have any questions for me please feel free to ask before the round.

I'm a sophomore political science student at UNL. I debated in public forum since I started high high school at Millard North and Lincoln East and graduated in 2017. I appreciate well-thought out impact calculus and civility in rounds and and prefer public forum debate to be an analysis-driven activity rather than a series of mindless "card dumps". I of course do want to see outside evidence used and used well in rounds. However, I'm of the opinion that in public forum is beginning to become hypertechnical and increasingly esoteric, which I believe violates the unique role PF serves in the debate community. This in my eyes is to be a form of debate that could be performed in front of high school kids and parents and academics and understood well by all three. It doesn't have to be "dumbed down" and you don't need to debate "lay": PF should just be devoid of the hypertechnical and meta-debate-centric aspects of LD and CX debate that often make them unintelligible to the general population. "Debate about debate" seldom has a home in PF and cases constructed around elaborate framework is often fruitless. Try to stick as much as possible to an actual debate about the topic. I like to see:

-Strong and well-thought-put analyses of evidence

-Asking the right questions in cross-ex

-Clear road mapping/sign posting

-Argumentative focus on the resolution

-Civility and courtesy displayed to your opponents

-A narrowing focus from summary to final focus

-Sufficient attempt to rebuild in second summary

-Arguments with clear and plausible claim-warrant-impact chain (you can say "the impact is x". It's not a bad thing to be explicit)

-Strong engagement with your opponents' arguments

It may not impact how I vote in a round, but I don't like to see:

-Messy speech structure and execution, especially when I cannot understand you

-Speeches given so fast or so quietly I cannot understand them

-----^These two are so important. If I cannot understand you I can't vote on the arguments you're making. If I am sitting intently listening to you and still cannot get your arguments on the flow it is your fault.

-Not carrying arguments through speeches

-Rudeness. Good general rule is if you have to consider whether something is rude to do in a round it probably is. Decorum is king.

-Gratuitous requests for evidence. Just be considerate the time constraints of our tournaments and whether what you're requesting is actually pertinent.

-Gratuitous use of technical babble. If you need to use a technical debate term to serve a point you're making by all means do so. But the number of times you use say "cross-apply" or "internal warrant" will not make you arguments more cogent and it will not make me more likely to vote for you.

-Lying

-Yelling

I am and have been the coach at LHS for the last 9 years. I was also the 2021 NSDA's National Coach of the Year.

General Notes-
* I am in tab much more often than I'm behind a round at this point. As such, I may be rusty on some more specific lingo/ trends(read as: don't just label an argument a RVI and expect me to accept it on face, explain why it's important)
* I have a disability that has varying levels of impact depending on the day; when it's flaring up, I might have trouble flowing spreading, or processing information at that speed. If you don't want to exclude me from the round, it'd be helpful to check in with me before the round starts. I'm also super happy to talk about it if you have more specific questions :)

*I will NOT vote on: racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, anything other bigotry. Please just be cool people.

*If your case has any material that could be psychologically damaging or harmful, trigger warnings are a necessity. Graphic material includes, but is not limited to descriptions of: violence based on gender identity, sexuality, or race; police brutality; suicide; sexual assault; domestic abuse. Because debate should be safe and accessible to all debaters, TW's should be articulated in order to include everyone. Refusing to provide TW's for graphic cases creates an exclusive and threatening atmosphere and will effect speaker points, but not the decision.

PF-
Arguments- I'm very open to whatever style of argument you want to make in round, so long as you do it well. Don't just dump cards, actually offer in round analysis and engage with your opponent's arguments. If something is important to the round, I expect you to spend time on it. Regardless of the style, I need to see some sort of weighing mechanism in round- that could come from an observation or impact calc (or whatever else) so long as I have some sort of idea what I should be valuing. Absent of that, I'll default to generic util weighing. I prefer cut cards over paraphrasing, but will listen to either.
Speed- I prefer a moderate, not ludicrous, pace. If you want to go absurdly fast, that's fine, but understand I'll miss some details. I think it's really important for speed to be justified by content- so, if you're talking fast enough that you have to reiterate the same underview three times because you're out of content, I'd rather you slow down. At any speed, I really value clarity. It's also good to know that some days I physically won't be able to flow super quickly, so it wouldn't hurt to double check with me about speed before round.
Round Structure- First and foremost, I expect the second rebuttal to address both sides of the flow. So, make sure, in front of me, you're allocating your time in a way such that you're able to address everything important, as dropped arguments are essentially conceded.
I don't expect line by line argumentation in summary and final focus. Instead, the round should be narrowed down to the main points. This is where I expect a lot of weighing and analysis, not just 50 author names back to back.

LD-
Standards/ Framework- I don't have strong feelings any one way about V/Cr vs Single Standard and/or RoB etc. I initially learned LD through a pretty traditional framing, so I tend to track that way myself, but, I'm open to whatever you want to do if you explain in. If you're running some philosophy that's out there or uncommon, it would benefit you to explain it clearly.
Theory- I'm down, but it actually needs to be theory (read as: "Speed is unfair/ exclusionary" isn't an argument I'll evaluate; Interp, violation standard, voter framing is)
Ks- See above, I'll happily hear out a k with structure that actually functions within a round. YOU HAVE TO OFFER A LINK or there's no way for me to evaluate the K
A Priori/ Prima facie/ probably other things- justify why it matters and I'll hear it out.
**As a general interpretation, I view theory/ks/ a priori arguments etc as arguments. They aren't some sort of magical trap card that automatically win you the round. They are arguments that need to be interacted with and extended like anything else. Reading an ableism K in the NC and then leaving it there isn't going to win me over. Your opponent answering an identity K with arguments doesn't make them inherently bad, they're interacting with an argument you put out
Solvency- I don't inherently think solvency is important in LD. This doesn't mean that I won't hear out solvency arguments, but you need to justify why I should care about solvency for it to be a voting issue for me. "The aff doesn't offer any solvency" on its own isn't enough for me to vote on.


CX-
**I really don't judge policy all that often. If I'm behind your round, things were likely pretty desperate from a tab or judge hire perspective. Despite that, I will do my best to adjudicate the round- you'll probably just need to slow down a bit on taglines and important analysis for me.

I'm a fourth year judge. Speed is acceptable. Make sure that you flow through, or I won't consider it. If you make an assertion, mostly likely I'm going to need some evidence that that is true unless you can find a logic that would make your analysis true.

I'm going to take the evidence that the Congress or the executive wants to do something on very flimsy basis unless you can show support that it is mostly likely going to pass through both branches.

Respect and decorum. Don't talk over your opponent, don't talk/pack up while they're speaking. Cross isn't for arguing.