I'm a parent judge, just have fun, don't be rude, and be confident in yourself! I'm excited to hear some of these debates!

I was a Varsity LD debater at Cherokee High School for two years, but I have competed in almost every speech and debate event offered. I am now a Biomedical Engineering Major/Global Engineering Leadership Minor at Georgia Tech.

For Debate:

I am a traditional debater and judge but am fully capable of following and running progressive cases. I am able to follow speed/spreading but do not prefer it, as spreading is hideous, and I would consider it a disgrace to debate. On that note, do not attempt to spread unless you are good at it.

Fully explain any philosophy that you use for the sake of clarity in the round but know that I am well-read in most philosophy and will call you out if you misrepresent a philosopher (intentionally or unintentionally).

Framework is absolutely first in my mind and on the ballot. Next, you must win the contentions to win the round. Even if the round is leaning one way overall, if you drop 2 of your opponents' main points and they only drop one of yours, they will more than likely win the round.

I like to see a lot of clear clash throughout the round.

I would prefer that you stand when you speak. Debate is a formal event and should be treated as such.

You WILL respect both me and your opponent. I have been a part of and judged too many rounds where debaters were disrespectful to either their opponent or their judge. You will not be disrespectful in any round that I judge-that speaks poorly of you, your coach, and your school.

In the event that I ask you to send me your cases, my email is ryleeh88@gmail.com.

Let's have a good, educational round :)

For Speech:

I have competed in and ranked well in almost every speech event, so, even though speech was not my primary event, I do love it and am a capable, qualified judge. Feel free to ask me any questions that you have about how you can improve your speech after the round.

Please be respectful of other students while they give their speeches, and please always be respectful of me.

If your speech contains sensitive material, please give a warning at the beginning so that if any of your competitors feel uncomfortable with the topic, they may exit the room during your speech.

Lets have a great round :)

I am a very recently graduated top competitor in Georgia IEs. Having said this, I am very familiar with current popular topics and styles for OOs, Interps, and topics for Extemp. My criteria for judging each of the speech events is different, so here is a list of what I expect from top level IEs:

Impromptu: I expect Impromptus to be entertaining and non-formulaic. The topic should be analyzed in an abstract way that allows the competitor to tie outside information or ideas into the topic with a clever and creative link. However, the speaker should not ramble and make connections that can not be explained for the sake of entertainment value. Although I expect as much of the 5 minute limit to be used as possible, rambling without organization will lower the speaker's score. A general outline of the speech will greatly affect my ability to follow the speaker's ideas and thus keep me more engaged. Lastly, performance is very important to me. A speech with a vibrant and fun performance can easily bring up poor content. Essentially, a strong mix of an entertaining link and content and vibrant performance will get a high score form me.

Extemp: Although very different in style from Impropmtu, I still expect Extemp speeches to be somewhat entertaining. A mixture of good sources, interesting view points, and humor/good presentation should be used to make the speech not only engaging and fun to listen to for the judge, but helps me consider your viewpoint as valid and well thought out. I will not take my political views into account for these speeches whatsoever, so any route may be taken with your topic. DO NOT just read off statistics. I expect a clear explanation on the reason why that evidence is significant and important for me to know. I do not expect everyone to use all 7 minutes. If you can make your point quickly and concisely, no points will be taken off. Essentially, I want a speech with a clear, well explained thesis backed by evidence that is thoroughly integrated into the speaker's view while still managing to make the speech fun to listen to.

OO: Originality and a fun presentation are absolute musts for a good OO. With much more freedom to build an entertaining and original piece than the improv events, I expect these pieces to be well thought out, thought provoking, and something I've never heard before. If a speaker uses an overused topic, an interesting spin on that topic can easily save their score. I expect as much of the 10 minutes to be used as possible, as these pieces should be rehearsed and practiced to utilize ample time. A fun mix of interesting content and a truly electric performance will easily catch a top spot from me.

Interps: For the earlier tournaments, I am not expecting mastery of acting techniques, especially from novices. However, I do expect full effort to be put into the performance, whether that be blocking, accents, or emotional aspects. Simply memorizing lines will not give many points. There must be a clear attempt to make the piece personal to the speaker, thus being their interpretation. Performance will be the largest factor of scoring for me in these events. A simple slip up or forgetting one line will be a very small infraction as long as there is a smooth recovery.