Background: High school parli debater, currently debating British Parli at USC.

General: I'm down to listen to pretty much anything, but need clear link stories to justify voting for you-- make it easy for me by explaining your arguments thoroughly and weighing your impacts in a comparative way (I won't weigh them for you).

Speed: Speed is not a big issue, but clarity/signposting is more important if you want to be persuasive.

Kritiks/theory: Not super familiar, so probably in your best interest not to read unless you explain it very clearly.

Speaker points: 27-28 is average in my view, points below that will be given for speeches that were shallow and/or problematic (please do not be problematic). 28-29 for above average speeches with little constructive criticism. 29+ for exceptional speeches/strategy.

Email: hunth@usc.edu

Parent Judge - that tells you a lot.

General Philosophy:

-I value intelligent thought-process. “Winning” a contention is less important than showing well-researched warrants and logical links to key impacts.

-Do you acknowledge the other side’s argument? You will likely debate both sides of today’s topic, so you know there are good contentions on both sides.

-I could tell you my philosophy on speech speed (s-l-o-w d-o-w-n) ; warranting (show off your warrants and explain them) ; theory arguments (save your breath) ; timing (time yourself, 15-sec grace) ; turns (wonderful), ; collapsing for weighing (I like, you don’t have to) ; etc, but that would imply I know what all these terms mean. I’m not here to judge your knowledge of debate rules but to judge your respectful delivery of summaries and weighs.

-Be nice. The most intelligent people in the room are your teammate and your opponents. Not me. So treat them as such if you want to have a chance of winning. Did I mention, be kind.

Even professional judges get their decisions wrong 5-10% of the time. Expect volunteers like me to be more incompetent but friendlier.

Have fun with a fun topic.

I'm a former high school debater and have experience coaching parli and BP.

I can flow fast speeches, but online debates lend themselves best to slightly slower speakers. If you're speaking too fast for my internet connection, I will ask you to slow down.

I judge based on arguments not style. Speaker points are awarded based on the quality of your argumentation, not the quality of your speaking style. For rebuttal speakers, quality argumentation means effectively collapsing arguments and weighing. If you just repeat your arguments in a rebuttal speech, you're not doing your job.

I like examples. Since it's parli debate, that includes hypothetical examples. Please extend your arguments in constructives by giving new examples, new evidence, or new warranting or impacts. I don't like it when debaters repeat what their partners have already said. It's boring for me and it does nothing for your case.

You can run anything you want to as long as you explain it well :) theory and Ks are just arguments, so I treat them the same way I would treat any other argument.

Be respectful! I don't ask for pronouns because no one should be forced to explain their pronouns but don't assume your opponents' pronouns. I'd prefer you say "my opponent" then "he" or "she.

Go slow. Be clear. Be nice.

If you would like more, I have written detailed paradigms for each style I judge:

PF paradigm

Parli paradigm

Middle school paradigm