Walter Cotter Classic
2024 — Marietta, GA/US
Lincoln Douglas Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HideI am a speech coach and a Language Arts teacher, so I value developed and well-reasoned arguments but do appreciate clear signposting. I value clarity over speed, though I don't mind if you speak quickly as long as you speak clearly.
Steer clear of fallacious thinking; it's a massive red flag. To me, the strongest arguments contain a variety of appeals and evidence. I also believe that the win lies in the clash; I want to see that you are listening closely to your opponent, thinking in the moment, and reacting directly and precisely.
I am a debate coach in Georgia. I also competed in LD and Policy out west. Take that for whatever you think it means.
- LD - Value/Value Criterion (Framework, Standard, etc,) - this is what separates us from the animals (or at least the policy debaters). It is the unique feature of LD Debate. Have a good value and criterion and link your arguments back to it. I am open to all arguments but present them well, know them, and, above all, Clash - this is a debate not a tea party.
- PF - I side on the traditional side of PF. Don't throw a lot of jargon at me or simply read cards... this isn't Policy Jr., compete in PF for the debate animal it is. Remember debate, especially PF, is meant to persuade - use all the tools in your rhetorical toolbox: Logos, Ethos, and Pathos.
- Speed - Debate is a SPEAKING event. I like speed but not spreading. Speak as fast as is necessary but keep it intelligible. There aren't a lot of jobs for speed readers after high school (auctioneers and pharmaceutical disclaimer commercials) so make sure you are using speed for a purpose. If you spread - it better be clear, I will not yell clear or slow down or quit mumbling, I will just stop listening. If the only way I can understand your case is to read it, you have already lost. If you are PRESENTING and ARGUING and PERSUADING then I need to understand the words coming out of your mouth! NEW for ONLINE DEBATE - I need you to speak slower and clearer, pay attention to where your mike is. On speed in-person, I am a 7-8. Online, make it a 5-6.
- Email Chains Please include me on email chains if it is used in the round, but don't expect me to sit there reading your case to understand your arguments - pchildress@gocats.org **Do not email me outside of the round unless you include your coach in the email.
- Know your case, like you actually did the research and wrote the case and researched the arguments from the other side. If you present it, I expect you to know it from every angle - I want you to know the research behind the statistic and the whole article, not just the blurb on the card.
- Casing - Love traditional but I am game for kritiks, counterplans, theory - but perform them well, KNOW them, I won't do the links for you. I am a student of Toulmin - claim-evidence-warrant/impacts. I don't make the links and don't just throw evidence cards at me with no analysis. It is really hard for you to win with an AFF K with me - it better be stellar. I am not a big fan of Theory shells that are not actually linked in to the topic - if you are going to run Afro-Pes or Feminism you better have STRONG links to the topic at hand, if the links aren't there... Also don't just throw debate terms out, use them for a purpose and if you don't need them, don't use them.
- I like clash. Argue the cases presented, mix it up, have some fun, but remember that debate is civil discourse - don't take it personal, being the loudest speaker won't win the round, being rude to your opponent won't win you the round.
- Debating is a performance in the art of persuasion and your job is to convince me, your judge (not your opponent!!) - use the art of persuasion to win the round: eye contact, vocal variations, appropriate gestures, and know your case well enough that you don't have to read every single word hunched over a computer screen. Keep your logical fallacies for your next round. Rhetoric is an art.
- Technology Woes - I will not stop the clock because your laptop just died or you can't find your case - not my problem, fix it or don't but we are going to move on.
- Ethics - Debate is a great game when everyone plays by the rules. Play by the rules - don't give me a reason to doubt your veracity.
- Win is decided by the flow (remember if you don't LINK it, I don't either), who made the most successful arguments and used evidence and reasoning to back up those arguments.
- Speaker Points are awarded to the best speaker - I end up with a rare low point win each season. I am fairly generous on speaker points. I disclose winner but not speaker points. Even is you are losing a round or not feeling it during the round, don't quit on yourself or your opponent! You may not like the way your opponent set up their case or you may not like a certain style of debate but don't quit in a round.
- Don't browbeat less experienced debaters; you should aim to win off of argumentation skill against less experienced opponents, not smoke screens or jargon. 7 off against a first-year may get you the win, but it kills the educational and ethical debate space you should strive for. As an experienced debater, you should hope to EDUCATE them not run them out of the event.
- Enjoy yourself. Debate is the best sport in the world - win or lose - learn something from each round, don't gloat, don't disparage other teams, judges, or coaches, and don't try to convince me after the round is over. Leave it in the round and realize you may have just made a friend that you will compete against and talk to for the rest of your life. Don't be so caught up in winning that you forget to have some fun - in the round, between rounds, on the bus, and in practice.
- Rule of Debate Life. Sometimes you will be told you are the winner when you believe you didn't win the round - accept it as a gift from the debate gods and move on. Sometimes you will be told you lost a round that you KNOW you won - accept that this is life and move on. Sometimes judges base a decision on something that you considered insignificant or irrelevant and sometimes judges get it wrong, it sucks but that is life. However, if the judge is inappropriate - get your advocate, your coach, to address the issue. Arguing with the judge in the round or badmouthing them in the hall or cafeteria won't solve the issue.
- Immediate losers for me - be disparaging to the other team or make racist, homophobic, sexist arguments or comments. Essentially, be kind and respectful if you want to win.
- Questions? - if you have a question ask me.
I used to compete in Congressional debate, HI, DI, Informative, Extemp, Impromptu, and BQD back in high school for four years. I have been judging PF for 5 years now. keep up with prep time
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PF - I side on the traditional side of PF. Don't throw a lot of jargon at me or simply read cards... this isn't Policy Jr., compete in PF for the debate animal it is. Remember debate, especially PF, is meant to persuade - use all the tools in your rhetorical toolbox: Logos, Ethos, and Pathos.
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Speed - I like speed but not spreading. Speak as fast as is necessary but keep it intelligible. There aren't a lot of jobs for speed readers after high school (auctioneers and pharmaceutical disclaimer commercials) so make sure you are using speed for a purpose. If you spread I will just stop listening. If the only way I can understand your case is to read it, you have already lost. If I have to read your case then what do I need you in the room for? Email it to me and I can judge the round at home in my jammies - if you are PRESENTING and ARGUING and PERSUADING then I need to understand the words coming out of your mouth!
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Know your case, like you actually did the research and wrote the case and researched the arguments from the other side. If you present it, I expect you to know it from every angle - I want you to know the research behind the statistic and the whole article, not just the blurb on the card and please actually connect it to the case.
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Debating is a performance in the art of persuasion and your job is to convince me, your judge (not your opponent!!) - use the art of persuasion to win the round: eye contact, vocal variations, appropriate gestures, and know your case well enough that you don't have to read every single word hunched over a computer screen. Keep your logical fallacies for your next round. Rhetoric is an art.
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Ethics - Debate is a great game when everyone plays by the rules.
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Enjoy yourself. Debate is the best sport in the world - win or lose - learn something from each round, don't gloat, don't disparage other teams, judges, or coaches, and don't try to convince me after the round is over. Leave it in the round and realize you may have just made a friend that you will compete against and talk to for the rest of your life. Don't be so caught up in winning that you forget to have some fun - in the round, between rounds, on the bus, and in practice.
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Immediate losers for me - be disparaging to the other team or make racist, homophobic, sexist arguments or comments. Essentially, be kind.
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Questions? - if you have a question ask me.
- I don’t judge based on the cross
I am a traditional judge.
Do not spread.
Civility is essential.
I value clear communication. Sign posts and voters are excellent tools.
I value clash. So listen to your opponent and tell me why they are wrong and your side is better.
Give weight to the most important arguments and tell me why they are the most important.
Write the reason for decision for me.
As a science teacher, I function in a world based upon data and logic. My paradigm is based upon that experience and personal value system. Arguments establish validity through the proper use of data versus grandiose claims of support based upon claims with small value. Provided below is a list of how I evaluate arguments:
- Is your position logical? Does it take into account as much evidence as possible? Does it ignore or dismiss the counter-argument? Absolutes, by my opinion, signify weak positions.
- Does the the data support the argument? Is it significant enough to value when considering the position, or is it anecdotal?
- How does your argument relate to the bigger picture? The small stories lead to the sum of the larger story? Where does the process lead?
- How does your argument affect others? Are the sacrifices being presented enough to support your position? Have you considered the long term outcomes of your position? Does it favor those with power, wealth, and privilege versus the average person? Does it further marginalize those who have significantly less privilege? Does it widen the gaps?
- From a stance of morality and ethical behavior, does your argument abandon those values? Is it the old "to make an omelet you have to break a few eggs" argument?
- Is your position what is popular or what is right? Popularity is easy to follow, but is it what is best for all? Are you willing to make sacrifices to your position to strengthen its argument? Are you willing to reconsider the evidence presented as a counter to yours or do you dismiss it?
Updated 2024, following Greenhill
Dr. Brice Ezell – The Lovett School, Debate Coach (he/his)
Bakersfield Christian High School, 2006-10 (LD, competed mostly in local CA tournaments and at NSDAs; broke in LD in 2009)
George Fox University, BA, 2010-2014 (WUDC, competed nationally and at Worlds twice)
University of Texas, PhD and MA, 2015-21 (involved sporadically in judging, but was not on UT's college teams; my PhD subject matter involved a lot of reading in phil/K lit, however)
Speechdrop is preferred, but if it's email do add me to the chain -- my email is brice.ezell@lovett.org.
The TL;DR below should honestly suffice for most folks.
TL;DR Summary of Everything in this Paradigm: In general, I will vote on whatever is most successfully warranted, weighed and impacted in the round. Arguments can have all sorts of impacts: to the fairness of the debating activity, to the possibility of nuclear war, to violating a universal ethical principle, etc. However you impact your arguments, you also need to sell me on some kind of standard by which I am to evaluate the in-round impacts. This doesn’t mean you have to use the old-school value/criterion structure, but rather that you as part of your weighing need to tell me the yardstick by which to measure all the in-round impacts.
Prefs: Though I hesitated to do this at first, as I don’t want debaters to get the sense that they have to run one kind of argument in front of me to succeed, below is how I’d categorize my preferences when it comes to LD. I recognize there is value to being transparent about this as a judge, though I really try to be tabula rasa in-round as this is an activity whose practices are created by its participants. Debate is as much a creative as it is an academic activity.
I Like These and Vote on Them Regularly - Run Truly Whatever
Philosophy
Policy (LOVE plan/CP debates)
Post-fiat K debates
Theory
Truth-testing
Skep (moral or epistemological - big fan of args involving the latter, actually)
I Could Definitely Vote on these But My Threshold is Higher
Pre-fiat Ks
Performance (though I stress one thing: make sure you know what the word "performative"actually means)
Serious gaming
I Can't Imagine Voting On These Ever
Tricks* [see note below]
Frivolous theory (e.g. "URL theory," font sizes, etc)
*I know there may be some confusion in having tricks ranked at the bottom here and skep/truth testing in a higher level of willingness to adjudicate. To put it frankly, I’m not totally clear on what constitutes a “trick” – it’s a confusing set. If by “tricks” one means what this definition on Circuit Debater tells us, wherein a trick is an argument that’s meant to be abusive, then I will say without reservation I will vote these kinds of arguments down.As a general practice, irrespective of the style of case one runs in front of me, I reward debaters for running toward the debate, rather than trying to win on the narrowest grounds possible. Go for clash! With that in mind, I’m not clear why truth testing and skep cases *must* constitute some kind of trick or attempt to be abusive to your opponent. Truth-testing is a flavor of old-school LD, and done well is hardly abusive, certainly not in a way where an opponent couldn’t sufficiently respond to it.
Stray Things
Speed: No problem! But be especially clear with your tags and author attributions. If I have to say "clear" more than once some of your args might not end up on my flow.
Tech>Truth?: Yes. But this bears saying: when I'm listening to and flowing your arguments, they need to, at some level, make sense. So if you're running a K or otherwise philosophically inclined argument with its own jargon, explain what key terms mean and what they look like applied to the debate at hand, even if you think I know the body of literature from which you're drawing. An example: feel free to run a psychoanalysis K in front of me, but if you read some tagline that's like "The alternative is to run towards the Real," like... I'll flow it, but I don't know what that means unless your tag or card gives me some explanation of what that would look like. You shouldn't be clarifying key claims of a case only in the rebuttals. The strategy of obfuscating in the 1AC/NC and then in rebuttals being articulate in the way you should have been in the constructives will bode poorly for speaks in front of me.
Cross-x: Is binding. I flow it and think it’s one of the most important parts of the debate.
Flex-prep: I’m cool with it.
Timing: I trust debaters to keep their own time but note that I will keep time as well (a) as an extra accountability measure in case there’s a dispute, and (b) because I like to make note on my ballot of how speakers allocate their time strategically.
RVIS?: Probably not.
Speaks: Here's how I allocate speaks unless a tournament gives me a bespoke speaker point scale:
30: No notes. If I were a betting kind of person I'd bet you're going to win the tournament.
29.6 - 29.9: Near-flawless strategy and delivery. If this kind of performance is repeated, I'd expect you to get to late elims at this tournament, if not win the tournament altogether.
29.2 - 29.5: Your strategy and delivery mark you as a debater I'd expect, assuming consistent performance at this level, to get solidly far into elims.
28.8 - 29.1: I'd expect you to break based on how you executed strategy and delivery in this round, assuming consistent performance at this level.
28.4 - 28.7: I'd award in this range if I thought you'd break or be on the bubble for breaking, but there are strategic or delivery issues that I could see being an issue in other rounds.
28.0 - 28.3: This is where I start my adjudicating of a round. A debater who stays at this score level is merely "fine" -- nothing too bad, but nothing too flashy either. I would not expect a debater consistently competing at this point level to break.
27.0 - 27.9: You've got a lot of work to do, either in strategy or delivery.
26.0 - 26.9: You've got a lot of work to do in both strategy and delivery.
25: You did something profoundly offensive.
One sure way to get good speaks from me: quality on-case argumentation and engagement with the opponent's cards and tags. I too often feel that even good debaters hear the tag of the AC (e.g. "oh they're running X policy case"), and then rather than engage the substance (or maybe lack thereof) in the AC, will go only for off arguments and weighing, leaving little time for direct arguments on case. Go for your offense, of course, but show me that you're engaging your opponent's case in detail! Put most succinctly, debaters that get good speaks for me eagerly go for clash,and to me part of good clash is getting into your opponent's case and saying how and why they're wrong.
What About Public Forum? I am generally of the belief that PF should be insulated from the "circuit-ification" that's endemic to the other major debating formats. A PF round really should be viewable by all, including the mythical "average person on the street." This isn't because I'm a "PF originalist," or am against spread/circuit debate -- far from it. Rather, I just think the strictures of the form (four minute speeches max, topics that change every month) make "circuit PF" a kind of contradiction in terms. PF should be about a clearly defined and persuasively delivered (in the traditional sense) clash on a current events topic with which a parent uninitiated to debating could follow. Though PF doesn't have the value framework of LD, your weighing mechanism for my decision in the round -- these are often called "voters" or "voting issues" -- should still be clear by the time you get to the Final Focus speeches.
One specific note on the rules of PF debating, since this issue has come up in some rounds for my debaters: the CON is not required to defend the status quo. Though plan texts are verboten in this format, the CON is allowed to advocate (without a specific plan-text) alternatives to the PRO advocacy. For example, on a topic like "The United States federal government should forgive all federal student loan debt," the CON is not required to defend a world with no student loan forgiveness or only the types of forgiveness that exist in the status quo; they could say, as a generalized claim, "We support some targeted means-testing style forgiveness programs, those that target historically disenfranchised groups in America." There couldn't be, however, a specific plan iterating the details of that advocacy. I'm not sure why so many people think PF would be set up to where all debates are "X or the status quo," and in any event there's certainly nothing in "the rulebook" for PF to suggest that the CON can't offer alternatives in the same generalized way that the PRO advocates for a given case.
Greetings,
I am a lay judge (parent) and this is my second year judging LD. I am affiliated with Landmark Christian School where my daughter attends high school. I was not involved in debate when I was in high school. Therefore, although I have a working knowledge of debate jargon, please do not assume that I am well-versed in all debate terminology.
I do not encourage or support spreading. If you spread, you may inadvertently hurt your performance as I cannot judge what I cannot understand. My preference is for students to articulate and respond to arguments using a normal rate, tone and prosody of speech. I will not cue you if you are speaking too fast. I value the quality of key arguments over the sheer quantity of arguments. Therefore, students should not feel compelled to spread. Finally, my preference is for students to clearly explain their value and value criterion, including the terminology (e.g., deontology, utilitarianism, etc.).
Email: cmlollis603@gmail.com
I'm a parent judge. I have a moderate experience judging. I like it when at the end, you tell me why I should vote for your framework and your impacts.
For the email chain: nickycate@yahoo.com
I'm a former Lincoln-Douglas debater, so I'm most familiar with traditional LD and LARPing. My approach towards judging is tabula rasa, and I put a heavy emphasis on the framework debate. I'm comfortable with judging policy-style cases such as DAs and CPs. Don't try to run a K. I'm not familiar with the literature. Only run Theory and T if it's warranted.
I find it very important to extend your arguments clearly throughout the round and voters. I'm comfortable with spreading, but don't do it at the detriment of your clarity. Tell me why your impacts are important under your framework, speak clearly, and be civil!
Most importantly, have fun! :)
I do not like spreading. Clear communication is key. Evidence makes your case stronger.
I was the debate captain at Lassiter for 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. I was a traditional LD debator and occasionally competed in impromptu. I value strong rhetoric, robust research, and organized speeches.
Keep your cases topical. If you're running complex phil, break it down. The winning framework is the lens I judge under, and the case that better fulfills that lens wins the round (so if you and your opponent's framework is basically the same, you should explain why your contentions better fulfill the framework rather than arguing over which near identical framework is better. If the frameworks are polar opposites, the clash here will probably determine the round). I don't flow cross but I'll listen and consider it for speaks. If you're going to spread, please offer to email your case and cards to your opponent. I don't want to be on the email chain. If I I can't hear it, it's not on the flow.
Good luck, and have fun!
I debated PF and LD for The Lovett School in Atlanta, GA where I did both local and national circuit tournaments.
A few notes on how I tend to judge rounds:
Crossfire is important, but I expect any major concessions to be followed up on and extended in your next speech. If you think a concession from crossfire may become important later, you should summarize + extend it as soon as possible.
I'm ok with debaters being a little bit technical, but I don't want to see a policy round. In PF, I believe debaters should try to argue such that they could understood by someone with little to no debate experience. That being said, I will be flowing the round and using it heavily to evaluate who won- just don't spread or use a ton of debate-specific lingo. In PF, you need to be able to understand the argument and explain it in simple terms.
I will not run prep time for evidence exchange unless it's clearly being abused for extra prep time (in which case I will inform you that I am now running prep for everything). This goes both ways- if I feel that either side is being shady in their evidence practices, I will heavily deduct speaker points and become a lot more sympathetic to arguments that I should vote that side down because of their shadiness. However, I don't like voting for procedural arguments (I much prefer to see teams win the old-fashioned way unless absolutely necessary)
WEIGH. YOUR. ARGUMENTS. It's extremely important that you're giving me concrete reasons to vote for your side by comparing your impacts to your opponents'. It's nice to see in the earlier speeches, but it's absolutely essential in final focus. If neither side can give me a clear path to the ballot (or an obviously better path to the ballot), then I will most likely vote with my gut (i.e. vote on which side I felt argued better overall / evaluate the round more holistically)
For LD:
I'm fine with pretty much anything, but I may struggle with flowing + following your argument if you spread too fast (since I haven't been active in debate for a while). However, feel free to run K's, theory, or whatever you want.
I do prefer to see debates with more framework + philosophical debate. I believe it's core to LD as an activity, and I will look more favorably on arguments with well-developed philosophical positions (both when evaluating the round and when I'm giving out speaker points)
I have judged debates over the last 2 school years. I did Debate while in high school. I will judge based off of the arguments and choose a winner based off the arguments presented. Make sure to flow your contentions throughout otherwise I cant give you credit for them.
Debates can be won and loss in the cross. Make sure to state your reason for why your side should win. Please make sure to be polite to your opponent. Above all else make sure to have fun
Speed:
I can handle fast talkers, will ask to slow down if needed. Remember that clarity is more important than speed
Email:
william.shain@hcbe.net
I know it's a somewhat long paradigm but reading it will help you in round, I promise.
My Experience/Preferences: I'm a fourth-year PF debater at Midtown High School so I'm very knowledgeable about debate in general. If I'm judging you in LD or Policy, I'm fine with most theory and Ks, but less experienced with very progressive debate, so you may need to explain things to me in your speeches. Also, explain the basics of your topic to me if you're not in PF because I won't have done much research on it. Also, plz give an offtime roadmap, it just helps me flow.
Speaking: Do not spread, if you do I will give you low speaks and will tell you to slow down. Otherwise, I can understand pretty fast speaking as long as you're clear. Make sure you're speaking loud enough and showing passion in what you're debating.
Evidence: I don't need to be on an evidence-sharing doc or email chain and usually won't ask to see evidence unless I really need to accurately judge to round. Also, do not excessively call for cards. No one should ever ask for 8 cards at the end of a speech, because they'll only end up actually evaluating two or three them. Doing this to try to gain prep time is very obnoxious and will lose you speaks. Only ask for cards if you are actually going to evaluate them well or need to examine the credibility of the source.
Time: Time yourselves, I will try to time as well but I may forget. I will be keeping track of your prep so don't try to steal any, doing so will result in a loss of speaker points. Also, be sure to use up all of your speech time.
How I Judge: I'm definitely prioritize tech over truth so if you point out your opponent's nontopicality, their running of a plan (PF), their failure to respond to something, or that they're bringing up new evidence or arguments when they're not supposed to, I will flow that argument to you. If you don't respond to your opponent's framework or alternative situation, I will go with whatever they say.
This does not mean, however, that you will get away with any type of response you want. If you have a bad turn, your opponent's impact will flow through. The same goes with your case, if your impact isn't true, terminal, and specific, I will only weigh as however important as I see it is. Your link chain also has to be clear and make sense for me to consider the impact.
I don't flow CSX but how you speak and respond will influence your speaker points. If you bring up a good point in cross, bring it up in your next speech. The same goes with other speeches, if you read it in one speech, you need to keep running that point, try not to drop arguments unless you intentionally drop it to collapse on one argument or save time and focus on more important things.
Another thing thats very important to me is giving a good explanation. Explain why the points you make impact the round and always link the points you make to your value criterion (LD) and your impacts.
I will vote on impacts, so GIVE COMPARATIVE VOTERS, tell me why you win the round and why your impacts are better in Magnitude, Risk, and/or Timeframe than your opponents.
Most importantly, have fun!! Debate is all just a game so try not to get too frustrated with anything your opponents say. Also, Ill give you 0.5 extra speaker points if you make a joke during one of your speeches, but only if it makes me laugh.
Jud Turner
judsonturner@jtcounsel.com
I am a practicing attorney by trade and have been around policy/CX debate for about 6 or more years. While I have been around debate for a bit, I may not be your typical debate coach/experienced judge. While I know some of the debate jargon, do not assume that I do. Moreover, while I know it is tempting to use debate terminology and jargon to save time, you may lose me on the strength of your argument in doing so. Assume that I don't have any subject matter expertise. Tell me what is important and why, use evidence to support your position and to counter your opponent and do not play fast and lose with evidence in terms of what it actually says.
I know that many progressive debaters want to spread in CX debates and use that tactic to gain an advantage relative to dropped arguments, etc... I will not decide a debate round on the basis of a dropped argument that may have been a mentioned in rapid fire/auctioneer style spreading. CX is a great debate format that certainly places important emphasis on research and preparation; however, that does not mean that the debate round should be 75% completed based on elaborate constructive speeches only one quarter of which can be presented a speed that one can comprehend.
A large part of the value of debate in general and CX in particular surrounds competitors being able to think on their feet, determine what are the most important arguments that one's opponent is putting forth, responding to those and/or offering a better plan to solve the harms at issue. A large part of the value of debate is determining which arguments are more important than others and responding to those. A great debate round, in my view, happens with both sides respond pointedly (and in a manner and speed that I can understand) to each other and see the clash on the salient arguments through to the end, while using cross examination effectively to undermine the arguments by the other side and to position yourself for your speeches to follow.
My judging paradigm:
STRONG Preferences:
--standing to speak
--look at judge during cross - x
--time your opponent
--spreading is fine
-clearly sign-post your constructions! V and VC must be clearly indicated, as well as contentions and subpoints
--CLASH is KING