I debated policy in high school and in college in from 1988-1994. I have coached policy, LD, public forum and now Congressional debate. Because of my policy roots substantiating your argument with evidence and refutation are important to debate. I fundamentally see Congressional debate as debate not as another form of extemp.

I am a parent judge for Congress. My degree is in Political Science with a focus on the U.S. govt. I have lobbied Congress, written opinion pieces on behalf of a Senator, and worked closely with govt. agencies such as FDA.

I am looking for a healthy debate. Can you provide new facts or pull the facts given together and summarize? If not, please think twice about speaking. Speaking for the sake of speaking and not to further the debate, seems rather useless. Try not to read your notes. You need to have a strong open and at least three reasons we should affirm or negate a bill. Smooth language read from a page is less important than a passionately delivered, well researched piece.

Congress, overall - I am here to judge you and you are here to speak. I don't like when time is wasted not debating when that's the whole point of this event existing. Along this line, if previous question was moved and you still have a speech, maybe you should have been better prepared or chosen to speak sooner. I believe it is selfish to make an entire chamber sit through a broken cycle if your speech is not going to actually contribute to debate.

Congress Scorer- Congressional debate should be extemporaneous or have an extemporaneous feel. If I can tell that this is a pre-written speech and not your actual words, this will result in an automatic 5.

Because there is only 3 minutes per speech, the critiques I can provide are generally not the most thorough, however, I do try to provide feedback based on what I notice.

Speaker ranking is determined by conduct in chamber and questions asked. I do not necessarily take into consideration the number of speeches; however, in a competitive round, quality of speaking and speeches will be a distinguishing factor between close competitors. To break this down: You will be ranked higher in my ballot if you:
1) Use questioning time effectively both as a speaker and as a questioner (I don't mind asking question to bolster your side as long as you aren't wasting what little time is given in each block)
2) Effective and correct use of parliamentary procedure
3) Have well-spoken speeches that do not read from a page (or do not feel like they were written from a page).

Speeches scoring is determined based on this rubric on page 14 https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/2017-Congressional-Debate-Guide.pdf. I prefer this rubric to the 2020 guide due to its detail.

It is rare for PO to rank below 5th in the round on my ballot. I understand the difficulty and the difference in the role of PO vs Speakers in the Chamber. That said, if there are many people deserving higher ranks as speakers,

Congress Parliamentarian - I ensure that proper order will be kept in the chamber at all times. I am very familiar with Parliamentary Procedure and will assist the Presiding Officer as needed. For Novice and JV, I will generally hold a more interactive seat with clear and direct instruction, as well as advice. For Varsity, I will take a more observational seat (unless the PO has specifically asked for a more hands-on parliamentarian). My expectations for both are similar (being more lenient with JV/Novice), however, are also understanding of experience in Speech and Debate, as well as the category overall.

What you can anticipate from my feedback: If you are a speaker, honestly, unless I have to say something (for good or bad), don't expect to get feedback from me on your speeches. You have two other judges that are giving you feedback. If you are PO, expect very detailed feedback and suggestions. Don't be intimidated by walls of text and paragraphs (with links), because that feedback is there to share my knowledge and tips that I have had with my experience with ParliPro and POing and imparting that on you.

Scoring, overall, is based on conduct in the chamber. Generally, students will receive a higher rank if they:
1. Use proper parliamentary procedure in every role in chamber (personal privilege, point of inquiry/order, effective uses of motions, etc.)
2. Utilise questioning blocks appropriately and functionally (actually asking questions, and not bringing in more information that should be addressed in a speech and ACTUALLY follow NSDA and MSHSL, when appropriate, guidelines)
3. Ensuring fairness and efficiency from every role in chamber
4. Pet peeve of mine: If you say that you are going to follow NSDA guidelines, actually follow them. There are many things that are done that explicitly go against NSDA (and MSHSL) guidelines that no one corrects. Examples include, but are not limited to: opening the floor for debate (this has never been a thing as long as I have been alive), closing the floor for docket nominations

In competitive rounds, I am looking for competitors who are paying attention, genuinely adding to the debate, and making themselves appropriately known.

While I understand that speeches are an important aspect of debate, when I am Parliamentarian, they are my second focus while ranking. I do not score speeches in this role. Most of my feedback is provided on an as-needed basis, with the exception of PO.

Hello! I am a coach/judge for Congressional Debate. I do occasionally judge traditional debate formats, so you may see me there, too. Back in school, I competed in congress in the off season from speech and at this point have been involved in speech/debate longer than not. I have a BA in Rhetoric and Advocacy, so I usually come at argumentation from that lense.

A note for all: contradictory evidence is just contradictory evidence. If you want me to believe the refutation, I need to know why your evidence should be believed over theirs. Otherwise you both have evidence and that's cool.

Congressional Debate Overall Comments
Ultimately, I am here to watch a debate. I am not a recess monitor and I do not want to be one. Please use the time allotted to debate, whether on the legislation itself or amendments. Yes, I know you're told that judges don't like amendments -- which is usually true, but they are better than watching a recess. On that note, while we are not judging what happens in recess, if it occurs in front of the judges, we now know what was discussed. That means that if you state you don't have a speech on the next legislation but you can pull one together, I commend your willingness to do this on the fly, but I now know that the speech you're about to give is minimally prepared.

You should also know that I read the manuals, handbooks, guides, etc for fun -- so I've likely read through the entire set of rules at both the national and state level at least 3 times thus far in the season. Does that make me a nerd, yeah - but I am a well prepared nerd. So, if you tell me you're going to follow those rules, please do so. For example, please do not call for a motion to open the floor for debate.

Please, leave the traditional debate jargon in traditional debate. You can talk about the status quo, impacts, contentions, and voters without labeling them for us -- we will still know what they are. Congress is a debate event, but it is a completely different animal and I would prefer it stay that way.

Congressional Debate as a Scorer
I will generally default to more speech points over less every time. This means that I will almost always score a 5 or 6 unless there was something overtly offensive or inappropriate. I do prioritize extemporaneous delivery over full-text, prewritten speeches. Speeches that contain improperly cited evidence will be scored down as this is a requirement at both the state and national level. I only need the required elements per the rules, so it's easy enough to cover. Please, give me a well constructed speech (intros, previews, signposting, concluding statement at minimum).

When ranking the top 8 at the end of the session, I will consider speeches, questions asked and answered, decorum, and understanding of parliamentary procedure. Presiding Officers will often rank in my top half. When competing, I was a PO more often than not, so I know that this is a challenging role and can be a great fit for some competitors. With that in mind, I will give more feedback to the PO than a lot of other scorers. It is all given from a place of constructive feedback and to consider with your coaches.

Congressional Debate as a Parliamentarian
My job as the parli is to focus on the PO. I am happy to help as much or as little as needed. I do assume, though, less assistance from the parli is needed at the varsity level.

Always feel free to raise points of inquiry from the floor or ask questions/clarifications as the PO - I am happy to answer them from both sides. My favorite memories of Congress as a competitor were the interactions with parlis in the lower levels to help us become the competitors that we were in upper divisions.

As my attention is focused on the PO and the chamber running effectively, please expect limited speech level commentary from me. I will provide overall comments to competitors regarding their questioning, decorum, and chamber level things. I am looking for all competitors to have a solid understanding of Parli Pro and the rules (both guides and manuals). I am also looking for fair and efficient chambers that still allow for POs to have an active role within the dynamic of the room AND not so efficient that we don't allow space for motions from the floor or people that need a bit extra time to process.

For final rankings, I will consider everything that has occurred in the room -- this will mean that the best speaker will not get my 1 if their conduct in the chamber, questions, and understanding of the rules/parli pro are not congruent with their speaking ability.

Traditional Debate
It isn't very frequent that I am in these rounds, but sometimes I am. So - consider me a lay judge. I have plenty more than the basic knowledge of the events than the typical lay judge. However, I am not impressed by how well you can cater your arguments to my preferences. Adjusting to your audience is important, but it will not result in a win from me. Give me a clear and clean debate that is paced at a speed that is understandable and I will be content. Also,pleasedefine your jargon the first time you use it.

Last Updated:3/9/2024

Pronouns: They/Them

Background:

• Competed for 6 years: 4.5 in LD and 1.5 in Congress. Have been judging LD and Congress for 3 years now.

Overview:

• Debate should be inclusive and available to all people. If your goal is to speak as fast as possible and run the most obscure arguments to exclude people, then this isn't a winning strategy for you. My suggestion would be to run topical arguments at a pace that is inclusive to all students. The more obscure the argument the more time you should spend on explaining it. Don't just throw out random words and assume I'll fill in the blanks for you.
• If you have questions about your ballot, feel free to ask me about it! My email address isBonBrynteson@gmail.com :)

Congress:

• This is a debate event. I reward debaters on their skill to rebuttal and crystal first and then constructives/authors. This is not to say I will not rank someone high if they give constructives but I do tend to vote for people who can mix it up and give different types of speeches/can analyze the round correctly.
• There should be no reason for you to have to put a trigger warning in your speech. We as the Parli and Judges are not able to leave the room like everyone else if you are saying stuff that could be triggering so please do not put us in that uncomfortable position. I promise you that you can make that same exact meaningful point without saying triggering things and if you cannot, that speaks more for what you need to personally work on in this activity.
• I can promise you that you will not be dropped because your speaking isn't "pretty enough" in my round :)
• I track precedence/recency in all sessions and flow.
• Remember all of your opponents, judges, and Parli are all human. The topics we are discussing may personally impact the people in the room with you. Be aware of what you are saying and the impact it can leave on others when leaving the round.

Notes for PO's:

• You will always start at being ranked 5 and will move up or down based on how well you perform. The reasoning for this is there are some POs with computer programs that will auto-order and PO for you which takes the entire skill out of the position.
• I personally do not like it when you share your PO sheet with the chamber. It is their job to also track, don't make their life easier. This is a competition.
• Please do not tell us to rank you. We are told to in judging meetings and TAB reminds us every round.
• The point of a PO is to disappear from the round. I should forget that you are next to me with how well you are running the room. Comments like "and the chair thanks you", "and we will never know the answer to that question" or any other sentence that is unneeded will poorly look on you in my eyes. You should be moving so efficiently that you can move speech to questioning to speech within seconds. In addition, the chair does not have emotions.
• I know this Paradigm is long and seems like a lot but please do not be scared to ask me questions! I have POed more times than I can count and it's nerve-racking. Let me help you succeed and grow so we can have a fun fast round.

LD:

• If you start running a K, I will just want to run back to my congress land. Please do not run them in my round.
• Please do not spread. I can not keep up and will be lost.
• I do not mind jargon or technical language but if you are being inaccessible to your opponent that is unfair to them and will reflect on you.
• Voters/Framework/Weighing are big points to me. If you weigh but lost framework, what are we actually weighing on? If you save more money but your opponents saves 100k lives, why do I care about someone missing rent for a month? Etc etc
• I love love love! a good CX

Overall I just want you kids to have fun. Let's work together to create a safe space in this round where everyone feels comfortable and enjoy the round! :D

Before I get into this you need to understand that I will not accept being bigoted in any way shape or form. Congress is a debate event.

I think congress is a debate event and should be treated as such. Be nice don't bully others. Have confidence in yourself you will do great. Talk to me after round if you want more specific feedback, I would love to help in any way possible. Have a good round.

POs should not exist

(That said I rank POs)

I think that Chat GPT is a tool that should be used in debate but don't let me see you using it round its not going to write a speech for you...

Background: Head Coach at Robbinsdale Armstrong and Robbinsdale Cooper HS in Minnesota. There I coach LD, PF and Congressional Debate.

Most Important: Debate should be about comparing and weighing arguments. In LD (and optional in PF) there should be a criterion (standard) which argument are weighed through. The purpose of the criterion is to filter out arguments. So simply winning the criterion does not mean you win the debate. You should have arguments that link to the winning criterion and those arguments should be weighed against any opposing/linking arguments. If the debaters do not weigh the arguments, then you force the judge to do that weighing for you and that is never good.

Overall: Debate should be inclusive and available to all people. If your goal is to speak as fast as possible and run the most obscure arguments ever to exclude people, then this isn't a winning strategy for you. My suggestion would be to run topical arguments at a pace that is inclusive to all students. Speed within limits is ok. The more obscure the argument the more time you should spend on explaining it. Don't just throw out random words and assume I'll fill in the blanks for you. No need to ask if I want to be on the email chain, job of debate is to communicate the evidence to me.

Congressional Debate: Read everything above because it is still valuable information. Congressional Debate is debate by nature. It is not a dueling oratory round. In general, the first cycle is there to set up arguments in the round. The author/sponsor speech should be polished. All other speeches should have elements of refutation to other students and arguments in the round. If you are giving a speech in the fourth cycle and never refer to another person's argument, you are not going to score well in front of me. Simply dropping a person's name isn't refutation. You should tell me why their argument is wrong. With evidence it is even better.

You should do everything in your power to not go back-to-back on the same side. I will flow little of a second speech back-to-back on the same side. If you are the third speaker on the same side in a row, I'm not flowing any of it. Debaters should be prepared to switch sides if necessary. Lastly, there is a trend for no one to give an author/sponsor speech as they are worried, they will not score well. That isn't true in front of me. All parts of the debate are important.

The questioning period is about defeating arguments not to make the person look good. Softball questions are not helpful to debate. Do it multiple times and expect your rank to go down. All aspects, your speech, the quality of sources, refutation and questioning all go into your final rank. Just because you speak the prettiest does not mean you are the champion. You should be able to author/sponsor, refute, crystalize, ask tough questions, and defend yourself in questioning throughout the debate. Do all in a session and you are in decent shape.

Presiding Officers (PO): The PO will start with a rank of six in all chambers for me. From there, you can work your way up or down based on your performance. PO's who are clearly favoring the same school or same circuit students will lose rank. A PO can absolutely receive the one in my ranks likewise they can be unranked if you make many errors.

The current trend is for "super wordy" PO's. You do not need to say things like "Thank you for that speech of 3:09. As this was the 3rd Affirmative Speech, we are in line for 1 minute block of questioning. All those who wish to ask a question, please indicate." If you add up the above through an entire session, that adds up to multiple speeches that were taken by the PO. Watch how many words you say between speeches, question blocks, etc. A great PO blends away in the room. Extra language like "The chair thanks you", "this is speech 22", etc. All of this is just filler words for the PO taking time away from the debate. Lastly, a "chair" doesn't have feelings. It is not rude to be efficient.

I track precedence/recency in all sessions. I keep a detailed flow in all rounds debate - Congress, LD and PF.

Disclosure: I typically do not give any oral critiques. All the information will be on the ballot.

FULL PARADIGM CAN BE FOUND HERE! This page is meant to be something you can read right before round and get a general idea of what's up

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Bullies get dropped

If your argument needs a trigger warning, either ask before the round S T A R T S or don’t read it. Don't say mid speech "trigger warning!" because judges cannot just up and leave a round the same way you can, and you're not actually giving any students time to react. I think like 90% of tw are super performative and framed as “imma read this, deal w it”

www.ImpactInstituteDebate.com

@Impact.Institute_ on Instagram for 100% free, high quality, virtual Congressional Debate resources.

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Any pronouns work, but do not call me mister

Congress 2016-2019 for Eagan High School in MN, traveled a little bit but certainly wasn't a circuit kid

Congress coach 2019-present at Armstrong and Cooper High Schools in MN

Parli (NPDA) for the University of Minnesota 19-20, 20-21 (I read topical affs and cap/ableism on neg)

PNW CARD Debate for 1 semester (closed research packet, but I loved sliding in Marxist lenses)

Congress judge first, but pls don’t assume I'm not a "debate" judge :)

Overall, I prefer chess over checkers. But both are valuable games!

Email chain or questions/critiques/whatever AFTER the round: Davi3736@umn.edu

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LD:

-Ask before you spread. I probs can't understand your spreading, I'll clear/slow you until I can, but 70% is a decent starting point

-Not flowing off a speech doc but pls share it w me

-Tech>everything: I used to say “except for xyz” but instead, just be a good debater. I’ll vote for stupidity idc. However, “get good” is probably an able normative response to “speed bad” so b careful w ur language. Wipeout, war good, dedev, truth>tech, idc just say it w your chest and let it rip.

-Judge instruction is my fav part abt this activity, followed by conceding fwk, followed by turns of any kind

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Congress:

#AbolishPOs (don’t worry I still rank y’all)

Congress is a debate event you silly goose

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Judge adaptation is important! It is a major variable of debate.

I am a parent judge who has become a coach and have been judging debates for many years now. I have been mostly judged Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum with experience in Congress. I see my role as a judge is to determine who has won the debate. I weigh the framework in LD most. If the debate evolves into a contention level debate, I largely determine who wins by who has presented the best case with factual evidence. In short, convince me your side is right. It is important to provide evidence and absolutely critical to think on your feet and exploit holes in the opposing debaters evidence. Most LD/PF debates are won or loss in CX/Crossfire (and what you do with this information later in the debate). Providing evidence isn’t enough though, it must be used effectively to support arguments. This is where the heart of debate is for me. I am not influenced by my personal opinion on the topic nor do I weigh debaters personal stories, although heartfelt, into the decision. I listen to what is said and do not make conclusions beyond what is communicated. I am fine with speed provided it is clear. If I am unable to understand the debater due to speed of speech or failure to enunciate, I am unable to use that portion of the debate in my decision. It is your responsibility to speak clearly. In most cases, less words with more thought will be more effective with me than cramming all you can into your time limit. I want to see you truly debate your opponent and not just read a case.

I will keep time but will not manage it for debaters. When time is complete, I will allow thoughts to be finished but do not factor in communication past time limits into my decision.

Speaker Points-I treat speaker points uniformly within a tournament based on the talent but am not consistent from tournament to tournament. What I mean by that is that in tournament A, I’ll likely provide the best speaker a 29 or 30 but in tournament B, that same speaker may have only earned a 28 due to stiffer competition. I rarely score below a 27.

Kritiks – I’m okay with Ks. I find they take skill to run and when run effectively are powerful but when run poorly are difficult and tend to be easily defeated.

Philosophy-I'm good with philosophy and can follow it.

Flow-I do not flow rounds. I do take notes. Just because your point is extended, it doesn’t mean it carries significant weight or you’ll win the round.

Attitude-There is a fine, but clear, line between confidence and contemptuousness. I am fine with aggressive debate but bullying an opponent isn’t acceptable.

Have fun. This activity will provide you tons of benefits but not if you are hating it. Enjoy your time.

My ultimate goal is to serve you well. Every debate has a winner and a loser; sometimes the difference is extremely minor. Celebrate your wins and learn from your losses. Compete against yourself and look to be better every round. There are three variables in every debate, you/your case, your opponent/their case and the judge. I won’t be perfect but there will be other judges a lot like me.

For Congress:

For LD:

Major considerations for me as a judge:

1) Value clash seems unnecessary...aren't you all valuing something good? I rarely vote on the value debate.

2) Criterion/standard is VERY important. Please keep in mind: just because we use your framework to weigh the round doesn't mean YOU WIN. I vote for the debater who meets the agreed-upon framework the best. Whosever framework we use, I will use that lens to review the round.

3) Impacts are ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY and should be stated IN ALL SPEECHES. Otherwise, I am witnessing two debaters throw evidence and arguments at each other, but I don't know what to do with this content. TELL YOUR AUDIENCE WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO DO WITH THE ARGUMENTS/EVIDENCE IN YOUR SPEECHES! How does what you are saying influence the round?

4) I hate nuclear war/extinction arguments. Like, super hate. The only reason I would vote for you if you use nuclear war impacts is if the resolution is actually about nuclear weapons. Other than that, I will not buy slippery slope arguments. I truly hate extinction arguments...like, truly truly.

5) I don't like debate theory. It seems like an excuse not to debate the actual topic. It avoids thoughtful discourse about the topic at hand. I'll listen to topic-appropriate theory/philosophy, but not debate theory.

6) Speed does not equal winning. Just getting as muchstuff on the flow as possible is not a tactic for a win.

7) Racist, sexist, antisemitic, or ableist arguments will be automatically downvoted. I understand that arguments that contain these ideas might be made by accident. However, you need to work with your team/coaches if I bring this up to you on a ballot. There is no excuse to be denigrating a group of people.

Helloooo, I'm Adrianna she/her, I did congress for four years at Eagan High School and I now attend the University of Minnesota. If you wanna email me for whatever reason... my personal email is adrianna196@comcast.net.

I'm mostly looking for a well-structured congress round. That means I want to see intros, rebuttals, crystals, an actual debate round. Don't give in to the stereotype that congress is a speech category and not create a debate round :/ I hate when cycle is broken and will encourage against it in round. Know that if you prevent cycle from being broken and take the speech, I WILL remember and consider that. BUT, you should have both sides ready at any position, PLEASE.

I really like seeing you look at me and the other debaters, having an interesting intro to your speech, clash, emotions/expressions, impacting, ethical sources, and a good attitude! It should be fairly easy for me to follow your points, evidence, warrants, impacts, weighing, and reasoning. Remember I'm going in with no research on the legislation and you are persuading the room to your side.

Know you'll be dropped automatically if you use ANY offensive language, you're rude to others, or you yell over others during questioning. I also hate when people put triggering evidence in their speeches whether or not you put a trigger warning. If you have to put a trigger warning you probably shouldn't say it all. Another thing I dislike is if you don't use up the full 30 secs you're allowed for direct questioning. That's a WASTE of a question, please try to keep going or have more prepared to ask. If you were paying attention to the speech, this shouldn't be a problem ;) I also don't appreciate asking questions, trapping someone, then giving up any remaining time in the questioning period to the chair and cutting off the speakers answer. VERY rude and you are NOT making a point by doing it, let them answer or let the time run out, be respectful, or expect to be dropped.

For POS, I mostly want to forget you're there, sorry. If I'm not thinking about you then you have done your job well. I want no mistakes regarding precedence and recency - one or two isn't the end of the world, as well as short and to the point statements. No one cares about the chair's feelings. You end up wasting mine and the participants time in round when you include unnecessary speech. Furthermore, when calling on speakers and questioners at the beginning of the round, if the tournaments provides no precedence and recency chart, it should be RANDOM. Please please please don't create your own "chart" and use that to call on people. Wait a couple seconds for everyone to rise, then call on someone random. I'll know who in the round is from your school. Two people from the same school competing for po is weird so maybe communicate before round. Be a good sport!

HAVE FUN

Updated 1/6/24, pre MSHSL State tournament (post sections). Have some thoughts from sections at the top of the PF/LD paradigm.

ImpactInstituteDebate.com

Background:

Graduated Bloomington Jefferson HS in 2012. Did Policy/Extemp and a little Congress. Wasn't great at any of these events.

Coach of the Bloomington Debate team 2018-present. Our program is now exclusively a Congress team, we did some PF in 18/19. Judge mostly Congress, but get ~12 assorted PF/LD rounds a year.

I work in finance doing institutional asset management when I'm not coaching. I also play and coach ultimate frisbee in my free time and watch any and all sports, do with that what you will.

Disclosure:

I love to discuss specific feedback, either email (below) or find me after a round. Email after a tournament (Congress especially) is great if you want more feedback. I like to disclose post round when allowed, tho likely will NOT at State this year unless both teams read this and ask for disclosure. That said, will likely give you some feedback I hope to help you if it's not the last round of the day.

Two important rules (all formats)

1. Be respectful. If you say anything offensive (racist/sexist/homophobic/etc.) I will not hesitate to give you the auto-loss or the worst score I can.

2. I'm always down to give you more feedback, email is great (arthurpaulharris at gmail dot com) or just come find me at a tournament. I will answer any question about something on any ballot I put out.

Short Paradigm [PF/LD/CX] (update 1/6/24):

If there's an email chain pls add me, email above. The debate will be best if you do what you do best - I'll do my best to adapt to you.

For PF/LD: I will vote on what's on the flow (or do my absolute best to). I flow on paper but my pen is still decently fast (see below about speed). I'm probably dead center on tech vs truth if you think those are contradictory, but if you want this to be circuit LD/PF and it's a MSHSL tournament, you'll be disappointed.

PF people - If you need a shortcut for my paradigm I align with Christian Vasquez's paradigm almost exactly (I assume y'all will be more familiar as he's gotta be like 5x the judge/debate educator I am). If you want to read actual coherent thoughts on PF debate, check that out, it's probably the paradigm that's helped me (re)form my thoughts on PF in the last year.

Section 230 thought from 5 rounds at sections (idk if this will be helpful): Unlike most of the judging pool I'm not a lawyer (so am more susceptible to being bamboozled by lies/debate logic about the legal system) - even so, I think that having a good understanding and then explanation of what 230 does (and doesn't!) do would go a LONG way to establishing ground for both sides.

PF/LD thoughts:

1. Your speed is probably fine, your clarity probably needs work, you should def slow down for anything you want on my ballot at the end of the round and an argument made in your first speech needs to be extended in your other speeches to weigh at the end of the round. PF PEOPLE - I used to have a section about how y'all read your tags/cards backwards but I think I figured you out - I still would prefer if you made my life easier and didn't read everything at one speed, but increasingly that feels like a battle I will not win.

2. I def don't know any of your topic specific jargon and I almost certainly don't know any of the conventions/norms/customs of your event. That means - you probably want to explain an acronym if it'll be important and you'll want to have clear explanations and impacts to your "speed bad" theory or whatever event specific theory (disclosure theory I guess?) you read.

3. Prep time abuse is bad. If it becomes an issue in round I will insert myself and start keeping the prep time myself. When you are out of time you have about 5 seconds to start talking before I get annoyed at you wasting time or stealing prep. Also - I've noticed a huge increase in rebuttals that go 4:10 or summaries that go 3:08. I will put my pen down at the end of the allowed speaking time, you're welcome to keep talking but none of it is going on the flow. I know it seems marginal (and that you don't have enough time as is), but those extensions net you 3-5% extra speech time and someone (probably the judge!) needs to hold the line.

4. I assume that when you read evidence you are reading directly from the source. If you are paraphrasing (apparently allowed in PF) you need to make it clear you are doing so (but also just don't do that). Failure to provide the evidence you paraphrased to the other team in a reasonable amount of time when asked is grounds for a loss. If you set up ev sharing, you should 100% send all cards before you start speaking. This will save time and make everyone's life easier, please just do it this way.

5. I think teams have been most frustrated with my decision when they're read more cards/arguments but didn't spend much time in the last rebuttals/final focus explaining the role of my ballot and weighing. Condensing, weighing and explanation will get you a lot of wins in front of me. Smart cross applications and analytics will also get you a long way in front of me. Additionally, specificity of uniqueness/link and impact scenario will go a long way in front of me, and teams that read a specific scenario have beaten teams reading generic turns quite frequently.

Thoughts on things in debates (not sure how many of these are in LD, pretty sure very few are in PF):

Ks: I'm not a bright or well read individual. I understand the basics of what I believe y'all refer to now as "soft left" Ks, but my lack of substantial liberal arts education means I'm not familiar with anything more critical than them. I will do my best to judge you though, however on kritiks as with any other arguments I need to hear a clear, specific link, a reason the kritik is competitive and solvency. You can try to convince me some or none of these are needed, but it'll be an uphill battle for you. LD people - I think (think) this means that if you read a consequentialist framework I'll track you, if you go for something ontological I'm going to need some extra hand holding (rephrasing your authors will go a LONG way). If this sentence makes no sense, you see what I'm trying to say re: me being not the smartest :)

CPs: Usually fine. I think I prefer that they're not topical, but can be persuaded otherwise. Need to be competitive. Perms aren't an advocacy but I also find the perm does a good job of proving non-competitiveness most of the time.

Theory: Theory with a voter of dropping a team: really high bar, need to prove in round abuse. Theory to drop an arg: Somewhat lower bar, would still like in round abuse. As I get older I find reasonableness to be a better standard for judging theory. Your theory probably needs an interpretation, a violation, an impact and a voter. I've come to understand there's a subset of theory in PF called "tricks" - if your trick doesn't meet this burden I probably don't care for it. In PF, if you want to read "Topicality", I think the most reasonable voter is to drop any argument that isn't topical. You still need to run an interpretation, have a violation and explain what the impacts of non-topicality are. I can be persuaded you should win on T if your opponent reads non-topical advantages, but the burden is high on you to win the impact/voter level.

DAs: Obviously these are fine, need a clear uniqueness and link story. The more complicated your link chain the higher your explanatory burden will be and the lower my bar to evaluating defense for the other team will be.

Short Paradigm [Congress] :

1. Debating makes up ~80% of your rank in front of me, speaking is ~20%. Argument quality is an important sub-element of debating (note - creative link chains are acceptable, you just need to explain them well). I am a human though, so masterful rhetorical skill can get you a good rank if you have it.

2. POs - I am PO friendly in that every PO starts somewhere in the top half of my ballot (new policy for 22/23 season). I track P/R for speeches/questions. If you make no P/R mistakes (or correct yourself quickly if you do), call speakers/questioners about as fast as I can track, have a handle on the rules for motions/votes and keep the round running smoothly, you'll probably do well. You can find detailed examples of how to move up/down as the PO in my extended paradigm linked below.I think the PO leniency has bent too far in favor of POs, so mistakes in P/R will start to carry harsher penalties in Varsity/Open rounds.

3. If there is a broken cycle (i.e. no one stands for aff so there are two negs in a row or vice versa) - giving that broken cycle speech is almost always a surefire way to move to the bottom of my ballot. You need to bring new refutation to the table and it needs to be a clincher for the round. You're almost always better off moving previous question and taking your P/R to the next bill - this continues to be an issue with little movement in the right direction...maybe 24-25 season we give this some more thought?

4. I am probably one of the more friendly judges for you if you like to run critical theory arguments. I can't say this will ever be a good strat for you because I'm never your only judge, but if shooters gotta shoot - let it be you.

5. Please remember to have fun. If you aren't having fun there's really no point to any of this.

Assorted Musing/Long Paradigm:

For the 22/23 Congress season, some observations:

I think the bias in the aff/neg split has firmly entrenched itself on the neg - this is probably due to a) poor bill quality in MN and b) assuming an authorship means prepping a 1N is more "guaranteed". That said, I think going aff can be very advantageous this year, especially given the quality of neg args that folks seem to be running against legislation that is, big picture, a *good* idea.

At locals: The trend of putting every bill authored by someone in the chamber on the agenda needs to stop. The legislation people are putting out in MN is NOT good enough for authorship to guarantee the floor, and because y'all refuse to move on at an appropriate time these bills kill speech ranks for ~2-3 cycles of debaters. I promise you you will not lose ranks in front of me for being "mean" and voting against dockets that have bad bills on them just because someone wrote that bill - in fact if I observe you lobbying against poorly researched and/or "shallow cycle" bills in the face of opposition from folks "just trying to be nice" I'll probably be more inclined to use that as a tiebreaker to move you up in rank for recognizing that debate takes precedence.

PO bias seems to have bent back in favor of POs - in order to compensate I will have a much stricter tolerance for PO mistakes on precedence/recency for both questioners and speakers. Additionally I will start to judge PO speed on a stricter scale when it comes to selecting questioners in particular (obviously accounting for debaters that may take too long to stand or stand mid questioning).

Also for POs - please cut down on the words you say. We don't need to know how long the speech was. We know and TRUST YOU to know how many questioning blocks are next. We only need to know if aff or neg is next speaker, not which number it is. If you really need to thank everyone, please do it off the clock after the round.

I used to have a whole lot of words here about the way I think about and judge debate. I probably won't update it a lot but I probably won't change it a lot either. I've moved that to a google doc which you can view here. Everything is still up to date and accurate as of December 2021.

Extemp Speaking Paradigm, updated pre MN State Tournament 2023:

How to win the ballot, Extemp Speaking:

1. Answer the question.

1. Actually answer the question that was asked, not a variant or similar question. At state this is going to pick trickier than usual (probably), because the questions tend to be multifaceted.

2. Usually, the easiest way to make sure you answer the question is to have a thesis, instead of just a yes/no. You are usually then forced to make sure your subpoints of analysis always link back to the thesis, which in turn answers the question.

3. Whether or not you use a thesis, you want to spend time explaining why your subpoints reinforce or prove your thesis correct, and if you do have a thesis you need to explain why it is the best answer to the question

2. Analysis

1. Depth > breadth - that is, I’d rather see you really focus on proving the logic behind a single claim per sub point rather than having a ton of different points of analysis or facts crammed into two minutes.

1. For example, if your first subpoint is that the ECB raising rates would but European banks under pressure, my preference is for you to explain a theory for why and develop out a clear picture of how and why banks would be in trouble in a rising rate environment (using maybe 1 or 2 sources), rather than telling me that 4 different sources show that 4 different European banks said they’d have trouble with an asset-liability mismatch if the ECB raises rates.

2. Another way of saying this is - I want you to demonstrate that you have an advanced understanding of what you’re talking about, rather than that you were able to read a bunch of headlines. Whatever you can do to give me that impression, do that.

2. Source quality - this is one area of “flash” that I can be impressed - deploying underutilized sources (and explaining why they are great sources) is something I personally really like.

1. Even if you don’t have any books or papers or super underutilized sources to run out, using higher quality sources of common usage (i.e. think tanks and analysis pieces) instead of common news sources (i.e. the NYT, Reuters, etc) is usually good.

3. Delivery - I am pretty firmly in camp analysis > delivery, but am probably an outlier on any panel in this regard. If its the State final you’re all going to be delivering at a level that clears my threshold, so really the key is to not get mentally down on yourself if you stumble or aren’t as smooth as you’d like early on because I don’t care about that at all.

4. Probably the best way to think about winning a round is to treat answering the question like you’re engaging in a debate vs an imaginary opponent who is trying to disprove your answer to the question. This will force you to:

1. Defend the veracity of your claims, which in turn will make them more persuasive

2. Will likely lead you to conditioning your claims with “even-if” statements, which again will increase their persuasiveness

3. Probably means you’re presenting a more nuanced picture of the world, which is good.

Background: Current college student, 4 years of Congress. Current forensics competitor.

Paradigms (all categories)

1. Respect. Respect your opponents as people and as debaters. Don’t be rude- speaking over your opponents isn’t cool. Racism, misogyny, transphobia, ableism, classism, and any other kind of oppressive behavior or arguments are completely unacceptable.
2. I love good structure. I want clear links, roadmaps, and clarity.
3. Do not misrepresent your evidence or your opponent’s arguments.
4. Impacts are important. I’ll tend to prioritize reasonable impacts over extinction (unless that’s a likely impact).
5. If you go over time, just finish your sentence and don’t start a new one.
6. When debating, talk like the people you’re talking about are in the room. They very well might be (POC, disabled people, etc.)

You got this! Have fun and ask if you have any other questions about my paradigm.

hi ! my name is abiha kashif and i did congressional debate at eagan high school for four years, card @ the UMN for a semester, now i coach congress at bloomington. if you have any questions for me, feel free to email me at kashif.abiha09@gmail.com.

for speakers:

things i like:

i like seeing that people know the different kinds of speeches (constructive, rebuttal, crystal) and where they're meant to go. i like direct clash, which is more than just mentioning names, but actually interacting with opposing arguments. "why do i believe u and not the other side?" instead of just introducing clashing data. i pay attention to your questions + making the effort to try to question, i like super active speakers. i like seeing you can speak in multiple positions, especially when you can go late.

impacts are also good! tell me why exactly ____ problem will happen if we pass/fail + why i care about it (the formula tbh)

things i don't like:

when people break cycle

rudeness

repeated recesses to write speeches

only speaking in one position

lack of clash

POs:

things i like -

not being too wordy especially in senate rounds - less talking the better!! clear handle on motions/majorities/other stuff. taking a second to double check is ok! really just the typical presiding stuff.

hey guys! i'm bella, a senior at east ridge high school just about rounding out my fourth and final year of debate.

a clarification before reading: many of the things i'll list here are going to appear harsh. if you are in a novice/jv chamber, do not fear for your life/ranks. this is my ideal - not something i'm looking for from people who just started debate. that being said, what am i looking for?

i like a lot of basic judge things. talk well, signpost, cite correctly and speak how is appropriate. in addition:

• PARLIPRO. i love parliamentary procedure, if you can demonstrate an extremely knowledgeable understanding of nsda rules and can appropriately guide a chamber with them (either via presiding or points of inquiry/order) i will definitely notice AND appreciate. that said, i am not going to interfere much with "incorrect" parlipro (motions that don't exist, etc) because it's just not where i think my input is best needed.
• i tend to go logos > pathos > ethos in what i value most. do NOT misinterpret this as "i don't care if you have sources in your speech" because i absolutely do and will absolutely think less of a speech that does not accurately and correctly source arguments. what that means is i value very good weighing/impacting and logic more than i value things like source dates, because while they are extremely important, the sources available on the internet are very much out of your control as opposed to things like logos and pathos. however, exemplary sources explained well are absolutely things i look out for and rank accordingly.
• FOR PRESIDING OFFICERS:do your job, do it correctly. in terms of judge adaptation, i go accuracy > efficiency > speed. by this, i mean, get your p+r right. it's your entire job. it's a stressful job, but if you are actively volunteering for it, you better at least know how to do it right. be quick if you can, but i will always value an accurate PO over a quick one. that being said, please do not waste chamber time saying rehearsed lines. i do not care if the po highly frowns upon a one sided debate. everyone is frowning. i'm frowning. don't make me frown at you. if you can do those things with minimal mistakes, you typically have a place in my top 5. (i have more tolerance for novices just starting presiding/ people who originally didn't want to PO, but not total forgiveness)

brief list of no nos

• i really don't like broken cycles. improvisation is a huge part of congress and if you can show that you are a quick enough debater to fill in for a broken cycle, big ups from me!
• that being said, something i like even less than a broken cycle is recessing for speech time. either come prepared or be ready to speak unprepared, you get my drift?
• biased sources (cnn, heritage foundation, fox news)
• constructives after 2nd round
• suspending the rules
• invalid motions
• PO comments outside of necessary reminders
• "silly" agds on serious topics (guys we don't need a pun on a speech about a refugee crisis)
• harmful rhetoric, even unintentionally
• not being respectful of competitors (names+pronouns)
• "shouty" questioning
• wasting debate time. if a round has 30 minutes left and you recess when there's another bill people who are ready to speak on can speak on... i frown on that. people who went above and beyond (or, truly, just did the work) should be able to reap the benefits of all the time offered.

hope this helps :) again, many of you reading this are most likely novices so as long as you are still following basic respect things you are still learning so these mistakes will happen naturally. remember to have fun!!

Experience: 7 years of judging PF and Congress, Juris Doctor with Legal background.

Philosophy:

I approach debate as an educational activity that fosters critical thinking, effective communication, and the exploration of various perspectives. My role is to evaluate the round based on the arguments presented, the quality of evidence and analysis, and the overall coherence of the debate.

Roles of the Debaters:

1. Clarity and Organization: I value clear, concise, and organized speeches. Debaters should articulate their points effectively, signpost, and provide a clear roadmap for the round.

2. Argumentation: I prioritize well-developed and supported arguments. Provide strong evidence and analysis to back up your claims. Quality over quantity; I prefer a few strong points to numerous weak ones.

3. Rebuttal and Clash: Engage with your opponent's arguments. Effective rebuttal involves addressing the core of the argument, not just the surface-level claims.

4. Flexibility and Adaptability: Be prepared to adapt your strategy based on your opponent's arguments and the direction of the round.

Evidence and Sources:

From my legal education and background, I pay very close attention to sources. Cite reliable and credible sources. The quality of evidence is more important than the quantity. If a source is questionable, make sure to highlight this in your argumentation.

Cross-Examination:

I consider cross-examination to be an integral part of the debate. It's an opportunity to clarify, challenge, and extract concessions from your opponent. Effective cross-examination can significantly strengthen your case. I will pay close attention to challenges to opponents' arguments and how it is used to strengthen your case.

Speaker Points:

I will assign speaker points based on clarity, argumentation, strategic choices, and overall contribution to the round. Be respectful and professional throughout the debate.

Role of the Judge:

My role is to fairly and objectively evaluate the arguments presented. I will not inject my personal opinions into the decision-making process. I will assess the round based on what transpires in the debate.

Speed and Delivery:

While I can handle a moderate pace, I value clarity over speed. If your arguments become unclear due to rapid delivery, it may hinder your overall assessment.

Respect and Decorum:

Maintain respect for your opponents, partner, and the judge throughout the round. Be mindful of time limits and follow the established rules. I do not tolerate arguing over each other or unnecessary interjections as it muddles and slows the debate.

Final Thoughts:

Remember, debate is an educational activity, but don't forget to have fun! Embrace the opportunity to learn, grow, and engage with different perspectives. I look forward to a productive and insightful round!

Important:

Evidence: 8

Analysis:8

Clash:7

Question:7

Extempore:9

Delivery:9

Persona:1

Atiitute:5

Even though debate is different from speech competition. But making a good speech always makes your opinion stronger.

I care about strong organization and speech structure. Within that structure I look for well evidenced warrants that move the debate along by fully engaging in clash. If you explicitly outweigh and tell me why you win, I will greatly appreciate that.

I’m a Congress Coach for East Ridge High School in Woodbury, Minnesota

Background:

-I competed in Congressional Debate for all four years of high school. I am extremely well versed in Robert’s Rules of Order and the NSDA rules. I was ranked first in Congress in Minnesota, went to Nationals and broke to out rounds three times, qualified for the Tournament of Champions, and competed on both the national and local circuits during my time as a debater. I coached policy for the MNUDL for one year, then in 2022, I started coaching Congress.

Congressional Debate:

-Above all else, treat everyone with respect and civility. If you are rude, condescending, insensitive, or have unsportsmanlike behavior, then it will be reflected in your ranks

Speeches

-Congress isn’t a Speech event; I want to hear good argumentation that furthers the debate

-I value quality over quantity, 1 amazing speech will always beat out 3 mediocre speeches

-I expect refutation, rebuttal, and clash in speeches

-You need to include cited evidence, you can’t rely on logic alone

-The delivery of your intro should be smooth and include a clear roadmap

-I appreciate clever jokes or puns but make sure it’s appropriate and relevant

-Author/sponsorship speeches should explain the problem the legislation is trying to solve and how the legislation uniquely solves it

-Mid-round speeches should offer something new, clarify or expand on arguments that have been said, or refute arguments

-If you’re giving a late-round speech, you should not be bringing up new arguments, I expect you to be giving a crystallization speech

-Crystallization speeches should not just be a summary or a line-by-line of the round; the purpose of a crystallization is to weigh each side of the debate and prove why one side wins over the other

Questioning

-I really value participation in questioning; staying involved, asking good questions, and using questioning to further the debate can be the determining factor between two speakers who are tied in my ranks

-Refrain from talking over each other, cutting each other off, or shouting—keep it civil

-Avoid prefacing (making a statement instead of asking a real question) while it technically isn’t against the rules, it’s not a good use of a question and I don’t consider it helpful to the debate

What to Avoid if You Want a Better Rank (Speakers)

-Being disrespectful

-Reading off prewritten speeches

-Reading off a laptop (unless it’s for accessibility reasons)

-Repeating and rehashing points

-Giving an oratory speech (not including refutation/clash or interacting with the debate)

-Breaking cycle and having a one-sided debate

-Being unprepared and then recessing to figure out what you’re going to do or to write speeches

-Not participating in questioning—even if you give a great speech you have to stay involved

-Prefacing in questioning

-Trying to move the previous question even if someone still wants to speak

-Ending the debate early or using excessive recesses when there is still time to debate and get more speeches in—I understand that might mean some people get an extra speech, but remember, it’s quality over quantity

Presiding

-I consider the Presiding Officer (PO) to be one of the most integral parts of the round; if you preside, you will start with my 1—it is your rank to lose

-As PO, you should have good control over the chamber—it should run so smoothly that I never have to step in

-You need to follow NSDA rules, Robert’s Rules of Order, and then any tournament-specific rules

-Clearly explain your gaveling procedures, how you will call on speakers and questioners, and how you will be keeping track of precedence and recency (p/r)

-I dislike online PO sheets, especially ones that automatically track p/r and determine the next speaker to call on. Even if your sheet is not automated, unless I can see it, I have to assume it is. Having an algorithm do all the work for you is neither skilled nor impressive—I rank competitors, not algorithms

-I expect you to be able to provide speech times, what side a speech was on, and current precedence and recency at any time

-I can provide clarifications, recommendations, and assistance, but I expect you to guide the chamber and promote a healthy debate

-I will not call you out for small mistakes such as P/R because it’s the duty of the chamber to keep you accountable, but I will take note, and every mistake you make will hurt your rank

-Overall, you need to follow the structure of Parliamentary procedure, uphold the rules, and preside fairly, accurately, and efficiently

What to Avoid if You Want a Better Rank (Presiding Officer)

-Using an online PO sheet that automatically tracks and says what speaker to call on

-Using an unnecessary amount of words (not being efficient)

-Gaveling too loudly—I’m sitting right next to you, please don’t give me a headache

-Incorrect Parliamentary Procedure, especially:

-Not knowing the vote needed to pass different motions (like 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, etc)

-“Assuming unanimous consent” for important votes

-Calling for orders of the day to go over the stats from the chamber (that’s not what it is, it’s used for voting on tabled legislation at the end of the session)

-“Amending the docket/agenda” (this motion does not exist and should be ruled out of order)

-“Motion to address the chamber” (this motion does not exist and should be ruled out of order)

Public Forum:

-I have neither coached public forum nor have I competed in it, but I know the basic layout of the debate

-I can handle some spreading, but remember, if I can't get it on my flow, I can't judge you on it

-I try to balance traditional and technical debate, so I value winning the flow, but also sounding persuasive—your argument should be understandable to someone who doesn't know PF terms, but also prioritizes content and responding to arguments

Congress:

Please DEBATE with each other. If you refute and weigh you'll do well. For sponsors and authors, I need a problem/solution explanation of the bill, and I love when you frame the debate around one metric/value/impact we should weigh both sides on. Also keep me interested! Have fun with it! If you're enjoying debating and care about what you're saying, I can tell and it makes me want to care. If you're speaking on the NEGATION of a legeslation, you need to prove a net harm of passing it. The later in round your speech is, the more refutation it needs to have.

I did congress for four years of high school. I know what good debate looks like. Also I'm evil.

1. If you give a pre-written speech while holding your laptop in front of you and staring down at it, I'm telling on you. Speaking extemp is wayyyyy cooler and sooooooo much more fun. all the cool kids are doing it.

2. Keep in mind: this is high school debate. if you stumble or say the wrong thing or mess up in some way just remember it's okay! Be kind to yourself and others & give yourself grace. I'm not dopping your rank just because you stuttered. We're all in this to have fun. Spread love, everypony!

TLDR; REFUTE, WEIGH, RESPOND, IMPACT & BE KIND

POs: Have control of the room. Be in the background. Be accurate above all else. Don't take up excess time in the chamber with unessesary flourishes. If I hear a "the chair thanks you" your rank is being moved down.

If you want more feedback after a round, my email is pear0816@umn.edu

Currently the Congressional Coach at the Lakeville Debate Team

Congress-Specific Paradigm: I rank based on how well each student utilizes the 3 main canons of rhetoric (ethos, logos, pathos). Ethos is measured by how much you successfully engage in congressional role-playing. Logos is measured by how successfully you structure and present a logic-based argument. Pathos is measured by your overall speaking ability. I prioritize in the following order: argumentation > speaking skills > congressional role-playing.

Please note that strong speaking will never outweigh a poor or incoherent argument. This is a debate category, not speech.

To improve your ranking, I want to see extemporaneous speeches with well-warranted and linked arguments (CWI), regardless if it's a construction, rebuttal, or crystallization speech. Asking well-thought-out questions and responding successfully to questions will improve your rank. Showcasing a well-developed understanding of each bill will improve your rank, even if you don't speak on every bill. I am open to progressive debate, so bend/break the rules IF AND ONLY IF you have a legitimate reason to do so. I want to see clash in round, so don't just repeat what others have argued; instead, give me new information, ideas, whatever. Giving a speech to avoid breaking cycle will also raise your rank even if your speech is less prepped.

POs: Major mistakes WILL cost you. Small mistakes can be forgiven, especially if caught immediately and corrected, but continuous errors will lower your rank. The round relies on you, and judges will catch your precedence mistakes even if the chamber doesn't. I will only provide a high ranking to a successful and accurate PO.

PF/LD/Policy Paradigm

Experience: 4 years of PF in high school in Minnesota (2012-2016), 4 years of intercollegiate Ethics Bowl (2016-2020). I have a B.S. in communication arts (concentration in political rhetoric) and computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I've judged PF every year since 2016 and have experience judging Congress, Public Forum, Policy, and Ethics Bowl. I currently work in tech.

Speaking: I prefer clean, concise, and persuasive speech. This will affect the speaker points, but my preference will not interfere with who wins each round. I will do my best to keep up with spreading, but I am not as experienced. Any excessively rude remarks will seriously hurt your speaker points score. Be polite.

Argumentation: I will follow any theory or progressive-level argumentation presented to me, but again I am not as experienced with this so be as clear as possible. Be consistent, use warrants as needed, and provide strong links into impacts. I will not intervene on a weak link chain. I will intervene on poor/inaccurate evidence.

Judging: I attempt to come in with an open mind to the best of my ability. My choice depends on everything said during the round and nothing more. The winner of each round will be determined based on the framework provided to me, the best-substantiated framework if there is conflict, any progressive framework if argued, or a broad act utilitarian cost-benefit analysis as default. I will weigh the impacts of each side based on that framework and pick up the side that provides the best world. I advise extending your arguments consistently, engaging directly with your opponent's responses, and explaining why your arguments ultimately outweigh your opponent's.

I am happy to answer any questions or concerns and provide feedback as needed. Feel free to contact me at sarakrabon@gmail.com

BACKGROUND: I did LD for 3 years during my time in high school debate and congress for one. Feel free to run any framework or contention lvl argument in front of me, I don't judge your sources or opinions but your ability to debate and defend them.

LD JUDGING:

-Framework-level debate is a priority for me, if the round is messy, I will default to the winner on that level. I like to see a clash with the framework.

-Do not spread, if you are speaking too fast for your opponent to reasonably respond to you, or if I cannot understand you, I will judge off what I can understand in the round. I did debate for a while; I should be able to follow you.

-Refer to your opponent as "my opponent" or the "the affirmation" or the "the negation".

-Evidence rules should be adhered to.

Congress:

-To be transparent with my judging I rank each speech in the room from highest to lowest scoring, the highest scorers get my 1 on the speech, I then add up all of the points for each individual debater on all of the bills. Overall lowest scores place, higher. This means you need to speak on every piece of legislation, or you will be saddled with a 1 on one speech and a 9 on another and average out to around a 5. One great speech will not win you the round. If there is no reasonable time for everybody to speak, I will not use this ranking system.

-please please please be prepared to speak! unless you have a crystal or rebuttal heavy speech you should be standing up constantly throughout the round.

-For experienced POs, if you make more than one mistake, I will drop you. If you are exceedingly wordy, I will drop you. If you do your job expect to get at least a 5 from me in an average room.

-Questioning is cool, I used it as a tiebreaker in my ranking system. If you bring something up in questioning that somehow gets more references in rounds than speeches are getting, it might go a little further. Do not just stand up with statements.

-Name drop and extend other speakers on your side of the debate, rebuttal your opponents. This should be happening from the start.

-

In Congressional Debate, I am a big proponent of a well structured speech that includes a thesis and preview of your points. It goes along way to help me score your speech when I have a roadmap. I will be looking for CLAIM, WARRANT, and IMPACT each time. Please have cited evidence to support your claim but also provide real-world impact for your argument so it shows that it matters. Anything else will sound just like an opinion speech.

I believe that being a clear, concise speaker is integral part of Congressional Debate. I prefer quality speeches over the number of speeches given.

I value clash and non-repetition. Avoid rehashing the same arguments and please refute the points of specific representatives and show how you differ by pointing out specific arguments. I want to hear the debate advance and not get stuck on the same point. I will lose interest no matter how well-spoken of a speaker you are.

Be clear and concise during the question and answer period. Above all, be respectful and kind to each other during this process.

I expect the P.O. to be fair administering the parliamentary procedures. Make sure you call on people fairly. I will be understanding when it comes to other procedures that arise and it can be a tough task.

I expect professionalism and proper decorum throughout the session. No bigotry or disrespect of your fellow representatives will be tolerated.

Have fun and make it an enjoyable round! Stand out and give unique arguments. Be passionate and confident because that will come through and make me more engaged.

My name is Alary Schmitt. I did Congressional debate and a variety of different types of speech throughout high school (mainly a variety of interp, but I also did some public address and extemp); now I coach Congressional Debate for Edina High School and judge. I use they/them or he/him pronouns and am nonbinary & transmasculine; I prefer neutral or masculine titles, so Mx. or Mister both are preferred over Miss or Mrs.

General notes: I try to write as many comments as I can, but I often spend more time listening to your speech than I will writing things down. Also, if any comment I give you contradicts the advice your coaches give you, then take your coach's advice before mine.

For judging Congress:

I love good authorships or sponsorships. Please give me a good authorship or sponsorship. I like them more than rebuttals or crystals. Frankly in some ways I think they're harder since you set the tone of the debate. Please please give me a good author or sponsorship speech.

This is a pet peeve but please make eye contact with me/your other judges/your fellow reps. (Preferably your fellow reps/the other judges; I don't actually like making eye contact, I just like knowing that you're looking around instead of staring down at your legal pad/laptop).

PO: I love POs. Presiding officers will get great ranks from me personally. Don't be biased towards your team or your friends (I will notice). If you are good at precedency and recency I will love you forever. Leadership will also get high marks from me (this applies to you even if you're not presiding; I will notice if you're taking charge of docket coordination and it will make me think favorably of you).

Questioning: If you are too long you will get ranked down from me. Please at least let the person you're asking questions ANSWER. That said, the more questions the better and the more I'll like you.

Other things I enjoy and will rank higher: impacts, linking, a good AGD, and signposting.

Amanda Soczynski’s Judge Philosophy

A little about myself; I have been involved with forensics for 19 years as a student, judge, and coach. I am currently in my 8th year as the congressional debate coach at Edina High School. My background was originally in speech where I competed and coached. In High School, I learned policy debate as a class rather than competition on a local level, so I competed but not in a typical local circuit. I have been judging debate for the last 13 years, in all categories. I judged CX for the first 5 years and the last 7 years in LD, PF and mostly Congress. I graduated with a Mass Communications degree from University of Minnesota School of Journalism and a J.D. graduate from William Mitchell College of law in 2014. I work at Thomson Reuters on legal software & research, as a content expert. I really love congress, watching, coaching. I always try to strive to do my best! If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. My goal is always to be an educator and help you succeed!

If for some reason my parli notes don't end up in your results packet, email me at amandasoc@gmail.com or amanda.soczynski@edinaschools.org. I will send you my google doc. I parli a lot and I always take lots and lots of notes and try to give RFD's when I can. If you don't get the link. Please ask, I put a lot of work into them. ????

I have a congress paradigm and CX,LD,PF one included in here.

Evidence / Citations / Warrants for all categories: *note - Statista is not a source, it's like Wikipedia, it's a congregation website not actually doing any of the studies that are on there. If you copy and paste the title of the stat you're looking at it will likely take you to the original source. Also the little (i) icon often will tell you where it can from. DON'T USE STATISTA as a source with me. I am a professional researcher by trade, so I care about citations! They matter and if they are from a source I don't know or if they're suspicious to me, I will google them.

Congress Paradigm:

General:

One thing to remember - judging congress is hard! It's just as exhausting for us as it is for you. We're trying really hard to compare a lot of people who have vastly different styles! I try to write as much as I can, but I spend a lot of time listening, so sometimes my comments can be lite at times. I'm working on that, the three mins go so fast. I'm hoping this will help shed some light on how I evaluate debaters.

When it comes to national level tournaments, at this point, almost everyone is a proficient speaker, so I really focus on the quality of arguments and ability to be flexible in round. Being a well rounded debater is important for me, especially as a Parli. I want to see a variety of type of speeches, and ability to switch sides, and flex to what the round demands. Make sure you are listening and not rehashing, if you're doing a rebuttal make sure you are extending or further attacking an argument.

I REALLY APPRECIATE A GOOD AUTHORSHIP OR SPONSORSHIP. Nothing is worse than judging or watching a semi-final round where there is no first aff, and having to take an in house recess immediately. Come prepared, have one. Spend the rest of your time doing great questions and defending your position there. I feel like people don't like to do this because they feel like they will be dropped. Rebuttals and Crystals are great, but there's a lot of them. If you can do this well, we'll know. It comes with the most amount of questioning time that if you know a lot about the topic you can show boat.

Linking: This is a debate skill you should have, you should able to link your impacts with others, link arguments together for rebuttal. Most national level congress debaters are great at linking within their own argument, but make sure you link and contextualize to the round. I want to see that they go together rather be a stand alone. That being said, contextualizing by: "I want to separate myself from the other AFF or NEG arguments", that's okay because you are still contextualizing within the round. Do not operate as an island in the debate, it's a good way to be dropped by me. Also remember, you can have great speeches, but if you don't ask questions, you're going to find your way to the middle of my ballot. It's a crucial part of debate.

Impacting:

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. Again, at the national level, most people can impact to lives or economy etc. But what I find people aren't as good, is contextualizing the impact. Example: You tell me that thousands of lives are being lost in Yemen, take it one step further tell me what percentage of that population is being killed, or how that compares to another genocide for context. Make it hit home for all of us. Just giving generic #'s, sure it's the impact, but it doesn't show me the impact. Make sense? Remember I come from a policy background where pretty much everything leads to nuclear war.

Questioning:

Direct questioning is great, but make sure you're not too long winded or too brief, there's a nice sweet spot, where you have maybe a sentence or two question and answer. I've seen people basically run out the time by doing a really long answer, and I've also seen debaters ask such long questions that there's no way the opponent can answer. You only have 30 seconds, make it count.

Participation in Round:

Leadership is important. Remember, I'm comparing a lot of kids, participation with motioning and making sure that all students get to talk is important. This can help make up for bad presidency etc.

PO:

I almost always rank P.O.s in the top 5. It's a hard job, and as a parli, we appreciate good POs. A good way to get to the top 1/2 of my ballot as a PO. The round runs so smoothly I barely know you're there. You are able to solve issues of people not being prepared / docket issues. (This happens so often, time restrictions make things complicated. Especially since lots of tournaments have their own rules).

Mistakes happen, one mistake is not going to tank you. Continuous mistakes, or failing to help chamber resolve issues. This makes it harder. Fairness is also important, I notice when you pick your teammates repeatedly or if you always start in the middle of the room.

Inclusiveness - especially on the local circuit. I don't like parliamentary procedure used to limit people talking. It is also important to encourage those who haven't talked to go. Do your best to make sure the chamber is inclusive.

DON'T ALWAYS PICK YOUR FRIENDS FIRST. I know this happens. And it's easier to pick up than you think it is. Presidency means a lot in congress. Make it fair.

There's a reason I love coaching congress, it's a fun event!

CX/LD/PF Paradigm

General: As I’ve previously mentioned I come from a legal background. I am a “big picture” judge. I do appreciate the attention to detail, however, I don't like when it devolves into a debate that’s myopically focused on one thing. Make sure you take the time, especially in rebuttals to do a “birds eye view” of the debate. Remember, the rebuttal is the last time I hear from you before I make a decision, make it count. I appreciate good crossfire, and cross ex, specifically using information obtained in these for an argument.

Topicality: I like topicality, especially in varsity level debate. I think it makes a for a boring debate to have a non-topical aff. So it’s a pretty garden variety argument for the neg to make.

Critical Arguments: As I wasn’t a debater in high school, I don’t have the technical experience dealing with these arguments, however, I don’t mind critical affs on-face. Since I don’t have the technical experience, I appreciate all critical arguments to be understandable and explained properly. I catch on to arguments quickly, however I loathe having to have to fill in the gaps of an argument because its poorly argued. Make it logical, make it understandable. I generally dislike affs that are anti-topical or affs that critique the topic. I’m not saying I’ll never vote for a critical aff, whiteness aff, performance aff’s, etc, but its the one area where an affirmative is asking the most out of me as a judge. Again, I have less experience with these types of aff’s so extra explanation of sources and philosophies. For kritiks from the negative, I prefer ones that are topic-specific rather than K’s that are broad or philosophical. I’m pretty familiar at this point with cap k, neolib, fem, eco-k, anything outside of these again you’ll have to communicate more effectively as it is a bigger burden for me to decipher.

Theory: I don’t have the background in this, so this won’t be very successful with me as a judge. I overall prefer substantive arguments over theoretical or procedural arguments. My training in law, and my work, deals almost exclusively with substantive arguments, so I tend to prefer and understand those better. If you do decide to go this route, it must be very well done. My flow can’t be muddy, and the explanation must be very logical and understandable.

Speed: I have no problem with speed. I do ask two things. 1. Slow down enough on the tags so that I can understand them 2. Make your tags count. I dislike deciphering poor tags that do not tell me anything about the evidence. Keep tags like 5-8 words, long tags suck.

Post Round Discussion: Please be respectful, I don’t appreciate a “shake down” when I’m explaining my decision. I don’t do speaker points till after the round is over and all the debaters have left the room and I take decorum into account. I am a bit of a non-traditional judge and I do make a concerted effort to bring up constructive criticism and positive comments. Please take these comments as an opportunity to learn!

Currently coach of Minnetonka High School

Hey Y'all I love weighing and extentions and plzzzzzzzzzzz signpost for me.

Ive done circuit for 1 year for LD. Done 2 years of LD, 2 years in other formats, and also 1 year in Congress

LD - Make sure to sign post when speaking. Use weighing mechanics to weigh impacts. Clearly explain framework and why your fw matters. If you don't signpost while doing your rebuttal I will drop it.

• Idk lately why a lot of debaters don't link their case back to their fw.
• Also weighing too duh????
• Signpost plz so I don't get confused lol
• Tech>Truth

If I yell out clear 3 times I will stop flowing

Circuit LD - Plans, Disads, CP, K and Theory only. I will not vote on tricks arguments.

Plans,Disads,CP>Theory>K>Other things

I will vote you down for any Tricks

Congress - Speeches must be clear and concise. The only way you will get a good placement if you actually have clash.

*Little rant: I don't know why nobody in congress have clash. This is a real debate hence you would need some clash. Don't just go up and say your side without talking about the other sides points.

How I vote on congress. Argumentation/Content>Speech points/Quality>Quality of Questions> Following Procedures

Email chain send to trinh120@umn.edu

I coach Speech & Debate at East Ridge High School in Woodbury, Minnesota.

Background:

High School Debate (Iowa): Public Forum Debate, Congressional Debate, and Speech

College Debate (Loyola U): Parliamentary Debate

Coach/Mentoring: The Chicago Debate League, MN Urban Debate League

Retired Attorney – Business Law for pay and Constitutional Law for fun.

Paradigm for Congressional Debate:

Please email me your case before the round! Thanks!

keertitumu123@gmail.com

Although I compete in a different debate style, I am very experienced in argumentation and rhetoric of debate.

Things to take note of:

+ Please do not spread in any speeches and cases

+ PLEASE signpost so it is easy for me to follow along with your speeches, tell me exactly where you are on the flow

+ Be firm but be respectful, any disrespectful behavior will impact your speech.

+ Use cross-fire wisely, I will pay attention. Cross is a great opportunity to poke holes in your opponents' cases.

+ WEIGH! Tell me specifically why I should vote for you, don't leave it up to me to weigh all the impacts in the round...you might not like my final decision if you do that

+ I DO NOT disclose in round

And most of all, please remember to have fun! Debate is supposed a learning experience :)

I did LD as a debater and now coach LD for Armstrong High School. I co-founded the Minnesota Debate Institute, where I worked mainly with LD and Congressional debate.

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You can win in front of me by extending offense (contention-level impacts or turns) that links to the winning criterion and outweighs your opponent's offense. It's not enough to just say "extend;" you should re-explain the warrant of the argument (briefly is fine!) and re-explain the link to the contention (again, briefly is fine!). Weighing is A+. And the criterion does still exist! You're allowed to read a framework other than utilitarianism, and it can make for an interesting, educational debate.

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Explain arguments well. Please be clear so someone hearing your ideas/authors for the first time can get what you're saying.

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Please do not spread (speed read) or read national circuit / policy case styles (Ks, CPs, theory, etc.). Spreading and nat circuit-style arguments tend to make LD debate more exclusionary, racist, and classist. If your opponent runs these things, still do your best to respond to their argument's warrants and tell me it's exclusionary, and then I'll probably vote for you.

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The issue with national circuit and policy case styles tends to be, IMO, form/structure, not content. So if you have a good critical or policy-oriented argument you want to run, cool: Put it in an accessible case format and let's go.

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I care about evidence quality. Johnson '98? Lastname '20? A brief garble of syllables and a two digit number are not a citation. :) Even at tournaments that don't require full source citations, I'd love to hear them (author, author qualification, publication/source, year). Folks run skeeeetchy cards... call them on it!! Evidence matters.

I evaluate arguments only if I can distinguish what words you are saying. When I listen to a set of syllables, can I hear a word? If I cannot hear a word, then I cannot flow or consider the argument. I will not read a case doc while folks imitate spreading; I'd like to hear the arguments. The trend of case docs and spreading worsens the neg side bias and, more importantly, makes debate an even more exclusionary activity to folks without access to the immense financial and social resources required to engage effectively in such practices. (Update: I didn't think spreading could get worse, but I'm now seeing it! This trend of people "reading" at Mach 12 -- faster than before, faster than fast, making sounds that barely approximate spoken words -- while their opponent and judge just skim along with a case doc ... that trend is objectively terrible. Objectivity doesn't even exist, but this trend is still objectively terrible. I wish the adults in this activity would do better to guide the young people on their teams towards good debate.)

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Argument content: I am open to hearing critical race theory, feminist philosophy, deep ecology, anti-capitalism, or whatever ideas you want to run. Debate is about exploring ideas, so run what's important and interesting to you. If it's a serious argument, I will not vote you down just because you read something outside the Overton Window of whiteness, patriarchy and U.S. empire.

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That said, please do think critically and carefully about how your social position relates to the arguments you're running and to your opponent's social position. For example, suppose you're a white debater reading a ("pre-fiat") position with many cards from Black women writers, a position that asks the judge to vote for your performance in the round or something. Particularly if your opponent is a Black woman, is it ethical for you to run that position? Maybe not.

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Btw, we should never run arguments that are harmful. Right? If someone is racist in round, for example, I'll vote against them. Please don't blame people for circumstances they're trapped in due to oppression. Please don't deny the tragic reality — and deep weight — of racism, sexism, poverty, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, imperialism, settler colonialism, ableism, colorism, and other forms of domination, marginalization, and violence.

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Debate should be fun, yes, but we're also talking about serious stuff — many of us from perspectives of privilege. Let's be respectful of the people we're debating and the people we're debating about, and we should be cool. Good luck in the round; I look forward to judging you! :)

Competition Background

High School Speech: Eden Valley - Watkins HS, MN (6 years): Drama, Original Oratory, and Great Speeches

College Speech: Gustavus Adolphus College (4 Years): Informative, After Dinner Speaking, and Extemporaneous Speaking

College Debate: Gustavus Adolphus College (2 years): Parliamentary Debate

Coaching Experience

Wayzata High School - Speech (3 years): Great Speeches & Original Oratory

Watzata High School - Debate: (2 years): Congressional Debate