Debate Judges README

To help the tournament be a positive experience, and to help it run smoothly, please note the following:

COME TO THE JUDGE BRIEFING - IN THE GYM - AT 8:20.

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BE AN EDUCATOR

The main goal at this tournament is NOT to teach the new kids to debate.  It's to get them to come back again.  If they learn a bit of debate (which they will), that's a bonus.  So:

(1) Please be kind.  Even if a debater has no case or speaks for 30 seconds, be encouraging.  Remind them after the round that this tournament is really more of a scrimmage and that everyone comes into it without experience.

(2) Remember the complement sandwich approach - e.g., "I loved your enthusiasm.  Your case would be more compelling if it also had evidence.  Still, the ideas were really creative."

(3) Give a few oral comments, but keep it quick and simple. 

Oral comments should stick to suggestions they can grasp quickly and use in the next round.  For example - "Respond to each point your opponent makes."  Or, "I know it can feel weird, but look at the judge during cross-ex."  If you see a debater flowing in paragraph form, show *everyone* in the round your flow (so as not to single anyone out) and explain that flowing in columns (and using two different colors) helps ensure that you respond to every point your opponent makes.

(3a) Do NOT disclose or hint at who might have won.  

(3b) Be sure to provide a written ballot.  Please do NOT write "RfD discussed after round".

(3c) Save detailed suggestions for the ballot.

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HELP US KEEP THE TOURNAMENT RUNNING AS SMOOTHLY AS POSSIBLE

(1) Be sure to bring a laptop.

(2) Rounds will come out a bit before 9:00, 11:00, and 1:00 PM.  Go into Tabroom, and click on your username to see if you have a ballot.  If you do, it will appear on your Tabroom screen AND a button labeled "I GOT MY BALLOT" will appear.  Click that button immediately so that we know that YOU know that you have a ballot.  Click this button immediately whether you are judging flight 1 or flight 2.

(3) Public Forum - Rounds are double-flighted, but most of you will be judging EITHER flight 1 or flight 2 in any particular round (you might judge flight 1 in Round 1 and flight 2 in Round 2, etc.).  If you are judging EITHER flight 1, or flight 2, be sure to depart for your room as soon as possible.  That way, if someone is missing from the flight 1 round, you can start flight 2 (assuming all your debaters are there - which they should be, because we will tell everyone to go to their rooms immediately, whether they are flight 1 or flight 2.

(4) Lincoln Douglas - Rounds are double flighted.  Judges will generally judge both flights during each round.  If your flight 2 debaters show up before your flight 2 debaters, you can judge flight 2 before judging flight 1.  But be sure NOT to mix entries from the two debates.

(5) Public Forum - As soon as your round concludes, enter points and your decision.  Then immediately leave the room with the debaters you just judged.  Discuss the round with them in the hallway.  That way, the next judge and next set of debaters can use the room immediately and we keep things moving.

(6) Lincoln Douglas - You can stay in the room to discuss the round, but keep the debates moving along.  The schedule is tight.

(7) PF and LD - Most classrooms are "double stacked" - meaning that two debates will take place in each classroom at the same time.  A few things:

(7a) Be sure you sit down at the correct table.  If you are in classroom B112-A, it means that you should go to classroom B112 and sit at the table labeled "A". 

(7b) Be sure you have the correct debaters.  They are new.  Double-stacking is another thing to confuse them.

(7c) Keep the round spatially compact.  Debaters can speak from their desks (standing).  They do *not* need to stand at the "head" of the configuration, further away from you.  And they certainly don't need to stand way back, as we often see in debate rounds.  That just necessitates very loud speaking, and that's not great when there are two debates going on in the same room.  Just as two tables of students can hold a conversation in the same room (or the same Starbucks) at the same time, two tables of debaters should be able to hold a round.  ALSO - The judge should have their back to the wall.  That way debaters in the two rounds are speaking toward the wall and AWAY from each other.

(8) Be sure to click the green CONFIRM button after you enter your decision and points.