Thank you so much for joining your school's debate team. I look forward to judging your round.

Please no spreading. The first time I will let you know you are going too fast. The second time will be a warning. The third time I'll start taking off speaker points. It doesn't matter to me whether you sit or stand for your delivery. I'm more concerned about you making your case your own.

Unless you okay it with me, I expect no eating during the round. (If you need to eat before the round because you drew the last flight in the previous round and the first flight in this round, that's different and I'll give you a minute before we start the round.) Sipping water before you start your case is also okay as long as you are respectful of your opponent and not drinking in a way to distract your opponent.

I sit down in the judge's chair with a neutral opinion about the topic. I welcome clash and I am looking for the side that convinces me their side fulfills their value criterion and that their value criterion outweighs their opponent's. I hope to hear a thoughtful, respectful discussion of the topic.

I strongly believe in narrowing the debate in the summary speeches. I really want you to determine where you are winning the debate and explain that firmly to me. In short: I want you to go for something. I really like big impacts, but its's important to me that you flush out your impacts with strong internal links. Don't just tell me A leads to C without giving me the process of how you got there. Also don't assume i know every minute detail in your case. Explain and extend and make sure that you EMPHASIZE what you really want me to hear. Slow down and be clear. Give me voters (in summary and final focus). 

Speed is fine as long as you are clear. I work very hard to flow the debate in as much detail as possible. However, if I can't understand you I can't flow you. 

For Debate:

- I focus on the flow of the argument

- I look for clashing - I want to see competitors breakdown the opponent's argument

For Speech Events

I look at the creativity in the speech, but also listen for tone and inflection and to present a speech or performance to convince me in what you are saying.

I led LD at Walton High School '14 for four years and judged local tournaments while attending Georgia Tech '18.

I try to be tabula-rasa-ish, so make sure you give me impacts or conditions under which you win, which you should be doing regardless. For those only experienced in local debate, this means I know nothing about the resolution or your case (including what qualifies your winning the round or how to weigh arguments); I will take your case at face value and actively avoid drawing conclusions until you give them to me clearly.

I'm fine with progressive techniques meaning spreading and Ks, and I enjoy weirder arguments. However, I always go back to the framework debate.

Paint the neg/aff world for me

Notes:

- Ideally, you should be spending roughly a third to half of your AC/NC constructing and justifying your framework; don't be vague

- I encourage use of weighing, impact turns, and counterplans

- Cross-ex blind. Learning how to rephrase/restate/emphasize is good practice for real life.

- Fine with flex prep as long as both debaters are

- Prefer standing over sitting because it makes you a better real-life speaker, but I'm flexible if this is difficult