Information about myself:

I competed in debate for four years at Watertown High School in South Dakota. I did a little policy, public forum, but my main focus was LD debate. I was the head coach at Tea Area School District for two years. I am currently an assistant debate coach for Watertown High School. Listed below are my paradigms for LD, Policy, and Public Forum Debate.

Note: If you have any other questions feel free to ask before the round but if you do ask I will wait to make sure everyone who will compete in the round is in there so no one has an unfair advantage.

LD Debate:

I am a very traditional LD judge in that I really enjoy Value/Criteria debate. Contentions should support your Value/Criteria and the resolution for your side. For voting my very first look is Value/Criteria and is either of the sides still standing or has the other side has shown me as the judge that they can uphold not only their own but also their opponents. In a closer round then I will go to the contention debate.

Value/Criteria-If someone completely ignores the Value/Criteria in their case or in the round then they will most likely lose the round as Value/Criteria is the most important part of LD debate for me.

Voting-When walking into each round of debate, no matter what, I go in with a clean slate and each round is a new round even if I have voted for one person over the other previously and they are facing each other again on the same side. I will only evaluate the round based on what I hear not what I know so do not assume I know.

Ballots-Each round I will also give my RFD (Reason for Decision), make sure you read this if you are wondering why I voted the way I did.

Timing-As the judge, I am the one who has an official time in the round. If you want to give me an off-the-clock road map please notify me (right away!) of this or else I will start the clock and it will count as part of your speech. I will give you 30-sec intervals (until it gets down to your last 30 seconds then I will give you 15, 10, 5) of prep time so you don’t need to ask what you have left and I will let you know of your time before I start and when I stop your prep time. With stopping your prep time, remember I have your official prep time so therefore what I have is what you have left of prep time(My pet peeve is when you tell me to stop prep time and/or tell me that you have X:XX left of prep time, so not don’t do this).

Cross-X-Make sure you ask relevant questions and be polite during cross-x but remember if you are asking the questions don’t let them take the time just rambling on about things that don’t matter if they answered your question. If they answered your question don’t be rude about moving on to your next question. I really like it when students say “Thank you but can I ask another one?”

Flowing/Speed-I flow everything in the round, including cross-x so remember what you and your opponent say because it could help or hurt you at the end of the round. I am not a fan of speed at all so make sure you go at a conversational speed so I can write it down.

Electronics-I know electronics are now a very familiar thing in debate but when someone asks for your case or evidence then you better have a way to share it with them either by flash drive (if they have a computer) or have it printed out for them to look at or you might have to give them your device. Also, I am okay with using your phone as a timer in the round.

Public Forum Debate:

Voters-If I get one from both sides then I weigh both frameworks and look at who achieved both frameworks. In the last speech for each team tell me why you won the debate and achieved the framework. If there is not a framework debate going on in the round then tell me what the voters are. If the Aff has 3 voters for the round and the Neg has 3 but only 2 are the same then I will look at those two to decide the round.

Voting-Voting-When walking into each round of debate, no matter what, I go in with a clean slate and each round is a new round even if I have voted for one person over the other previously and they are facing each other again on the same side. I will only evaluate the round based on what I hear not what I know so do not assume I know. If you leave it to me at the end of the round to decide who won round one if not both teams will be disappointed with the RFD. Tell me why I should vote for you and write the ballot for me.

Ballots-Each round I will also give my RFD (Reason for Decision), make sure you read this if you are wondering why I voted the way I did. I will tell you why I voted the way I voted, I will list each voter and framework, if it comes to it, and state why the team won or lost on each point. Again write the ballot for me.

Timing-As the judge, I am the one who has an official time in the round. If you want to give me an off-the-clock road map please notify me (right away!) of this or else I will start the clock and it will count as part of your speech. I will give you 30-sec intervals (until it gets down to your last 30 seconds then I will give you 15, 10, 5) of prep time so you don’t need to ask what you have left and I will let you know of your time before I start and when I stop your prep time. With stopping your prep time, remember I have your official prep time so therefore what I have is what you have left of prep time(My pet peeve is when you tell me to stop prep time and/or tell me that you have X:XX left of prep time, so not don’t do this).

Cross-Fire-Make sure you ask relevant questions and be polite during cross-fire but remember if you are asking the questions don’t let them take the time just rambling on about things that don’t matter if they answered your question. Also, I do not like just one person or team taking over the cross-fire time. If they answered your question don’t be rude about asking a follow-up. I really like it when students say “Thank you but can I ask another one?” Also the first two cross-fires, it is solo cross-fires and I don’t like team cross-fires (that is what Grand Cross-Fire is for). If you want to ask a question and your teammate is up there then give them the question on a piece of paper.

Flowing/Speed-I flow everything in the round, including cross-fire so remember what you and your opponent say because it could help or hurt you at the end of the round. Also since I flow everything, I am not a fan of speed at all so make sure you go at a conversational speed so I can write it down but I do not want you to go too slow.

Electronics-I know electronics are now a very familiar thing in debate but when someone asks for your case or evidence then you better have a way to share it with them either by flash drive (if they have a computer) or have it printed out for them to look at or you might have to give them your device if they ask for it. Also, I am okay with you using your phone as a timer in the round.

I debated public forum in high school, and I'm pretty traditional. Clash with your opponents, weigh arguments, don't spread, and clearly roadmap your speeches. Please be courteous to your fellow debaters.

Please Weigh

---------------------------------------------------

If you are going to include a framework please be sure to connect it to your impacts. I'll vote off of impact calc through the lense of whichever framework wins.

Weighing is the most important thing, link weigh if both sides link into the same impacts. If you plan on meta weighing be prepared for some more judge interference in terms of decision making, so be cautious! I want to hear the analytics behind the weighing as well, and be comparative.

Frontline! Defense in the second rebuttal! Narrative! Extend actual evidence!

---------------------------------------------------

I am ok with Ks IF they have a direct link into being a prereq of the topic. Prereq-ing the activity itself is also ok, but I would prefer it connect to the specific topic.

Lastly, please don't be rude. I will drop you if you are rude.

tl;dr

flow judge, impact calc, speed ok but risky strategy, no blippy arguments, technicality ok but insufficient on its own

Judging Paradigm

I'm a flow judge who primarily votes on impact calculus. I can handle speed but if you speak too quickly for me to write something down, I won't consider it in my decision. I will not provide you benefit of the doubt in this situation; speed is a tactical decision on your part and you must embrace both the benefits and risks if you choose to use it. I will not consider new arguments or dropped arguments in the final speech. Don't try to lie about whether an argument was dropped; even if I end up voting for you, I will deduct a painful number of speaker points. A debate is only fair when both sides readily embrace the truth and consider the purest form of each others' arguments.

I will choose a winner by weighing arguments. I will defer to your impact calculus when you do it throughout your speeches and weigh arguments clearly. If you don't weigh arguments for me, I will decide the weights myself and you may not like what I value. There is only upside to clear impact calculus. I am receptive to arguments grounded in the real world and am not very persuaded by contentions that are super abstract or unrealistic. While I vote on impact calculus, I usually find extinction-level impacts to be a huge stretch and will likely not buy all the links required to get there. There’s a difference between impact mitigation and impact denial .

I am impressed by unique, well-crafted arguments or strongly-run stock contentions. Do not try to twist your opponents' arguments to fit whatever tag your briefs have answers to if they aren't the same thing; value your own intelligence (and the work your opponents have done) enough to come up with unique responses. Much of the value of debate comes from researching the topic, and teams that have clearly put in the work will be rewarded.

As a practical matter, you're unlikely to have spent enough time developing your contentions if you have a million points and subpoints. I would rather hear you develop a powerful three-contention case than try to overwhelm your opponents with a bunch of blippy arguments. If you want to run cases like that, policy debate is always an option. If your arguments are underdeveloped, it will be much harder to run effective impact calculus and reduces your odds of getting my ballot.

Unless the outcome is very clear, it will take me a minute to flow everything out and evaluate the impact calculus at the end of the round. I tend to be fully engaged during the round so the final decision takes a bit to figure out and write down. You can't improve without feedback and I will happily answer any questions you have about the round and my decision. If we're in a time crunch I probably won't offer you feedback immediately after the round but please come find me.

Technicality

I understand technical arguments and you should too. I want to hear you talk about solvency and topicality if it's relevant, but if you don't have a strong understanding of how these concepts apply to the arguments you're making, you're probably wasting your time. If your responses are only technical, you probably aren't engaging your opponents' contentions deeply enough to win on the flow.

I feel pretty meh about kritiks. I think the discourse has immense value in general but doing so in the debate bubble is likely preaching to the choir. I'm open to a K but am probably more interested in hearing you engage with the topic that was assigned. Unless you really impress me or tie your K to the topic in a meaningful way I will probably vote you down even though I support the discourse.

Timing

You get a few seconds to organize papers, flowpads, your laptop, and whatever before the speech but if I feel like you're biding your time I will start the timer on your speech. Roadmaps are off-time, but if you're just going say "I'll be hitting my opponents' points and then coming back to mine" don't bother; I understand the outline of a regular speech. If you call for evidence, I will not start prep time until your opponents provide you the requested materials; however, neither team should be prepping during this time. If you choose to continue prepping anyway, I will deduct that time from your prep even if it isn't your team's prep.

Behavior

I have little tolerance for rudeness but my bar for it is fairly high. Debate is a high-stress activity and the potential for misunderstanding is great, so if you're exceeding that bar I will be harsh with your speaker points. It is not hard to extend your opponents the respect they deserve for 45 minutes. Complain about them after the round in private like a normal person.

For policy debate, I am primarily a stock issues judge, though topicality is very difficult to win from me. I am open to counterplans, etc..., and I will basically judge whatever happens in the round. Thus, "stock issues" may be what I prefer, but I judge the round based on the arguments presented and the refutations of those arguments.

For public forum, I prefer direct clash-- actually refute the opponents case with your own case. I think favorably on cross-applying arguments from your case to the opponent's case. Importantly, follow the flow and do not cast it aside once the 2 minute speeches started-- you spent time developing those cases and arguments, so see them through in the summaries and final focus speeches.

For speech events, I follow the basic rules of each event. In drama, humorous, and related, I like to see clean transitions, clear and distinct characters, etc... In extemp, I like to know why the topic is important (why ask this question?), clear citations and warrants, and a speech that follows a logical line of analysis to its conclusion(s). In oratory and similar, clear logic (organization, thought process-- whatever is relevant to the topic and nature of the event) and a speech pattern that doesn't sound too memorized-- the speech should flow just as naturally as a conversation.

Run something crazy.

Debated varsity PF in South Dakota. Have been judging for the last six years.

Evidence indict are accepted.

Specific questions about judging style are welcomed before the round begins.

If you are going to go for an evidence violation make sure it's a valid one. If I feel the violation is frivolous I will vote you down.

Best bet is to ask me any questions before the round.

LD

I am in my third season of judging LD, so I am still learning. I will admit that I am leaning on my Public Forum experience to a degree during the learning process. I have so far developed two rules about judging LD:

1.) Defend your value statement, especially if your opponent attacks it. If your opponent is able to negate your value statement, your case goes away and it becomes extremely difficult to win at that point.

2.) If you and your opponent agree upon or merge your value statements and your criterion, then to me it becomes a PF round.

PUBLIC FORUM - READ TO THE END FOR AN UPDATE ON THE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 TOPIC.

Introduction

The best thing about Public Forum Debate is that anyone can judge it, and the worst thing about Public Forum Debate is that anyone can judge it. If you don't read this before a round, ESPECIALLY IN THESE DAYS OF ONLINE DEBATE, don't complain to your coach about what is said on my ballot after you lose.

How I vote/Framework

You can present your framework if you want, but I really don't pay any attention to it, especially with resolutions that are Yes/No. I am more interested in hearing the contents of your case, and I don't start flowing until I hear you say "Contention 1". I vote based on the cases, their contents, the attacks made on the cases and the responses to those attacks. Whoever has the majority of their case left standing at the end of the round wins. I value evidence over opinion, but not exclusively so. If you are presenting a morality-based case, you do so at your peril. It is my opinion that morality arguments are best done in LD. If you present a morality-based case AND you tell me I'm immoral if I vote you down, you are officially done at that point (it's happened, that's why it's included).

Argumentation
First and foremost, I expect professional conduct during the entirety of the round. While I haven’t yet decided a round based on arrogance, rudeness or condescension, I also have no qualms awarding a low-point win if the tournament rules allow.

Case speakers – I would like to think that I have a pretty good idea of what has to be proven by whom during a debate round, especially toward the end of a topic period. Therefore, I don’t want to hear the Webster definition of 3 or 4 of the words in the resolution unless your definition differs from your opponent's. You may present framework if you want, but refer to the above as to how I treat it. As stated above in "How I vote", I very rarely start flowing until I hear "Our first contention is...…"

Rebuttal speakers – I value your responses to your opponent’s case more than I do getting back to your own, especially if all you’re doing is re-reading it. In addition, PLEASE TELL ME IF YOU ARE ATTACKING YOUR OPPONENT'S CASE OR ARE SUPPLEMENTING YOUR OWN WITH WHAT YOU ARE PRESENTING. If you don't, it doesn't get flowed, and what doesn't get flowed doesn't get judged. I also like rebuttal speakers who are skilled enough to be able to attack their opponent’s rebuttal if you are speaking second. Finally, be very careful if you're attacking your opponent's case with points from your own. If your attack point gets damaged or negated, the opponents points you attacked will more than likely pull through intact.

Crossfire – It is very difficult to win a round during crossfire, but it is very easy to lose a round during crossfire. I’ll let you interpret that however you want. I consider CX to be for my benefit, not yours. I'm not real crazy about interruptions or talking over one another. Let your opponent finish an answer before you ask a follow-up question. I do reserve the right (and I have done it) to cut off a CX round if all you're doing is continuing the debate rather than doing Q&A. My rule at the buzzer - an answer may finish, a question may not.

Summary - The third minute of summary that was added last year has been interesting in how teams have approached it. I will say this: If you are speaking first, you can go back and attack your opponent's rebuttal, but don't spend more than 90-seconds on it. If you spend the entire time in attack, I'm going to assume you think you're losing. You should be introducing voters and giving me your introductory analysis of how the round is going.

Final Focus – You should be telling me why you won the round. I do not object if you figuratively take me by the hand and walk me through your analysis of how the round went. If you spend more than half your time continuing to attack your opponent's case, I will again assume that you're not confident about the success of your own.

Delivery
As far as speed goes, this is not policy. While I do flow with a spreadsheet on a laptop, there are even speeds that I can’t follow. If you see me put my hands behind my head, you are talking too fast, and what does not get flowed does not get judged. Please slow down a notch when presenting main points and sub points.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 TOPIC - If you are going to run Climate Change on the Pro, or Remittances on the Con, you had better be able to connect it back to the resolution. If you don't, and your opponent argues that either of these points are non-resolutional, I will agree with them.

Questions? Feel free to send an email to either wilsonbl@sio.midco.net or blaine@ucctcm.org

I was a Public Forum debater for four years. And have spent the last five years since high school judging all forms of debate and speech. With that being said the following applies.

Speed: I do not care how fast you talk as long as what you are saying makes sense and you do not have to stop and breath because you forgot to twenty seconds ago. Speech effectively.

Eye Contact: I know you can read, but I need to know you understand what you are saying and not just reading the evidence, so eye contact is key to displaying this.

Attitude: Despite your current feelings, your opponent is not an idiot and neither are you. Treat each other with respect. Do not yet, cut each other off or simply ignore one another. At the end of the day everyone is here because they want to be, not so they can be degraded by another school. This is particularly important during Cross-X I want it clean and beneficial to everyone in the room.

Political Parties: I do not care what political party you are, I do care if you are degrading towards political leaders. For example, verbiage such as: Donald, that orange guy, or whatever else will not be accepted. He is the President and should be referred to as such. Same for senators, other world leaders and etc. With that being said, if you are a Republican or a Democrat I do not care so do not feel the need to inform me during the round.

Road Maps: I do not need an off the clock roadmap, I am capable of knowing where you are going by what you say.

And last but definitely not least,

Resolution: The resolution is the topic, or the question you were given is the topic. Stick to it and do not alter it or come up with a fancy definition that becomes abusive later in the round so then the round becomes focused on the framework and nothing else.