I have advanced degrees in speech communication, rhetoric and argumentation and I teach at the college level on those subjects. However I take very seriously the idea that public forum debate should be judged by non-experts and therefore I am not a fan of speed and the quantity of arguments over the quality of arguments. Use public speaking skills effective for a general audience.

The quality of evidence and logic will generally win the day for me, and clear signposting, lack of jargon and connecting your rebuttals back to your opponents case are what I am looking for. While I take notes during the debate, evidence, warrant and impact are more important to me than whether your opponent answers all of your individual arguments.

In crossfire the debaters should take turns and I will interject if one debater simply seems to be trying to shout down the other. Civility is more impressive to me. In summary and final focus speeches you should explain clearly why your team should win the round in language that a lay judge and audience can understand. Debaters can keep their own time and use their laptops and phones within the limits of the rules. I try to be pretty relaxed when I judge so as long as you aren't trying to take advantage things should be fine.

I don't mind audience members as long as they are not disruptive and as long as the participants don't mind. Have fun with the tournament!

I have judged debate events off and on for 35+ years.

For my first 15 years, I primarily judged high school Policy Debate and only occasionally high school Lincoln-Douglas Debate.

More recently, I have judged rounds of COLLEGE IPDA Debate (most), Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and NPDA Debate (least) andHIGH SCHOOL Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, and SPAR/Extemp Debate.

Although my initial experience was in high school Policy Debate, I do not like high speed. If I am leaning forward to catch everything you are saying or you are gasping for air between utterances, you are talking too fast. If that is the case or you're overwhelming my ability to process information, I will say SPEED. By the same token, if you're speaking is not clear, I will say CLEAR. Please adjust accordingly if I say SPEED or CLEAR.

Ultimately, I judge holistically - the better debater or debate team wins the round. This almost always is the debater or debate team that carried the debate on my flow. In that very rare case when it is not, it is because I consider effective communication in deciding which debater or debate team won (and in assigning speaker points).

In a policy debate, I look to stock issues; in value debate, I look to which side best upholds the value(s) presented; in a fact debate, I ordinarily look to which side persuaded me by a preponderance of the evidence or similar standard offered by the debaters.

I do try to come in with an open mind. As a result, I will listen to and potentially "vote" any issue you raise. But I prefer for debaters on both sides to address the topic and clash thoughtfully with the other side's arguments.

If you run a kritik or counterplan, I expect you to explain it clearly (especially the kritik) and establish a clear link to the topic/case you're debating. I'm not an expert on every critical lens that challenges status quo thinking.

I dislike spreading. Identify major weaknesses in your opponents' arguments and flesh them out for me. Presenting a lot of one-sentence arguments in the hope your opponent can't respond to all of them will not help you win my ballot.

I judge on what I hear. I expect debaters to both make arguments and use evidence (even in IPDA/extemp debate - even though I understand there will be less evidence there). I also expect debaters to summarize why they won; don't spend so much time refuting arguments that you leave no time to tell me clearly why you won.

I graduated from Parkersburg High School in 2015, Marshall University in 2019, and West Virginia University College of Law in 2022. I did Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, and Congress debate when I was in high school. I have been judging all three events since I graduated in 2015. I'm currently a criminal defense attorney in Charleston, West Virginia.

I tend to not like to lay out a paradigm. Asking me what my paradigm is and then failing to adhere to it sets students up for failure, instead I judge the debate that is put forward. That being said, I can keep up pretty cleanly with speed and jargon if you do it well. Some people say, "you said you were fine with speed but on my ballot you took away speaker points for my pace!" What I mean is I can keep up with speed if you still enunciate and present well. The same applies to using jargon effectively.

When it comes to weighing, I value solvency and linkage. You can't pose a problem and not effectively say how your side addresses it. Additionally, you can't say "neg solves for x" without giving me the linkage for how it solves for it.

Other than that, I don't maintain any preferences and I judge the debate on its face on the guidelines the rules provide.