Debated four years for Lawrence Free State High School, did not pursue debate in college. I judged four rounds on this topic at WaRu in September.

My general approach to rounds is that it is your job to win my ballot, and you should do that in whatever way you feel most comfortable with. I'm willing do vote on lots of different things for different reasons, what matters is that you crystallize your advocacy in a clear way and tell me why it means you win. I default policymaker, but it is your job to articulate the framework in which you want me to vote, and if you do that I'm pretty much willing to vote however you tell me to (provided you're winning that argument). 

Mechanics

• delivery: speed is fine. Clarity is far more important than speed, and I encourage you to go at the speed you're comfortable with rather than trying to spread for the hell of it, but at the end of the day speed is not going to be an obstacle to my understanding of your speech. I will yell clear if you are not clear.
• Signposting: please have a clear line-by-line. It is infinitely easier to judge a debate if the debaters make arguments by responding directly to the previous speech instead of just reading straight down and leaving me to pick up the pieces. I don't want to have to draw arrows from an argument to its response.

Types of arguments

• kritiks: kritiks are fine. My only demand is that every kritik must have a clear, textual alternative. And "reject the aff" isn't an alt, it's what I do when I agree with the alt.
• CP/DA's: I prefer specificity (who doesn't?) but generics are fine as long as you do the work.
• performance: this is fine, just please identify the function of the ballot and the framework you want me to vote in as quickly and clearly as possible.
• Theory: it should have its own page on the flow. Same with framework.

At the end of the day, I want to see the 2nd rebuttals get up and point to a specific point on the flow and give me a clear, convincing reason to vote there. Clear, compelling impact framing on specific issues goes a long way in final speeches. Don't try to win on a bunch of things, pick one good thing and win on it. Do that in whatever way you choose.

I'll be happy to answer any questions before the round.

Put me on the email chain: BijanEsfandiary@live.com

Debated 4 years at BVW

Debated 1.5 years at JCCC.

ULTIMATELY DEBATES ARE DIRECTED BY THE DEBATERS. MY BELIEFS ON ARGS WON'T MAKE ME VOTE YOU DOWN UNLESS I SPECIFICALLY MENTION IT.

I have bad ears due to surgery so you need to be very clear for me on analytics.Tech > Truth - K debate has exceptions

If a person says any ableist or gender discriminatory remarks - even by accident - I will lower your speaks.

IF YOU SAY ANYTHING RACIST WITHIN THE ROUND YOU LOSE THE ROUND. RACIAL SLURS WILL MAKE ME STOP THE ROUND INSTANTLY. IF IT IS A PANEL I WILL JUST STOP FLOWING.

You can ask for me to view evidence after the round.

I am open to ethics arguments. Example: "After my speech, the round ends and you decide whether there has been an ethics violation, and then vote if you think there was a violation." If its a panel there must be a group decision to end the round.

DA

Impact calc, time frame, and magnitude. Address these adequately.

For me, whoever wins the impact debate, wins the debate.

CP

Please read competitive CPs and have solvency advocates. International fiat isn't a thing without solvency.

Please please please please don't read delay CPs.

Topicality

Go for it

I will listen to the argument: "The 1AC is a Kritik of their Topicality." Many people don't like these arguments but I do.

Make the arg structural fairness outweighs procedural if K team.

Framework

Explain why ontological or material conditions come first. If you win the framework debate I have to evaluate the round and the results of actions through that framing. This is the first place you should start to win my ballot unless you are going for specific in round abuse arguments.

K

Assume I know nothing and explain it within the round.

Only literature I am pretty versed in is Buddhism, and I will understand most things you are articulating. Most of my knowledge is on Zen Buddhism specifically. Things like terminal nature, interdependence, impermanence, Buddhist methodology, and dualisms I understand and you wont lose me on in the theory side. You will lose me on MU to be honest though.

I also somewhat understand Afro-Pess and I default to non black people should not be reading black authors.

Debated at KU for 5 years

Coached at UNI of 2 years

Currently a GTA at Georgia State but not working with the debate team right now.

If you have more specific questions, or need clarification please feel free to send me an email.

THE SHORT OF IT

please add me to any email chain - meganmlmapes@gmail.com

I strongly believe that people with strong beliefs about can or cannot happen in a debate are kind of silly.

I believe that there is value in having discussions about the resolution. An example of the resolution should probably be the endpoint of any advocacy and debaters can creatively and critically engage the topic. I prefer debates where the affirmative defends a clear change from the status quo, but I'm open to what that means. When that does not happen I am more willing to vote negative on presumption.

I default to competing interpretations on questions of topicality.

Topicality will almost always come before theory arguments.

I default to offense/defense -

Tech > Truth

THE LONG OF IT:

*Prep time/Paperless debate
- i find myself to be on the strict side of prep time questions. You have 30 seconds to get the other team your speech doc before prep starts again. If you're not using an email chain by now you'd better have a good excuse.

-- Smart strategic debaters who can make me laugh get good speaker points. Debaters who are offensive, rude, and neg teams that don't split the block do not.

--I'm willing to assign 0% risk to an argument if you are effective at establishing terminal defense. Obviously, offense always helps as most debaters are unlikely to effectively do this. This means you should probably adjust your impact calc in the 2ar if you're only going for defense to assess the possible risk of the disad. However, a dropped argument is a true argument in most cases for me (dropped evidence is considered based on the claims in the evidence and not necessarily your tag --- that means if you drop something, in a later speech you should be on top of the spin for that evidence in later speeches) so lack of offense doesn't mean ignore the defense because you'll think I always vote on a risk. Remember mistakes happen - if you drop an argument you always have the ability to make arguments as to why they only get the arg for what their evidence says in the case you drop a solvency argument or defense to an advantage. - the debate is never over.

--I am not likely to vote on a cheap shot but could be convinced otherwise if the argument is fleshed out. BUT I'm flow-centric and like tricky args. you should know the difference between a cheap shot and strategically hiding args.
--cross-x is either the best or the worst part of the debate. Teams do well when they use cross-x to set up arguments or question the evidence quality of the other team. This will be better for everyone if there is actually a point for your cross-x questions, and not just using cross-x as the 3 minutes of free prep that your partner gets.


Clarity-
*Clarity is very important to me. I will not flow cards that I cannot understand. I will not hesitate to drop teams for clipping cards even if the opposing team does not make the challegne. IF it is questionable I will not hesitate to tank your speaks.
speed is ok and I highly enjoy judging fast debates. However, err on the side of clarity ESPECIALLY on theory and topicality debates. They are already messy enough and going at your top speed will only hurt you if I can't flow all of the warrants to your arguments. But seriously - you should know when its right to slow down and just do it. - there is nothing more annoying than a post-round decision where debaters are asking about arguments that didn't get on my flow - there's probably a reason that happened and it's probably because YOU weren't strategic when it comes to your speed and clarity. I am a very technical judge and you will make me happy if you're also technical

Case - Extremely underutilized. Minimizing the case is a sweet way to win a high risk of the disad. Likewise, I think the aff teams should be leveraging alot more of the case against disads/Ks than what happens in most rounds. A "try or die for the aff" argument is quite persuasive. I think even if you are going for a CP, you should still extend case defense as a way to avoid a "try or die" framing by the aff.

Disads - Impact framing arguments are pretty important to win these arguments, and i think that alot of teams do a poor job of explaining how arguments interact with each other, and explaining meta-arguments that will frame how i assess the debate in terms of Uniqueness, link, etc. DA turns the case is a slayer, and I will be more than happy to vote on it. On a side note, i tend to do some politics research, and do infact find it intrinsic to the plan. Intrinsicness arguments are an uphill battle, unless dropped by the negative (which happens more than it should). I also think that alot of the politics cards that people read are atrocious, and think that 7 bad cards does not equal one good, well warranted card. This also isn't unique to the politics disad, alot of cards people are reading everywhere are atrocious, and smart teams will capitalize on it by pointing out how their evidence makes arguments that go the other way. I am not part of the "cult of uniqueness" by any means, but I think that uniqueness is an important component of the link debate.

CP's- They are a very intergral part of the negative strategy. I think that there is a time and a place for textual or functional competition, and I try to let the debaters convince me one way or the other. In general, here are my views on legitimacy of CPs. CP theory is a reason to reject the argument, not the team, unless the aff has a reason why it skewed their ability to debate other positions (I can only see this being true in a conditionality debate). The net benefits shoud probably be disads to the aff, and not just advantages to the CP (I can be persuaded that the condition net benefit is a disad to the aff).

Topicality- . This was my favorite argument as a debater, which can be both good and bad for me as a judge. It means both that I am more willing to reward tricky T arguments but also that my expectations for what makes for a good topicality debater are a bit higher. I also think topicality/theory is about impact calculus and weighing your impacts against your opponents (i.e. why aff ground o/w's neg ground). These debates can be messy so try to be as clear as possible and engaging as possible. I prefer contextual definitions. Abuse should be proven, i probably won't vote on potential abuse because I think you can get to the crux of this through a different impact. I think that the negative lets affirmatives get away with way too much in these debates by no providing a topical version of the affirmative, and explaining how the affirmative interpretation explodes the limits of the debate. Generic impact turns are not particulary persuasive. .

I think that the most important standard for me is that the affirmative has an advocacy statement that deploys a specific instance of their method. However, if you tell me to think otherwise, fine. I won't tell you how to debate and will listen to any argument with an attempt to judge objectively. Just give me a clear explanation of the importance of your argument applied to the round. Impact assessment is important.

Theory- I'm persuaded by reject the arg not the team with a majority of these small blippy arguments. Don't assume you win because the 1ar dropped multiple perms bad. If you'd like me to default to another setting, explain why it means they lose. I generally think conditionality and pics are ok but will vote on anything so eh- go for it

Kritiks- My knowledge of the literature is limited but growing. I will actually be more inclined to reward you if you take a new and innovative approach on a lot of these arguments. I find that I do better with structural criticism, which probably has a lot to do with the research I've done so far in my academic career. My main requirements are a detailed and applied explanation of the alternative to the specifics of the affirmative case OR a fleshed out and impacted justification for why the alternative doesn't have to DO something in a traditional sense. I think negatives make a huge mistake ignoring double bind arguments on the perm and it can be detrimental. I'm also probably a TERRIBLE judge for Reps K's/PiCs - You will have to do a lot of work to convince me that a team should use because they used nuclear war reps - I also think Reps args are served better as links to a better K. I generally think framework is only a reason to reject the alt not the team or a reason the aff gets to weigh their impacts.

I've been involved in debate as either a competitor, a judge, or a coach for over a decade in both policy as well as Lincoln Douglas debate.

I default to a policy maker paradigm, and if all else is truly equal in the round then that's the side that I'll err on, but I have voted on kritikal arguments before and have no problem doing so again if those are the relevant issues in the round. However when I am making decision on kritikal arguments both framework as well as the role of the ballot are very important to me.

On topicality I err on the side of reasonability, but I've voted neg on topicality many times and you should certainly run topicality if you believe the affirmative isn't topical and you feel like that's the strategy you want to go for. If you do go for topicality, unless your opponent has straight up conceded most of the flow, the majority of the 2NR should probably be on topicality. With voters I have a preference for education.

Theory debates are great. Just be sure to legitimize the theory argument with a reasonable voter. Otherwise I have no reason to care about the theory no matter how well you argue it.

Counter-plans are great. Many of the teams I've worked with (including my own partnership) spend the majority of their rounds going for nothing except a single counter-plan and its net benefit, so I'm very familiar with that debate.

I can probably handle whatever speed you throw at me as long as you remain clear. I give two warnings for clarity before I stop telling you to be clear and just flow whatever I can understand.

If your partner prompts you at all during your speech, know that I will not flow a single word of what they say. If you want me to flow it and acknowledge that it was said in the round, then the person giving the speech has to physically say the words.

Unless a speech, CX, or prep timer is running, there should not be preparation going on for either team. During flashing/emailing time, neither team should be prepping. That includes writing on your flows, reading through evidence, and talking to your partner about any arguments in the round.

The bottom line for me in debate is - be reasonable. Conditional arguments are fine, just don't run a large number of them because that becomes unreasonable. Open cross-ex is fine, but if one partner is doing the vast majority of their team's participation in CX then that is no longer reasonable. Flashing evidence to your opponent off-time is fine, but it should be done in a reasonable time (and obviously flashing to your partner is prep time). When in doubt - just ask me.

Megan Niermann

They/them/their's

Suburban LD in high school (2014 MSHAA state champion)

One year CX at UMKC, one year CX at JCCC (2018 CEDA quarterfinalist but also couldn't break at regionals so evaluate how you will)

Yes, I want to be on the email chain: niermannmegan@gmail.com

All of my policy experience in college has been with the K (ableism, queerness/gender, whiteness, Lacanian psychoanalysis, capitalism) but towards the end of my career I started going for framework a lot more. I'll break things down more below but I can be high on your pref sheet no matter what you read with the exception of teams that need an extremely techy judge with a ton of topic knowledge. I am a better judge for you if you explain things for me in a big picture way using debate language (competitive/not competitive, impact calc, permutation, etc) instead of relying on my ability to flow all of the warrants of your politics DA and to vote on ev quality comparison.

TL;DR: I definitely WILL vote on the CP/DA but I don't often participate in, judge, or coach those debates so I will need to be coddled a little bit.

Specific positions below (but also I'm barely out and reserve the right to change my mind on any and all of these things):

T/FWK: I really enjoy judging, coaching, and participating in these debates. Lately I've judged some rounds without clearly defined voters---that is not a good way to win the debate. I am rarely persuaded by "T/FWK is oppressive" offense unless it's the VAST majority of the 2AC answer strategy, but when I am persuaded it's usually because the neg has decided to go for a fairness impact instead of going for education. If there's not a T version of the aff that probably means it's...just egregiously not T. I do not presume against affs that do not have a tie to the resolution.

Theory: I went for/won on theory args a lot. I will vote on theory args and probably err aff more than a lot of judges do on these questions, especially condo. If I'm your judge and you're neg I would try to avoid perf con.

Disads: As mentioned above, despite being in the activity for nine years, I don't have a great grasp on DAs in terms of reading them OR answering them. DA debates for me will really be decided by whoever is the better technical debater in the round I'm judging because I don't have enough topic knowledge to feel comfortable evaluating the truth level of claims. Please please please don't bet the round on me being able to evaluate the quality of your evidence. I very rarely will call for ev.

CPs: See theory---I am easily persuaded that a lot of CPs (50 states, consult, agent, PICs) are cheat-y. That said, I've read a lot of word PICs and refuse to feel shame. Please go for any/all CP in front of me as long as you are ready to answer these theoretical questions. Because of my inexperience in evaluating DA debates you will have a better time winning a CP 2NR strat if you have a solvency deficit to the aff and/or a net benefit that is independent from a disad you're reading. I will presume that the status quo is always an option for the negative unless the aff makes an argument about it.

Ks: The vast majority of debates that I participate in, judge, and coach are one-off K debates. I'm familiar with most common K literature but have spent most of my time reading/answering identity arguments (disability, queerness, transness, whiteness and/or anti-Blackness). I find myself often persuaded by permuations and no link/link turn articulations. Don't be afraid to go for the K without an alt like a linear DA in front of me! If you're answering the K in front of me I would not heg your bets on alt solvency; I am rarely persuaded that this is important in a world where the negative is winning that your aff is unethical.

By all means, ask me other questions if you have any! I was often described as hostile as a debater but as a coach/judge I think my ultimate role is to be an educator about the skills in the game of debate.

Email chain: lfsdebate@gmail.com

Who Am I: I debated four years at Field Kindley High School in Coffeyville, KS, did not debate in college, and have been an assistant coach at Lawrence Free State High School in Lawrence, KS since 2013. I have a Master's degree in International Relations.

General Approach: Tell me what I should be voting on and why. If you want me to evaluate the round differently than they do, then you need to win a reason why your framework or paradigm is the one that I should use. If no one does that, then I'll default to a policymaker paradigm. I don't view offense and defense as an either/or proposition, but if you do then I prefer offense.

Standard Operating Procedure: (How I will evaluate the round unless one of the teams wins that I should do something different) The affirmative has a non-severable duty to advocate something resolutional, and that advocacy must be clear and stable. The goal of the negative is to prove that the affirmative's advocacy is undesirable, worse than a competitive alternative, or theoretically invalid. I default to evaluating all non-theory arguments on a single plane, am much more willing to reject an argument than a team, and will almost always treat dropped arguments as true.

Mechanics: (I'm not going to decide the round on these things by themselves, but they undeniably affect my ability to evaluate it)

• Signposting - Please do this as much as possible. I'm not just talking about giving a roadmap at the start of each speech or which piece of paper you're talking about during the speech, but where on the line-by-line you are and what you're doing (i.e. if you read a turn, call it a turn).
• Overviews - These are helpful for establishing your story on that argument, but generally tend to go on too long for me and seem to have become a substitute for specific line-by-line work, clash, and warrant extension. I view these other items as more productive/valuable ways to spend your time.
• Delivery - I care way more about clarity than speed; I have yet to hear anybody who I thought was clear enough and too fast. I'll say "clear" if you ask me to, but ultimately the burden is on you. Slowing down and enunciating for tags and analytics makes it more likely that I'll get everything.
• Cross Examination - Be polite. Make your point or get an answer, then move on. Don't use cross-ex to make arguments.
• Prep Time - I don't think prep should stop until the flash drive comes out of your computer or the email is sent, but I won't police prep as long as both teams are reasonable.

Argumentation: (I'll probably be fine with whatever you want to do, and you shouldn't feel the need to fundamentally change your strategy for me. These are preferences, not rules.)

• Case - I prefer that you do case work in general, and think that it's under-utilized for impact calc.  Internal links matter.
• CPs/DAs - I prefer specific solvency and link cards (I'm sure you do, too), but generics are fine provided you do the work.
• Framework - I prefer that framework gets its own page on the flow, and that it gets substantive development beyond each side reading frontlines at each other/me.
• Kritiks - I prefer that there is an alternative, and that you either go for it or do the work to explain why you win anyway. "Reject the Aff." isn't an alternative, it's what I do if I agree with the alternative. I don't get real excited about links of omission, so some narrative work will help you here.
• Performance - I prefer that you identify the function of the ballot as clearly and as early as possible.
• Procedurals - I prefer that they be structured and that you identify how the round was affected or altered by what the other team did or didn't do.
• Theory - I prefer that theory gets its own page on the flow, and that it gets substantive development beyond each side reading frontlines at each other/me.
• Topicality - I prefer that teams articulate how/why their interpretation is better for debate from a holistic perspective. TVAs and/or case lists are good. My least favorite way to start an RFD is, "So, I think the Aff. is topical, but also you're losing topicality."

Miscellaneous: (These things matter enough that I made a specific section for them, and will definitely be on my mind during the round.)

• I'm not planning to judge kick for you, but have no problem doing so if that instruction is in the debate.  The Aff. can object, of course.
• Anybody can read cards, good analysis and strategic decision-making are harder to do and frequently more valuable.
• Individual pages on the flow do not exist in a vacuum, and what is happening on one almost certainly affects what is happening on another.
• Comparative impact calculus. Again, comparative impact calculus.
• You may not actually be winning every argument in the round; acknowledging this in your analysis and telling me why you win anyway is a good thing.
• Winning an argument is not the same thing as winning the round on an argument. If you want to win the round on an argument you've won or are winning, take the time to win the round on it.
• The 2NR and 2AR are for making choices, you only have to win the round once.
• I will read along during speeches and will likely double back to look at cards again, but I don't like being asked to read evidence and decide for myself. If they're reading problematic evidence, yours is substantively better, etc., then do that work in the debate.

Zen: (Just my thoughts, they don't necessarily mean anything except that I thought them.)

• Debate is a speaking game, where teams must construct logically sound, valid arguments to defend, while challenging the same effort from their opponents.
• It's better to be more right than the other team than more clever.
• A round is just a collection of individual decisions. If you make the right decisions more often than not, then you'll win more times than you lose.

I'll be happy to answer any questions.