I am relatively new to judging parliamentary debate. Please speak at a reasonable rate, define your terms, and make clear links from policy to impacts. Avoid complicated debate jargon and Kritiks. Use theory only if you believe that there has been an abusive definition, or that your opposition has gone off topic. Don’t abuse POIs or POOs. Neg. Counterplans are acceptable. The team that educates me on the topic and makes their case clearly and respectfully will get my ballot.

Hello,

* I'm an experienced parent judge with 2 years of experience with public forum events.

* Make sure that you present cases, contentions, impact(s) clearly.

* Often I read topic analysis before judging the topic. Definitions are optional for me unless you want to make them clear to the opposite team.

* Evidence-based argumentation, logic, and reasoning are key elements to determine the winner in PF debate.

* Quality is more important than quantity. It's important to have a few quality cases than a high number of cases.

* I'm not a big supporter of "spreading" aka speed reading in PF. For speakers: I look for a speed of fewer than 220 words per minute. This speed enables me to take notes and weigh your arguments against the other team.

* A good framework is important for the public forum event.

* Be respectful with other teams.

* Do not bring in new arguments/cases or new data points at the final focus or summary.

* Crossfire sections are for Q & A. Do not use this time to reinforce your cases again and again. In other words, do not take away 2.5 minutes out of 3 min grand-crossfire section - just to re-emphasize your points

* Wish you the best! Enjoy your journey!

i did PF in high school (2014-18) and coached for ~2 years after.

i have not thought about debate in the past 4 years, i don't have topic knowledge, and am not comfy with technical/theory-ish things in PF. please treat me like a flay judge! i like seeing lots of impact calc, meta/weighing throughout the round along w/ a clean narrative — doing all of these well will mean i give u high speaks (29+). i will lower speaker points for teams that are mean :(

you can wear whatever is comfortable for you in rounds. i don't believe in having to wear a suit for tournaments.

more importantly, i hope you are having a good day :)

sanjim@berkeley.edu