I am a flay judge who votes truth>tech. I can handle speed but I don't care for spreading. I am not a fan of theory and am very unlikely to give you the ballot if you employ that tactic. If you link to nuclear winter, you better convince me that if I don't live in your world, I am actually going to die. I am a parent of a speech and debate kid so I understand how this works but I am more likely to be persuaded by the ideas and impacts you present rather than the technicalities and jargon. Convince me your world is better.

I am an experienced parent judge. Please go slow and clear so I can understand what you're saying. Please don't use any discriminatory language.

Fourth season as parent judge; practicing attorney (19 years).

I am a parent judge with a degree in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. Thus I look for logical arguments that prove your point of view. A dropped argument does not mean you win the debate. In the end, debate is an exercise in discussion, discourse, rhetoric, argumentation and rebuttal. Logos, ethos and pathos are vital in the debate arena. Debate decisions are about who debates better in a given moment in time with a given situation.

While this is my Second time judging in this type of event, I have judged debates for the past four years for NCFCA.

• Seven years experience mostly debate (Congressional, LD, PF).
• Comfortable with speed and jargon in debate but prefer that students that speak clearly and not rush through a script.
• Value students who have prepared for the debate and can demonstrate civility in their interactions with other students.

weigh

i begged you

but

you didn’t

and you

lost

-rupi kaur

If you do not have an off case position, I will forget your off-time roadmap. Please tell me in your speech what argument you are addressing.

Read whatever (non-offensive/egregiously untrue) argument you want; I try to be flexible.

I will not evaluate theory arguments presented in the ABCD interp violation blah blah format. If you want to explain your theory argument in the (relatively) conversational language that you present all your other arguments in, then I will listen. https://www.vbriefly.com/2021/04/15/equity-in-public-forum-debate-a-critique-of-theory/

I reserve the right to be more persuaded by a team.

I have judged several debates over the last two years. I don't have a background in debate, but I always enjoy the intelligence and energy I see in our teams.

Hi all.

Please speak clearly and concisely when presenting your arguments. Instead of relying solely on stats and quotes and spitting out a bunch of author names, it is much more persuasive when you do a cost-benefit analysis of each side and explain why your world is more preferable.

I prefer clearly explained warrants and well-reasoned analysis as to WHY and HOW your offense outweighs your opponents’. I am not a fan of speaking fast, so while I understand that speaking fast is a tendency for most debaters, please try to tone it down and speak clearly so it would be easier for me to follow. If you speak too fast for me to not be able to understand you, speaker points will be affected and so will your ballot.

Best of luck,

Naren

I am a former high school PF debater and a former college parliamentary debater (APDA). I am a typical "flow" judge who will vote off what is extended in summary and weighed in final focus. A few notes on where I may differ from other similarly experienced judges:

1. Evidence

Feel free to call for your opponents evidence as much as you would like, I will not dock speaker points. If your opponent brings up a "suspect" piece of evidence, I encourage you to give me a logical response to why that study/evidence doesn't make any sense and call it out as "suspect", and I will review that evidence after the round. The team presenting the evidence should explain why it is true instead of just providing a bunch of stats. I will drop you if you blatantly misrepresent evidence throughout a round.

2. Speed

My flowing skills are quite rusty, so please speak at a reasonable pace.

3. Crossfire

If you make a new response or weighing analysis during crossfire, I will flow it. But as with everything else, you need to extend it through summary/final focus for it to matter in the round.

4. Speaker Points

I will give you speaker points based on the clarity and quality of your argumentation, not for speaking style. The only thing I will dock points for is disrespectful behavior.

Feel free to enter the room, do the coin toss, and get settled if I'm not there yet. Also feel free to ask me if you have any questions before the round. Good luck!

I competed on the national circuit in Speech from 2005-2008. I coached nearly all Speech and Debate events at local and national levels from 2009-2021.

TL;DR: I care most about your impact narrative and warranting to support it. Random underdeveloped offense on the flow is pretty meaningless to me if your opponent’s offense makes more sense.

I've done this enough that I can keep up with more than a lay judge can. However, we will all have a better time if you keep the debate as accessible as possible.

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Important Stuff for PF

- I prefer whichever side is able to give me a clearer impact narrative for the round. If you do better weighing I will always vote for you over a team who tries to cover the entire flow.

- My threshold for blatantly fake arguments is low. Something isn't automatically true just because you said it in the round. You have to warrant it.

- Please signpost. In every speech. I beg of you. "Extend our impact from contention 2, sub-point B" makes it very easy for me to find what you're saying!

- I'm cool with speed, so go fast as long as the words coming out of your mouth make sense. Actual spreading is more difficult for me, so if you do that and I miss something it's your fault not mine.

- I do not flow author names so if you rely on only extending authors without furthering the impact analysis in the later speeches I'll have a harder time voting for you.

- While I did engage with PF regularly while coaching, it is to your benefit to treat me more like a parent in terms of jargon.

Progressive Stuff in PF

- Policy-type arguments (plans/DAs/etc) are fine in all circumstances even with novice opponents or mom judges. Otherwise...

- I will only vote for a progressive arg/K/theory in PF if your opponent and all judges consent to you running it. Lay parents cannot consent to this. People who volunteer their time to debate tournaments should be respected and valued. Wasting 90 minutes of a person's life with debate tech that a normal person can't understand isn't cool.

- If you are going to read theory, you should weigh it as a voting issue. I am unlikely to vote for this unless the violation is clear and egregious. The exception is disclosure theory in PF. If you read disclosure theory in front of me I will stop listening. If you read disclosure theory in front of me and I know you are a circuit team I will drop you. It's not your opponent's fault that you're too lazy to debate something that wasn't on the wiki.

- If we're being real with each other I'm not likely to vote for you if you're reading a K in PF. I will have a harder time understanding it and how it works in a PF round. I would much rather you take the impacts from the K and prove that your side of the resolution achieves them in a more traditional substance debate.

- Anything else is beyond my experience level and you should not do it.

Other Stuff

- If you make arguments that are racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise blatantly discriminatory (ex: if you tell me poor people just need to stop being lazy and living on government handouts) you can expect me to give you the lowest possible speaks that tab will allow me to and you will lose.

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If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Have fun

I debated PF for 4 years at Ardrey Kell both in NC and on the national circuit.

Now that my history is out of the way, basic info.

I'm tech over truth so if I have to vote off a terrible argument, I will, even if I hate it.

I love obscure, weird arguments as long as they have proper warrants. Please please please don't give me a weird argument for the sake of being "weird," if that argument has zero merit.

I am a "flow" judge so speed is fine, although I strongly discourage spreading. If you're speaking so fast that I can't understand, which is extreme, I'm just going to put my pen down and not flow anything till you slow down.

While I enjoy cross-fire and think it's the best part of a PF round, I'm not going to flow it, so if something important happened, make sure you say it in a speech.

While weird, obscure arguments are great, I'm not a fan of theory. While it does have a place in debate, I don't think it works with public forum because public forum, by definition, should be available for the public to watch and understand, and theory detracts from the public's ability to understand the debate. However, there is a caveat. If your argument is amazing and isn't just a way of confusing the other team or a hail mary, I will listen to it as long and I will factor it in.

Things I like to see in debates:

- Weighing: What you've (hopefully) heard from your debate coach every day since you've started debate, weighing is important. If you don't weigh, I have zero idea how to compare arguments, and I will come up with my own way of comparing arguments, which you probably won't like. So please weigh and I'll be more inclined to vote for you and give you high speaks.

- Summary/Final Focus connection: Everything that's said in final focus must have been said in summary. I don't care if you came up with the ultimate argument that can win every round in the prep time before final focus if it wasn't said in summary. Only exception to this is first final focus, which can respond to points in the second summary because, unless you can predict the future, in which case you should go to Vegas and stop debating, first summary can't respond to a speech that hasn't happened yet.

- Evidence guidelines: Don't just refer to evidence as the "AUTHOR" card, I rarely flow author names unless I feel the card is sketchy in some way. I will have no idea which card you're mentioning and will probably disregard what you are saying. Make sure, every time you mention a card, actually use that card by explaining the argument itself and why I should care about it, don't just reference it. If the card's not important enough to actually explain it, it probably won't matter for the debate either.

- Humor: Please inject some humor into the round. Nothing is more boring than a serious PF round. Roasting the other team is welcome, sarcasm is welcome, jokes are amazing. Successful roasts will be given +1 speaker points, however, if it is a bad roast, and I feel you interrupted the debate for no reason, -1 speaker points. If you are constantly funny, I will give you more speaker points.

Things I do not like to see:

- Rudeness, sexism, racism, etc: If you're being excessively rude or being discriminatory at all, I will give you a 20L regardless of whether or not you should have won the debate.

Speaker Points breakdown:

- 30: Amazing job at not only speaking, but also your arguments and reasoning. More likely if you are funny. (A+)

- 29: Probably the most common point level, still a really good job at speaking and reasoning. (A)

- 28: Tied with 29 for most common point level, above average job. (B)

- 27: Average job, one of speaking/arguments would be lacking a bit. (C)

- 26: Below average, possibly both speaking/arguments lacking. (D)

- 25: Large errors, considerably below average. (F)

- <25: I will almost never give points less than 25, unless you're being rude or discriminatory.

Finally, if you read this far, if you can incorporate a Marvel reference, specifically Black Panther, I will give you +1 speaker points. However, if I feel it was forced, you'll get -1 speaker points.

Have fun debating!

I'm a parent judge with 2 years of public forum judging experience. I evaluate based off of my flow and which arguments make the most sense to me. Also, please speak slowly and clearly, because I am more likely to listen to those arguments and vote off of them.

I've judged LD for a long time. I want to make a moral decision, and I'm looking for the side that best walks me through why I should affirm or negate. I want to see both sides treat each other with respect, I don't wake up early and give up my weekends to hear snotty kids spew blippy arguments.

There are valid arguments to be made on both sides of a Lincoln Douglas resolution, and there will be evidence on both sides. I vote on the debate as a whole, rather than using the flow as a scorecard in terms of the number of arguments advanced. I enjoy cases that have clear values and criteria that provide substantive reasoning as to the most important issues in the round. I do not enjoy cases with messy, generic values or criteria that don't really tell me anything and leave me with 2 sets of contentions bouncing off each other.

I'm not a fan of extremely meta or theory laden cases, and if you have a case that is really off-the-wall and a case that is more straight down the middle, I'd prefer the straight down the middle one. I'm not going to vote against you simply because I don't like your approach, but in general I don't find those sort of arguments compelling. The more convoluted your case, the more receptive I am to simple arguments from your opponent. Word salad debate jargon isn't a substitute for a compelling argument.

If you feel that you've made a good point in cross-ex, mention it in your rebuttal and tell me why it is important. Please remember that this is not a TV courtroom drama where you are the prosecutor trying to get your opponent to confess on the witness stand. I've never seen a round decided on a trick question during cross ex. The best uses of cross ex that I've seen involve making clear how your opponents' case works and in setting up the core conflicts that will be in the round.

I don't shake hands, but I'll give you a fist bump. There are too many illnesses out there.

The best time to invest in a good internet connection was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

I'm a truth over tech parent judge with about 3 years experience, and fairly active in the season. I'm a lay judge that flows, but not to any internationally recognized standard, and definitely not in more than one color. My writing is scruffy, sometimes I can't read my own notes. If you see me drawing big circles or boxes, it's because someone just made some ridiculous claim, and it's rude to laugh - so I scribble a shape instead.

Triangle - only a Muppet would say that.

Rectangle - only a Muppet would believe that.

Oval - only a Muppet would have found this in the deepest parts of the internet and think it was worth repeating with a straight face.

I'm a scientist, a software engineer, and yes, that thing behind me is a tower made from IKEA lack tables holding two 3D printers.

Parent judge of former and current PF debaters. Judged mostly PF and some LD debates over past 4.5 years. I have a financial background so emotional arguments backed up by facts are very convincing where as emotional arguments without support are not. I generally have a hard time following arguments based on what is or isn't covered by the semantics of the resolution wording. Keep pace as slow as you can (and conversational if you can) so it is easy to follow arguments...sometimes less is more. Be respectful to opponents during crossfires, acknowledge or rephrase their arguments then rebut. "I understand your point but if you consider X,Y,Z then it does not hold up, etc. Avoid saying "makes no sense" etc... if it really makes no sense say something like we are not following your logic. Leave enough time at the end each speech strong and not rushed for your last impression. I wouldnt say "must" vote... urging or should vote are ok.

No spreading.

No Spreading

I have been judging PF and LD for two years and over 15 tournaments. I prefer that your arguments are made clearly and at a reasonable pace. If you speak too fast for me to understand your points tend to get lost. I also expect you to be civil to the other team while being confident in your argument. If you are going to use a source make sure your information is accurate as I will ask to see your card on occasion.

Feel free to ask any specific questions you may have before and/or after the round :)

Experience:

I debated PF in high school and was a Policy debater at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. I have been judging and coaching debate for a while, and currently coach at St. Paul Academy.

Public Forum Paradigm:

My paradigm isn't anything ground breaking (I mainly like to see debaters have fun and try their best), but here are a few guidelines:

- I love it when teams have a thesis and consistent story that they link back to and articulate throughout the round: what do we get out of a vote for the Aff? For the Neg?

- Speed: I don't care for speed in PF - it typically results in unclear speaking and blippy arguments, which are both bad.

- Links are very important. If you try to gain access to an impact, but lack strong links, it is very hard to vote for you. If you and your opponent have arguments with direct clash, comparing the links/warrants is the best way to come out ahead.

- Both teams will have impacts. If you want me to vote for you, weigh your arguments!!

- Smart analytics can beat cards.

- Jargon is not a substitute for making a complete argument.

- "Off-time road maps" are unnecessary in pf. I should be able to tell what you are talking about during your speech.

- CX: I like cx and think its underutilized in pf! I appreciate when debaters ask good questions and set up the arguments they are going to make, and especially like it when good points made in cx are applied/referenced in speeches.

- Framework: Make sure you address it if it comes up, and make sure you explain it if you are running it. Often times in PF, the proposed framework is actually more of a weighing mechanism and works fine for both teams, so it's okay to agree to it. Other times, framework is used as a cheap way to gain an unwarranted advantage, which should be called out.

- Extension: Complete extension requires warranted explanation of an argument, not just author names.

- Final Focus: Your final focus should basically write my ballot for me - tell me what I am voting on and why. If it doesn't show up in the summary, I am not going to weigh it in the final focus.

- Calling for evidence: First, consider whether whatever you are hoping to gain from calling for a card can be resolved with a good crossx question (i.e. do you really need to call the card?). If you do call a card, know exactly what you are asking for and ask for it right after the speech or at the top of CX so that the partner not participating in CX can pull the ev (i.e. don't waste time/use card requests as a way to steal prep). Lastly - I find it weird when people call for cards and then don't bring it up in their speeches - what was the point? TLDR: Be efficient, ethical, and smart about calling for cards.

In conclusion:

Please make complete, intelligent arguments. Please be respectful. Please remember to have fun!!!

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Policy Paradigm:

Add me to the chain! welbo009@umn.edu

Clarity is important. I tend to do better at flowing slower teams, but only because most super-fast teams are v unclear. I don't want to have to look at the docs to understand what's going on. I won't say "clear" - if I'm not flowing, its a pretty good indicator that I can't understand you.

Ev quality and highlighting are important (I will check specific ev if I think it is important to the round or if you tell me to, but ev comparison should be done by debaters in round - I want to avoid judge intervention).

Impact calc is important. I do not think you have to have an extinction impact to win the round, but answer them if you are going for something else.

I'm open to pretty much any type argument, but I don't like when arguments are presented in such a way that only a subject matter expert/someone deep in the lit can understand it.

Smart analytics can beat cards.

In conclusion:

Please make complete, intelligent arguments. Please be respectful. Please remember to have fun!!!