What’s important to me:

Use your voice well. On a written text, I see periods, commas, colons, capital letters, paragraph breaks, headings, underlined material, and so on. In a debate, what replaces all this is your voice. For example, a written text with no punctuation and no spacing is largely unintelligible; an oral argument with no pauses between clauses, sentences, or paragraphs is equally meaningless—regardless of all the points that you think you are making or all of your opponent’s points that you think you are refuting.

Use good transitional expressions. You may know where you are going, but your listener does not. Say where you plan to go, and then on your journey regularly tell your listeners when you are going to turn right or left. The alternative, which is to present a torrent of impressive sounding facts and figures that are hard to follow, tilts this judge against you.

Avoid bossiness. I regularly spend time in courtrooms, and I notice that attorneys who instruct judges and juries about what to do end up hurting their own cases. Also, argue the merits of your position, and be careful with theory debating. Sometimes I consider it smoke and mirrors, and it may work against you—unless, of course, you can use your voice well, use good transitional expressions, and convince me of the reasonableness of your position. A jury wants reasonableness. So do I.

I am an ex-traditional policy debate coach (Stock issues judge) who has been coaching LD since 1990. I usually administrate tournaments rather than judge except when I have been at Catholic Nat's and NSDA Nat's.

Speed: Adapt to the judge who prefers a few well-developed arguments to spreading. I will flow as fast as I can, but it is up to you to communicate to me the compelling/persuasive reasons why you should earn the ballot. Speak clearly and articulate your words and you'll do fine.

Flex Prep. No. Speak within the time constraints and use prep time to see Evidence.

Evidence Challenge: If you doubt the veracity of evidence, then challenge it at the next available opportunity. Remember evidence challenges are all or none. If the evidence has been proven to be altered or conjured, then your opponent loses. If the evidence is verifiable and has NOT been materially altered, then you lose for the specious challenge.

Arguments: A few well-reasoned claims, warrants, and impacts are very persuasive as opposed to a laundry list of underdeveloped assertions/arguments.

Theory Arguments: Not a big fan of sitting in judgment of the topic and/or its framers with critiques. But I do weigh the issue of topicality as germane if made during the constructives.

Philosophy: It's been labeled Value debate for a reason. I encourage the discussion of scholarly philosophies.

Framework: There is a Value that each side is pursuing as their goal. There is a value criterion that is used to measure the accrual of the VP. The last steps include why the Value is superior and why the VC is the best way to measure that value.

Decision-Rule. While repetition often aids learning, I prefer that you tell me what the established standard for judging the round has been and why your arguments have met/exceeded the threshold. Write the ballot for me.

PFD: I have coached and judged PFD since the event started.

I prefer a framework and a few well-developed arguments to the spread. Point keywords as you read your case. Be polite in C-X and ask closed-ended questions. Tell me why your arguments are better by weighing impacts.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

I flow each speech intensely and, as a result, use my flow as my primary decision-rendering tool. The flow is especially important to me when deciding between two debaters with nearly equal performances. I also value clear, distinct voter issues and look for debaters to use voter issues to connect multiple ideas across the debate. Additionally, I look for clear frameworks to set up the round for each debater and for each debater to use these frameworks to present deep analyses of the main issues in the round.

In general, I prefer you speak no faster than a brisk, conversational pace. Trying to “out-speed” your opponent or overwhelm them by spreading will not earn you points in my book. If you speak so quickly I cannot easily gather your main points, how am I supposed to flow them and weigh them in the round?

Congressional Debate

Congressional debate is about how you present yourself for the entire session, not just while you are speaking. As such, I am paying attention to everything. You should be active in the chamber, without overpowering the other competitors. One excellent speech and a handful of great questions will not always outweigh multiple good speeches and several questions.

Congressional Debate is just as much about the debating as it is the presentation. According to that, I weigh both what you say and how you say it equally. I weigh all speeches the same—a constructive speech that effectively sets up the debate and a crystallization speech that details the main issues of the debate are equally as effective and powerful.

My judging style doesn’t change when I am a parliamentarian—I look for the same aspects, just with the added benefit of observing for more than one session. As such, I prefer to see consistent activity across all sessions, not just one. I rely on the presiding officer to run the chamber quickly, correctly, and effectively. In general, I will only intervene if a major error occurs.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, I am just one judge with one set of opinions. Speech and debate is meant to be a fun and educational activity. I hope your experience is rewarding, educational, and, above all else, fun.

Good luck!

Greetings: I have been around the Carolina West District for approximately 10 years. At one time or another I have judged every event. Although we are a very small school, we have had many students place in their respective events and go on to use their speech and debate skills in college and the work force.

Policy: All 5 elements must be clearly addressed. Spreaders should ensure I have their taglines or at least sign post before they start to rock-n-roll. I pay special attention to topicality, sources, cross x, and solvency.

Lincoln-Douglas:The AFFIRMATIVE has the burden of proof of the resolution as presented and should provide fair definitions. The NEG can and should challenge unfair definitions. I pay special attention to sources, cross x, and contentions coming full circle as well as defense and rebuttals.

Public Forum: Simply looking for which side presented the more compelling case with viable sources and confident defense.

Congress: I see two major elements here: speech content & speech delivery. I focus on well organized speeches with quality sources and ability to address questions. The P.O. should run a tight fair chamber. Outstanding =6 pts, Very good=5 pts, Average=4 pts.

IEs: The first presentation I see is in first place of that round til someone beats them and so on down the line. I look for all literary elements, appropriate use of: hands/body/posture, facial expressions, and vocal variety as the piece dictates. As OI, POI, Novice Reading, or Children's Lit do not require memorization, nor do I. I neither reward students who have memorized, nor penalize students who haven't. My personal favorite events are: Extemp and Informative Speaking.

I do NOT disclose my decisions and I do NOT share oral critiques in the room. I will gladly answer student's questions with their coaches permission to speak with me. I will generally challenge all Extempers with a short questions following their speech.

(needs to update this soon)