I do not like spreading, especially online as I have a hard time understanding what you are saying if you spread. Also, please try not to mumble as I am somewhat hard of hearing.

I do not like Ks. I do not know how to judge a competitor using one or any kind of progressive debate in LD.

I have judged Public Forum and Lincoln Douglas in the past. I am an engineer by profession. Following are a few areas I pay closer attention to while judging.

1. Preparation - knowledge of the subject
2. Presentation
3. Confidence
4. Clarity
5. Organization
6. Time management
7. Conviction
8. Respect
9. Empathy
10. Kindness
11. Humility
12. Listening skills
13. Convincing skills
14. Reasoning skills
15. Persuasion skills

I have been coaching Speech & Debate for the past 20 years. I was a competitor for all 4 years of my high school career. I've judged numerous local, regional, state, and national tournaments. The highlight of my judging career came at the 2020 NSDA National Tournament when I was selected to judge Lincoln-Douglas Finals. When it comes to levels of debate, I've seen them all. Below are my event-specific areas of focus that I suggest debaters in the rounds that I judge should consider (but I'm open to whatever you feel works best for you...these are simply my preferences in round).

General notes:

Speed is a factor in every round that I judge. If you spread or speak at a rate in which I would have to read your case on paper to understand what your argument is you will not win a round with me. Delivery matters but so does content. Off-the-wall kritiks I am not a fan of, either. Whatever your position is, it must be logical.

Lincoln-Douglas:

Frameworks are a must. Voters are a must. Go down the flow - stay in order - don't deviate and make your arguments clear at all times. Don't waste time in-round ever. Definitely do not spread...Lincoln-Douglas is meant to be spoken well, not fast (some speed is okay, but nothing excessive). Remember content is good but delivery of the content well is also important. This is the way.

Policy:

The biggest thing I look for in policy is consistency. I am not a fan of kritiks, out-there cases as the Neg, etc. For the round I much prefer standard policy debate. Plans and counter-plans are a must. Go down the flow. Do not spread. Make the round friendly for both teams. Keep track of arguments won on both sides and give me a good crystallization at the end of your final rebuttals. Do not spread. Did I say not to spread? In case I didn't, don't spread...just don't. To make it clearer, spreading = I'm not a fan.

Public Forum:

Speak at a good rate of speed (fast is okay but you absolutely should not spread in PF). Be civil at all times. Do not be condescending unless you want to be marked down severely for it (or possibly lose a round). Be professional in crossfire & grand crossfire. Do not waste excessive amounts of time calling for cards (it's easy to try to be abusive with prep time but I am not the judge to try that with because I am a fan of debating, not evidence scrutinizing so unless you can prove something definitive by calling a card, don't waste too much of our time in-round doing so). Overall, be kind to each other and have a good debate and all will be well. I have spoken.

If competitors are doing an email chain for evidence; Sanchez-villa@trinityrocks.com

Competed in the Louisville, Kentucky Circuit in high school for three years. Graduated with a major in Political Science from the University of Louisville. I am an assistant coach of Trinity High School for the Speech & Debate team and have held that role for four years now. I say this to highlight that I have years of experience in this event and am familiar with many debate styles, philosophies, frameworks and am aware of changing trends in the debate world, that being said Debate is an educational tool and a time for students to practice analytical thinking and persuasive skills in a unique environment unlike school, so please do not spread at a rate that is so fast that it can never be repeated in a public environment, dont go so fast that the only way to flow is off a speech doc because I will ignore it. Evidence calling is a new thing with the advent of technology post-covid but do not make the evidence calling period so long that it delays the debate and ends up being wasted, call for cards that matter to the judge, not your team. Great debate, for me, is one where both sides are understanding of what the other person's case is stating and evaluating and clashing at that crucial point. There are a lot of debates where people run past each others points and do not actually attack the meat of what is being debated causing me to weigh two worlds that have very little to differentiate from. Competitors should be critical of evidence (yes please do stake the round on thats not what your evidence says, and I will read evidence of contention if I believe there is merit to it not claiming what it means, bad card cutting happens to everyone) and claims being made and any connection that they do not make for me as a judge I will not flow. Make my decision for me with your final speech.

Background:

I debated 4 years of PF at duPont Manual High School and graduated in May 2020.

My preferences:

TL;DR pretty standard flow judge, just make sure to warrant your arguments and don't try to read blippy arguments with a plan to blow them up later.

- I will try to disclose whenever I can.

- Frontline offense in 2nd rebuttal. If you want to fully frontline a contention in 2nd rebuttal and go for it, I'd love that. But at the very least, frontline offense.

- Quality >>>>>> quantity. I much prefer a small number of well-developed arguments over a large number of blippy arguments.

- Warranting is everything for me. I'll always prefer a well-warranted argument without evidence over an unwarranted argument that has evidence (but obviously having both evidence and a warrant is the best).

- Moderate speed is fine with me. However, I prefer a more understandable debate.

- If I judge that there is no offense by the end of the round, I will default to voting for the first speaking team. I think the second speaking team has a significant advantage in PF, so the burden is on them to convince me that they have won.

- I love to hear warranted weighing arguments. The more frequently you reiterate these, the more likely I am to vote for you.

- I do not like it when teams read 1 or 2 blippy sentences about an argument in their case (or rebuttal for that matter) and then blow it up in summary/FF. I think that's almost impossible for the other team to properly handle that, especially with PF's time constraints. If your entire second half strat is entirely based on a warrant that was just 1-2 sentences of your case, I'm not going to be happy about it and that will play into my decision.

- If you want to run theory or Kritiks, that's fine with me, but you should know that I have no idea how to evaluate them. You'll have to explain your argument simply and clearly, along with telling me why I should vote on the argument.

- If you're going to make an argument about sensitive issues like suicide, PTSD, or sexual assault, please provide a trigger warning before you start. Before engaging in that type of discussion, we should make sure that everybody is prepared for the conversation.

Feel free to ask me questions about the round, I'm always happy to provide any insight I can. And if you have questions about my paradigm or other preferences, feel free to ask them before the round starts.

Background and general views

I've been doing this for a decade now, so this isn't my first rodeo. I can adapt to pretty much any debate style, so do what you prefer. I don’t want you to be so focused on trying to please me as a judge that you lose sight of your case or your coaching. The one exception to this is spreading; I shouldn’t have to have your case in front of me to understand what you’re saying and I will drop over this.

I enjoy a lively, energetic debate, so don’t be afraid to be assertive. As long as you’re not blatantly rude, I won’t dock your speaks for being aggressive.

I prefer not to be added to email chains. If a piece of evidence is called into question, it’s up to you to prove why it should or shouldn’t be considered. As for emailing cases, refer to my comment about spreading.

Public Forum

I prefer when your FF speeches contain more weighing than summary. I want you to identify the voters and explain exactly how you outweigh your opponent on the key issues. For extensions and drops, I expect you to remind me what the card is and why it’s so important.

Cross isn’t for establishing new arguments, so I won’t flow any new ideas you bring up. I’ll make note of anything conceded during cross as well as general participation, but cross won’t factor too much into final scores or decisions. During GC, I want to see both partners on each team participating.

It’s up to you to attack your opponent’s case. No matter how silly a point may seem to you, I’m going to flow it through if you don’t effectively refute it.

Speak at an appropriate speed. Make clear, concise, and logical arguments.