I Judge debate primarily and moot court. I have been judging events for over 10 years now. I am a trial attorney for 25 years and have tried thousands of cases. I am a regular speaker for both public and private events. I regularly speak at events and present seminars on various issues for the Oklahoma Bar Association and other entities. I spent 13 years in the United States Army and Oklahoma National Guard as a decorated NCO. I have a Juris Doctorate, degrees in Political Science, History and Sociology. I attended Oklahoma State University and The University of Oklahoma College of Law. I have participated in moot Court competition as well as Judged various moot court competitions and debate competitions.

When Judging, I am most concerned with presentation. I want to see someone who is organized and presents a solid case for their position. I want presenters to follow the prescribed format of their event, but most importantly convince me of your opinion. Set a strong foundation and provide evidence. Make me believe you and you alone are correct.

I will not tolerate bullies, racism, homophobia, sexism or other rude and unacceptable behavior. If you act like that, I will make sure you do not get positive marks from me. 

I am more concerned with substance over form. I use my vast trial and presentation experience, combined with my experience as a presenter and public speaker to evaluate the competitors as to the viability of their arguments and the foundation of their evidence and persuasiveness of arguments. 

General debate:

- I value respect of each other above all else. Keep it fun, no need to get *too* saucy with one another. There's a difference between aggressiveness and meanness.

- It's fine to keep your own time; I can keep track of prep time if you need me to (assume I am anyway).

- No spreading. I'm a flow judge. If I can't keep up with you, I can't flow. If I can't flow your arguments, I can't weigh them.

- I appreciate nuance if it makes sense. Don't try to throw nuanced arguments at me just for the sake of it. Show me how it works in the round.

- Evidence - I like it. I like substantiated evidence. Don't card dump on me, but provide me with adequate proof of your claims. I don't care how many sources you were able to find. I care about quality and relevance of those sources.

- Signposting is much appreciated. :) (goes back to that whole flow judge thing)

- Be confident. I have a speech/drama background as well so I value a solid public speaker who carries themself well. Confidence goes a long way.

PF:

- I enjoy a framework debate, but if you aren't going to provide framework - (a) be willing to weigh your side to your opponents' or (b) provide enough of an impact calculus to convince me you have the stronger case without framework.

- Pretend I don't know anything about your topic. Prove to me you do. That's kind of the fun part about public forum. It's supposed to be geared toward a "general audience."

LD:

- I'm pretty simple when it comes to LD - convince me your value/criterion are superior. Please link your arguments to your value, and remind me often. If you can't convince me there's a link, there's no case.

Overall just have fun with it. At the end of the day that's what debate is supposed to be. You'll find I'm pretty chill so just keep it clean, convince me you've got the better arguments, and we'll have a good time.

I have been judging regularly for about 15 years; and I am in my seventh year coaching Harding Charter Prep HS in Oklahoma City. I love every single event offered for competition. They are all valid. Memes hating on particular events are lame. Follow @hcpspeechdebate on Instagram and Twitter.

LD/PFD: I prefer quality of information and sources as well as clarity and presence of speakers over speed and quantity of information and sources. The more you can tell me about the qualifications of a source, the better I can weigh them. If you give a simple (Last Name/Year) tag, you can assume I know nothing about the author. I like to see your personality as a debater and jokes/lighthearted moments are welcome as long as they are within the scope of the topic. I dislike plans and policy-style approaches to Lincoln-Douglas debate; if you want to do Policy, there's a debate for that. I believe that the heart of Public Forum debate is that it should assume any judge is a lay judge and is more informal and free of debate jargon. Limit pre-case observations and don't place impossible burdens on your opponent. Be civil and professional during cross-examination or your speaker points are toast. Use cross-examination time to ask questions, not make another speech. Use your speech time and prep time! Your constructive speeches should be as close to memorized as possible. I want to see you speaking/debating, not just reading. Cases on paper vs on a laptop gain an automatic advantage. Have fun!

Big Questions: Please, please, please read the Format Manual. Then read it again. Use the Format Manual as evidence in round if you need to. Please let this thing have a chance to become its own thing before we drown it in the other debate sauces.

Policy: If I am judging round round, I apologize in advance. Something has gone awry at this tournament and I am a kind-hearted person with a semi-functioning brain that has been put in to prevent the round starting hours late. We'll make it through this together. I'm probably not gonna disclose unless tab forces me to.

Congress: Don't read word-for-word pre-written speeches. You should have an outline. Pay attention to the whole of the round, not just sitting there prepping for when you are going to talk. Keep questions concise.

World Schools: Requests for POIs should rise/raise as often as needed but don't be a pest about it. You are at the discretion of the speaker. Avoid debate jargon. Rely on reason and logic. Appeal persuasively. Prop arguments should do their best to prove the resolution beyond a shadow of a doubt. Opposition arguments should be about broad rejection of the resolution, not just finding an outlier to say that one example is representative of all.

Final Thoughts: This activity is for education. Winning and excellence should always be celebrated, but not the only goal. Remember that Words Matter and Words have Power. Respect the purpose of the Pronouns and name pronunciation options in Tabroom. The NSDA has worked hard to be inclusive. Don't abuse that. #NotGarbagePeople

O/V

She/Her pronouns.

I'm a Moore varsity debater, and I've been debating policy for 3 years now. That being said, I've ran just about any kind of argument there is in policy, examples include: Topicality, Counterplans, Kritiks, Disads, Theory, etc.

I'm open to any kind of arguments as long as it's not offensive, examples include: racism good, genocide good, pineapples on pizza good, etc.

Clarity over speed, I'm not tryna decipher jibberish. If I can't understand it, I won't flow it. However, I don't have a problem with spreading, and I believe in being organized. Clearly signposting = me flowing your args well = better chance at getting the ballot

My email for questions/email chain is han.le052@gmail.com

Don't email me for questions unless it's about debate or how great I am

Kritiks

I'm a Moore debater, we're all filthy K hacks, enough said. I'm well versed in K lit, but I won't be making your arguments/filling in the gaps for you. Either you know what you're doing, or you don't run it. Don't try to run kritiks to get my ballot, I won't be voting for you if you don't know what's going on, even if I do like Ks. Impact calc is sexy, and so is solvency. Make sure you flesh out your arguments and clearly tell me why I should be voting for your K.

If you run anthro or baudrillard I'll hate you, but I'll still flow it.

Case arguments

They're good. They're great. They're reliable. They have your back. Use them. Please.

Disadvantages/Counterplans

DAs - make sure you have a link to the AFF, I'll take generic ones but I prefer specific ones. Extend your impacts. Explain to me why the AFF causes extinction or whatever. If you thoroughly convince me that the AFF will cause the DA, it should be an easy win for the NEG.

CPs - on god, please tell me why the CP is better than the AFF. I'd prefer it if you run CPs with DAs, but you do you.

Theory

As long as it's fleshed out well and you can explain to me why this theory debate isn't just a time waster, I'll consider it.

FW/Topicality

Unlike Stephanie Dixon, a disgusting K hack, I'm down for FW and T. Unfortunately, many teams only use T and FW as a time waster instead of an actual argument, so unless the argument is fleshed out and you sell me how unfair the other team is being, I probably won't vote on it unless the other team drops it entirely. I have a high threshold on T and FW, tell me how the other team is violating your interp and tell me why your interp is better for debate.

Speaker Points

Stan Exo and I'll be more considerate to your speaker points.

Respect your opponents. Don't speak over them in CX, don't yell at them, don't be condescending, don't misgender your opponents on purpose. This will reflect on your speaker points, and if it gets extreme, it'll reflect the ballot.

3 years CX at Moore High School, 1 year LD

NYU '24, NYU Parli

email chain: eveseabourn@gmail.com

be respectful of everyone in the round, bigotry is not tolerated -_-

Keep your own prep just in case!

For LD:

I am familiar with traditional and progressive styles of LD. The first thing I look at when writing a ballot is the framework of the debate. That lets me decide what impacts and arguments I should prioritize. I am open to any type of argument as long as you can defend it! Make sure to clearly sign post your arguments. Arguments should have a warrant attached, otherwise they can be difficult to evaluate. For specific issues like condo/topicality, I am open to anything, with the obvious exception that the arguments are well constructed and have a clear impact story. Feel free to ask me any questions before the round!

TLDR: Read whatever, just be organized and give clear voters / comparative analysis.