I am a parent judge and I have done judging for PF debate for three years now. I would appreciate if the speakers go between normal pace and fast pace (not too fast) while speaking so I could follow the content and take notes. Also please remember to remain respectful (super important) during CX. I like to follow the guidelines for PF and also expect the participants to do so. I will not take notes / count the arguments that are done past the time limit.

As far the arguments go, I would like to see a convincing argument that justifies the impacts put forth. I weigh evidence and analytics equally. In rebuttal try to explain which of your opponent's contention you are going against instead of just making an argument. Final focus should not have new arguments. At the end, I make my decision based on what came through the flow and what arguments stand.

Good luck to all the contestants.

I am a graduate student in the biomedical sciences at UW Madison. In terms of forensics and debate experience I competed four years in high school forensics (Indiana) and four years of college forensics and debate at the University of Indianapolis (nearly all forensics events and Parliamentary debate). While I had moderate success in high school, I achieved great success at the collegiate level regionally and nationally.

In terms of judging experience, I have been judging for five years at the high school and college levels (locally, regionally, and nationally) in forensics, LD debate, and Public Forum. This is my third year of judging PF on the Wisconsin High School circuit.

In regards to paradigm, I view the debate room as my classroom and thus I aim to make the round as educational as possible for you and to share a bit of the knowledge I have gained over the years. I will disclose the result at the end of the round and discuss how I reached my decision and how I feel each student could do better the next time.

I expect students to be respectful to each other and myself at all times. I am committed to being respectful to you all as well. If this becomes a problem it will be reflected in your speaker points and potentially affect the outcome of the round at my discretion (this is rare and would be discussed in disclosure and on the ballot).

I do flow the round but do not have an issue with normal debate speed. Please though have your speech’s be organized (off time roadmaps are appreciated). If you are going to fast for me I will raise my hand and say speed.

I expect students to time themselves.

I do loosely flow cross and many times cross can lead to significant turning points in the round.

I really appreciate when students weigh the round for me and provide voters and will make the decision mainly on the voters you give.

I understand why arguments are collapsed in PF but in rounds that I am judging please don’t collapse until the summary.

In regards to calling for cards, I encourage debaters to do so when they feel it is appropriate. However, I will rarely call for a card unless a debater asks me to explicitly or there is an accusation of an evidence ethics violation. In that case I will abide by the policies of the tournament.

I sincerely hope this gives you some insight into the approach I take when judging debate. Please let me know before the round if you have any questions or need further clarification.

Speed and Delivery

1. It is the debater's responsibility to get arguments, facts, and warrants into my brain through their speeches. I do not want to be on any email chains for evidence or speeches. I do not want to review evidence after the round unless I have to because there are serious accusations or something.

2. While I think high school performance debates are often executed poorly (though when they're great they're great), I have become convinced by the logic of performance debate: that how we perform is at least as important as the content of our performances, possibly more. A good performance is subversive and persuasive, and even when you are focusing on argumentation, you should know that everything you do is performative and you should try to maximize the potential of your performance in debate.

3. Taglines and citations and the internal warrants of cards must be clear as a freaking bell if you want them on my flow. Usually that means you need to slow down your entire speech significantly. And it means that not only should these elements be spoken slower, but they should be spoken with more force.

4. Jargon (debate jargon, political jargon, topic-specific jargon, undefined philosophical terms, acronyms of any kind) is difficult to follow and rhetorically bad for political and philosophical arguments. I'm a big fan of George Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language."

5. Probably just stop trying to spread. You can speak fast when you're intentionally trying to persuade the judge rather than outpace your opponent.

Overall

I try to be unbiased, but I realize that inevitably personal biases affect how we hear arguments. So I'll try to disclose some of mine. I debated Policy through high school and competed in nearly every forensics event (though there are several new ones since then). I studied English and Political Science in college. I love debate as a program and speech an art form and skill.

I don't like it when debaters pander to my preferences, especially when they venture into arguments they are unfamiliar with to do so.

Argument Preferences

Policy:

I enjoy kritiks more than traditional policy making analysis. I don't think topicality is an instant win for the negative (or the affirmative, for that matter), nor do I think it should be used as a time-suck. If you go for topicality, prove to me that it's a voter. Just after high school, I would have said that impact calculation is extremely important to my ballot, but I've become skeptical of the scale high school debates sometimes get to. Make a persuasive case for how I should evaluate the round.

Lincoln Douglas:

I want the debate to be about moral philosophy--not policy making. The last time I judged LD, I had a strong sense that it needs to figure out what it is. Is it solo Policy or does it have a unique identity? If you have a strong case that it should be something specific, I want you to demonstrate it winningly.

Public Forum:

More than other debates, public forum should be an exercise in communication. It should be an accessible, expressive forum to sort out political ideas. Other than that, just persuade me. Please make the final focus a 1-2 argument articulation of the most important reasons you should win the debate--not a line-by-line of the flow. If you need to clean something up on the flow, do it in the summary. I recognize that there's just not time to debate PF like Policy or LD, so I will not be as reliant on what arguments were covered/extended in my decisions.

Some Logistics

I expect you to know the rules, not me. Please time yourselves if possible, though it's no big deal if I need to time.

Personal Notes

Here are some random facts about me: I'm a Mormon, a Democrat, a father, a feminist, a teacher, a healthcare IT professional, and a poetry nerd. I don't expect any of these identities to affect me greatly in the round, but they exist, and you should be aware of how they affect my perception of politics.

I've debated in high school and know the workings of debate.

Cases-

I want cases with cohesive arguments that make it clear to me what your arguments , warranting, and impacts are. Framework is accepted as long as it is not abusive. Theory that is used appropriately will be accepted but if it is used as a means to be abusive or to guarantee an "easy" win, I will disregard your entire case. (If an opponent paraphrases but is able to provide evidence in a timely manner I will not even consider paraphrase theory in the round). I prefer quality over quantity so bombarding arguments will not work unless they are strong and clear.

Speeches-

I can handle speed as I have debated before but if you use speed as a way to confuse your opponents (speaking super fast/slurred) I will lower your speaker points. Sign-post makes my flowing easier and your speech clearer so I highly recommend it. Weighing is something I want to see in almost all speeches. Give me a reason to vote for you and why I should believe it.

Speaker Points-

I award high speaker points to anyone who gives a clear speech. If you are rude, uncivil, spreading to cause confusion, or promoting harmful behavior I will drop your points significantly.

Evidence Sharing-

I would prefer if an email chain was created before the beginning of round with my email (ashlynnarman.email@gmail.com) added on to it. If you take too long to find a card in order to create more prep time I will call you out on it. Do not waste my time or your opponent's.

With all that being said, make sure this a fun round for everyone in your room :)

She/her- you can call me Brittany

experienced in all speech events, congressional debate, PF, and, LD

PF- I'm retired PF coach and have been judging PF for years. I have also judged quite a bit of LD.

I flow (except crossfires) but I'm not going to get down every source tag. If you feel a source is important or you want to argue your opponents source please make sure I know what the source said. Id prefer you to refer to what the evidence said than just card tags.

Speed-don't go too fast. It isn't so much an issue of me not being able to follow you, it's more the fact that this is a public speaking and communication competition and not a race. At no point in the real world will being the person who speaks the fastest get you anywhere. Since I am not going to judge the round based on simply a tally of who had the most arguments, it's not really worth your time squeezing in that extra contention/argument.

Please, please, please impact weigh for me. You don't want your judge to have to decide what's most important, tell them why your impacts are most important.

Roadmaps- don't do them. They are not useful in pf and rarely tell me anything. Just signpost in your speech. As long as you're organized, I should be able to follow you. If you're not organized, a roadmap wouldn't help me anyway.

Be nice to each other, don't constantly cut each other off in cx, you will see it effect your speaker points if you do.

Default framework is harms vs benefits for all PF. Just because you have a framework and your opponents don't doesn't mean you win automatically. If they fully respond to your framework or lay out their own, even in rebuttal, I'm fine with that.

Generally not interested in non-topical arguments.

Prep Time - Please use your prep time wisely. I will only give a little latitude with regards to untimed evidence sharing or organizing your flows, but please be quick about it.

Good luck!

LD- I am a previous PF person coach but have been judging LD on and off since 2007. A lot of my notes will be the same as above honestly cause they apply to both. But I will repeat them here and also add anything else.

I flow (except crossfires) but I'm not going to get down every source tag. If you feel a source is important or you want to argue your opponents source please make sure I know what the source said in case (or blocks). Id prefer you to refer to what the evidence said than just card tags.

Speed-don't go too fast. It isn't so much an issue of me not being able to follow you, it's more the fact that this is a public speaking and communication competition and not a race. At no point in the real world will being the person who speaks the fastest get you anywhere. Since I am not going to judge the round based on simply a tally of who had the most arguments, it's not really worth your time squeezing in that extra contention/argument.

Please, please, please impact weigh for me. You don't want your judge to have to decide what's most important, tell them why your impacts are most important.

Roadmaps- don't do them unless youre going in a weird order(and ideally dont go in a weird order, I prefer line by line down the flow). Just signpost in your speech. As long as you're organized, I should be able to follow you. If you're not organized, a roadmap wouldn't help me anyway.

Be nice to each other, don't constantly cut each other off in cx, you will see it effect your speaker points if you do.

Generally not interested in completely non-topical arguments. That doesnt mean I wont entertain them potentially in LD as I know theyre very popular. This also doesnt mean I wont entertain arguments like vote neg because this topic is inherently racist, that is still topical. IF you have a non-Kritik case tho, Id recommend you run that in front of me.

Framework is very important- make sure you address it at the beginning- if your frameworks are the same you can just quickly acknowledge that and move on- sometimes kids spend a long time talking about how both teams have a Value of morality and that isnt needed for me. I also dont need you to readdress the framework in later speeches if theyre the same but if theyre different make sure to address it.

Prep Time - Please use your prep time wisely. I will only give a little latitude with regards to untimed evidence sharing or organizing your flows, but please be quick about it.

Good luck!

Congress- On the debate side of the ballot: I highly value clash and new arguments. Rehashing old points is unlikely to get you a high score. The one exception is a really strong crystallization speech that does a good job of summing up what has happened in the debate so far (and these speeches are not easy to do well). On the speech side of the ballot: this is a speech heavy activity, more so than any other debate category. Make sure you follow all the rules of a good speech (vocal control and physical poise are polished, deliberate, crisp and confident. Few errors in pronunciation. Content is clearly presented and organized) I prefer extemporaneous style with only occasional note references for evidence specifics (ideally no notes needed, as in extemp). Make sure you cite your sources (and that your speech includes sources).

Peter Rehani

UPDATED 11/15/19: Clarified evidence policy and paradigm comprehension reward.

UPDATED 5/25/19 for NCFL NATIONALS SPECIFICALLY: Regarding prep time, I will allow 10 seconds for teams to find cards under the requester’s prep time; after that, I will consider it an abuse of prep time and therefore it will not count.

PF TLDR: Heavily flow based judge. My biggest voters rely on extensions and clash in the round. Weigh and define the voters in the final focus. If you have a framework, I expect you to explain why you win under that framework (similarly, if your opponent's provide a framework, weigh under that too). Signpost. Signpost. Signpost.

Congress TLDR: I try to weigh speaking style equally for debate--for debate, I look for clash, extension, and clear reference back to previous speakers. Avoid rehash at all costs, else you will end up on the bottom of my ballot. Speak clearly and ensure that your speeches are clear and well structured.

I strongly encourage you to read this thoroughly. PLEASE ASK ME BEFORE THE ROUND IF SOMETHING IS UNCLEAR TO YOU. I will gladly answer any questions before the round (or after the round). I will try my absolute best to justify my decisions to you (debaters!) during PF disclosure, and if I'm not communicating in a way that you understand, it is YOUR responsibility speak up and let me know.

PF Paradigm:

• If the tournament doesn't explicitly disallow plans and both teams agree before the round to allow plans, feel free to run a plan-based debate if the topic calls for it. I find it more educational.
• In the case of an evidence question being called, I default to tournament rules; barring specific guidelines from the tournament (if tournaments require prep to be run), my policy is to begin prep as soon as the opposing team provides the exact location of the reference. All citations should include dates. Paraphrasing is a realistic way to get more evidence on the flow, but you shouldn't be using evidence as your argument -- they are there to supplement and support your arguments. Otherwise I default to not running prep for evidence exchange.
• If it's not in the final focus, it's not a voter.
• I appreciate effective crossfire, however I don't flow it unless you explicitly tell me to write something down, like a specific concession (hint: you should do this, explicitly say "write that down").
• I am inclined to reward good communication with speaker points and a mind more receptive to your arguments.
• Outside of the fact that the 2nd overall speech is allowed to just read case, I expect FULL case/off-case coverage in EVERY speech starting with the 2nd rebuttal (4th overall speech) -- i.e. extend everything that you want weighed. The 1st rebuttal (3rd overall speech) doesn't need to extend case -- they just need to refute the opposing case.
• Exception to the above: Framework. If you're speaking second, don't wait until 15 minutes into the round to tell me your framework. You're obligated to make those arguments in case. I vastly prefer to see framework at the top of all speeches, as it provides structure and a lens to understand your arguments--if you wait 1:30 into summary to discuss framework, it's likely that I'll lose it on the flow.
• For rebuttal, my general preference for the sake of sanity in organization is concise, top down, line by line responses. I feel that this is often the best way to ensure that you get through everything in the case. Rebuttal does not have to repeat everything, but should provide organized responses. Please signpost.
• I am very likely not the judge you want if you're running a non-canonical strategy, like a "kritik". I am an engineer and I have a fairly rigid policymaker paradigm.
• I don't flow anything called an "overview". Overviews are heuristic explanations to help me make sense of the round. Please don't expect to generate offense off of an overview.
• I'm fine if you'd like to time yourselves with an alarm; however, for the sake of common courtesy, please turn this off if you plan to time your opponents.
• I am inclined to give bonus speaker points if I see an effort to "read me" as a judge, even if you read me wrong. Cite my paradigm if you need to. Learning to figure out your audience is a crucial life skill. On a related note: if you use the secret word 'lobster' in your speech, I will give you and your partner a metaphorical 0.5 extra speaker points, since it means you read my philosophy thoroughly. This applies to LD too.
• I generally prefer debates I'd be able to show to a school administrator and have them be impressed by the activity rather than offended or scared.
• Please give me voter issues in the final focus. Weigh if at all possible. When I weigh for you, hell breaks loose. I cannot stress this enough.

Congress Paradigm:

• I try to judge congressional debate through as balanced a lens as possible--this means I tend to value speaking quality equally to the quality of your debate abilities.
• Typically, the biggest reason that I knock speakers down comes from non-original arguments/causing rehash in the debate. I feel that this decreases the quality of the debate and fundamentally mitigates the educational benefits of congressional debate.
• Regarding roleplay of a true Congress, I think it adds a bit of humor to the debate and leads to more engaged speakers.
• On the note of questioning, I prefer when students keep questions as concise as possible to avoid burying the speaker in a mountain of jargon.
• Clash and extension (similar to my PF paradigm) are my biggest factors on the debate side--please please please introduce clash and cite the speaker that you are extending or clashing. It helps to follow the flow of the argument as you speak, and it demonstrates you're actually paying attention.
• The later you speak in cycle, the more clash I expect to see and I judge on that metric. Similarly, I strongly dislike having 2 speeches on the same side, as it often leads to rehash. If you are speaking for the second time on the same bill, I look more closely for unique arguments and extended clash, and tend to judge these speeches slightly more harshly.
• Extension of questioning time often leads to less speeches getting in, and ultimately means that less people get a chance to speak. For this reason, I'm typically opposed to having students extend their questioning periods.
• For later cycle, I don't mind crystallization speeches but I do expect to see weighing and clear reference back to previous speakers.
• As stated above, your evidence is not your argument--It serves to support your argument.
• Speaking: gestures and clear movements add to structure and to the quality of your speech. Gesturing for the sake of gesturing, and non directed movements do not. I tend to prefer when speakers keep it simple with the style instead of over-complicating everything.
• For authorships, sponsorships, and first negs, I tend to look at fluency breaks and time more critically, as these are speeches that should be well rehearsed ahead of time.
• I view a logical argument that flows well to be on par with literal evidence from a perspective of supporting your arguments. This means that 1-you shouldn't be afraid to use logic in your speeches and 2-evidence debates will not hold up for me.

Debate Experience: Graduated 2017; 4 years of PF debate(mainly circuit) for James Madison Memorial High School - Did ok

1) Clean extensions - This means responding to every response on your relevant offense in summary. Extend your warrants and impacts fully eg: If you say the tagline or a card name - I will not flow it for you; you must explain the argument behind the tagline or card name.

2) Weighing- Weighing is the first thing I evaluate at the end of the round. Tell me where I should vote

3) Summaries and Final Focus - You can extend defense directly from first rebuttal to first final focus unless the second speaking team goes back to case in second rebuttal. All offense must be in summary and final focus.

Those three things are the most important and applicable to every debate round.

4) Speed. I'm fine with speed. I will tell you to slow down if you go fast enough for me to not be able to flow.

5) Theory/K's. I'm good with Theory and K's. You should probably not be fast with Theory arguments in front of me because it gives me less time to understand the argument.

6) Plans/CP's. I can accept plans/cp's if either your opponents don't call you out on the plan/cp or you give me a convincing reason why your particular plan/cp should be allowed in the realm of PF. For people responding to plan/cp's, saying its a plan/cp works but it would be appreciated if you implicated out why plan/cp's are bad in PF past the "its against the rules".

6) Second Rebuttal. Second Rebuttal doesn't have to go back to case. I think its strategic for you to do so. As a former first speaker whose partner didn't go back to case, summaries were often unnecessarily hard. I wish he made better choices in debate and life.

7) Dropped Arguments: Arguments are dropped after you ignore it in summary. Please collapse strategically. If you don't respond to turns on a dropped argument, your opponents can extend them. Kicking contentions/subpoints are okay as long as you do it correctly.

8) Evidence. All evidence must have author and source. eg: "Vovata of Harvard University" rather than "Vovata" or "Harvard University". I will call for evidence if either your opponent wants me to or if its extended in two different ways.

9) Dates: I think if you have time you can put dates in your case/rebuttal. If you don't, you can open up yourself to date theory. For people running date theory - tell me why it puts you in a structural disadvantage in context to the topic. Don't just cite "NSDA Rules"

10) Speaker Points: I hate the speaker point system so I give >29's to almost everyone. I also generally try to give first speakers more speaker points. Don't be rude/make up new stuff in second final focus and you should be fine.

11) Off-time road maps. I like off-time road maps. You can get pretty specific with them before your speeches.

For LD (updated 11/8/2018)

The general gist of my LD paradigm is similar to my PF paradigm. However, I will not try to impose my activity(PF) on yours. That means that any aspect of my paradigm is always up for negotiation and I'll try to keep an open mind on any argument that you guys bring to the table. Please ask if you have any specific questions about an argument or an argument type.