Spell out why I should vote for you - clearly weigh arguments.

Please don't interrupt each other in CX and GCX and don't spread!

Keep track of your own time for prep/cross/speeches.

If you bring up new arguments in FF or cross, I'll drop them. If you drop arguments/responses mid-round, I'll also drop them from my flow.

Signpost, so that we know what's happening.

Don't talk to your partner in the middle of your opponents giving a speech - it's rude! You have allotted prep for that.

In summary - debate clean, fair, and smartly. Have fun, and don't be too hard on yourself for losses - you're always improving!

My debate background is in Parliamentary Debate in a program strongly influenced by policy debate. What I look for is clear structure and sound arguments, avoiding fallacies, and using credible evidence to support claims.

In round, being able to compare and evaluate evidence and to impact arguments to the round. Tell me why your argument matters.

Another key element of a good debate is CLASH. Attack and defend your arguments, impact them to the criteria and value, tell me which one should be weighted the most in my evaluation of the round and why.

Be nice and have fun!

PF Debate Judge Paradigm

What school(s) are you affiliated with? Enter names of schools you coach for, judge for, etc.

Were you a competitor when in school? If so, what style of debate did you do and for how many years? Enter type of debate (LD, PF, Policy) and number of years. Otherwise, put N/A.

How often do you judge public forum debate? Can say every weekend, few times a year, etc.

Speaking

How fast can students speak during speeches? Just a little faster than conversational

If a student is speaking too fast or unclear, will you give any cues to them? no

Evaluating the Round

1. Do you prefer arguments over style, style over arguments, or weigh them equally? Arguments, but it is meant to be a lay style of delivery

2. What do you see as the role of the final focus in the round? Give me voters

3. If a team plans to win the debate on an argument, in your opinion does that argument have to be extended in the rebuttal or summary speeches? If you think it is your winning argument, extend it and also make it a voter.

4. Do you weigh evidence over analytics, analytics over evidence, or weigh them equally? Evidence is to support arguments,

Other Notes

In a few sentences, describe the type of debate you would like most to hear or any other things debaters/coaches should know about your judging style.

If you make a claim, link it to the res/argument made, and warrant why it applies. Support your claims with reasoning and evidence. The stronger it is, the more I can weigh it.

Short Version

I have ten+ years of debate experience and will buy any argument, as long as it is well structured and fair. I am known to be a very progressive judge in Wisconsin, however on Nat circuit level it might be better to treat me as a Flay judge. I do love a good traditional debate, but do like progressive debate. Most importantly have fun in a round!

Long version

Event Preferences

PF: Tech>truth within reason.

speed>collapsing: Share a doc and go for everything, yes even if that means spreading. I generally HATE time suck contentions, like don't waste my time flowing something you know you are going to drop. Provide more education to the round by running quality arguments, or end your speech early.

full case>paraphrasing: In general the more you can take the good file sharing habits of LD and CX and use them, the quick and better the round will go.

LD: LARP (Policy-style arguments i.e. Plans, CPs, Disads, Topicality) > Trad/Phil (Standard LD case) > Ks/Performance > Theory > Tricks> Disclosure Theory

CX Neg: Disads>T>Specs>CP>K>Theory > Tricks> Disclosure Theory

CX Aff: traditional cases>aff Ks>Disclosure Theory

Thoughts on certain topics

Framework: Please tell me how the framework contextualizes your offense / defense in relation to the ballot and/or the round. I require framework to also contextualize how your opponents arguments are implicated by your Framework arguments.

Argument Resolution: I reward debaters who clearly articulate and provide reasons why their warrants, impacts, sources are stronger in this round – Impact calc and voters are great ways to do this. Debaters who provide well warranted arguments on the flow that are developed early and throughout the debate get both high speaks from me and my ballot.

Theory: I vote on well developed procedurals, I do not vote on blipped shells that blow up later in the debate so have voters and standards don’t just give me an interp and violation - this isn't to say don't run T in front of me but rather that you need to provide me a well developed justification for why to prefer your side. Focus on impacts through a education/fairness filter will be the easiest way to my ballot on this issue. I do hate it when teams use theory as a time suck.

K debate: I have read and actively coach a lot of critical debate but you should not however assume I know the literature base you will be pulling from, feel free to ask prior to the start of the round about my familiarity. The more specific your argument is to the round or issue at hand then the easier route you will have to my ballot. I usually am not a fan of Perm because it can make the debate muddy. I do love conditionality debate.

Tricks: If is one thing you should not run with me, it is tricks, I like a clean and fair Debate.

Disadvantages: Disads are my favorite off case argument. I evaluate Disads first on the risk of intrinsic link to the AFF before questions of uniqueness and the way this implicates the affirmative, this isn't to say questions of uniqueness don't implicate the link but questions of link comes first and then are determined to be strengthened / weakened by the uniqueness. - Work done on the impact level to have strong warrants as well as good weighing are an easy way to my ballot.

Counter Plan: My second favorite off case argument to see. Make sure they are mutually exclusive and AFF can’t perm. Also I hate Perm debate usually on CP because it is either an easy win or waste of my time. I think overall Cp play well with Disads and are a easy way for NEG to win my ballot.

Speed: I am perfectly fine with speed usually I will only yell clear once and it is because you are not speaking clearly.DO NOT SPREAD ANALYTICS WITHOUT A DOC.

Flashing: Add me to the email chain, my RFD will be better if you do.

justinflynn190@gmail.com

Experience

I competed in Public Forum at the national level for Sheboygan North from 2006-2008. Debate has changed a lot since I was competing.

I have been judging for the last five years off and on for several Wisconsin Schools. I have judged forensics for the past 10 or so years and competed much more heavily in that side of the Speech and Debate activity. Overall I'd say that I am moderately experienced when it comes to judging debate.

Preferences

Above all else I want to see that you know how to evaluate, cite, and use evidence. It is not enough to just say you have a card/source which states X. I want to know how reliable this source is and how you know you can trust this information. Critical thinking is key. Going forward this is the best skill you will take away from this activity.

In addition please connect your case to the resolution. I now it should go without saying...but here we are.

Kritiks are new to me but I like them. This kind of thinking is refreshing provided it stays on task and doesn't stray too far from the resolution. Also Ks still need to effectively use evidence.

I like having a framework. It gives me something to reference through out the round.

Dislikes

Disrespectful or overly aggressive behavior will lose you a lot of speaker points. I will be watching you while your opponents are speaking keep that in mind. Be respectful and polite.

Do not tell me how I should vote/flow/evaluate arguments. Do not address me and say "Judge you should X" I know what I should be doing and I know how to evaluate a round. Let your case do the talking and don't address me directly. In the same vein don't say things like "This flows to our side" or "We turned that." Those are evaluations that I will make if you did these things I will see it. Public forum emulates making speeches to the public you wouldn't address a town hall full of voters that way so don't do it here.

Don't spread in PF if you want to do that go do policy.

Other

I love creativity.

Have Fun! While it's great to be competitive, remember that you should be having fun.

tldr; default to a genuinely flow-based judge. Updated recently for greater clarity.

I am good with tech rounds, but my threshold for speed is lower when judging, so don't spread on me. I need cases to be around 750 words for me to catch everything, but my response to speed somewhat improves as the round progresses. In other words, I need you to take it slow in constructive, but I can generally handle quicker back half rounds.

I vibe with all the standard stuff but am also susceptible to good rhetoric. I judge directly off the flow and am very conscious to not insert personal knowledge/evaluation.

No discrimination on the identity or circumstance of participants in round will be tolerated. Read trigger warnings with an opt-out if you at all think your case might warrant one. Please use gender neutral language in round if you don't know the pronouns of your opponents.

Grand cross is fun, and people need to stop being mean to it :(

Theory: I have voted on theory before and am open to evaluating it so long as it's targeting significant in-round abuse. I still follow theory on the flow, but I do believe that theory somewhat asks the judge to draw upon their own perception of what's happened in the round. I am 100% willing to stop the round and vote if there is any kind of behavior compromising the safety of participants. I will never, ever vote on disclosure theory.

Framework: Love it. Comfortable voting under basically any philosophical framework (deontology, util (I have a greater understanding of act utilitarianism rather than rule utilitarianism) rights, etc) as long as its won. I will give you a speaks boost if you run rights framework bc I've never head that in PF and want to see it. Also love fiat analysis.

Ks: If your K isn't accessible, I would ask you to offer an opt-out system. I am definitely more likely to vote on Ks that have tangible pre-fiat impacts. I am a decent evaluator of Ks if they're accessible enough for the literature to be understood. Please, please, please don't spread Ks.

Speaks: My speaks start at 28, and I definitely do hand out 30s. Just because you lose doesn't mean low speaks. If you're break quality, expect above 28s.

General Preferences: Fun rounds are the best rounds. Please extend cards when doing case extensions. Implicate your offensive responses.

Feel free to ask me if there's any questions post round.

Framework - I will be judging all rounds in terms of whatever framework is successfully presented to me. If the two sides can not agree on one framework, I will accept the one that I view to be more strongly argued, or the one more relevant to the topic (if the discrepancy between relevancy is significant). If neither side presents me with a framework, I will judge the round on what I believe the principal issue of the topic is.

Speaking - I'm never against speed in PF, but I do require all participants to be able to understand clearly what you are saying. Particularly with this season being online, try to make sure you aren't going at a speed where the internet will mess with your clarity. If I feel you are going too fast, I will remind you twice by saying "clear". After that, I'll do my best but if I couldn't hear what was said I won't flow it. In a similar vein, I would love to see signposting as it makes flowing for everyone much easier (and also is a good speech skill overall), but it isn't required.

Cross - Be respectful. I'll be dissociating during all three crosses, so if anything comes up which you feel benefits your argument, bring it up in the following speech for me to flow.

Evidence - The majority of arguments should have reliable evidence backing them up. I will be looking for claims, warrants, and impacts in each one. I love signposting, so if you can work that in, all the better for me, but if not that's okay too. Generally, I'll only call for evidence if I want to see how two pieces of evidence weigh against each other in the round, or if your opponent brings up sufficient doubt in the validity of your evidence.

Summary/Final Focus - I will not be flowing any new arguments made during these speeches, but new evidence/rebuttals for previous arguments are perfectly fine. My personal preference is for these to be concise and to the point (as their names would suggest). Addressing the major points from earlier speeches (and why your side wins them under framework) is more important to me than covering every single argument made.

IN GENERAL

- Be respectful and patient with online rounds

- Speak clearly

- Provide sound evidence and links to impacts

- Carry each argument through the round (even if it's just a one-sentence summary); dropped arguments will tend to flow in your opponents favor

Info: Competed in PF Debate at James Madison Memorial High School for four years. Graduated in 2019. Student at University of Minnesota- Twin Cities.

Overall Argument: Make sure you build a clear and consistent narrative in the round. Don't forget the big picture.

Case Reading: I don't prefer people speaking too fast. However, if you have to, make sure you make sense. If you don't, I won't be able to write it down.

Rebuttals: For first rebuttals, only refute your opponents, and introduce a framework if you want. Only bring up your case if you are cross-applying. Repeating your case without giving the opposition an opportunity to respond is a waste of time. For second rebuttals, make sure you leave enough time to respond to opponents' rebuttal, because it would be hard for me to vote for a team that doesn't properly respond to their opponents until the 3rd to last speech.

Cross X: I won't flow it. If discussions from cross x are not brought up in later speeches, they will not be written on my flow.

Summary and FF: Arguments not present in summary will be considered dropped, even if brought up in FF.

Extensions: I need at least the warrant and impact to be extended every time an argument is brought up. You can't just extend the citation in your later speeches. If the warrant and the impact are not mentioned, I will not flow.

Evidence: Have the name, source, and date when citing evidence. It would make it easier for everyone in the round

I was a PF debater in high school, have been judging for years and have recently started coaching.

PF: I am a flow judge and like to see a clean line-by-line in rebuttal. Be sure you are not only responding to the argument your opponents' present but also the impact. Tell me why they can't access their impact in rebuttal. In summary, you should begin tying up any loose ends and begin to weigh. Tell me why your opponents can't access their impacts or why your impacts are bigger and better. Lives are a good default impact that is easy to compare. Final focus should be almost entirely voters. Give me 2 or 3 good reasons why I should vote for you. Don't make final focus a mini rebuttal. A good final focus does go over the entire round or every argument. Only focus on what you think you're winning. In terms of framework, unless one is proposed by either team I will default to util. In summary and final focus, tell me how your arguments/impacts align with the framework and why your opponents aren't meeting the framework.

LD: I have less experience in LD but will be able to follow more complex arguments. Be sure to talk about impacts explicitly and how they align to your value and criterion. Focus on the topic at hand, not the nature of debate or how your opponent is debating, except if they are being discriminatory. I am a flow judge through and through. Spend time developing clear answers to values and impacts that your opponent brings up and counter any arguments brough up against your case. A lot of LD arguments can become convoluted so take time to be clear so I have a clear understanding of what you are trying to say.

Speed: I can understand speed, but the faster you talk the less I will write down. As a flow judge, talking incomprehensibly or too fast could be detrimental to your success in the round.

Roadmaps: I won't time your roadmaps as long as you identify them as roadmaps before you start talking. Keep them brief. Don't waste time by saying that the order will be con then pro during first rebuttal. If you are going to talk about specific arguments identify those in your roadmap.

Also if it sounds like you can't breath, you're talking too fast.

Overall: Be civil. Don't yell at your opponents, partner or me.

Experience: competed in PF for 3 years

General: I am not going to be 100% flow focused, but it is important to me that arguments are analyzed, refuted, overturned, or extended throughout the round. I will listen to CX, however, arguments will flow stronger if they are extended to speeches. Focus summary and FF on what is important, however, mention anything that was uncontested briefly. Speed is fine, but not at the cost of intelligibility. The debate should be a safe space and any attempt to undermine the security of anyone will result in a severe loss of speaker points or the loss of round depending on the offense. Be respectful, kind, and fair.

Framework: The framework should be the main focus of the round and I will flow based on that. Arguments that do not adhere to the framework provided will not weigh as much. In the case of conflicting frameworks, provide evidence why yours should hold.

Arguments:

- I am willing to listen to logical and analytical arguments. When done correctly, they can weigh more than evidence-based arguments

- Arguments should include an evaluation mechanism that relates to the framework.

- I will accept most arguments (even bad ones) if they are uncontested by the opponents.

Evidence:

- The source, relevance, and quality will all be taken into account especially the background of studies if brought up.

- Explain any quotes with any context needed to understand them.

- Emphasize any main points after reading large blocks of evidence in speeches.

- I may ask for cards at the end to make sure they are valid, however, I will not judge on anything that I gain from reading that card other than large misrepresentation or fabrication.

I have been a high school debater in the past, back in the days when we pushed around dollies of totes packed with paper evidence. While I have experience with debate I have only been back into judging for the past 2 or 3 years. At this point I feel comfortable with all the changes.

My background as a debater is in Policy debate. My teammates and I thought that tabula rasa was the coolest paradigm, so that's probably still influencing my decisions to this day. It's pretty much, I have no predispositions so you tell me how to vote.

I try to flow every argument and evidence card as thoroughly as I can but I need your help. Please speak clearly and keep your arguments in a coherent order. I can handle speed if you have a lot to cover in your speech. However, weigh that with the fact that if it was too fast for me to follow you will need to clarify your arguments as soon as possible. If you wait too long to make your arguments clear to me then it will be too late for me to fairly weigh them against others in the round.

"Since time is so limited, keep it simple and straightforward. Direct refutation, line by line responses and precise attacks are easiest for me to weigh, so why not do that?" Sage advice I nabbed from another judge.

In crossfire I like to see that you are paying attention. Ask lots of questions and don't leave room for awkward pauses.

I am a LAY judge.

Please do not spread, or run theory. Slowing down would be appreciated.

1st. Being Polite and respectful.

2nd. Being honest and reasonable. I would rather you concede a bad point than sketchily try to defend it.

3rd. Explaining why whatever thing you're talking about matters. Collapsing tends to make this easier.

4th. Weighing.

I give high speaker points as long as you're respectful.

Please signpost, it will help me with my flow. Don't stress out too much, and enjoy yourselves!

Hey everyone,

Here's a little background: I debated PF all four years of high school. Currently, I'm a junior in college, with a little over a year of experience judging. My judging is pretty straightforward, although I do have a few basic preferences:

• Speak coherently and articulate your arguments; I only flow what I can understand (quality>quantity)
• I will not flow dropped arguments or anything mentioned in cross, so be sure to flow through your arguments in the round and bring up anything you want to be considered from cross in subsequent speeches.
• Evidence is key. If your claims are not supported clearly, I will not flow it.
• Link your impacts. Ultimately, this is what the round will come down to, so make sure you clearly articulate voters and weigh these. Whenever possible, I want to see clash! Tell me how and why your impacts outweigh your opponent's.

-4 years experience in Public forum and LD.

-Currently compete for the University of Nevada, Reno doing British parliamentary Debate and NPDA.

-Give voters and weigh your impacts.

-If you won the debate, chances are you will have won on my ballot.

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).

andrea.peterson-longmore@neenah.k12.wi.us thats my email before you ask.

I have sections below specific to each category, so just scroll and look for the bolded section you are interested in.

Experience: I am currently the head coach for Neenah high school Speech & Debate (but currently only assisting in LD/PF... if that makes sense? I do all the other things) and have been a coach for the last 6 years. I have students who compete locally as well as nationally- we had the national champion at NSDA in Congress, and a Quarterfinalist in LD, a national competitor in Speech, middle school nats nationa runner up....so I have judged all over the place. This is my ninth year as a judge ('22-'23). I judge all categories, except varsity policy. I was not a debater in school, so I have a more basic understanding of the more obscure things that go on in debate.

"I have 5 minutes and wanted to check your paradigm quick, whats the headlines?"

*******Update for Yale- I broke my dominant hand, and can't write. I take short notes by typing, but be as clear as you can about your points since I have to do this from memory =(

Congress is my JAM. I love it and I prefer to see that level of enthusiasm/preparation from the participants.

I wasn't a debater- explain things clearly or I drop arguments I don't understand. ***note on that- I understand the terms of debate (link, turn, impact, etc), just not more niche philosophies and less popular arguments***

Be nice to each other- respect will get you far with me

Impact calc and weighing of final arguments is the best strat with me

Don't argue with me in RFD. If I drop you and you think you should have won, explain it better next time.

I can handle spreading, but if you can't... don't. It's awkward to have to tell you that you don't make sense.

Use a timer, and stick to it- I hate it when kids go over time. I stop flowing within 5 seconds of the end of your time. I will not warn you about this- you know your time limits.

Okay, I love these little things I have seen on other paradigms, so hopefully this helps.

For your pref sheets: (1 being top pref, just to be clear)

K's 1<-------------------------------X------>5 (I like them, but I feel like I am not a good judge for them)

Policy – 1<----X--------------------------------->5 /strike

Phil – 1<-------------------X------------------>5

T/Theory- 1<-------------------------------X------>5

Tricks – 1<-------------------------------------X>5 Actually... X. <== I HATE them. Please don't run them.

Trad – 1<--X----------------------------------->5

See below for more in-depth explanations divided by category

Congress

Behavior: You are acting as a member of congress- keep that in mind in how you behave! Please make sure to respect the rules of your parli and PO. For the love all that is good, please pay attention to the round. This is far more fun when everyone participates! If I see you on your phone for more than a minute at a time I will be annoyed. Obviously you can answer a text or check the time quick, but if you are disengaged I will notice and I will not be happy.

Speeches: I LOVE *actually* extemporaneous speeches. Please breathe some life into your words- you are trying to make your fellow congresspeople vote for or against the bill! Make sure you include stats, citations, and some analysis of other speaker's points. I believe that if legislation is up for debate, there is current research to be read about it, thus I expect you are only using sources from AT MOST the last 5 years. Better if they are from the last 3. A good, weird AGD is fun. Please avoid the common Taylor Swift/Disney/over used quote choices though. Bonus if you can make me a crack a smile with it! (not really a "bonus," but I remember them when I am doing my rankings- which helps your placement)

PO's: Have a CLEAR sheet for people to follow, keep it updated. If you make a mistake, fix it and move on quickly. LEARN your chamber's names. It is so awkward to hear POs continually mess up the names in the chamber. If you need it, but a phonetic pronunciation spot in your sheet and ask them to put their name in that way for you. I tend to rank PO's high, as long as they are engaged and well versed in the congress rules, (or at least learning them!) if they are not engaged and EFFICIENT, they can expect a low ranking. I can't stand it when a PO says a whole 30 second thing after every speech and questioning block.

Questioning: Ask short, clear questions. Don't have a ton of lead up. I don't mind if you need to argue with each other a bit, but keep it civil and don't cut each other off unless its clear they are wasting your time or are not answering the question. It drives me insane to have a silent room for questions and no opposition to a bill, please ask lots of questions! It plays into my ranking- great speeches will only get you so far with me! If you don't ask any questions in a bill cycle, don't expect a rank of over 6 from me. This hold true even if you didn't speak on the bill. It doesn't require research to think critically and ask thoughtful questions.

Recesses: Keep them short. Do not ask for more than 5 minutes between bills- I am not willing to extend the end of the session to accommodate the chamber wasting time during the session.

Overall Preferences: I can't stand it when kids want to break cycle to just give a speech. I realize this isn't your fault, but that means the debate is stale and we need to move on. Unless you are giving a whole new perspective on the bill, you are far better off moving on to a new bill and giving a speech there. I am especially critical of these speeches in terms of quality of content and sources, because if you are insisting we listen to your extra speech, it must be REALLY good and worth not moving on.

Public Forum

Preferences: Please be clear and professional in round. I hate that the attitudes and behaviors seen in other styles is seeping into PF. As noted in other sections, I was not a debater, so don't expect me to know every single term you share. Generally, if I make a somewhat confused face, define your term.

A few things I love to see: Please, collapse arguments. It's so awesome to watch a veteran team (or even a novice team) weigh arguments and determine the largest impacts and points in the round and weigh them against each other, rather than slowly increase their speed in through the debate to try and get every single argument in to the last speech. Spreading has no place in PF- stop trying to make it happen, its not going to happen.

A few things I hate in rounds: Veteran debaters being overly hard on novices- we want to keep them in the activity, don't discourage them by running super dense over the top arguments- you will probably win if you just run a standard argument simply by being more experienced. "Stealing" prep- if you need prep take it, don't make me sit for 35 seconds and then tell me you're taking prep. If you want cards, fine... but ask for them all at once and get it over with quickly. It is super annoying to go through CX and then have a 15 minute "card trade" before getting back into debate.

Lincoln Douglas

Preferences: This is what the majority of my students do. I will flow everything and I will say clear if necessary, but only once before I stop flowing you. I was not a debater, so my knowledge of really weird arguments is lacking. Let me say that again. I WAS NOT A DEBATER- EXPLAIN WHAT YOU MEAN. It has become more and more common to use really dense philosophies in your framing- this is something I have little experience with. Make sure to explain your super specialized philosophy carefully or I can't use it as a weighing mechanism. I encourage you to run whatever you like, but explain it very well, especially if it is not something common. Err on the side of caution if you are not sure if it is common- like I said I am not well versed in most of the different arguments. In terms of speed I judge a lot of policy, so I would say I am comfortable with most speeds seen in LD.

A few things I love to see in round: Please weigh & tell me how to vote so I don’t have to intervene in any capacity. I also like to see super high respect for your opponent. This is such an underrated part of PF that is not nearly as present in LD or Policy, and it totally should be. Signpost clearly- I love hearing you tell me exactly what the "uniqueness" is, the "link" and the "impact. It makes it much easier for me to organize my flow. If you have nearly identical frames, I love to see kids recognize that and show how they can fit into each other's frame, rather than making the round about whether I should weigh using "limiting suffering" or "increasing societal welfare." Let's be honest, those are pretty similar, and if you fit in one you probably can fit in the other.

A few things I hate in rounds: Swearing- This seems like an obvious one, but is lacks professionalism if it is not needed to actually make the points. "Stealing" prep- if you need prep take it, don't make me sit for 35 seconds and then tell me you're taking prep. Veteran debaters being overly hard on novices- we want to keep them in the activity, don't discourage them by running super dense over the top arguments- you will probably win if you just run a standard argument simply by being more experienced. Last thing: if you run a "fairness" argument that you couldn't prep against your opponent and then you have a case against your opponent, expect me to completely drop your fairness argument. You just proved that you lied about the fairness since you prepped that argument. Use your time to prepare blocks and responses instead of wasteful and lazy theory shells.

Policy

Preferences: I do not like any tricks or unprofessional behavior in round, but snark is always okay. I prefer not to hear teams talking to each other while their opponents are presenting, as it is distracting to me as a judge. Open speeches are a no-go. If you don't have your own stuff ready, then take prep time. If you're out of prep time, organize yourself better next time. I generally only judge novice policy once in a while, so be aware you might be my only round this year, and I probably don't have a comprehensive knowledge of the subject area.

I am fine with spreading, (probably a 6/10 for speed) however if you are not understandable, I will only tell you clear once before I stop flowing you. Please be aware of your own speaking issues- for example, if you have braces and rubber bands, you probably should not spread, since you will be almost unintelligible. On the topic of spreading- I understand it is a strategy to get as many arguments in as possible, but be aware that a large breadth of arguments you do not understand is basically useless.

Impact calc is huge for me. If I don't clearly hear you explain why your impacts are bigger or more important, I judge completely by what is on my flow. DA's and CP's are fine in a round, and good experience for a novice/Post nov. I always flow cross x, and keep track of questions asked. I do not want to see a framework in novice policy.

Misc. Stuff for any style debate:

-I am not about speaker points- I think its a really biased system, but I do it because its required. I would not consider myself generous with points, but I try to be fair with the way the system is set up. That said, if you’re mean to your opponent I will substantially dock your speaks. If you can’t control your round without being disrespectful there is something wrong. Since I have been asked, I average about 28 for speaks.

-I don't flow things from CX unless I am told to. I find it to be one of the more telling parts of any round about who has stronger arguments and better understands the content, but if you want it to weigh in to my decision, you need to bring it up in speeches.

-Please understand whatever you’re running before you run it in front of me- it is super frustrating to hear kids hem and haw about defining terms when they didn't take time to understand what they are saying.

-I dislike timing rounds and I've found I'm extremely inaccurate. I will keep time, but it is best if we have multiple timers going to ensure accuracy. Please time yourselves and hold your opponent accountable so that I don't have to. I HATE having to cut people off because they are over time- I actually prefer if their opponent has a timer that goes off so I can hear it.

TLDR: Be respectful, know & define your stuff, use current sources, watch your time.

Hey everyone,

I did PF for 3 years so I have decent experience with it, and I'm currently a college freshman. Besides a few basic common sense debate things, I don't really have any major preferences, and I leave you to do what you think will win the round.

For framework, this typically isn't a point of contention in PF, but if it somehow is, then I'm going to have to evaluate the round in the context of that framework, and any contentions that don't fit within the its scope will probably be devalued.

In Cross Ex, most judges don't flow, and I'll still pay attention, but if you think some major concessions were made or some good points were made, then bring it up in a later speech.

In the speeches themselves, if you choose to use speed, then as long as it's coherent then I'm fine with it. Make whatever arguments you think will benefit you. Most of my focus is on the flow, so make sure you address your opponents arguments, and try to extend yours as best as you can. Oftentimes in PF, people read large blocks, so if you do this, just make sure to highlight the key takeaways in them, and contextualize the quotes that you use.

Hello my name is Aananya. I did PF 4 years in high school and debated nationally in NCFLs and NSDAs.

PF- I am a flow judge and I appreciate line by line rebuttal. I like to see clash between cases, tell me why your case is better than your opponent. Start to weigh in summary and begin constructing voters for your partner to talk about in final focus. Please note if you bring up anything new during final focus I will not flow it.

LD- I do not know much about LD but I understand how LD works. I would like to know why you win, so a portion of your speeches should be explaining why you win so I do not have to make my own conclusion.

Speed- I am fine with speed but if you start spreading, remember the faster you talk the less I can write down.

Cross X- I do not flow cross but if you want me write something down, let me know

If you have any questions let me know before the round.

Please be civil with each other.

Anton Shircel

Coaching:
Assistant coach/judge for Sheboygan South from 2004-2006
Assistant/Head coach Neenah from 2006-2010
Assistant coach Waukesha South 2012-2014
Head Coach Sheboygan North High School 2014-Present

High School Experience:
Policy debater at Sheboygan South for four years (1998-2002)
Debated Novice, JV, Varsity 4, and VSS
Participated in Forensics, Mock Trial, and Student Congress

Public Forum Philosophy: Traditional
Speed: This format is geared towards having citizen judges. Speed should reflect a quick-paced conversation. Clarity and enunciation is paramount in understanding the arguments. I shouldn't need to follow a transcript of your speech to understand what you are saying.

Framework: This is a key point that needs to be made in the first speeches. The pro/con need to show the framework of how they achieve a win for the round. This needs to be clearly stated and then proven in their contentions. A lack of framework shows a lack of focus. If for some reason that there isn't a framework, my default one would be a basic Utilitarian framework.

Off Case Arguments: I am not a fan of kritiks, theory, and other off-case arguments in a public forum round. Look, I am not going to write it off on my own. The opposition still needs to address it. However, it will not take much beyond a basic abuse argument for me to cross it off the flow.

Role of Summary & Final Focus: At this point, the arguments have been stated. Each side should be weighing the different positions and showing why they are ahead on the flow. The summary is also the point where there should be strategic choices made on collapsing or kicking contentions/arguments.

Policy Debate Philosophy: Policy Maker
Speed: My preferred rate of speed is about medium to medium-high. I don't mind a faster round, however I ask that tags be slowed down to indicate a change in cards/arguments. Related to that, I tend to prefer fewer/well-constructed arguments to a melee of short/under-developed arguments. As far as open-cross examination, I am not against it. However, both sides must be okay with the situation.

Topicality: I am not the biggest fan of topicality. There must be a clear violation of the affirmative for me to consider voting. I like a structured t debate with clear standards, etc. and competing definitions. I see topicality as an a priori issue that I vote on first in the round.

Counterplans: I think counterplans are a great negative strategy. There needs to be a clear Counterplan Text and some sort of competitiveness. I am not the biggest fan of topical counterplans. Perms need to be explicit as well so that there is no vagueness.

Kritiks: I am a fan of kritks, but the negs need to make sure they understand them. It looks bad if the neg stumbles/contradicts themselves in the cross-examinations. Also, I need a clear alternative/world view from the negatives if they hope to have me vote on it at the end of the round. Again, perms need to be clear and explicit and show that competitiveness does not exist.

Theory: Theory is not the end-all of the rounds for me. I tend to look at rounds as real-world. Some theory would be needed at times such as perms/topicality but should only be used as support to an argument and not as an argument itself.

Lincoln Douglas Philosophy: Traditional
Speed: My preferred rate of speed is about medium to medium-high. I don't mind a faster round, however I ask that tags be slowed down to indicate a change in cards/arguments. Related to that, I tend to prefer fewer/well-constructed arguments to a melee of short/under-developed arguments.

Whole Res Vs. Plan Specific Cases: I prefer whole resolution debates. If I wanted a plan-specific case, I would be judging policy.

Counterplans: See my thoughts on plan-specific cases above. The same holds true for negative positions that go plan-specific.

Theory: It should be an essential aspect of your position. However, I do not enjoy when it falls into the theory of debate itself.

Background: I have a bachelor's degree in English education and have been teaching language arts at Sheboygan North High School for 20 years. I have coached debaters in policy, Lincoln-Douglass and public forum for 17 years, including multiple state champions. My school's emphasis is on public forum.

It is best if you think about me as a fairly well-informed member of the public to get my ballot.

As far as public forum, I appreciate being given a clear framework to weigh the impacts and other voters in the round.

Debate is an activity of communication, and speed is not effective communication. Public forum is about persuading the average American voter that your stance on the resolution is the best one.

All judges, coaches and debaters who promote speed/spread should reflect on the damage it is doing to the accessibility of the activity to prospective debaters and schools wishing to start a debate program. More skill is demonstrated by honing your arguments down to the point that they can be effectively presented in the allotted speech time rather than racing through myriad of contentions that are under-developed. Speed is not progressive; it is destroying this valuable activity.

That stated, I will listen to any arguments debaters wish to run and the speed at which they choose to speak them, even if that is not how anyone anywhere else ever speaks.

Clash is good.

Adjusting to the judge is good.

Extending your arguments with evidence and not just analytical arguments is good...but analytical arguments are also good.

I believe the rebuttals are often pivotal speeches in the entire round. I reward good ones and blame bad ones for losses, often.

Finally, despite what some public forum judges may tell you, it is not possible, in my mind, to drop arguments in pf. If it was stated, it's on my flow. You don't have to go over every single argument in every single speech for me to continue to consider it. But if an opponent fails to address a key idea, certainly point that out.

Debate Experience: Graduated HS 2018; 3 years of PF debate for James Madison Memorial High School. Now at Emory

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. Logic matters.

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. If you want to speak fast, make sure you're good at speaking fast. If I can't understand you, it can't make it to my flow. That said, speed rarely is a problem.

5) Second Rebuttal. Second Rebuttal doesn't have to go back to case. However, I think its strategic for you to do so. If first rebuttal puts a turn on your case, however, make sure you address this in second rebuttal.

6) 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 is okay as long as you do it correctly.

7) 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. Obviously, you may call for evidence from your opponents etc. but if you do I expect to hear about it in speech.

8) 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"

I recently debated Public Forum at Madison West for three years ending in 2018-19 with experience in 1st and 2nd speaking (but alas, back in the anxious days of the 2 minute summary), and have more limited experience in BQ and Congress. I currently study Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (a different sort of argumentative debate, you could say). You can feel free to ask anything about my preferences before a round or to ask for clarification after a decision. I will try to disclose and give some feedback all of the time.

A few guidelines. If you are a less experienced team, doing these things may win you a round against a more experienced team. If you are a more experienced team, doing these things may help you win a round against a less experienced team.

1. Being kind and respectful.

2. Being honest and reasonable. I would greatly prefer you concede a bad point than sketchily try to defend it.

3. Explaining why whatever thing you're talking about matters. Collapsing tends to make this easier. I am a somewhat questionable judge in the sense that I will vote for an argument which is half-dead ahead of one winning on the flow if I understand the importance of the former and don't understand the significance of the latter.

4. Having a narrative. I tend to not flow final focus; instead, I like to listen for narrative. Collapsing tends to make this easier.

5. Asking closed-ended (yes/no, multiple choice) questions in cross and explaining why the responses matter in later speeches. I do not flow cross-ex but I do listen most of the time.

6. Weighing. Please make sure you have extended your impacts cleanly first before going on to weighing.

On a couple of hot topics:

Speed: I like a speed of around 190wpm (note: this is slow for debate), and I particularly like a slow Final Focus.

Theory: I think extra-topical arguments can be important, but they have to be super relevant and explained well, or I will probably vote against them.

Framework: I think too many teams just run stock util. I'm definitely on-board with seeing some well-argued deontological frameworks (I'd be willing to give out straight 30s to a team who extends, weighs, and wins under a clever form of this).

Evidence: I'm fine with paraphrasing as long as you aren't making stuff up. I also think well-warranted points made without a card can work if weighed over conflicting evidence (especially on framework).

Speaker points: 29-30 is memorable, 27-28 is par for the course, 25-26 means I thought you probably just had an off round, and below 25 means I thought you should have been a bit more respectful. If I give you a higher score I mean it as a sincere compliment!

All in all, your result in a round doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of life. Don't stress out too much, and enjoy yourselves!

I am a LAY judge.

Please do not spread, or run theory. Slowing down would be appreciated.

I give high speaker points as long as you're respectful.

Please signpost, it will help me with my flow.

I was a public forum debater for three years at George S. Parker High. I am also not a Senator in any capacity.

Tabula-rasa, within reason. This is, however, not an invitation to insist that I buy your squirrely arguments.

Speak at a speed that leaves your diction in tact, do not spread. If you speak above 200 words per minute, know that I will ignore you.

Show grace, patience, and charity to your opponents. Address the best possible interpretation of your opponents argument.

I like the existence of framework, but I especially like framework that is meaningfully discussed and implemented.

Less is more. Less total arguments, more quality ones. Anything above three contentions is absurd, but one or two is ideal.

Flow judge, but uncarded analysis is totally acceptable and often preferred to mangling evidence for the sake of narrative.

Crossfire should be questions and answers, back and forth. Questions end with a question mark, and are not accusations.

The summary should contain all offense and defense you intend to weigh in final focus.

Collapse off bad arguments, tell me as clearly as you are able what weighing you are winning.

In final focus, specifically enumerate the voters of the round. Yes, that does mean you should tell me which ones you are winning.

ONLY if you want to (._.) Email chain for evidence exchanges, disclose your cases to me and your opponent.

*christianjamesauthor02@gmail.com*

I work for MPS - Rufus King High School

I did 4 years of policy debates in high school, what is now called "traditional debate".

I've judged mostly novice debate for a few years.

Speaking

How fast can students speak during speeches? Medium Speed

If a student is speaking too fast or unclear, will you give any cues to them? Usually I will say slow/slow down or clear

List stylistic items you like debaters to do.

1. Debaters should start with a roadmap and include signposts during their speech.

2. Debaters should do a line by line refuting the opponents arguments

3. Debaters should include an impact calc in the final speeches

List stylistic items you do not like debaters to do.

1. I do not like rudeness

2. I do not like partners to talk to the speaker during their partners speech excessively

Arguments

List types of arguments you prefer to listen to/evaluate.

1. Disadvantages are important to the negative attack

2. I’m open to inherency and solvency attacks

3. I’m open to counter plans

List types of arguments that you prefer not to listen to.

1. I do not understand kritiks very well, it will probably be hard to get me to vote on this for you. I come from the more traditional debate mindset.

2. I rarely vote neg on topicality, it would need to be the full shell with voters that make sense. And the neg must give this sufficient time in the round but I will be swayed aff by them being reasonably topical.

Other Notes

I love clash, I love line by line. I really want debaters to take apart each other’s arguments. This is best accomplished by listening to each other.

I want the last speeches to include an impact analysis that shows why their position leads to be a better world.