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Yale University Invitational

2020 — Online, US

Congress Paradigm List

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Paul Abbassi Palo Alto High School None

Mayar Abdelmeguid Ridge High School

Bensen Achtsam Harlingen HS South

Last changed on Thu April 18, 2019 at 3:26 AM CDT

I try to be as close to a Tab judge as possible. I will listen and vote on any argument or style of debate as long as it is well developed and given clear voters in your speeches.

Style and Presentation:

Maintaining a collegial atmosphere is very important to me. Try to keep hyperbolic and sarcastic comments to a minimum. Don’t expect me to disregard an argument because a debater says it’s stupid or wrong. Explain why it’s wrong and engage the warrant and evidence.

Speed is fine as long as it’s clear and consistent. The tags and analytical arguments NEED to be slower so they are easy to differentiate. I will say “CLEAR” if it gets too muddled.

Impact Calculus and Weighing will be a key factor in my decision-making. Debaters should state what they think the most important thing in the round is, why they think it’s important and why they think I should vote for it. I would also like debaters to include analysis of what the role of the ballot should be.

While overviews are sometimes useful, they are often overwrought and I ask that they be short and sweet. I would prefer most of the debate to occur on the line-by-line next to the evidence that makes the arguments to keep the flow tight and encourage clash.

I don’t like judge kicks. Debaters should have a clear and firm defense of the arguments they wish to the present in the rebuttals.

I don’t count flashing or e-mailing as prep but don’t steal prep please! If you’re talking, writing or typing, prep should be running. I do request to be on the e-mail chain if there is one. ( ben.achtsam@gmail.com ).

Tech vs. Truth – I would say that I am more for Tech over Truth. I try to allow the flow and the debaters to shape and lead the round in order to intervene as little as possible. Make sure to extend arguments to keep them on the flow. I don’t like whole advantages just showing back up in the 2AR after being absent since the 1AC. I will vote on weaker arguments if they were not properly answered in the constructive speeches but debaters should do extra work to build them up and explode on them in order to make them reasonable voting issues.

K – I am familiar with most common critical debate arguments and will vote on them. I greatly prefer specific links and love it when you take the time out to pick out in the evidence where it specifically talks about the opponents’ position. Debate is ultimately about education therefore don’t try to be squirrely when explaining the philosophical underpinning of your K. You should strive to give a straightforward and intellectually honest explanation that will help your opponents understand what your arguments mean. Explain what the alt does and tell me what the world of the alt looks like in comparison to the world of the aff and the status quo. I don’t like alts that are tagged simply as “Reject” because it doesn’t tell me anything about your advocacy.

Topicality & Theory – While I will vote on these arguments in a vacuum if they are properly argued and given independent voters, pointing out specific abuse in the round that relates to your violation is the best way to get me to vote on them. Don’t go crazy with a flurry of Ts or random theory args sprinkled through your speeches as time sucks.

CP – I prefer your counterplans to have an actual CP text that’s written down so it can be reviewed by both teams just as a plan text would be. PICs are fine as long as you can defend the theory and do well explaining why it gets a net-benefit against the aff’s specific plan.

Audrey Addison Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches 8 rounds

Henry Adkisson James Logan High School

Last changed on Fri January 12, 2024 at 11:48 PM PDT

CONGRESS

Content

This form of debate is based around specific legislative solutions to problems. If you're on the Aff, you must demonstrate that there is a problem that is worth addressing, that the legislation at hand addresses said problem, and that this specific solution is the best one available. If you're on the Neg, you must either demonstrate that the problem doesn't exist, that the problem isn't worth solving, or that the legislation at hand will fail to fix the problem. Basically, you should be debating the legislation, not just the idea behind it.

Adapt to the round as best you can. If you give a constructive speech halfway through a bill or if you give the 4th consecutive Aff speech, I will get upset. Related to that, clash is vital. If you're giving anything other than the authorship speech, your speech should contain references to others.

Procedure

Congress is the only event in all of Speech & Debate where not everyone is guaranteed equal time, which is something I hate. As such, I try to run fast and efficient rounds to maximize the number of speeches. In a perfect world, everyone would get to give the same number of speeches. If I'm the Parli, don't ask if I'm ready. I am.

I only judge your speech and your performance on both sides of cross-ex. Everything else is just noise unless it's offensively bad. I judge PO's based on efficiency and strength in controlling the chamber. I don't need flair from the PO, but I do need a fast round.

On that note, don't run for PO unless you're good at it, not just because you think it'll help you break. I rank good PO's highly, but I tank the heck out of bad ones. In the interest of time, the PO should write the names and codes of the speakers on the wall (if we're doing that) after the speech starts instead of taking the time to make the speakers do it.

Do NOT use parliamentary procedure to gain an unfair advantage over your opponents. If the PO screws up and awards you a speech you're not supposed to get, yield. The worst offense is when someone tries to kill time with unnecessary motions to prevent someone from getting to speak.

Presentation

If you watch C-Span, I guarantee you're not going to see Chuck Schumer yelling and spreading about the need to "fail" legislation. This event is first and foremost about your debate content, but don't discount the value of professional and refined presentation. As a speech coach, I'll have a hard time paying attention to your content if I can't stop noticing how you trail off at the ends of sentences.

Kevin Aepli Jackson Hole High School

Leticia Alatorre Seven Lakes High School

Matthew Jon Allin John F. Kennedy High School

Ryan Andersen H D Jacobs High School

Last changed on Tue April 14, 2020 at 5:05 AM CDT

I have participated in Congressional Debate (as a debater, judge, or coach) for 25 years. As a judge, I am looking for a well-rounded speech that emphasizes real debate (review the debate section below). When evaluating your speeches, I focus on what I like to call the "Six D's of Debate":

Definition - This can also be referred to as organization. I am looking for a relevant, attention-grabbing introduction; a sign-post/road map/outline statement (i.e. for the following two/three reasons: Reason 1, Reason 2, and Reason 3; I urge you to pass/fail this bill/resolution); two to three well defined arguments(claim, reference to previous speaker if applicable, evidence in the form of a quote or paraphrase, analysis of evidence, brief statement leading to the next argument) that authentically leads to the following argument, re-statement of sign-post/road map/outline statement, and a conclusion that ties back to the introduction. Timing also plays a crucial role in this facet; should you go drastically over or under your allotted time, it will likely impact your score.

Due Diligence - The use of evidence and the analysis/synthesis of that evidence is a key factor in debate. Evidence should be as recent as possible, from reliable sources, preferably referencing peer-reviewed studies. Quantitative evidence (evidence based on numbers) is better than qualitative evidence (evidence based on observation) or anecdotal evidence(evidence based on opinion). Avoid having your evidence speak for you; I am not interested in hearing a spoken version of a well-written study or news article. I am more interested in how you analyze/synthesize your evidence to support the claim of your argument.

Debate - Unless you are giving the first speech on a particular topic, I will expect that some, if not all, of your arguments directly refute previous speakers whom you are speaking against. I have always believed that the greatest skill in debate is not speaking, but rather listening; targeted arguments against another individual's claims prove that one is not just making arguments to prove their point but that they are actually listening and responding to the other side. As such, debate is heavily weighed in my scoring considerations.

Delivery - How you deliver your arguments will be taken in consideration when determining your final score for a speech. Movement should occur (walking from here to there, hand movements) but it should appear purposeful and natural. Your delivery should also appear to be extemporaneous and unscripted. Word ruts and extended pauses should be avoided.

Defense - Your ability to respond to questions and defend your arguments is a major part of Congressional Debate. Thoughtful responses to impromptu questions demonstrate your depth of understanding about the topic. Responses should be concise; this is not an opportunity to extend your speech.

Other Notes:

If you give the first speech on a topic, prefutation (mentioning future debaters' arguments and addressing them before they can make that arguments) is appreciated. Also, as the first speaker on a topic, you are responsible to outline the problem and explain how the proposed legislation is the best solution to the problem.

Avoid referencing current and former lawmakers (Congressmen, Senators, Presidents) as a source of evidence. You do not know what they are basing their opinions; it could be faulty logic or poor research.

Please be prepared. If you are presenting a paper critique/ballot to a judge, be sure it is filled out in its entirety. Judges complete anywhere from 15-25 critiques/ballots a session; they do not need to do any extra writing.

I am not a fan of debaters referencing themselves as adults in Congress and saying things like, "When I was in high school..." You are in high school, and these are unnecessary theatrics.

DaCobi Anderson Monte Vista

Last changed on Fri October 7, 2022 at 4:58 PM EDT

Hello,

I've been in debate as a whole for about 9 years. I've debated for Chabot College (Parli, LD). I've coached various formats of debate (Policy, LD, Parli, Public Forum) along with being a participant in those formats as well. Here's my view: Debate is a space to challenge ideologies and come to the best way of making a change. That may look like a plan text that has an econ and heg or, it's an advocacy that talks about discourse in the debate space. I'm here for you as an educator so tell me where and how to vote. Impact Magnitude in the later speeches will help you and me a lot.

Add me on the Email doc: uagug147@gmail.com

Here's my view on certain arguments:

T and Framework: I'll listen and adjudicate the round based on the information that you frame my ballot in however my threshold on voting on T is high. You must prove ACTUAL in-round abuse. I'm not the biggest fan of T and Framework in its entirety because personally, I view it as a one-shot kill for Aff teams. Don't let that stop you from running it in front of me though.

Counterplans: Gotta prove the Mutual Exclusivity of said CP. Not really a preference or style choice on this.

D/A's: Uniqueness has got to be relatively recent or the debate is gonna be a tough one to win. If paired with a C/P you must prove how you avoid said D/A or perm is gonna be super cheezy here. Again don't let that stop you from running it in front of me.

K's: I'm good with whatever you desire to run but if its some super high level (D&G or around that lit base) stuff you gotta explain what that means. Also, please be sure to know your author's lit bases here. Perm debates against K's have to prove the accessibility of the Perm along with the net benefits of the perm. Also, Impact Framing the K is gonna make your job along with mine a lot easier.

K Aff's: You do you. Tell me where to frame the ballot and how to view any performances within the round. You do you.

Update 2022: I've been out for a minute so please signpost and start at 80% speed so I can tune my ear to the round.

Isaac Appelbaum Hire

Marie Bakke Thomas Jefferson HSST

Last changed on Fri January 12, 2024 at 12:17 PM EDT

For Congressional Debate, my primary focus is on logical arguments that are well-constructed with quality evidence to support your claims. I appreciate rhetoric and impacts, but I will discount scores if these replace analysis and evidence. Refutations are essential to a strong score but require more than just a claim – give me the analysis and back it up with evidence.

I highly respect constitutional arguments and discount for affirmations of an unconstitutional bill.

It is essential to me that competitors remain in the role of a congressperson, showing respect to the chamber and following proper parliamentary procedure. I encourage everyone to remember to address their colleagues with the proper honorarium (Representative/Senator) at all times, and to avoid using Mr./Ms. personal titles as they both assume gender identity and may be considered dismissive at times.

I respect competitors who are active in the chamber and strongly disagree with the trend of some competitors to press for a base-2 model. Finally, while our U.S. congresspeople may lack persuasive speaking skills, I highly value presentation skills in congressional debate.

As a parliamentarian, I value a presiding officer who is, of course, familiar with both Roberts Rules and the rules set forth by the tournament. However, I do not mind if the PO asks questions to confirm procedures or tournament preferences. The PO should always strive to run a fast and fair chamber to allow everyone opportunities to speak. I prefer to remain as quiet as possible giving the PO the control of the chamber. I will intervene only if the PO makes an incorrect ruling that will impact the results of the session, makes an error in precedence/recency (though I will certainly give the chamber a chance to catch this first), or to insure fairness to everyone in the chamber. I encourage the PO to take charge of the chamber, to rule motions dilatory when appropriate, and to remind the congresspeople of proper procedures when needed. However, I do believe these corrections can be done with respect and kindness.

Though I strive to allow the chamber to function without my input, I will step in if I suspect there is bullying in play, or if I sense discrimination within the chamber, either intentional or unintentional. I support the NSDA's position that every student deserves a caring and welcoming environment—one that is committed to conditions of fairness, fosters inclusion, affirms identity, celebrates lived experiences, and protects from harassment and discrimination.

Patrick Barney Western High School None

Victoria Beard Spring Woods High School

Kevin Berlat Mesa High School

Utpal Bhatt Palo Alto High School None

Aidan Bissell-Siders Loyola Blakefield

Last changed on Tue October 13, 2020 at 6:26 PM EDT

Background:

Judged 2016-2020

Lincoln-Douglass, Congressional Debate 2012-2016

he/him/his or they/them/theirs

(I'm not nonbinary. Normalize gender neutral language!)

‎

Universal expectations:

* Don't be disrespectful.

* Don't promote bigotry.

* Add me to the email chain: a.bissell.siders [at] gmail [dot] com

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Lincoln-Douglass paradigm:

I believe high-school debate should have three goals:

[1] Education to improve research skills (reading and understanding articles). Therefore:

* I generally prefer truth (evidence) over tech (theory).

* I generally prefer fewer but well-warranted claims over more but poorly-warranted claims.

* Quantitative evidence & impacts often beat qualitative evidence & impacts (unless you weigh them well!).

* [Research shows that empirical evidence does change people's minds (eg, Wood and Porter 2018). Bennyboi Shapiro ain't right about much, but he's right about "facts and logic".]

[2] Competition to improve communication skills (listening and speaking). Therefore:

* If you don't say it, I don't flow it. Guide me.

* I generally prefer fair-ish rounds with roughly equally accessible ground.

* I generally prefer clarity and concision over speed.

* [Non-debaters speak around 100-200wpm and comprehend 200-300 wpm. Aim below 300 wpm! Focus on compressing your sources rather than expanding your speaking rate!]

[3] Provide an accepting and enjoyable space. Bigotry has no room here. Don't attack your opponent, attack their arguments. Four-letter words are fine. Humor is wonderful. Be yourself. Relax, you'll do fine.

‎‎‎‎

Congress paradigm:

All speeches: Debate the bill!

* Stock bad: Debate about the bill! Don't give generic introductions. Don't give generic arguments.

* Link bill to impact: Don't just say "impact X is bad" or "X is good". Do provide evidence that "bill does Y and Y causes X".

* Weigh impacts: Do give impacts for each argument. Do weigh impacts against opposition's impacts.

Negative speeches: Demonstrate harm!

* Insufficiency is not a harm: Don't just say "bill is bad because it doesn't do X" unless you provide evidence that "bill is mutually exclusive with X".

* Complacency is usually not a harm: Don't say "bill is bad because it partially solves X, which makes people complacent about X" unless you provide evidence that "partially solving X makes people complacent about X".

First affirmative and first negative speech: Provide framework!

* Provide framework: Establish the framework to weigh impacts for the debate.

Later speeches: No rehash!

* No rehash: Don't make the same arguments unless you give new evidence.

* No rehash.

Presiding Officer:

* I highly rank strong POs. Efficient, knows rules of order, commands chamber.

Sean Bliss Poly Prep Country Day School 8 rounds None

Bill Bole St. Joseph's Prep

Jonathan Boulanger Charles W. Flanagan High School None

Joe Bowden Boston Latin School

Last changed on Thu January 4, 2024 at 1:49 PM EDT

Overview

I have a few things that I apply to all debate events. Policy, LD, and PF-specific notes follow.

Flowing: I now flow on my computer. I type much faster than I write. That means that I can flow (most of the) evidence as well as tags and cites. If you power-tag your evidence, I'll know.

Paperless Debate: In my experience, paperless makes debates longer. If you and your teammates have computers, load the speech doc onto one computer and wait until the next cross-ex or prep time to flash the speech onto the other computer. Flow the debate - don't just read the speech doc.

Policy Debate

Experience: Former college policy debater (JV level, ADA circuit) and high school extemper.
Paradigm: I'm in between policymaker and tabula rasa, if that makes any sense. I prefer a debate on the topic, whether it revolves around policy or critical positions. While I love a traditional case debate with disads and / or an unconditional counterplan, I realize that I'm fighting a losing battle as the activity evolves.
How to Win My Ballot: Make your advocacy clear throughout the round. Remember "Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em; tell 'em; and tell 'em what you told 'em." I shouldn't have to wait until the last two rebuttals to understand your arguments. Be sure to weigh and do impact analysis and be comparative. "Even if..." is one of the best ways to improve your credibility - you acknowledge that you recognize that certain factual situations may be true while explaining why the logic and evidence supports your conclusion.
Potential Pitfalls: Narratives can be compelling, but this is a debate competition. While you may have a powerful personal story, I have a hard time weighing it against other arguments because it's not something that makes for good back-and-forth debates. This also goes for positions that are un-debatable. If you take a position that is unable to be argued against, then you will have a difficult time winning in front of me.

I have a low threshold for dismissing non-real world arguments like nuclear war good or human extinction good.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Experience: No competitive LD, but please see “Policy Debate” above
Paradigm: Traditional (parallel burdens, no presumption)
Likes: Case-specific arguments, direct clash, clear signposting, weighing
Dislikes: Critiques, off-case arguments, non-resolutional arguments
Theory: These debates don't typically happen in value / criterion debate as I like to see it, so if you're adapting to me, this isn't likely to even come up unless one side is completely non-topical. If the argument is "unfair", then it's probably bad enough to easily be defeated through traditional debate.
Speed: Moderate (can be faster than conversational, but no policy-style spreading).

Public Forum Debate

Experience: No competitive PF, but plenty of other forensics experience (please see "Policy Debate" above)
Paradigm: Truth tester (is the resolution true or false?)
Likes: Signposting, well-warranted arguments supported by good evidence, weighing, comparative analysis
Dislikes: Shouting matches, spreading
Theory: This is probably not appropriate for PF, which is intended for a lay audience. If you must, I'm a "reject the argument, not the team" kind of judge.
Speed: Conversational to moderate. I may be a debate judge, but this is still "Public Forum Debate".

Provide me with a clear weighing standard in your first constructive; for instance, "The team that proves x should win the round". You will need to extend this standard throughout the debate and compare it to your opponents'. But be careful. If you try to hold your opponents to an unreasonable standard that is impossible to meet, then the argument will be difficult for you to win.

Small pet peeve: Please learn how to pronounce both your authors' names and those of publications that you cite. When you mangle these, it just screams, "I rolled into this tournament with a case that someone else wrote".

Brandon Box-Higdem Bentonville High School

Sabrina Briceno Pembroke Pines Charter High School None

Mari Brown Highland Park High School None

Gabrielle Cabeza Hire

Martene Campbell Episcopal Collegiate School

Anthony K Cavet Catholic Memorial School

Ashwin Chandan Dreyfoos School of the Arts None

Aruna Chandra American Heritage Boca/Delray HS None

Franck Chantayan Dreyfoos School of the Arts

Aidan Chism Munster High School None

Leslie Cohen West Orange High School

Kevin Colling Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches 8 rounds None

Jason Collins Hawken

Last changed on Sun April 24, 2022 at 5:32 AM EDT

I competed in mostly Congress and extemp in high school, but I dabbled in PF. I also have a tiny bit of Policy and Worlds experience. Since graduating high school, I have judged locally in Northeast Ohio and on the Circuit (for Hawken), mostly in PF and LD but also a little Congress, since Fall of 2018. Here are some thoughts; I often update them after a tournament if something stands out to me.

Congress:

I flow Congress rounds, and I expect you to treat it like a debate event. I won't rank you if you're not a good speaker/presenter, but you also won't rank if you're not a good debater.

The top people on my ballot will need to do a few things:

1) Know your place in the debate. Are you giving a 1A or 1N? Set up the issue and relate it to the bill. Early-Middle of the round? You can give me a new point or two, but make sure you're refuting (and, for the record, just name-dropping somebody doesn't count as refuting). Late-middle? You should be mostly refuting. Last? Crystalize, summarize.

2) Show me that you're versatile. All other things equal, I will rank the person that gave an early and a late speech (see Point #1) higher than the person who gave two early speeches or two late speeches. That being said, I will probably think more of you if you give two late speeches vs two early speeches, because I think refutation is more impressive than a canned speech.

3) This line appears in my paradigm for every debate event I judge: You should not use evidence without logic. You should not use logic without evidence. If you read evidence and do nothing to contextualize it or explain it, I will likely not weigh it much. If you go on a wild logical tangent with no evidence, I will likely not weigh it much.

4) Impact.

5) Be good at answering questions. Be good at asking questions. Do both things consistently.

6) Don't be a jerk. I'm not going to describe what being a jerk entails, but you know it when you see it.

I'm also more than happy to rank POs, and I do it often. I judge the PO in the context of the round, and will rank anyone (often highly) if they maintain control of the round and are fair and quick. I really can't give more detail than this, but you know who's a good PO and who's not.

PF:

Full disclosure: I loved PF in high school, but I've cooled on it a bit as a judge for one reason: I cannot stand the debates that come down to cards, args, and impacts that don't clash or aren't weighed. There is too much talking at each other that goes on in PF, to win you need to make sure you clash and tell me why you beat your opponent. You'd think this goes without saying, and I guarantee that many of you reading this think you don't do this, but I promise many of you will. I need you to do impact calculus. I need you to tell my why your card is better than your opponents' if they clash. I want to do as little work as possible, so clearly tell me why you win. Also, don't extend through ink--this tends to be something PFers struggle with a lot.

Framework is important, but winning framework doesn't mean you win the round. You should not use evidence without logic. You should not use logic without evidence. If you read evidence and do nothing to contextualize it or explain it, I will likely not weigh it much. If you go on a wild logical tangent with no evidence, I will likely not weigh it much. Impacts are important, I want to see weighing and impact calc. I like to vote on impacts. Tell me a story in FF about why you win.

For the record, I flow and can handle speed. I won't be happy if you spread, but short of that I'm fine. I love CX, but I probably won't flow it, if there's something important bring it up in your speech or I likely won't weigh it. I won't ever call for a card unless you tell me to and tell me why; if you tell me to call for a card and there was no good reason for it I'll be unhappy.

James Cox W B Ray High School

Samuel Crombie Martin County High School None

Grant Davis Millburn High School

Last changed on Fri January 5, 2024 at 2:24 PM CDT

FULL PARADIGM CAN BE FOUND HERE! This page is meant to be something you can read right before round and get a general idea of what's up

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Bullies get dropped

If your argument needs a trigger warning, either ask before the round S T A R T S or don’t read it. Don't say mid speech "trigger warning!" because judges cannot just up and leave a round the same way you can, and you're not actually giving any students time to react. I think like 90% of tw are super performative and framed as “imma read this, deal w it”

www.ImpactInstituteDebate.com

@Impact.Institute_ on Instagram for 100% free, high quality, virtual Congressional Debate resources.

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Any pronouns work, but do not call me mister

Congress 2016-2019 for Eagan High School in MN, traveled a little bit but certainly wasn't a circuit kid

Congress coach 2019-present at Armstrong and Cooper High Schools in MN

Parli (NPDA) for the University of Minnesota 19-20, 20-21 (I read topical affs and cap/ableism on neg)

PNW CARD Debate for 1 semester (closed research packet, but I loved sliding in Marxist lenses)

Congress judge first, but pls don’t assume I'm not a "debate" judge :)

Overall, I prefer chess over checkers. But both are valuable games!

Email chain or questions/critiques/whatever AFTER the round: Davi3736@umn.edu

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LD:

-Ask before you spread. I probs can't understand your spreading, I'll clear/slow you until I can, but 70% is a decent starting point

-Not flowing off a speech doc but pls share it w me

-Tech>everything: I used to say “except for xyz” but instead, just be a good debater. I’ll vote for stupidity idc. However, “get good” is probably an able normative response to “speed bad” so b careful w ur language. Wipeout, war good, dedev, truth>tech, idc just say it w your chest and let it rip.

-Judge instruction is my fav part abt this activity, followed by conceding fwk, followed by turns of any kind

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Congress:

#AbolishPOs (don’t worry I still rank y’all)

Congress is a debate event you silly goose

Michelle Daye Desert Vista High School

Emily Donaldson Durham Academy None

Jianhe Du Blacksburg None

Lewis Dubrowski Ardrey Kell High School None

Nick Duca Xaverian High School

Last changed on Fri February 9, 2024 at 3:07 AM EDT

Student Congress/ Congressional Debate

I really, really, really love judging Congress. I particularly enjoy being a Parliamentarian at larger tournaments. Not only do I really care about the rules being followed, but it's much nicer to watch one group of competitors the entire day as opposed to jumping around.

With that said, the norms of congress have changed a lot since I started competing 10 years ago - and I have some thoughts about them closer to the bottom of the Congress section of this paradigm.

What I'm looking for: Congressional Debate is neither a full speech event nor a full debate event. The entire event begins as speech and increasingly becomes a debate event with each passing cycle. What that means for you, as competitors, is that you need to modulate how and to what you're speaking based on where we are in the round.

Regardless of where you are in the round however, I request the following finer points:
1. Clear Signposting - Call it a thesis statement, call it a statement of intent, call it a summary. The end of your intro should be a description of what you will be talking about. "Pass this bill because of FIRST, Economic Impacts, SECOND, effects on marginalized communities, and THIRD, U.S. Hegemony." Doing that helps everyone in the room keep their notes together - and it will help you get some name callouts later during clash.

2. Sourcing - There are some facts that even someone walking in off the street would know - such stuff need not be cited. Any other claim MUST be cited for me to consider it. As an example, in a recent round regarding a carbon tax, a student was spouting off factoids about the effects of Canada's carbon tax in the past. I flowed none of it because there was no source.

3. Direct callouts - Obviously, first and foremost, be polite - but it is a very big pet peeve of mine when competitors just refer to 'the aff world' or 'a previous senator' when clashing or extending - everyone in the room has a name and likely has a placard, please use them.

4. Impacts - I am judging a debate, which means I need to have items on my flow. It is not enough to just tell me that "Solar Power should replace Fossil Fuels", you need to spoonfeed me the next steps of "Because Solar Power is renewable, which could lead to less pollution, which leads to a healthier constituency, which leads to......" ad infinitum. If you stop the argument too soon, it's going to fall pretty quickly once clash starts.

5. Effective techniques - Being an effective speaker is not just having the words written down. I expect competitors to make eye contact, correctly intonate, use volume to their advantage, and generally use all of those rhetorically effective devices that every great speaker in history has used.

Constructives - Constructive speeches make up the early section of a round. Cycles 1 and 2 are entirely (or almost entirely) constructive, and set the table for what the debate should be about. I expect these speeches to be well rehearsed and be the full 3-minute timer. By cycle 3, I expect clash and/or extension alongside constructive notions. By the beginning of cycle 5, constructions should be saved ONLY for arguments that are new and necessary to the chamber's understanding of the debate. Rehash of earlier arguments without proper extension (discussed below) will cause ballot point loss.

Extensions - Extension speeches aim to take existing arguments from your side and fortify them. They can occur as early as cycle 2, and notions of extension can occur as late as the final speech. As such, competitors should avoid using too much time on restating, and should try to instead add more impacts or context to the argument. As a very simple example, imagine a competitor says that a bill will cause water pollution, which is bad because it will affect drinking water and have negative health impacts. Your extension could quantify those negative health impacts (this is what I would describe as a direct extension), or even say that beside Senator X's drinking water point, that it could harm the environment and cause a lack of biodiversity (this is what I would describe as an indirect extension). I humbly insist that during extension portions of your speeches, you call out fellow senators by name.

Clash-This is where I find a lot of recent tournaments lacking. This is the most debate heavy part of Congress (go figure), and for many is the hardest thing to pull off effectively. Clash can occur as early as the second speech, and as late as the final one. A clash speech (what I lovingly refer to as a destructive), should call out a fellow senator by name, describe their point briefly, and then explain why their point may be incorrect or misleading. As a hypothetical - "Senator X tells you that switching to a flat tax will save the average American money on their tax bill. That may be true on just their tax bill, but according to the CBO, they will end up paying more out of pocket for the loss of governmental services that the flat tax incurs - what this means is that on balance, this bill harms our constituents." At no point should this devolve into name-calling, and should always remain polite. It is not enough to tell me that another senator is wrong, but to explain why (95% of the time this will require a source on top of an explanation).

Crystals-I find that Crystals are sometimes difficult to explain to those who haven't seen a really good one or haven't competed in other debate events. A crystallization speech aims to take the key points of debate over the round, and boil them down to a 3 minute speech that generally weighs one against the other. These speeches should really only happen during the last cycle of debate on a bill, but I will accept it in the penultimate cycle as well. A good crystal will explain that why on each of the main points of the round (i.e. Economic benefits, Protection of minority groups, Human Rights Abuses, etc), your side wins. By the end of a crystal, I should be able to boil down the debate to a post-it note, with the most salient arguments filling that paper. These speeches do not have to extend or clash at all, and in fact, some of the best ones do no such thing - they act as a round narrator, explaining to the judges and the room why a given side should win out. Of course, these can include clash and extension, but students should be careful to remember their main goal when speaking so late.

Questions/Cross-X -I would say that on average, 15% of my weighing of a student goes into how they do during questioning - and such weighing can be the tiebreakers when rounds are close.

I expect everyone to be polite during Cross-x. It doesn't necessarily have to be kind, but it must be respectful.

I expect questioners to keep their questions brief, and answers to get to the point. Lecturing, or otherwise getting on a soapbox, will affect your ballot.

That all said, I think there is a skill of knowing how and when to talk over your fellow competitors. Something like "Excuse me, I'm still speaking" or "Is the answer yes or no?" when things are getting contentious are difficult-to-pull-off but extremely memorable maneuvers.

I expect questions to be strategic, and not just be a way to cleverly have your argument heard before your speech.

A note for my Presiding Officers

I'll start with the most important thing - If I am your judge, and you PO, and do a mediocre job, you can generally expect a rank of at worst 5. If you do a great job, expect that rank to be higher. If you do a bad job, maybe you don't get ranked at all, but I want to be clear that I think a passable PO deserves to break out of any given PRELIM round.

If I am your parliamentarian, and you PO one session and fervently compete the other sessions, you can generally expect high ranks on your end-of-day ballot. At multiple tournaments I've parli-ed my PO's have ranked number 1 on my end of day ballot, but generally expect a top 4 finish - provided you're doing a job that is commensurate with the skill level of the room.

I think throughout my career I presided for more rounds than I spoke. The job of presiding is more important than the job of any other competitor in the room. You are the one who makes sure the round happens, makes sure it's fair, and ensures that rules are followed.

I expect my PO's to have a more-than-working-knowledge of the rules of order, this includes edge case rules like amendments that rarely come up. I expect my PO's to be able to run the room without my intervention should I be their Parli. But most importantly, I expect my PO's to be ready to rule things out of order when necessary. If all but one Senator has spoken on a bill, and somebody motions for previous question - a PO who asks that last speaker if they were planning to speak before getting seconds on the motion will, to me, shine as a competitor and a person.

As a note, however there are many situations that require my input as a parliamentarian, these include but are not limited to:
- Assessing amendments as germane or dilatory
- Dealing with non-competition emergencies (Medical, technological, etc)

And I will note, that there is nothing wrong with not knowing a rule. If a PO is expecting something to come up soon and asks me, as a Parliamentarian BEFORE any delays can result from their not knowing, they get some extra brownie points for their foresight.

I abhor this new norm of base-x gentleperson's agreements. You are first and foremost, at a COMPETITION, and should want to speak. Speaking more gives the judges more data points to make informed decisions. Everyone only speaking once actively harms the best prepared competitors, and lets those who haven't prepped well enough slide by without regressing to the mean. I find it absolutely disrespectful to my time and the other judges' time for students to hamstring themselves, and then end rounds 20+ minutes early because there was some asinine agreement to speak once each. And secondarily, you are roleplaying as Congresspeople - and any Congressperson worth their salt would love the screen time for more floor speeches, so to give that up is a travesty. And what I find the most infuriating is to watch a student get put down or told not to speak a second time by the rest of the chamber because of some non-enforceable Base-X agreement. It is not that student's fault that the rest of the chamber didn't prep or is unwilling to speak a second time.

And I know there's an argument of 'unfairness' in Congress, that some people may get to speak more than others without some agreement. My honest response is that it's actually more unfair to have these base-x agreements. I judge rounds to see lively debate, and lively debate cannot happen if only a handful of Senators are speaking per bill. If lively debate doesn't happen, students don't learn the skills necessary to thrive past the third cycle of speeches.

I do my best to judge as fairly and with as little bias as possible. Speaking fewer times than other competitors is not a death sentence, and actively having to game the recency chart I think is its own little strategic metagame that doesn't detract from Student Congress, but adds to it.

The Long and Short of it is this - Any competitor trying to dissuade others from competing to the best of their ability will be losing points on their ballot. Any competitor who starts a discussion on base-X agreements that delays the beginning of a round I am a part of will also be losing points on their ballot. If students want to have these agreements, fine, but do not delay the round or try to force everyone else to follow it.

A note on taking splits - I know that actively prepping both sides of a bill takes arguably twice as long as prepping only one. So I do understand the value in taking splits, insofar as it is likely that some competitors are only able to speak on one side. Taking splits should take less than a minute, and should not be a discussion that eats into debate time. However, students who go into the breach for the sake of the chamber and give a speech they were otherwise unprepared to do will get some extra points on their ballot from me for helping the chamber move along.

That said, I would prefer my competitors have everything prepped and be able to speak at any point in the round - Constructive, rebuttal, extension, or crystal.

Public Forum

I don't have much to say about PF, as judging is pretty streamlined. I heavily take framework and definitions into account, and I do not flow crossfire if you don't bring it back up in a speech. At the end of day, I want you to treat me like I know absolutely nothing. If you walk me through your arguments in a coherent fashion I am much more likely to give you the win.

When it comes to speed - I don't do well with it. I struggle to flow effectively when someone is speaking too fast. So if you spread or go too quickly I will struggle to completely flow your case and that could hurt you on my flow.

I think I would define myself as a hybrid judge. My view of Public Forum is that someone who knows absolutely nothing should be able to walk into the room and understand what's happening. What this means is that if you do run K's or theory or anything to that effect, it needs to be outright explained in a way that even a complete stranger could understand. However, I do generally believe that argumentation on the resolution and topic is more valuable to the round and your case than a K or a theory shell.

If you happen to share your case with your opponents, feel free to add me in on the chain at nicholasduca51@gmail.com

Lincoln Douglas

I would like to watch a debate about the resolution, its impacts, and other implications - all theory and K's should be saved for only the most dire of circumstances. I've spectated and/or judged a number of LD rounds across my career and I have only ever thought one K was strategically correct to run. Two students of color were debating, and one student was effectively tasked with proving white supremacy was good. Not only is this uncomfortable for everyone involved, it's likely harmful to both student-competitors. I agreed with this point and dropped that from the flow entirely. If I am watching a round and you are considering a K and your situation doesn't meet the unfairness-bar of a BIPOC student having to defend white supremacy, do not run it.

Other than that, keep spreading to a minimum, please project, and everything else should fall into place.

Charles Edmundson Vanguard College Prep School None

Jomi Epoyun American Heritage Boca/Delray HS

Last changed on Wed January 10, 2024 at 12:12 PM EDT

Heyoo and Howdy, Its Jomi,

I have been Competing, Coaching, and Judging for going on 8 years now and I'm 21 so that says a lot about my wild amount of commitment I have towards this activity.

Mainly competed and coached extemp and congress so that is where my best critiques would come from since those are the events that I know the most about, however, I am proficient in knowing PF and LD since I have judged tons of elimination rounds for those events and have friends in the events so they teach me the game.

I would say no matter the event it always comes down to three solid principles for me

Logic without evidence

Quality of evidence

Speaking and execution of rhetoric

Logic without evidence meaning how solid on a logic understands deductive or inductive reasoning is the argument, to the point that at the least from a basic philosophical level can I consider that argument valid but not being true because that would require evidence.

Quality of evidence is what sets an argument to being a good argument because if your evidence is timely, relevant, and flows within the speech or case then that sets you apart from the round. Good evidence balances arguments, Bad Evidence breaks arguments

Speaking and execution of Rhetoric meaning simply how well are you conveying your speech and case in your delivery, even in Policy debate, if you want the judge to hear something import and round defining then you slow down and say it with conviction. How well do your voice and your inflections convey your narrative especially on the impact analysis which to me is the most important parts of arguments especially;y on a human level is to be important

Most of all, be respectful and courteous to your judges and especially to your opponents because if you are rude, condescending, sexist, racist, you know the deal if it's bad and I catch it, expect the worst result from me and expect for me to back it up. So just be a respectful person and we will be all good.

Shadi Farokhzad Milton Academy None

Jack Fitzgerald The Bronx High School Of Science

Last changed on Fri November 1, 2019 at 12:24 PM EDT

Congress: I care about what you say way more than how you say it, and to that effect, I care about seeing three things above anything else.

1. Quantified and substantiated evidence. Here's my basic framework of evidence philosophy.

- Good arguments are based on facts.

- Opinions are not facts. Therefore...

- Good arguments are not based on opinions.

Analysis, opinions, and theories are not facts and are therefore not evidence. In reality, there are only two kinds of evidence that prove things.

- Quantification: Numbers and statistics

- Substantiation: Unquantifiable things that are objectively true (laws in effect, historical examples, statements from foreign leaders, etc)

If you see me write (q/s) on a ballot, that means the evidence wasn't properly quantified or substantiated, which means your argument wasn't properly supported.

2. Net offense. I need to know why your side is right, not just why the other side is wrong. Strong refutation is obviously great and usually is the difference between a good debater and a great one, but it can't be the only thing in your speech. At some point during your speech, whether they're new impacts or you're extending old ones to weigh, I need to hear you advocate for benefits on aff and harms on neg.

3. Humanized impacts. When you argue benefits and harms, I need you to show me how the legislation helps or harms people, which means I need to hear you say the word people, or some derivative of it (Americans, workers, families, etc). Great impacts will paint me a picture of the real person the legislation hurts or helps.

Otherwise, I'm open to all sorts of styles and formats of debate.

PF: Quantification is key. Many warrants in PF rely on expert opinions, but opinions are not evidence; I need quantified and/or substantiated proof of the claims you are making. I'm a util judge on face; I will evaluate on the cost-benefit analysis of all things considered if not given a framework to follow, but I am open to evaluating off of a specified framework. Weighing for me is key- a good team should be able to right my RFD for me. Impacts need to be humanized; I need to know why your claims matter to individuals, not just broad concepts like democracy, economy, or hegemony. Any of those broader impacts can be linked back to the individual, but you have to connect back to people or that impact doesn't stand for me. Also, please don't run completely defensive points in constructive- that's what rebuttal is for. If you run progressive arguments on me (K's, theory, etc.), I will drop you. Don't run topicality as a T-shell, just run it as a regular response.

LD: I have limited experience with LD and cannot handle spreading. I can deal with speed within a reasonable degree, but I'm not afraid to say 'clear' if I can't understand you. If I can't understand you, I can't reasonably say you've won the round. If you run progressive arguments on me (K's, theory, etc.), I will drop you. Don't run topicality as a T-shell, just run it as a regular response. Pro should introduce benefits, con should introduce harms.

Extemp: Impacts should come back to the individual; don't just impact to broad topics, tell me why what you're saying is important to people. I want to see quantified and substantiated evidence- not just expert opinions or pure analysis, but proof of what you're saying.

DP: Have fun.

Hunter Frase Hire

Emma Fridy DuPont Manual High School

Paul Gaba Wellington

Last changed on Sun January 7, 2024 at 4:59 PM EDT

I've been coaching in southeast Florida since 2000, and have had national qualifiers in Policy Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, and World Schools Debate. Some have even advanced beyond prelims!

(1) Picture ... if you will ... your 93-year-old great-grandfather. In order for him to understand the words coming out of your mouth, you must speak clearly. Very clearly. I'm not 93, or your great-grandfather (or, at least, to the best of my knowledge I'm not - and if I am, why am I judging you? You're my great-grandchild! Conflict of interest!), but I weigh clarity highly. If I cannot understand you, and stop flowing (whether via old-school "putting the pen down" or new-school "no longer pounding away on my laptop keyboard"), you are probably losing the round. Badly.

(1a) My iPad tends to merge words together when I try to flow using electronic ballots. Which means I sometimes miss arguments while trying to fix the hot mess typos. Or when I look back on the round to review, there’s chunks missing. Clarity in your presentation will go a long way toward me remembering what you said and why it was important. “Speed kills” isn’t just about how you drive on the roadways. Speaking of which ...

(1b) Debate is an educational communications activity. It's about persuasion; competitors ought to hone and practice the skills that will be effective in the real world; I expect no less in a debate round. Spewing out random crap just because you think a 72nd argument will win you the round won't cut it. The ONLY spreading that matters is cream cheese on a toasted onion bagel. (Mmmmm, toasted onion bagel ... with cream cheese ... and lox ...)

But I digress.

(2) In Policy Debate, "End of the world" nuke war-type arguments don't sway me. (Actually, this holds true in all other debate events, too!) We've somehow managed to survive the Cold War, Krushchev's shoe-banging incident, and that immature Canadian singer who makes me want to puke (and whose name I refuse to print or say).

(2a) I rarely call for cards. Like, I’ve done it maybe twice in 15+ years? Don’t expect to be the third.

(3) I prefer substance over style.

(3a) I also prefer you treat your opponent and the judge (and, in a paired event, your partner) like they are human beings. DO NOT GO DONALD TRUMP IN A ROUND - YOU WILL LOSE POINTS, AND PROBABLY LOSE THE ROUND ... BADLY.

(4) In Lincoln Douglas Debate, I'm really old school - it's a philosophical debate, not a forum to jam statistics and facts down my throat. Notice that "OLD SCHOOL" has the initials "LD" embedded in the name. Live it; learn it; know it.

(5) I am not a "point fairy" (earning a 30 from me is damn next to impossible) but am not overly harsh ... unless you do something reallllllllly stupid or insulting, in which case, fear my wrath! Also, I will deduct an entire point if I don't believe you are flowing the majority of the time you should be OR if you pack-up your belongings and don't take notes/look at your flow during my RFD/critique. (BTW, I rarely disclose, but I will offer analysis of things that occurred during the round.)

(6) Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia rocks my dirty socks. So do Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (RIP, Tom!), Monty Python, the Detroit Red Wings, and Mountain Dew. Sadly, I'm not supposed to have Ben & Jerry's or Mountain Dew anymore (damn you, Type 2 diabetes!), but such is life. Then again, we've survived that previously-referenced Canadian singer ... so far ...

David Gardiner W B Ray High School

Madhuri Garigipati Dublin High

Hila Gilberd Western High School

Mike Gilbert Natick High School None

Sasha Gonzalez West Broward High School None

Scott Gorin Presentation High School 8 rounds None

Hanna Griffin Brophy College Prep

Erin Guiney Phoenix Country Day School

Last changed on Sat February 3, 2024 at 7:05 AM MST

FOR EVERYONE:

Do NOT bring up victims of police brutality just for your intros or as an additional piece of evidence you immediately move on from. people's lives should not be used as a piece of 'gotcha' evidence or a card to win a judge. if you are ignoring people's humanity to win a round you are not doing this activity correctly.

For Congress:

40% presentation, 60% content. There MUST be refutation in every speech after the authorship. your job as the author/sponsor is to explain how the mechanisms of your legislation work, not just give the first aff speech-explain what your legislation does and how it solves the problems in the status quo. If you speak twice on the same bill I will drop you. If you refer to male presenting competitors as 'representative/senator' and female presenting competitors as 'Ms.' I will drop you. If you are aggressive in direct cross I will want to drop you. Please give me clear impacts and ask questions often. I also coach extemp, so I don't want to see you just reading a prewritten speech off your legal pad. I love good POs and I will rank you high for it!

For PF:

I'm not going to time you. I'm not going to flow cross. As long as you're not an LD or Policy debater turned PF debater, I'll be fine with your speed (as long as your constructive is under 900 words you're probably fine). I need impacts and clear taglines. Organization is a huge thing for me. It is not my job to weigh the round for you, so you need to be doing impact calculus and giving me key voters all the way through. SIGNPOST. If you are rude in cross I will give you low speaks and I will want to drop you. If you run a K I will drop you. Also I do not flow the authors of your cards are so if you refer to cards by the author only I am not going to be able to find it on my ballot-give me a source name, a key word or phrase, something.

For IEs:

Your Infos/Oratories should all have quality cited evidence. Your Infos should give me impacts, and your Oratories should have solutions. For Interp, you should not be performing a character with a disability piece if you do not have that disability. In Humor ESPECIALLY, if you do a racist caricature/accent, I will drop you. Please use good judgement.

Email: erinmguiney@gmail.com

Medha Gupta Hire

Andrew Halverson Wichita East

Last changed on Fri February 2, 2024 at 7:13 PM CDT

Name: Andrew Halverson

School: Currently, I am not actively coaching, but in recent years I was the Assistant Director of Speech & Debate at Kapaun Mount Carmel High School & Wichita East High School (Wichita, KS). I have moved to work in the real world full-time, but I still keep involved with debate as a Board Member of a local non-profit that promotes debate in the Wichita area - Ad Astra Debate.

Experience: 20+ years. As a competitor, 4 years in high school and 3 years in college @ Fort Hays and Wichita State in the mid-late 90's and early 2000's.

Up to March, I have judged 88 rounds this season - mostly LD and Policy. I only have judged PF at the UK Opener.

**ONLINE DEBATING ADDENDUM - updated 3/4/2022**

In my experience, most tournaments are more than gracious with their prep and tech time leading up the start of a round. Please make sure that all of your tech stuff is sorted before beginning AND that you use pre-round prep for disclosure as well. I'm pretty chill about most things, but these two things are my biggest online debating pet peeves.

ALL Online tournament have pre-round tech time built in. Please be in the room for it. It doesn't take long. If it's something that's no fault of your own that is preventing you from tech time, fair. However, if one of the members of your team isn't in the room during pre-round tech time, it's a 0.5-1 speaker point deduction.

Public Forum Section - Updated as of 3/1/2022

As an FYI, I've coached PFD, but by and large, I'm a Policy and Congress coach. If there is anything that isn't answered in this short section, I advise that you take a look the Policy section of my paradigm or ask questions.

I'm going to assume that I don't know the in and outs of your current topic. Please make sure that you explain concepts that I might not know. I've coached a lot of different debate topics over the years. I know a lot, but I don't know everything.

The typical PF norms for evidence/speech docs sharing are terrible. You must put your evidence/speech docs in the Speech Drop, email chain, or whatever BEFORE your speech starts. Don't do it after your speech or in the chat. Also, don't just put a cite in the chat and tell someone to CTRL+F what they are looking for. This is non-negotiable. Other PFD norms, I'm honestly unfamiliar with. I assume there is disclosure and other things, but I don't know for sure.

I'm probably going to evaluate most debates like I would a Policy debate - without all of the mumbo-jumbo that is usually associated with that activity. In brief, that will probably be an offense/defense paradigm with a heavy dose of policymaking sprinkled in. I like good, smart arguments. Make them and clash with your opponents and you will be at a good place at the end of the day.

Policy/LD Debate Section - Changed as of 6/30/2022

++Since most LD has a policy tilt nowadays, this is a pretty accurate representation on how I would view an LD round. Actual value debate and my thoughts on RVI's, you probably should ask me.

++I do want to add something about the penchant to go for RVI's and other random theory cheap shots in front of me in LD. Just saying something is an RVI or that you get one isn't an argument - it's just describing a thing that you might get access to as an argument. There has to be a reason behind your theory gripe or whatever it is. FYI, usually I have a high threshold for voting on these arguments - unless it's a complete drop (which it won't be the case all of the time). Refer to where I talk about blippy theory debates down below if you want any other insight.

This is the first time in a long time that I have engaged in rewriting my judging paradigm. I thought it was warranted – given that debates and performances will be all done virtually in the immediate future. My last iteration of one of these might have been too long, so I will attempt to be as brief as possible.

Some non-negotiables:

**If you send a PDF as a speech doc, I instantly start docking speaker points. Send a Google doc or nearly anything else but no PDFs.

**I want to be on the email chain (halverson.andrew [at] gmail.com). Don’t send your speech doc after your speech. Do it before (unless there are extra cards read, etc.). There are a few reasons I would like this to happen: a) I'm checking as you are going along if you are clipping; b) since I am reading along, I'm making note of what is said in your evidence to see if it becomes an issue in the debate OR a part of my decision – most tournaments put a heavy premium on quick decisions, so having that to look at before just makes the trains run on-time and that makes the powers that be happy; c) because I'm checking your scholarship, it allows for me to make more specific comments about your evidence and how you are deploying it within a particular debate. If you refuse to email or flash before your speech for me, there will probably be consequences in terms of speaker points and anything else I determine to be relevant - since I'm the ultimate arbiter of my ballot in the debate which I'm judging.

**Send your analytics as much as possible. This platform for debate can sometimes be problematic with technical issues that can or can’t be controlled. I’ve judged some debate where the 2nc is in the middle of giving their speech and then their feed becomes frozen. Of course, we pause the debate until we can resolve the technical issues, but it’s helpful for everyone involved to have a doc to know where the debate stopped so we can pick up at that point once we resume.

**Don’t go super-duper, mega, ultra full speed (unless you are crystal bell clear). Slowing down a bit in this format is more beneficial to you and everyone else involved.

**For all of those Kansas traditional teams, yes to a off-time road map. Don’t make it harder than it needs to be.

**Be nice & have fun. If you don’t be nice, then you probably won’t like how I remedy if you aren’t nice. Racist and sexist language/behavior will not be tolerated. Debate is supposed to be a space where we get to get to test ideas in a safe environment.

**Stealing prep time. Don’t do it. After you send out the doc, you should have an idea of a speech order and be getting set to speak. Don't be super unorganized and take another 2-3 minutes to just stand up there getting stuff together. I don't mind taking a bit to get yourself together, but I find that debaters are abusing that now. When I judge by myself, I'm usually laid back about using the restroom, but I strongly suggest that you consider the other people in a paneled debate - not doing things like stopping prep and then going to the bathroom before you start to speak. I get emergencies, but this practice is really shady. Bottom-line: if you're stealing prep, I'll call you on it out loud and start the timer.

**Disclosure is something I can't stand when it's done wrong. If proper disclosure doesn't happen before a round, I'm way more likely to vote on a disclosure argument in this setting. If you have questions about my views on disclosure, please ask them before the debate occurs - so you know where you stand. Otherwise, I can easily vote on a disclosure argument. This whole “gotcha” thing with arguments that you have already read is so dumb.

**New in the 2nc is bad. What I mean by that is whole new DA's read - old school style - in the 2nc does not foster good debate OR only read off-case in the 1nc and then decide to read all new case arguments in the 2nc. I'm willing to listen to theory arguments on the matter (and have probably become way more AFF leaning on the theory justification of why new in the 2nc is bad), BUT they have to be impacted out. However, that's not the best answer to a NEG attempting this strategy. The best answer is for the 1ar to quickly straight turn whatever that argument is and then move on. Debaters that straight turn will be rewarded. Debaters that do new in the 2nc will either lose because of a theory argument or have their speaks tanked by me.

Now that’s out of the way, here are some insights on how I evaluate debates:

**What kind of argument and general preferences do I have? I will listen to everything and anything from either side of the debate. You can be a critical team or a straight-up team. It doesn’t matter to me. An argument is an argument. Answering arguments with good arguments is probably a good idea, if the competitive aspect of policy debate is important to you at all. If you need some examples: Wipeout? Sure, did it myself. Affirmatives without a plan? Did that too. Spark? You bet. Specific links are great, obviously. Of course, I prefer offense over defense too. I don’t believe that tabula rasa exists, but I do try to not have preconceived notions about arguments. Yet we all know this isn’t possible. If I ultimately have to do so, I will default to policymaker to make my decision easier for me.

**Don't debate off a script. Yes, blocks are nice. I like when debaters have blocks. They make answering arguments easier. HOWEVER, if you just read off your script going for whatever argument, I'm not going to be happy. Typically, this style of debate involves some clash and large portions of just being unresponsive to the other team's claims. More than likely, you are reading some prepared oration at a million miles per hour and expect me to write down every word. Guess what? I can't. In fact, there is not a judge in the world that can accomplish that feat. So use blocks, but be responsive to what's going on in the debate.

**Blippy theory debates really irk me. To paraphrase Mike Harris: if you are going as fast as possible on a theory debate at the end of a page and then start the next page with more theory, I'm going to inevitably miss some of it. Whether I flow on paper or on my computer, it takes a second for me to switch pages and get to the place you want me to be on the flow. Slow down a little bit when you want to go for theory - especially if you think it can be a round-winner. I promise you it'll be worth it for you in the end.

**I’m a decent flow, but I wouldn’t go completely crazy. That being said, I’m one of those critics (and I was the same way as a debater) that will attempt to write down almost everything you say as long as you make a valiant attempt to be clear. Super long overviews that aren't flowable make no sense to me. In other words, make what you say translate into what you want me to write down. I will not say or yell if you aren’t clear. You probably can figure it out – from my non-verbals – if you aren’t clear and if I’m not getting it. I will not say/yell "clear" and the debate will most definitely be impacted adversely for you. If I don’t “get it,” it’s probably your job to articulate/explain it to me.

**I want to make this abundantly clear. I won't do work for you unless the debate is completely messed up and I have to do some things to clean up the debate and write a ballot. So, if you drop a Perm, but have answers elsewhere that would answer it, unless you have made that cross-application I won't apply that for you. The debater answering said Perm needs to make the cross-application/answer(s) on their own.

Contact me if you have any questions. Hope this finds you well and healthy - have a great season!!

Kate Hamm Ransom Everglades

This is my 39th year teaching and most of that I have also coached speech and debate. As far as debate goes, I coached LD starting in the mid 80's running on and off through 2017. I coached policy on and off from 1990-2000. I have coached PF on and off since its inception. I have coached congressional debate since the early 80's. I don't have a paradigm for Speech events, but I have coached and judged all speech events since the early 80's as well.

As a Congress Judge:

Delivery: I embrace the role play. You are all portraying legislators from across the country and should behave with the decorum that role suggests. That being said, we have legislators from across the country with various styles and habits -- that makes congress debate AWESOME! There is no single, perfect way to deliver!

Evidence Usage: CD is, at its core, a debate event. Arguments should have sound, sourced evidence that follows NSDA rules. Empirical claims require empirical evidence.

Analysis - If I am judging Congressional Debate, chances are the tournament is a national caliber tournament (otherwise I would be working in some capacity in tab). I expect high level analysis at a high level tournament. If you are the 4th speaker and beyond - I expect unique arguments and I expect analysis and refutation of earlier speakers. Crystallization speeches do not merely mention every speaker that spoke earlier on a piece of legislation. It literally crystallizes the two sides, weighs the impacts of the two sides, and persuades me of their chosen position.

Argument Impacts: Please identify who or what is impacted. Be specific. In CD, please explain real world impacts. The narrative of impacts is as important (if not more) as the numerics of impacts.

On the topic of cost benefit analysis and weighing... Be careful of playing the numbers game. A large number of persons harmed may not necessarily outweigh a single person harmed, if the single person's harm is total and complete and the larger number still enjoy existence.

Decorum: Behavior in and out of chambers is important. Respectful, educational, kind, and full of fun... these should be in balance! (I don't like boring debate)

I don't have a calculator on the above. Very seldom is there a debater who is awesome at them all... But all need to be part of the mix. If I am judging a top round, I suspect that all speakers will be amazing! That means the final ranking will come down to relevance in the round. If all speeches were brilliant, questioning and answering were spot on, and knowledge of topics is at the top, who stood out as the genuine, 'real deal'?

PF Paradigm - I embrace the notion that the event is intended to be judged by an informed public forum. That does not mean dumbing down arguments because you think the judge is dumber than you because they didn't go to camp (adults don't go to camp). I think most judges want to hear good arguments that pertain to the resolution and want to hear clash between positions. That being said, here is my more specific paradigm:

Speed - I love an energetic debate, but save spreading for policy (and sadly LD). You should have written a prima facie case that either affirms or negates. It should be written so that the first speaker can energetically deliver it. Most PF spread isn't really spread, it is spewing and incoherent choking due largely to the student's failure to adequately cut their case. I am fine with clean, clear, speed. Can I hear arguments delivered at 385 wpm? yes. Will I flow them? probably not.

Frameworks - Sure, if you really are running a framework. If it is legit (and stays up in the round throughout), both sides will be weighing impacts within that framework.

Observations - Sure, if they are observations. Observations are not arguments. They are observations. "It is raining - observation: things are wet." "If Trump wins the election it will trigger nuclear war" is an argument, not an observation.

Warrants and Impacts are your friends!! Numbers are just numbers - how do they happen? why do they happen? who is affected and why them? is there possible counter causality? Really good logic if well explained will beat blippy numbers. Well explained statistics that are connected and clear will beat poor logic.

Flowing - Yes, I flow. I expect you to do so as well. I don't flow card names and dates - so make sure when you refer to a piece of evidence you reference what it says, not a name.

Jargon - I am not a fan. Don't say de-link. It is often unwarranted. Explain how and why. Unique is a noun, not a verb. You cannot 'non-unique' something. I love turns, but don't just spout 'turn.' Explain why their argument works against them. Or show how their impacts actually are good, not bad. At its heart debate is a communication education activity; I take your education seriously.

Kritiks - They are arguments. I was okay with them in policy when they were a 'thing,' largely because policy is more game than debate. I was not okay with them in LD when used as a gimmick. I am the LD judge that still clings to the notion that we should have value debate. However, a well thought out K that communicates the impact of the issue must be answered in any debate! In PF, I might be okay if a team ran a kritik that they truly believed in, and they clearly had the ethos and pathos to convince me it wasn't just a gimmick, I MIGHT vote on the K if it is argued well. OR, if their opponents clearly understood the K but just didn't want to deal with it. A K is still an argument, and the premise of the K needs to be responded to as an argument. If not, chances are I am going to vote for the K.

I am not a fan of: rude behavior, gender put-downs, dog whistle language, or individuals being mean/cocky just for the heck of it. =26s-27s. I would go lower, but most tournaments won't let me.

I love intense and lively debate. I love true arguments that are well researched, argued, and impacted. I love smart. Smart gets 29.5s and 29.9s. It has been a very long time since I gave 30's but I do give them!

Shawn Haq Hire

Kolten Hilterman Hampton High School None

Monica Hoffmann West High School SLC

Jessica Holden Loyola School None

Jason Huang The Harker School

Nathaniel Hylton Hire

Chase Jacobson Winston Churchill HS

Alexander Jimenez Saint Mary's Hall

Grace Jin Cary Academy

Nathan Johnston Battle Ground Academy

Last changed on Fri February 23, 2024 at 4:24 AM EDT

Director of Speech and Debate at Lake Highland Prep - Orlando, FL

Email chain info: njohnston@lhps.org

The Paradigm:
Debate is meant to be a fun activity! I think you should do whatever you need to do to ride your own personal happiness train. So have a good time in our rounds. That said, remember that riding your happiness train shouldn't limit someone else's ability to ride their's. So be kind. Have fun, learn stuff, don't be a jerk though.

I've been around debate for over 15 years. You can read whatever arguments in front of me and I'm happy to evaluate them. I'm fine if you want to LARP, read Ks, be a phil debater, do more trad stuff, or whatever else. I'm good with theory as long as you're generating genuine, in-round abuse stories. Frivolous theory and tricks are not something I'm interested in listening to. If I'm judging you online, go like 50% of your max spreading because hearing online is difficult. I'd like to be on email chains, but we all should accept that SpeechDrop is better and use it more. Otherwise, do whatever you want.

Rankings:
K - 1
Phil - 2
Policy - 1
High theory - 2.5 (it'll be ok but I'm going to need you to help me understand if its too far off the wall)
Theory - 1 (but the good kind), 4 (for the bad, friv kind)
Tricks - you should probably strike me

The Feels:
I'm somewhat ideologically opposed to judge prefs. As someone who values the educative nature of our events, I think judge adaptation is important. To that end, I see judge paradigms as a good way for you to know how to adapt to any given judge in any given round. Thus, in theory, you would think that I am a fan of judge paradigms. My concern with them arises when we are no longer using them to allow students the opportunity to adapt to their judges, but rather they exist to exclude members from the potential audience that a competitor may have to perform in front of (granted I think there is real value in strikes and conflicts for a whole host of reasons, but prefs certainly feed into the aforementioned problem). I'm not sure this little rant has anything to do with how you should pref/strike me, view my paradigm, etc. It kind of makes me not want to post anything here, but I feel like my obligation as a potential educator for anyone that wants to voice an argument in front of me outweighs my concerns with our MPJ system. I just think it is something important and a conversation we should be having. This is my way of helping the subject not be invisible.

Jacques Kaiser American Heritage Boca/Delray HS

Andreas Kapsalis Xaverian High School 8 rounds

Last changed on Wed September 16, 2020 at 12:09 PM EDT

In my career I have debated in over 60 tournaments mainly in Congress but partly in PF, Policy, and Extemp.

Most important part of both paradigms: Respect your opponents

Congress Paradigm:

POs - I was a PO in almost every tournament I have competed in since I began. As a result, I have a solid understanding of procedure and how POs should act. I will track questioning and recency to ensure you are following the rules you establish. Questioning recency like speeches is preferred but just using the number of questions to pick is fine too. Therefore, while I am perhaps harsher to PO mistakes, I very much reward good POs in my ranks. I am not afraid to give the PO the 1 if I believe they are deserving of it.

Speeches - After the authorship, you should have clash and/or extensions of previous debaters. I am among the school of thought that congress is constructives then rebuttals then crystals. If you are on the last cycle of debate and introducing new arguments, it will probably not bode well. Each type of speech is equally as important. I get that people don’t want to give authors because good clash raises your rank generally. However, a well made authorship is just as good as a well made crystal. While argumentation is very important and holds a weight of around 80% of my decision making for ranks, speaking is also very important. You should have meaningful rhetoric and flow smoothly while speaking. If you speak quickly I am 100% okay with that. However, make sure you can still convey the quality of your argument.

Questioning - Very important! If you give the author and don’t ask any questions you will most likely be forgotten in the round and it will hurt your ranks. If I am conflicted between who to rank higher because speech quality was similar, questioning will make or break your rank. On that note, I do not want to see you ask 20 questions that don’t further the depth of the debate your rank will be hurt. If you only ask 5 questions and they are all very good and change the scope of the debate or set-up your arguments, that is much more preferable.

Politics - I did the event for 4 years. I know what goes on in Facebook chats etc. It is pretty easy to tell if someone is being biased as a PO or otherwise. If you actively try to hurt other competitors you will be dropped on my ballot.

Other - Jokes are always a nice way to break up the flow of the debate and will be rewarded

Public Forum:

TLDR - Flow judge - will vote on frameworks presented - summaries and FF very important in decision

Speaking - Spreading is fine. Just let me know beforehand and give me a roadmap to make my flow easier.

Cases and Rebuttals - Keep them organized and flowing smoothly. Sign post. Not much to say otherwise.

Summary/FF - In my opinion, these can make or break your round. Both as a competitor and a judge I have seen tons of teams ahead after Cases and Rebuttals and give poor Summaries and FF and lose the round. It does not matter if you proved something to be true if you do not weigh it in the scope of the round and why it matters.

Evidence - I will only look at evidence if I am asked to do so or if I believe something said is blatantly untrue. If you fake evidence, chances are you will not win the round. Do not fake evidence.

Theory - Not too well-versed in it but I can understand it. Only do it if there’s a real abuse.

Speaker Points - Varies by tournament strength, but I try to be consistent. Not afraid to give a perfect score if it is deserved but will rarely do so. I try to not give speaks under 25. You either have to do very poorly or have a real abuse in the round to fall below.

Other - Jokes are always a nice way to break up the flow of the debate and will be rewarded

WK Kay Xaverian High School

Last changed on Fri April 12, 2024 at 8:35 AM EDT

My name is WK (they/them).

I have 10 years of competitive and coaching experience. I have coached pretty much all events since graduating HS in 2016, and have been teaching full time since finishing undergrad in 2020. Currently, I teach debate to grades 5-12. I am also pursuing an MA in political science.

I mostly judge PF and Congress if I am not tabbing, so extensive paradigms follow for those two events, respectively. If anything below, for either event, doesn't make sense, ask me before the round! We are all here to learn and grow together.

PUBLIC FORUM

Read this article. After reading that article, you should feel compelled to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Though at this point it should go without saying, I will make myself clear: I have a zero tolerance policy for racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and all other forms of bigotry, prejudice, hatred, and intolerance. You are smart enough to find impacts for the most esoteric and outlandish of arguments, I am certain you are aware of the impact of your words and actions on other people. Simply put: respect each other. We are all here to learn and grow together.

Yes, please put me on the email chain (wkay@berkeleycarroll.org)

Speed: speed is mostly fine (I'm pretty comfy up to like 300 wpm) but if I signal to slow down (either a hand wave or a verbal “clear”) then slow down (usually your enunciation is the problem and not the speed). 2 signals and then I stop flowing. Share speech docs if you’re worried about how speedy you are (again, wkay@berkeleycarroll.org).

Evidence: I know what cards are really garbage and/or dishonest since I am coaching every topic and judging most of the time. That said, it's your job to indict ev if it's bad or else I'm not gonna count it against the person who reads it (though I'll probably note it in RFD/comments and reflect it in speaker points). Author or Publication and Date is sufficient in speeches (and is the bare minimum by NSDA rules), and just author and/or publication after the first mention (and year if the author/publication is a repeat). If your evidence sounds suspicious/questionable, I will make note of that in comments/RFD/speaks, but won't drop you unless it's indicted. I expect honesty and integrity in rounds. Obviously, if you think evidence is clipped or totally bogus, that's a different story by the rules. Evidence ethics in PF is really really messy right now, so I'll appreciate well-cited cases (but cards are not the same as warrants. You should know that, but still).

Framework debate: Framework first, it's gonna decide how I evaluate the flow. If both teams present framework, you have to tell me why I should prefer yours; if you do and they don't extend it, that can help me clarify voters later. If both sides read FW but then no one extends/interacts, I'm just not gonna consider it in my RFD and will just off of whatever weighing mechanisms are given in-round. If you read framework, I better hear how your impacts specifically link to it; that should happen in case, but if you need to clean up your mess later that's possible. If you can win your case and link into your opponent's FW and then weigh, you've got a pretty good shot of picking up my ballot. If nobody reads framework, give me clear weighing mechanisms in rebuttal and summary, don't make me intervene.

Rebuttals: Frontlining needs to happen in second rebuttal. IMO Second Rebuttal is the hardest speech in a PF round, and so I need you to leave yourself time to frontline or else they're gonna kill you in Summary (or at least they should, and I probably won't look favorably upon lots of unresponded to ink on the flow coming out of Rebuttals). Any defense in rebuttal isn't sticky. I'm also a fan of concessions/self-kick-outs when done well, but use the extra time to start weighing early on top of dumping responses/frontlines on whatever you are covering. That said, you'll probably get higher speaks if you do all the things on all the points.

Summary: 1st Summary needs to frontline just like second rebuttal. Any defense in rebuttal isn't sticky, extend it if you want me to adjudicate based on it. I like it when summaries give me a good notion of the voting issues in the round, ideally with a clear collapse on one or two key points. If you can sufficiently tell me what the voting issues are and how you won them, you have a real strong chance of winning the round. In so doing, you should be weighing against your opponent’s voting issues/best case (see above) and extending frontlining if you can (hence why it has to happen). Suppose I have to figure out what the voting issues are and, in cases where teams present different voting issues, weigh each side's against the other's: in that case, I may have to intervene more in interpreting what the round was about rather than you defining what the round was about, which I don't want to do. Weigh for me, my intervening is bad. Comparative weighing, please. In both backhalf speeches, I want really good and clear analytics on top of techy structure and cards.

Final Focus: a reminder that defense isn't sticky so extend as much as you can when you need to. The Final Focus should then respond to anything new in summary (hopefully not too much) and then write my ballot for me based on the voters/collapses in Summary. I am going to ignore any new arguments in your Final Focus. You know what you should be doing in that speech: a solid crystallization of the round with deference to clearing up my ballot. Final Focuses have won rounds before, don't look at it like a throwaway.

Signposting/Flow: I can flow 300 WPM if you want me to, but for the love of all things holy, sign post, like slow down for the tag even. I write as much as I can hear and am adept at flowing, and I'll even look at the speech doc if you send it (and you probably should as a principle if you're speaking this quickly), but you should make my life as easy as possible so I can spend more time thinking about your arguments. Always make your judges' lives as easy as you can.

Speaker points: unless tab gives me a specific set of criteria to follow, I generally go by this: “30 means I think you’re the platonic ideal of the debater, 29 means you are one of the best debaters I have seen, etc…” In novice/JV rounds, this is a bit less true: I generally give speaks based on the round’s quality in the context of the level at which you’re competing. If you are an insolent jerk, I will drop your speaks no matter how good you are. Insolence runs the gamut from personal put-downs of your opponent(s) to outright bigotry. If I am ever allowed to do so again, I have no issue with low point wins. Sus-sounding evidence will also drop your speaks.

T/Theory/K/Prog: I’m super open to it (BESIDES TRICKS)! I’m relatively new to coaching this sort of material, but feel confident evaluating it. Topical link would be sick on a K but if not, make sure your link/violation is suuuuuper clear or else you’re in hot water. Make sure you’re extending ROB and the alt(s) in every speech after you read the K, or else it’s a non-starter for my ballot. I’m most excited about (and most confident evaluating) identity-based Ks and those that critique debate as an institution (e.g. as an extension/branch of the colonial project). On theory, I think paraphrasing is bad for debate and almost certainly breaking rules tbh, and so am very open to paraphrasing theory, but be specific when reading the violation: if you don't prove there was a violation (or worse, there isn't really one at all and the other side gets up and tells me that, as happened in a disclosure round I judged in 2023), then I can't vote for you on theory no matter how good of a shell you read. Relatedly: I don't necessarily need theory to be in shell format, but it does making flowing easier. Moving on: I don’t love disclosure theory only because I’ve gotten real bored of it and don’t think it makes for good rounds. That said, if you’re all about disclo and that’s your best stuff, I’ll evaluate it. On a different but related note, if you read any theory that has anything to do with discourse, my threshold for voting against you drops a lot at the point at which your opponent says anything close to "running theory isn't good for discourse." If you're not sure about what I might think about the Prog you wanna run, feel free to ask me before the round. In short, as long as it is executed well, meaning you actually link in and your violations are real and/or impacts are very very well warranted, you should be fine. Prog is not an excuse to be blippy. And, to be clear, DON’T READ TRICKS IN FRONT OF ME.

If you have any questions that haven't been answered here, feel free to ask them before the start of the round.

Have fun, learn something, and respect one another. Good luck, and I look forward to your round!

CONGRESS

Read this article. After reading that article, you should feel compelled to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Though at this point it should go without saying, I will make myself clear: I have a zero tolerance policy for racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and all other forms of bigotry, prejudice, hatred, and intolerance. You are smart enough to find impacts for the most esoteric and outlandish of arguments, I am certain you are aware of the impact of your words and actions on other people. Simply put: respect each other. We are all here to learn and grow together.

A PRIORI: I WILL BUMP YOU UP AT LEAST ONE FULL RANK IF YOU DO NOT READ OFF OF A FULLY PRE-WRITTEN SPEECH

I am a bit old school when judging this event insofar as I believe Congress is very much a hybrid between speech and debate events: of course I want the good arguments, but you should sound and act like a member of Congress. The performative element of the event matters very much to me. Be respectful of everyone in the room and be sure that your arguments are not predicated on the derogation or belittlement of others (see the last paragraph of this paradigm for more on respect and its impact on my judging).

Your speeches are obviously most important, assuming you're not POing. I'm looking for solid and logical warranting (cards are important but not a replacement for warranting, especially in a more rhetorically oriented event like Congress), unique impacts (especially to specific constituencies) and strong rhetoric. Your argumentation should leave no big gaps in the link chains, and should follow a clear structure. Arguments that are interdependent obviously need that linkage to be strong. Obviously, avoid rehash. Good extensions, meaning those that introduce meaningully new evidence/context or novel impacts, are some of my favorite speeches to hear. I also value a real strong crystal more than a lot of judges, so if you're good at it, do it.

I also give great weight to your legislative engagement. Ask questions, make motions, call points of order when appropriate. If you're good at this, I will remember it in your ranking. The same goes if you're not good at it. I have no bright-line for the right/wrong amount of this: engage appropriately and correctly and it will serve you well. Sitting there with your hands folded the entire session when you're not giving a speech will hurt you.

I highly value the role of the PO, which is to say that a great PO can and will get my 1. A great PO makes no procedural errors, provides coherent and correct explanations when wrongly challenged, runs a quick-moving and efficient chamber, and displays a command of decorum and proper etiquette. Short of greatness, any PO who falls anywhere on the spectrum of good to adequate will get a rank from me, commensurate with the quality of their performance. Like any other Congressperson, you will receive a detailed explanation for why you were ranked where you were based on your performance. While you may not get the 1 if you are perfect but also frequently turning to the Parli to confirm your decisions, I would rather you check in than get it wrong and be corrected; you'll still get ranked, but perhaps not as highly. The only way I do not rank a PO is if they make repeated, frequent mistakes in procedure: calling on the wrong speaker when recency is established, demonstrating a lack of procedural knowledge and/or lack of decorum, et cetera.

My standards are the same when I Parli as when I judge, the only difference being I will be comparing POs and speakers across the day, so POing one session does not guarantee a rank on my Parli sheet, since it is an evaluation of your performance across all sessions of the tournament. When I am Parli, I keep the tournament guidelines on me at all times, in case there are any regional/league-based disparities in our expectations of procedure/rules.

Above all else, everyone should respect one another. If you are an insolent jerk, I will not rank you no matter how good you are. Insolence runs the gamut from personal put-downs of your fellow Congressmembers to outright bigotry. See the Equity statement at the top.

Have fun, learn something, and respect one another. Good luck, and I look forward to your round!

Joe Kieklak Little Rock Central

Last changed on Thu January 4, 2024 at 3:24 AM CDT

I am a debate coach at Little Rock Central. Please put both on the email chain: jkieklak@gmail.com; lrchdebatedocs@gmail.com

General

You do you. Let it rip. Seriously. A judge does not exist without the debaters, and I view my role as a public servant necessary only to resolve arguments in a round to help empower young people to engage in meaningful discourse. I believe that it is important for me to be honest about the specific things I believe about common debate arguments, but also I find it more important to ensure I am prepared for debaters to persuade me away from those beliefs/biases. Specifically, I believe that my role is to listen, flow, and weigh the arguments offered in the round how I am persuaded to weigh them by each team. I will listen to and evaluate any argument. It is unacceptable to do anything that is: ableist, anti-feminist, anti-queer, racist, or violent.

I think debates have the lowest access to education when the judge must intervene. I can intervene as little as possible if you:

1) Weigh your impacts and your opponents' access to risk/impacts in the debate. One team probably is not most persuasive/ahead of the other team on every single argument. That needs to be viewed as a strength rather than a point of anxiety in the round. Do not be afraid to explain why you don't actually need to win certain arguments/impacts in lieu of "going for" the most persuasive arguments that resolve the most persuasive/riskiest impacts.

2) Actively listen and use your time wisely. Debaters miss each other when distracted/not flowing or listening. This seems to make these teams more prone to missing/mishandling arguments by saying things like, "'x' disad, they dropped it. Extend ____ it means ____;" yet, in reality, the other team actually answered the argument through embedded clash in the overview or answered it in a way that is unorthodox but also still responsive/persuasive.

3) Compare evidence and continuously cite/extend your warrants in your explanations/refutation/overall argumentation. Responses in cross that cite an individual warrant or interrogate their opponents' warrants are good ethos builders and are just in general more persuasive, same in speeches.

Policy Affirmatives

Go for it. Your pathway to solving a significant harm that is inherent to the status quo with some advantageous, topical plan action is entirely up to you. There are persuasive arguments about why it is good to discuss hypothetical plan implementation. I do not have specific preferences about this, but I am specifically not persuaded when a 2a pivot undercovers/drops the framework debate in an attempt to weigh case/extend portions of case that aren't relevant unless the aff wins framework. I have not noticed any specific thresholds about neg strats against policy affs.

Kritikal Affirmatives

Go for it. Your pathway/relationship to the resolution is entirely up to you. I think it’s important for any kritikal affirmative (including embedded critiques of debate) to wins its method and theory of power, and be able to defend that the method and advocacy ameliorates some impactful harm. I think it’s important for kritkal affirmatives (when asked) to be able to articulate how the negative side could engage with them; explain the role of the negative in the debate as it comes up, and, if applicable, win framework or a methods debate. I don't track any specific preferences. Note: Almost all time that I am using to write arguments and coach students is to prepare for heg/policy debates; I understand if you prefer someone in the back of the room that spends a majority of their time either writing kritikal arguments or coaching kritikal debate.

Framework

This is all up to how it develops in round. I figure that this often starts as a question of what is good for debate through considerations of education, fairness, and/or how a method leads to an acquisition/development of portable skills. It doesn't have to start or end in any particular place. The internal link and impact are up to you. If the framework debate becomes a question of fairness, then it's up to you to tell me what kind of fairness I should prioritize and why your method does or does not access it/preserve it/improve it. I vote for and against framework, and I haven't tracked any specific preferences or noticed anything in framework debate that particularly persuades me.

Off

Overall, I think that most neg strats benefit from quality over quantity. I find strategies that are specific to an aff are particularly persuasive (beyond just specific to the overall resolution, but also specific to the affirmative and specific cites/authors/ev). In general, I feel pretty middle of the road when it comes to thresholds. I value organization and utilization of turns, weighing impacts, and answering arguments effectively in overviews/l-b-l.

Other Specifics and Thresholds, Theory

• Perms: Be ready to explain how the perm works (more than repeating "it's perm do 'X'"). Why does the perm resolve the impacts? Why doesn't the perm link to a disad?

• T: Normal threshold if the topicality impacts are about the implications for future debates/in-round standards. High threshold for affs being too specific and being bad for debate because neg doesn't have case debate. If I am in your LD pool and you read Nebel, then you're giving me time to answer my texts, update a list of luxury items I one day hope to acquire, or simply anything to remind myself that your bare plurals argument isn't 'prolific.'

• Case Debate: I am particularly persuaded by effective case debate so far this year on the redistribution topic. Case debate seems underutilized from an "find an easy way to the ballot" perspective.

• Disclosure is generally good, and also it's ok to break a new aff as long as the aff is straight up in doing so. There are right and wrong ways to break new. Debates about this persuade me most when located in questions about education.

• Limited conditionality feels right, but really I am most interested in how these theory arguments develop in round and who wins them based on the fairness/education debate and tech.

• Please do not drop condo or some other well-extended/warranted theory argument on either side of the debate. Also, choosing not to engage and rely on the ethos of extending the aff is not a persuasive way to handle 2NRs all in on theory.

TOC Requested Update for Congress (April 2023)

General

Be your best self. My ranks reflect who I believe did the best debating in the round (and in all prelims when I parli).

The best debaters are the ones that offer a speech that is appropriately contextualized into the debate the body is having about a motion. For sponsors/first negs, this means the introduction of framing and appropriate impacts so that the aff/neg speakers can build/extend specific impact scenarios that outweigh the opposing side's impacts. Speeches 3-10 or 3-12 (depending on the round) should be focused on introducing/weighing impacts (based on where you are in the round and where your side is on impact weighing) and refutations (with use of framing) on a warrant/impact level. I value structured refutations like turns, disadvantages, presumption, PICs (amendments), no solvency/risk, etc. The final two speeches should crystallize the round by offering a clear picture as to why the aff/neg speakers have been most persuasive and why the motion should carry or fail.

The round should feel like a debate in that each speaker shall introduce, refute, and/or weigh the core of the affirmative and negative arguments to persuade all other speakers on how they should vote on a pending motion.

Other TOC Requested Congress Specifics/Randoms

Arguments are claim, warrant, impact/justification and data when necessary. Speeches with arguments lacking one or more of these will not ever be rewarded highly, no matter how eloquent the speech. It is always almost more persuasive to provide data to support a warrant.
Impacts should be specific and never implied.
Presiding officers should ensure as many speeches as possible. The best presiding officers are direct, succinct, courteous, organized, and transparent. Presiding officers shall always be considered for ranks, but ineffective presiding is the quickest way to a rank 9 (or lower).
More floor debaters are experimenting with parliamentary procedure. Love it, but debaters will be penalized for misapplications of the tournament's bylaws and whichever parliamentary guide is the back up.
Nothing is worse in floor debate than repetition, which is different than extending/weighing.
Decorum should reflect effective communication. Effective communication in debate often includes an assertive tone, but read: folx should always treat each other with dignity and respect.

Arkansas Debate

Woo Pig. I am not here to force you to capitulate a paradigm that you find in someway oppressive to what your coach is teaching you to do. I will drop you for clipping/cheating, and I do not reward (and will rank low in congress) bad/no arguments even if they sound as rhetorically smooth as Terry Rose and Gary Klaff singing "Oh, Arkansas."

Francis (sae rom) Kim Redlands High School

Kate Kleinle Hire 8 rounds

Last changed on Sat October 3, 2020 at 12:20 PM EDT

Hi! My name is Kate. I'm a former debater myself; I competed extensively on the NJ and national circuits in Congressional debate from 2012-2016. When I was on the circuit I championed a number of tournaments including Yale, the TOC, NJ states, the NYC invitational, GMU Patriot Games, and more. I also gained some experience in Extemp and PF, but my main focus competitively was definitively in Congress, so I come from a background where speaking style and argumentation are both important (although, depending upon the event, this will not always impact the way that I judge.)

Regardless of the event that I'm judging, I really prioritize good, clean competition. It is extremely important to me that competitors display respect for their opponents at all times. This means using legitimate evidence, refraining from laughing or eye-rolling, listening to and engaging with your opponents' arguments, and carrying yourself with dignity. Be respectful, and be kind!!!!

PF paradigm

-My goal in judging a PF round is to intervene as little as possible in order to let you speak uninterrupted. I will involve myself only if a rule is obviously broken or if a piece of evidence seems so obviously out of line that I feel it warrants card-calling, and other than that, I will be flowing the round and focusing on your argumentation.

-Frameworks are important. Don't skip them!

-Evidence matters. Make evidence challenges if something seems off, and perform evidence comparisons whenever and wherever they are relevant.

-Throughout the round, clash is good and weighing is your friend. Remind me of why your arguments have been the most important ones raised, and specifically outline why they should win you the debate.

-Use the summary to respond to your opponent's rebuttal, but remember to focus on the strengths of your own arguments as well. Bring your strongest arguments back into play here, and make sure that you prove why they are stronger or more relevant than whatever your opponent has brought to the table.

-In the final focus, it is incredibly important to crystallize. Crystallization provides an opportunity to remind us of what's happened in the round, weigh your arguments against your opponent's, and clearly illustrate why yours come out on top.

Ellen Kong University High School, Irvine

Last changed on Mon January 30, 2023 at 1:53 AM PDT

Do not exhibit racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic/ableist/discriminatory attitudes or behavior. You will be immediately dropped.

Be aggressive but do not be rude. If you are a toxic debater you will be dropped.

If you start lagging during your speaking time, I will try my best to judge you based on your performance given when your internet connection was stable.

Congress:

I value content over performance. Clearly structure your arguments so that they are understandable. Provide strong links and warrants to back up your contentions. Expand your impacts. I really do value the technicality of a bill, such as the bureaucracy behind it and the constitutionality of it. I try to be a blank-slate judge, but if you state something completely incorrect or extremely misleading, I will mark you down. If you are not the first speaker of the round, you should mention or respond to the other debaters in the round. Answer your questions clearly and ask good ones. Refrain from asking yes or no questions. Cut your competitors off if they are dodging the question. I really appreciate good cross-ex.

For performance, speak at a normal speed. Make your pronunciation and enunciation as clear and accurate as possible. Your body language should aid your performance, not distract from it. Be passionate. Try using different tones to create a better performance instead of just altering between aggressive and informative. I do value content over performance, but Congress still leans pretty heavily on the latter. If you present amazing arguments but stumble every two words and sound exactly like the rest of the chamber, I am not gonna give you a high rank.

A PO should be fast, fair, and efficient. You should make procedures understandable and maintain control of the chamber. If a debate becomes very repetitive, try to move the chamber onto the next piece of legislation. Make sure to know the procedures. If I notice that you continuously give speeches and questions to the competitors from your school, I will drop you.

Policy, LD, Public Forum, Parli:

Run whatever arguments you want. Theory, K, or anything that makes a compelling case for your side. I do not care about what kind of arguments you are running, because I judge based on flow. Provide solid warrants, tight links, and strong impacts and you will win. If you spread, you have to be extremely good at it. I expect clear enunciation and good fluency, or else just go at the normal talking pace, cause if I do not catch what you say, it will not be on my flow.

Speech:

Performances should match what is expected from the event. Be passionate about the issues you are talking about OO, and make me laugh if you are in DI. But in general, make sure you are varying between tones; do not just stay at one for 10 minutes, it will get boring and the lines you need to highlight will be lost. In your speech is argumentative/informative, then the content will be just as important. Make compelling arguments, use respectable sources and link them together well, and sprinkle in good rhetoric.

PS:

Just a pet peeve of mine, but if you are debating foreign policy, for the love of god do not cite examples from other regions as evidence that something will succeed/fail in this particular area. Respect the massive geopolitical and economic differences between each country and region, even if they are close together. Do not point to Libya and tell me a similar program is gonna succeed in West Africa, no no no, just no.

Suhasini Kurma The Quarry Lane School None

Wyatt Layland Advanced Technologies

Last changed on Thu January 6, 2022 at 6:58 PM PDT

Email: notwyattlayland@gmail.com

Background

University of Reno, Nevada 2023
He/Him/His

Speech Paradigm (Also applies to all debate)

Please do your best to speak loudly, steadily, and fluently. I am sympathetic to fluency breaks caused by stress or general nervousness, so if you need a second to collect your thoughts I will not reprimand you. Besides that, I value organization and conciseness--I want to feel like you've put thought into what you're saying, why you're saying it, and even how you say it

Congress Paradigm

+ Unless I indicate otherwise, assume I'm always ready. I typically write down my comments during the cross-ex period, and by the time the period has elapsed I'm pretty much done and ready to listen to the next speech. I also keep my own time of all speeches and write down the times on your ballots for future reference

+ Roleplaying GOOD. Refer to your opponents as Representatives/Senators. I'm not one of those judges, however, who ranks competitors if they "act like legislators" by helping set the docket or resolve procedural conflicts. Just don't speak out of order and don't attempt to step over the PO or Parli

+ RHETORIC. I enjoy unique rhetoric and purposeful speaking, so please go beyond the forensic grain when delivering your speeches. If you REALLY want to rock my ballot, a strong hook or extended metaphor in your speech and altogether sturdy rhetoric will expedite your path to a higher rank. Hearing debate jargon in this event (e.g., "contention", "block", etc.) tends to be a pet peeve of mine, so best rely on standard words and phrases

+ Maximum points for sophisticated, structured speeches. On GOD. If you warrant your claims and support them with reliable evidence, and on top of that impact your arguments to a broader context, and do all of this without filler or awkward digressions that interrupt the focus of your speech, I will rank you. Plus I want to hear your speech provide at least two distinct contentions (ik I said no debate jargon but whatever) so that your arguments don't blend into one-another

+ CLASH ON REBUTTAL SPEECHES. After the second or third cycle of speeches I expect that you spend your time speaking off the cuff and refuting/crystalizing the speakers before you. If you're called up late to deliver a speech and decide to NOT adapt to the situation and instead read off a constructive speech, you will fall in ranks. Even if you're not the best extemporaneous speaker, it still shows that you're engaged with the debate and want to make an impression

+ INTERNALIZE YOUR IMPACTS. I listen to impacts above all else, and to that end I expect your arguments will always point directly to a basis in reality. If you can make the room understand what it's like to be part of the population this legislation impacts most, you're not just giving a good argument, you're giving a great speech

+ For the Presiding Officer (PO): I will always rank the PO unless if they do something contemptible that specifically urges that I do otherwise (e.g., flagrantly violating procedural rules, favoring some competitors over others, unwarranted or nasty remarks towards others, etc.). Besides that, if you go fast, make little to no mistakes, and treat your fellow competitors equally and impartially, I will guaranteed rank you in the top 3

Public Forum Paradigm

+ Truth > Tech. I weigh on a framework of benefits and harms--fewer vague appeals to common sense, the better

+ Clearly warrant, cite, and explain evidence--no speculation or over-generalizations

+ SIGNPOST. If you could signpost where you are in your rebuttal (E.g., "Starting with my case", "Moving onto my opponent's case", etc.), that would be great

+ Separate rebuttals of your opponent’s case and your case if possible. Jumping around makes it difficult to follow your args

+ Please don't interrupt during cross-ex. Moreover, I would prefer to see strong and even engagement across the board during questioning, but don't abuse your platform to give shallow or overly long answers

Lincoln Douglas Paradigm

+ My paradigm for PF carries over to LD, ESPECIALLY truth > tech. Instead of benefits and harms, however, I expect you to take a step back and focus on the moral admissibility (or the lack thereof, if you're on neg) of the resolution under your framework. Unless if the affirmative puts forward a plantext I'm less inclined to go for policy or post-fiat negs

+ Value/Value criterion debate all the way. Standards are fine as long as the presumptive value is morality (it should be anyway). Not gonna lie, I almost exclusively pay attention to criterion because they address real-world implications, so please focus your framework debate around that. If you and your opponent have similar criterions, you should just cut to the chase and explain why your case works better under that framework

+ I already said my PF paradigm carries over, but please, I BEG you: clearly cite, warrant, and explain evidence in your speeches, and do not rely on appeals to common sense in your arguments

Policy & Tech Debate Paradigm

+ For prefs: The more trad you are, the higher you should pref me

+ My emphasis is typically on stock issues, which almost always defaults to my primary voter.

+ I am cautiously open to technical negative strategies as long as they are A) relevant to the substance offensive and B) realistic in the sense that they authentically reflect prima facie obligations in debate

+ I have a high threshold for Kritiks based mostly on alt solvency & impact calc

+ If your CP is not competitive I will hate you, and if you PIC I might just die

+ Assuming the interpretation and violation are accurate, I only ever listen to voters on T or Theory and expect the debate to revolve around those factors, so good luck convincing me on competing interps

One last, super important thing for my master debaters

Regardless of events, I will feel more compelled to vote for you (or, and especially if you're in Congress, rank you high) if you demonstrate effective extemporaneous speaking in your speeches. Just have fun!

Brandon Lee Suncoast Comm High School None

Maya Levine Palo Alto High School

Maya Levkovitz The Bronx High School Of Science

Last changed on Sat December 4, 2021 at 8:54 AM EDT

I did Congress for four years at Dreyfoos School of the Arts in South Florida (C/O 2018), was good at it, and I now study linguistics and political science at the University of Florida and coach/judge (often) for Bronx Science in NYC.

I love POs and am looking for a reason to rank the PO high. If you mess up recency/precedence once it's not going to kill you, but if it's a consistent issue, or you mess up parliamentary procedure, you'll fall pretty quickly down my ballot.

Don't be cocky or rude (poking fun and jokes are totally cool and make things interesting). Make good arguments; if you don't have an impact, which means explaining the effect of the legislation and why it's good/bad, it doesn't count, no matter how pretty you sound. Just as importantly, you need to care about what you're saying. Finally, there needs to be some sort of clear speech structure. I'm totally cool with, and actually a fan of, speeches with alternative structures from the typical speech with two points, but you need to make that structure clear through signposting.

The most common feedback I give is about evidence. Remember, your job is to prove why a certain piece of legislation will do good or bad things for the world, so you not only need credible, relevant, and (ideally) recent data, but that data MUST be comprised of fact. Facts, as opposed to opinions, are a qualitative or quantitative assessment of either an ongoing process or something that happened. Facts may include numbers and statistics found in research, descriptions of an event or system/process, statements made by relevant government officials or organization leaders, existing/former laws or court decisions, etc. Facts are not unquantified descriptions of a numeric value; for example, statements saying something saw a "substantial increase" or was "significantly harmed" are relative and not factual. Those statements are an analysis of data rather than the data itself. If your whole speech is based on expert opinions and non-factual statements, I am left with no metric to actually weigh the importance of your impacts against those of other speakers.

Speaking well matters on my ballot, but only to the point that your presentation isn't distracting. I weigh speaking this way because a lot of metrics we traditionally use to assess speaking are pretty ableist and/or difficult for students for whom English isn't their first language or who use non-"standard" dialects.

If you say something blatantly problematic or harmful to any marginalized community, purposefully misgender someone (or continuously call them Mr./Ms. after being asked to not do so), or, as PO, clearly show bias toward any one group of people (that includes geographic prioritization, or prioritization of people from your school/district), you will be dropped.

also PLEASE refute oml

Noah Levy Pembroke Pines Charter High School None

Bo Lint American Heritage Boca/Delray HS

Last changed on Thu January 4, 2024 at 9:55 AM EDT

I’m the Director of Speech and Debate at American Heritage Schools, Palm Beach Campus (since 2018). Formerly, I competed for Suncoast High School in Congress and Extemp, coached at multiple schools in Florida, and worked at summer institutes. I teach all events, except LD and Policy, and primarily coach Congress, Extemp, Oratory, and Info.

Congress

I’m “old fashioned” when it comes to Congress. I like solid argumentation (read: have warrants and impacts) and clash. I expect every speaker after the author/sponsor to refute. As the debate progresses, the pendulum should swing from mostly new arguments in speeches to mostly refutation in speeches. Congress is not designed to be a “fully prepared beforehand speech” event; you MUST react to what’s happening in the debate. In terms of speaking, I’m open to a variety of styles ranging from faster/more aggressive debate-y speakers to more oratorical speakers. I tend to prioritize content over speaking. The PO usually makes my top 6 and, on occasion, gets the 1.

Speech

Speech students rarely read paradigms, so I’ll keep this brief. In Extemp, Oratory, and Info, I will flow your content and will reward speakers with sound structure and clarity of thought. In the Interp events, I look for a storyline, blocking, and characterization. In all IE events, I always rank speakers who are genuine, confident, and showcase true emotion over those who are fake, overly practiced/scripted, and uncertain.

I don’t judge a lot of PF, but you need not be scared if you see me in the back of a PF round. I teach PF all the time and have judged many, many rounds. I do my best to flow all speeches in the round (not CF), but only if I can understand what you’re saying. I can handle a little speed, but not a lot (I will motion for you to slow down if you’re going too fast). It will work in your favor to signpost contentions and sub points. I like line-by-line Rebuttals that clearly line up with the opponent’s Constructive. You should collapse in the Summary and weigh in the Final Focus. A few general guidelines: 1) PF is an evidence-based event, 2) don’t drop arguments, 3) don’t say outlandish things like “my opponent dropped all our arguments” when they didn’t, etc. I will always disclose unless the tournament has a strict policy against it.

LD/Policy

It’s HIGHLY unlikely (I can count on 1 hand the number of LD and Policy rounds I’ve judged in the past 11 years) that you’ll see me in an LD or Policy judge pool.

**Updated November 2021**

Caroline Little Washburn Rural High School

Xavier Liu Bellarmine College Preparatory

Last changed on Tue January 2, 2024 at 6:20 AM PDT

Hi y'all! I am a former speech and debater for Bellarmine College Preparatory in the Coast Forensics League. I have finished my undergrad at UC Berkeley, studying Political Science and Philosophy. Although I have done speech for a majority of my four years competing in high school, I have done a year of slow Policy Debate and was a Parliamentary Debater during my senior year of high school. I am now an Interp coach at Bellarmine College Prep and a Parliamentary/Public Forum Debate and Extemp Coach at The Nueva School. These past few years, I have been running Tabrooms at Tournaments as compared to judging. And even if I have been judging, I am almost always in the Speech and Congress judging pool.

The tl;dr: Be clear, concise, and kind during debate. I will listen to and vote on anything GIVEN that I understand it and it's on my flow. Spread and run arguments at your own risk. Evidence and analysis are a must, clash and weigh - treat me as a flay (flow + lay) judge.

If you want more precise information, read the event that you are competing in AND the "Overall Debate Stuff" if you are competing in a Debate.

Table of Contents for this paradigm:

1. Policy Debate

2. Parliamentary Debate

3. Public Forum Debate

4. Lincoln Douglas Debate

5. Overall Debate Stuff (Speed, Theory, K's, Extending Dropped Arguments, etc.)

6. IE's (Because I'm extra!) (Updated on 01/2/2024!)

7. Congress

For POLICY DEBATE:

I feel like I'm more policymaker oriented, although I started learning about Policy Debate from a stock issues lens, and am more than comfortable defaulting to stock issues if that's what y'all prefer. I'm really trying to see whether the plan is a good idea and something that should be passed. Offensive arguments and weighing are key to winning the debate for me. For example, even if the Neg proves to me that the plan triggers a disadvantage and a life threatening impact, if the Aff is able to minimize the impact or explain how the impact pales in comparison to the advantages the plan actually offers, I'd still feel comfortable voting Aff. If asked to evaluate the debate via stock issues, the Neg merely needs to win one stock issue to win the debate.

Evidence and analysis are absolutely crucial, and good analysis can beat bad evidence any day! Evidence and link turns are also great, but make sure that you are absolutely CLEAR about what you are arguing and incredibly explanatory about how this piece of evidence actually supports your argument.

Counterplans - They're great! Just make sure that your plan text is extremely clear. If there are planks, make sure that they are stated clearly so I can get them down on my flow! Make sure that you explain why the CP is to be preferred over the Plan - show how and explain explicitly how you solve and be sure to watch out for any double binds or links to DA's that you may bring up! Counterplans may also be non-topical.

Topicality - Yeah, it's a voting issue. It's the Negative's burden to explain the Affirmative's violation and to provide specific interpretations that the Affirmative needs to adhere to. Further, if T is run, I must evaluate whether the plan is Topical BEFORE I evaluate the rest of the debate.

For Theory, Ks, etc. see the "Overall Debate Stuff" below.

I'm not too up on most arguments on this year's topic, so again, arguments need to be explained clearly and efficiently.

For PARLI DEBATE:

In Parli, I will judge the debate first in terms of the stronger arguments brought up on each side through the framework provided and debated by the AFF (PROP) and the NEG (OPP). If you win framework, I will judge the debate based on YOUR framework. However, just because you win framework, doesn't necessarily mean that you win the round. Your contentions are the main meat of the speeches and all contentions SHOULD support your framework, and should be analyzed and explained as such. If it's a Policy resolution round, I tend to judge by stock issue and DA's/Ad's (see the above Policy Debate paradigm). If a fact or value resolution round, I tend to judge through framework first before evaluating any arguments that come afterwards.

Similar to Policy, by the end of the 1 NR, I should know exactly what arguments you are going for. Voting issues in each of the rebuttals are a MUST! Crystallize the round for me and tell me exactly what I will be voting on at the end of the debate.

In regards to POO's, I do not protect the flow. It is up to YOU to POO your opponents. New arguments that are not POO'd may be factored into my decision if not properly POO'd. POO's should not be abused. Be clear to give me what exactly what the new argument/impact/evidence/etc. is.

I expect everyone to take at least 1-2 POI(s) throughout their speeches. Anything short is low key just rude, especially if your opponent gives you the opportunity to ask questions in their speech. Anything more is a time suck for you. Be strategic and timely about when and how you answer the question.

For PF:

I strongly believe that PF should remain an accessible type of debate for ALL judges. While I do understand and am well versed in more faster/progressive style debate, I would prefer if you slowed down and really took the time to speak to me and not at me. Similar to Policy and Parli, I want arguments to be clearly warranted and substantiated with ample evidence. As the below section explains, I'd much rather have fewer, but more well developed arguments instead of you trying to pack the flow with 10+ arguments that are flaky and unsubstantiated at best.

For PF, I will side to using an Offense/Defense paradigm. I'm really looking for Offense on why your argument matters and really want you to weigh your case against your opponents'. Whoever wins the most arguments at the end of the round may not necessarily win the round, since I think weighing impacts and arguments matters more. Please make sure that you really impact out arguments and really give me a standard or framework to weigh your arguments on! So for example, even if the Pro team wins 3 out of 4 arguments, if the Con is able to show that the one argument that they win clearly outweighs the arguments from the Pro, I may still pick up the Con team on the ballot. WEIGH , WEIGH, WEIGH. I CAN'T EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH! Really explain why your impacts and case connect with your framework. Similar to LD, if both teams agree on framework, I'd rather you focus on case debate or add an impact rather than focus on the framework debate. Though if both teams have different frameworks, give me reasons and explain why I should prefer yours over your opponents'.

The second rebuttal should both focus on responding to your opponents' refutations against your own case AND should refute your opponents' case. If you bring up dropped arguments that are not extended throughout the debate in the Final Focus speeches, I will drop those specific arguments. If it's in the Final Focus, it should be in the Final Summary, and if it's in the Final Summary, it should be in Rebuttal. I will consider an argument dropped if it is not responded to by you or your teammate after the rebuttal speeches. For more information regarding extensions, please look at the "Overall Debate Stuff" section of this paradigm.

Please use the Final Focus as a weighing mechanism of why YOUR team wins the round. I'd prefer it to be mainly summarizing your side's points and really bringing the debate to a close.

Most of all, be kind during crossfire.

For Lincoln Douglas Debate:

Similar to PF, while I did not compete in LD, I have judged a few rounds and understand the basics of this debate. I am more old-school in that I believe that LD is something that focuses more on arguing about the morality of affirming or negating the resolution. The Affirmative does not need to argue for a specific plan, rather, just needs to defend the resolution. However, I have judged a handful of fast rounds in LD and do understand more progressive argumentation from Policy Debate. I have also judged policy/plan centered LD rounds.

So there's framework debate and then we get to the main meat with contentions. With the framework debate, I'm open to essentially any Value or V/C that you want to use. If you and your opponent's Value and V/C are different, please provide me reasons why I should prefer your Value and V/C over your opponents. Weigh them against each other and explain to me why you should prefer yours over your opponent's. Please also tie your contentions that you have in the main meat of your speeches back to your Value and V/C. For example (using the anonymous sources resolution from 2018-2019), if you're Neg and your Value is democracy and your V/C is transparency because the more transparent news organizations are the more accountable they can be, your contentions should show me that in the your world, we maximize transparency, which allows for the best democracy. The best cases are ones which are able to link the Value and V/C seamlessly into their contentions.

If you win the framework debate, I will judge the debate based on YOUR framework. However, just because you win framework, doesn't necessarily mean that you win the round. Your contentions are the main meat of the speeches and all contentions SHOULD support your framework, and should be analyzed and explained as such.

If you and your opponent agree with V/C and V, move on. Don't spend extra time on stuff that you can spend elsewhere. Add an impact, add a DA, add an advantage, add a contention, etc.

By the time we get to rebuttals, I should have a decent grasp about what voting issues I will be voting on in the debate. A lot of the 1 AR should really be cleaning up the debate as a whole and weighing responses by the Neg with the Aff case. 1 NR should really spend a lot of time focusing on really summarizing the debate as a whole and should give me specific voting issues that the debate essentially boils down to. Feel free to give voting issues at the end of throughout your speech. They usually help me crystallize how I will be voting.

I usually decide the winner of the debate based on which side best persuades me of their position. While this debater is the one which usually wins the main contentions on each side of the flow, it may not be. I usually think of offense/defense when deciding debates! As a result, please WEIGH the contentions against each other, especially when we get into the rebuttal speeches. Even if you only win one contention, if you are able to effectively weigh it against your opponent's contentions, I will have no issue voting for you. Weigh, weigh, weigh - I cannot emphasize this enough!

***Here's an example of how I decided a round with the Standardized Testing resolution: The AFF's value was morality, defined as what was right and wrong and their V/C was welfare, defined as maximizing the good of all people. The NEG's framework was also morality, defined in the same was as the AFF's but their V/C was fair comparison, defined as equal opportunities regardless of background. Suppose AFF dropped framework, I would then go on to evaluate the debate under the NEG's Value and V/C. AFF had two contentions: 1. Discrimination - Standardized testing increases discrimination towards low income and minority communities, and 2. Curriculum - standardized testing forces teachers to teach outdated information and narrow curriculum thus, decreasing student exposure to social sciences and humanities. NEG had two contentions: 1. GPA Inflation is unfair - standardized testing allows for the fairest comparison between students since GPA could be inflated, and 2. Performance Measurement - the SAT accurately measured academic performance for students. Thus, in making my decision, I would first ask, how do each of the contentions best maximize fair comparison and thus, maximize morality. Then I would go down the flow and decide who won each contention. I do this by asking how each argument and responses functioned in the debate. For example, did the AFF show me that standardized testing discriminates against people of color and low-income households? Or was the NEG able to show that adequate resources devoted to these communities not only raised scores, but also ensured that these communities we better prepared for the exam? Another example, was the NEG able to prove that if colleges no longer accepted standardized testing scores, would grade inflation result in impossible comparisons between students? Or could the AFF prove that grade inflation would not occur and that there would be heavier reliance on essays and not GPA? After deciding who won which contention, I analyze the debate as a whole - Was the GPA contention outweighed by other issues throughout the debate? (ex: Even if NEG won the GPA Contention, did AFF win the other three contentions and prove that the other three contentions outweighed NEG's winning contention? Or if AFF only won one contention, did that ONE contention outweigh any of the other contentions the NEG had?) Ultimately, the winner of the debate is who BEST persuaded me of their side through each of the contentions brought forth in the debate.

I'm also totally fine with policy type arguments in an LD round. However, while I did do a year of slow Policy Debate and feel more comfortable evaluating these type of arguments, I think that Policy and LD Debate are two different events and should thus be treated as such. Unless both debaters are comfortable with running Policy Debate type arguments in round, stick to the more traditional form of debating over the morality of the resolution. If both debaters are fine running more policy type arguments, go for it!

Overall Debate Stuff:

I'm kinda stupid - write my ballot for me. It is your job to help me understand complex arguments, not the other way around. Don't expect me to understand everything if you're spreading through an argument and you can certainly not expect me to vote on an argument that I don't understand. In other words, "you do you", but if it's not on the flow or I don't understand it, I won't vote on it.

Speed - Consider me a slow lay flow judge. While I can handle medium-slow speed, I'd prefer it you just spoke in a conversational manner as if you were talking to your parents at the dinner table. If you want to run a Kritik, Counterplan, Theory, etc. go ahead and do so, just make sure that you say it in a speed I can understand it in. Remember, if you go too fast to the point where I just put my pen down and stop flowing, your arguments aren't making it on my flow and I will not vote on them. I will yell "SLOW" and "CLEAR" a maximum of three combined times in your speech if you are going too fast or I cannot hear/understand you. If you see me put my pen down and stop flowing, you have lost me completely. Moreover, try to avoid using fast debate terminology within the round. I may not be able to understand what you are saying if it all goes over my head.

Truth v. Tech - I feel like I have a very rudimentary understanding of these terms, so if you are a debater who loves running K Arguments, Theory, 10+ DA's, likes to spread a bunch, and is unwilling to adapt to a lay judge, do us both a favor and strike me. I run a very fine and nuanced line with truth v. tech. I feel like I'm slightly tech > truth, but ONLY SLIGHTLY so. I will do my absolute best to evaluate the round solely based on the flow, but I do think that there are arguments that are just bad, like (generically listing) "racism/homophobia/ageism/poverty good" or just linking everything to nuclear war. Let me illustrate this with an example:

The Neg tries to prove that an excess of immigration within the United States will result in Trump starting a nuclear war against country "x" as a diversionary tactic because he is losing his hardline immigration battle. Personally, I do not believe this will happen, but if this is the only argument left in the round and the Affirmative drops this and the Negative extends this throughout the debate, I will have no choice but to vote Neg to prevent more lives from being lost. However, if the Affirmative is able to show me that nuclear war will not occur or can effectively delink or turn the Negative's argument of nuclear war or can outweigh nuclear war (i.e. benefits of passing plan outweigh the possibility of nuclear war, which only has a close-to-zero percent chance of happening), I will be more inclined to believe that the Affirmative has won this argument based on any evidence/turn they give me, but also based on what I personally believe will happen. I will not arbitrarily insert my own beliefs into the debate, but if the debaters create a situation in which that case occurs, as with the example seen above, I will be inclined to vote for the debater that has the more true argument and the argument that makes more sense logically with me.

Tabula Rasa - As seen with the example above, I'm not Tabula Rasa. I really don't think that any judge can truly be "tab," for who am I to decide what is true? Again, I won't arbitrarily insert my beliefs into the debate, but if the debaters have an argument that I believe is "true," I will be more inclined to buy that argument unless a team convinces me otherwise. In other words, there exist arguments that I am more likely to agree with and arguments I am more likely to buy and vote on. Either way, I will evaluate the round from what I have written on the flow. Furthermore, take these examples:

The Affirmative claims that Santa Fe is the capital of California while the Negative claims that Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico. In making my decision, I will side with the latter based on outside knowledge and because it is the argument I think is more "true" based on outside knowledge.

The Affirmative claims that Santa Fe is the capital of California. The Negative does not respond to this claim. While I do not think that the Affirmative's claim is true, the Negative does not respond to this argument and thus, I will consider the Affirmative's argument as valid and evaluate the round as such.

Judge Intervention - Take this as you will, but I strongly also believe that I as a judge should not arbitrarily intervene during the debate and should listen to the arguments presented in the round as brought up by the debaters. So like what I wrote under the Policy Debate part of the paradigm, go ahead and run whatever argument you want. As long as I understand it, I will put it on my flow. See "Speed" and "K's/Theory" portion of this section for more information about what arguments you should run if I'm your judge. It is ultimately a debater's job to help me understand their/his/her argument, not vice versa. Moreover, I will not weigh for you - that being said, if neither team runs arguments that I understand and neither team weighs, I will be forced to intervene.

~~~

Brief note: OK, so I get that the non interventionist approach contradicts the fact that I am more inclined to vote for an argument that I think is "true." As a judge I can promise you that I will flow what I can listen to and will evaluate the round holistically. I am an incredibly nuanced person and I think my paradigm reflects this (perhaps a little too much)...

~~~

PLEASE CLASH WITH ARGUMENTS! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! Don't let the debate devolve into two boats sailing past each other in the night. At that point, it's completely pointless. I'd also prefer fewer well developed arguments over that of many arguments loosely tied together. Please don't brief barf or pack the flow with pointless arguments which aren't well developed. I may not include undeveloped arguments in my RFD if I deem that they are pointless or unimportant to the debate overall. Also, over the course of the debate as a whole, I would prefer fewer, but more well developed arguments, rather than a ton of arguments that go unsubstantiated.

Tag-Team CX/Flex Prep - I'm fine with this, just make sure that you're the one talking for most of the time. Your partner can't and shouldn't control your time. It is your Cross-Examination/Cross-fire after all. Same with speeches - essentially, don't have your partner be constantly interjecting you when you are speaking - you should be the one talking! If it seems as if your partner is commandeering your cross-examination or speech time, I will lower your speaks. Also totally fine with flex prep - you may use your prep time however you'd like, but since this time is not considered "official" cross-ex time, whether or not the opponent actually responds to the question is up to them. While I do not flow CX, I do pay close attention and if I look confused, I am more often thinking intensely about what you said, rather than emoting disagreement.

Roadmaps + Overviews - Please have them, and roadmaps may absolutely be off-time! I literally love/need roadmaps! They help me organize my flow make the debate/your speech a lot easier to follow! There should be a decent overview at the top of (at the minimum), each rebuttal - condense the round for me and summarize why you win each of the major arguments that comes up. Don't spend too much time on the overview, but don't ignore it.

K's and Theory - I'm not familiar with any literature at all! While you may choose to run K's or Theory (it is your round after all), I will do my very best to try and understand your argument. If I do not understand what you are saying, then I will not put it on my flow or vote on it. If you go slow, I will be more inclined to understand you and flow what you are saying. Again, not on the flow/don't understand = I won't vote on it.

Conditionality - This is fine. Though if you decide to kick anything, kick it earlier in the debate, don't wait until the 2NR unless it is strategic to do so. Please also make sure that your arguments are not contradictory - I have had to explain to teams about why running a Capitalism K on how the government perpetuates capitalism and then also running a CP where the Federal Government is the actor is ironic. In any case, kick the whichever argument is weaker and explain why Condo is good. Also, don't advocate for an unconditional position and then proceed to kick it or drop it. That would be bad.

Cross-applying - Don't just say "cross-apply my responses with Contention 1 on the Aff Case with Contention 2 on the Neg Case." This doesn't mean anything. Show me specifically how you group arguments together and explain how exactly your responses are better than your opponent's. Moreover, show me how your cross-application effectively answers their arguments - Does it de-link a disadvantage? Does it turn an argument? Does it effectively make Aff's actor in the plan powerless? Does it take out a crucial piece of evidence? What exactly does your cross-application do and how does it help you win the debate?

Dropped Arguments + Extensions - In regards to dropped contentions, subpoints, or impacts, I will personally extend all contentions, arguments, impacts, etc. that you individually tell me to extend. For all those arguments that were not extended and were dropped by the opponent, I will NOT personally extend myself. You must tell me to extend all dropped arguments or I will consider it dropped by you as well. All dropped contentions, subpoints, impacts, etc. should not be voter issues for the side that dropped it. I will drop all voter issues that were stated in the rebuttal if they were dropped by your side.

I did Interp, so my facial expressions will be turned "on" for the debate. If I like something, I will probably be nodding at you when you speak. Please do not feel intimidated if I look questioned or concerned when you speak. It does not show that you are losing the debate, nor does it show that you will be getting less speaks. However, if I seems like I am genuinely confused or have just put my pen down, you have lost me.

In regards to all debates, write the ballot for me, especially in the rebuttal speeches. Tell me why you win the round, and weigh arguments against each other!

ALSO, SIGNPOST, SIGNPOST, and SIGNPOST. The easier you make it for me to follow you in the round, the easier I can flow and be organized, and the easier you can win. Trust me, nothing's worse than when you're confused. KEEP THE ROUND CLEAN!

Don't be a jerk. It's the easiest way to lose speaker points. (Or even perhaps the round!) Good POI's/CX Q's and a good sense of humor get you higher speaks.

Links/Impacts - Be smart with this. I'm not a big fan of linking everything to nuclear war, unless you can prove to be that there is beyond a reason of a doubt that nuclear war occurs. So two things about impacts/links - the more practical and pragmatic you can make them, the better. I'm more inclined to buy well warranted and substantiated links to arguments. For example:

Plea bargaining --> incarceration --> cycle of poverty (These arguments are linked together and make logical sense. If we added "nuclear war" after "cycle of poverty," I'll just stare at you weirdly.)

Second, truth v. tech also applies with impacts and links, so if the Aff brings up a nuclear war will be caused by Trump as a diversionary tactic due to more immigration, and the Neg refutes that logically by taking out a link, I'll probably buy their argument (see the truth v. tech example I give). If the Neg doesn't respond, then the argument is valid. However, if the Neg is able to essentially group arguments and respond to them while weighing and shows me that even if they didn't answer this argument, Neg wins most everything else, I may still vote Neg.

I firmly believe that debate is not a game. It is an educational opportunity to demonstrate knowledge and to communicate efficiently between groups of people. Please don't try to make debate more complicated than it already is.

In regards to evidence in all debates: Yes, you need it - and should have a good amount of it. I know you only get 20 minutes to prep in Parli, and that you're not allowed internet prep (at some tournaments). But I need you to substantiate all claims with evidence. It doesn't have to be all subpoints and for every argument, but I will definitely be less inclined to vote for you if you only have one citation in the 19 minutes you speak, while your opponents have 7+ citations in the total 19 minutes they speak. Do not give me 7 minutes of analytics with no evidence at all. More evidence = more compelling. That being said, make sure that you also have a very strong amount of analytics as well. Don't just give me a lot of evidence without good analytics. Good analysis props up evidence and evidence supports good analysis. I would also much rather have a 4-5 good/solid pieces of evidence over 10+ trashy cards that don't help your case or add much to the debate. Essentially what I'm trying to say here is that good analysis > bad evidence any day, any round, and QUALITY > QUANTITY!!!

Do not CHEAT and make up cards, or clip cards, or anything of the like. Just don't. I will give you an automatic loss if you choose to do so. (Please don't make me do this...)

Time yourselves using whatever method you feel comfortable with! iPhone, SmartWatch, computer timer, etc. If you are taking prep, please announce it for me and your competitor to hear. Flashing or sending documents does not count as prep, though this needs to be taken care of in an expeditious manner. If you are caught abusing prep time, I will tank your speaks.

WEIGH - WEIGH - WEIGH!!! This is SO IMPORTANT, especially when debates come down to the wire. The team that does the better weighing will win the round if it's super tight! I won't weigh for you. Make my job easy and weigh. Again, as pieced together from previous parts of the paradigm, even if a team drops 3 out of the 5 arguments, if the team is able to show that the two arguments they do win outweigh the 3 arguments they lost, I will be more inclined to vote for that team that does the better weighing. I also love world comparisons, so weigh the world of the Affirmative and Negative and tell me which one is better for society, people, etc. after the implementation or non-implementation of the plan!

I will not disclose after the round (if I'm judging in the Coast Forensics League)! I usually disclose after invites though, given enough time. Either way, if you have questions about the round, please feel free to come and ask me if you aren't in round! I'll make myself visible throughout the tournament! If you can't find me, please feel free to contact me at xavier.liu17@gmail.com if you have any questions about the round! Please also feel free to contact me after the tournament regarding RFDs and comments!

FOR IE'S:

Ok. Now onto my favorite events of Speech and Debate. The IE's. First, I did Interp for a lot of my years competing, specifically DI, DUO, and OI. I've also done EXPOS (INF) as well. Take the Platform Events paradigm with a grain of salt. While there are many things that you could do to get the "1" in the room, I am particularly looking at several things that put you over the top.

PLATFORM EVENTS:

For Extemp (IX, DX) - I will flow your speech as thoroughly as I can. Please expect to have CITATIONS - at the minimum: news organization and date (month, day, year). An example: "According to Politico on February 13th of 2019..." If you have the author, even better - "John Smith, a columnist for Politico, writes on February 13th of 2019..." Please note that fabricating or making up citations or evidence is cheating and you will be given the lowest rank in the room and reported to Tab. You must have strong analysis within your speech. This analysis should supplement your evidence and your analysis should explain why your evidence is pertinent in answering the question. Good evidence and analysis trumps pretty delivery any day. Most importantly, make sure that you ANSWER THE QUESTION - I cannot give you a high rank if you do not answer the question.

For Impromptu (IMP) - I will flow your points as thoroughly as I can. I expect to see a thesis at the end of the intro and two to three well developed examples and points that support your thesis. While you do not have to have citations like Extemp, I would like to see specificity. Good analysis is also important and you need to make sure that your analysis ties into the thesis that you give me at the top of the intro. I also don't really like personal stories as examples and points in the Impromptu. I feel like personal stories are really generic and can always be canned. However, if done well and tied in well, personal stories do enhance the Impromptu! Use your discretion during prep time to decide if you want to use a personal story in your speech and how effective your personal story is. I also give bonus points and higher ranks to originality rather than canned speeches. Most importantly, make sure that you clearly develop your points and examples and explain why they apply to your thesis. I will default to California High School Speech Association (CHSSA) rules for Impromptu prep - 2 minutes of prep, with 5 minutes speaking - unless told otherwise by Tab/Tournament Officials.

Time signals for Impromptu and Extemp: With Extemp, I will give you time signals from 6 minutes left and down, Impromptu from 4 left and down. 30 seconds left will be indicated with a "C," 15 seconds left will be indicated with a closed "C," I will count down with my fingers for the last 10 seconds of the speech, with a fist at 7 or 5 minutes. I will show you what this looks like before you speak so you know what each signal looks like. With Impromptu prep, I will verbally announce how much prep is left: "1 minute left," "30 seconds left," "15 seconds." I will say "Time" when prep has ended. If I forget to give you time signals: 1. I fervently apologize; 2. This is probably a good thing since I was so invested in your speech or getting comments in; 3. You will NOT be responsible any time violations if you go overtime because it was my fault that you went overtime in the first place. #3 only applies if I literally forget to give you time signals; ex: I give you a time signal for 6 minutes left, but not 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1. If I forget to give you a signal for 4 minutes left, but get everything else, you're not off the hook then. I will also not stop you if you go beyond the grace period. Continue speaking until you have finished your speech.

For Original Advocacy and Original Oratory (OA/OO) - I will be primarily concerned with content. I will be looking for establishment of a clear problem (harms) and how that is plaguing us/society (inherency), and then I will be looking for a solution of some sort to address this problem (solvency). There must be some combination of these three in your speech. I will also be looking for evidence, analysis, and a strong synthesis between the two. Good speeches will have solid harms AND will explain how the solution solves their harms. Delivery should be natural, not canned or forced and facial expressions should not be over exaggerated.

For Expository Speaking/Informative Speaking (EXPOS/INF) - Again, primarily concerned with content. While Visual Aids (VAs) are important, they should serve to guide the speech, not distract me. That being said, I do enjoy interactive VAs that not only enhance the piece, but make me think about what you are saying. While puns and humor are both important, jokes should have a purpose in guiding your speech and enhancing it, and should not be included for the sole purpose of making anyone laugh. While I think that there doesn't necessarily need to be a message at the end of the speech, I should most definitely be informed of the topic that you are speaking to me about and I should've learned something new by the end of the 10 minute speech. Transitions from aspect to aspect in the speech should be clear and should not leave me confused about what you are talking about.

General Stuff for Platform Events:

1. Content > Delivery (Though I did Interp, so delivery is pretty important to me as well. Kinda like a 60-65% content, 35-40% delivery.)

What I have below is taken from Sherwin Lai's Speech Paradigm for Platform Events:

2. Projection and Enunciation are not the same as volume.

3. Repetitive vocal patterns, distracting hand gestures, robotic delivery, and unneeded micromovements will only hurt you.

4. Pacing, timing, and transitions are all important - take your time with these.

5. Natural Delivery > Forced/Exaggerated

6. Time Signals for OO, OA, and EXPOS - I am more than happy to give time signals, but since I am not required to give time signals for these events, I will not hold myself personally responsible if I forget to give signals to you or if you go overtime. It is your responsibility to have figured out time before the tournament started.

INTERPRETATION EVENTS:

I am most well versed in DI, OI, and DUO, but as a coach, I've worked with DI, OI, HI, POI, OPP, and DUO.

For Dramatic Interpretation, Dramatic Duo Interpretations, and Dramatic Original Prose and Poetry (DI, DUO, OPP) - Subtlety > Screamy, any day, any time. I'm not against screaming, but they should be during appropriate moments during the piece. Emotions should build over time. At no point should you jump from deadly quiet and calm to intense and screaming. Gradually build the emotion. Show me the tension and intensity over time. Screaming when you erupt during the climax is perfectly acceptable. Further, intensity can be shown without screaming, crying, or yelling. The quiet moments of the piece are usually the ones I find most powerful. THINK and REACT to what you are saying. Emotion should come nearly effortlessly when you "are" your piece. Don't "act" like the mom who lost her daughter in a school shooting, BE that mom! Transitions and timing are SUPER IMPORTANT, DON'T RUSH!!!

For Humorous Interpretation, Humorous Duo Interpretations, and Humorous Original Prose and Poetry (HI, DUO, OPP) - Facial expressions, characterization, and blocking take the most importance for me. I want to see each character develop once you introduce it throughout the piece. Even if the character doesn't appear all the time, or only once or twice throughout the script, I want to see that each character is engaged throughout the piece itself. Most importantly, please remember that humor without thought is gibberish. What I mean by this is that you should be thinking throughout your piece. Jokes are said for a reason - use facial expressions to really hone in on character's thought and purpose. For example, if a character A says a joke and character B doesn't get it, I should see character B's confused reaction. I will also tend to reward creative blocking and characterization. However, note that blocking should not be overly distracting.

For Programmed Oral Interpretation, Prose Interpretation, and Poetry Interpretation (POI, PRO, POE) - Regarding emotion, facial expressions, and character development, see the above text in the two paragraphs above regarding DI and HI. Personally, I place a little more emphasis on binder tech - the more creative the better! I think binder events are the synthesis of good binder tech, good script selection, and good facial expressions/emotion. Obviously, it's harder to do, since you have multiple characters in multiple parts of your speech and each have a distinct mood and personality.

For Oratorical Interpretation (OI) - Please err on the side of natural emotion over forced facial expressions. I am not a big fan when speakers try to force emotion or simply convey no emotion when speaking. Script selection is obviously a big deal in this event. Choose a speech with a promising and important message and see if you can avoid overdone speeches.

General Stuff for Interpretation Events:

A lot of this and my Interpretation paradigm is very much similar to Sherwin Lai's Speech Paradigm. He and I agree on a lot of things, including what I will write below.

1. Subtlety > Screamy - I tend to enjoy the small nuances of emotion. Build the emotion throughout, don't go from "0 to 100 real quick." Don't force emotion.

2. "Acting is reacting." - Each movement and action should have a purpose. Swaying or distracting micro-movements are bad. When one character or partner says something or does something, there should be a reaction from another character or by the other partner. Watch what is happening and react accordingly.

3. Let the eyes speak. Eyes are underutilized in Interp - I feel like everyone is so focused on facial expression and eyebrows/body language, that they forget about the eyes. Intensity can be portrayed in absolute silence.

4. If I am not laughing during your speech, it's not because it's not funny. I am just super focused on you and watching every little part of your blocking and your facial expressions.

5. Please watch body position - misplaced feet, hands, or mistimed blocking is a big no-no.

6. No blocking > bad blocking - you don't need to be doing something ALL the time. Sometimes, standing still and doing nothing is better than always doing something.

7. Use pacing and timing to your advantage.

8. Quality of cut is fair game.

9. Message of the piece - I don't think that there necessarily needs to be a super strong message to the piece itself. I'd be totally fine if the piece was literally 7 short stories that were interwoven together and each story had it's own little thing going on. I'm more concerned about the performance/technical blocking itself. That being said, if I literally do not understand what is going on in the piece, we have a big problem. Exception to this is OI.

10. THINK!!!!!!!! And do not let the energy wane!

11. Time Signals for DI, HI, DUO, OPP, POI/POE/PRO, OI - I am more than happy to give time signals, but since I am not required to give time signals for these events, I will not hold myself personally responsible if I forget to give signals to you or if you go overtime. It is your responsibility to have figured out time before the tournament started.

CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE

I have only judged Congress a handful of times, so please take what I write with a grain of salt.

In regards to speeches, I do not value speakers who speak at the beginning of a session more than those who speak towards the end, or vice versa. Opening speeches and the first couple speeches (around 1-2 on each side) afterwards should set up the main arguments as of why the chamber should be voting in favor or against the piece of legislation. After the 2nd speech on each side, you should really be clashing with arguments, impacting out both evidence and analysis, and weighing arguments against each other. Rehashing arguments made by other Congressional Debaters or "throwing more evidence" as a response to arguments is unimpressive.

During cross, if you just toss around random questions that do not actually pertain to the debate, your ranks will suffer. Remember to attack ideas and engage with the speaker who just spoke - save the argumentation for the speech. If you get the other speaker to concede something and you are able to use that in your speech, ranks will go up.

Respond to the actual links or the claims themselves and convince me why your claim is stronger. I welcome direct responses and refutations to another Congressperson's arguments, though please make it clear whom you are responding to and what the argument is. For example: "Next, I would like to refute Rep. Liu's argument that this bill would disadvantage states in the Midwest."

I'm a big stickler for Parliamentary Procedure, which means that if you are a PO, mistakes will be costly. Further, if you are acting like a biased PO, favoring certain speakers or debaters over other, you will be dropped.

Also, please note that "motion" is a noun. "Move" is a verb. So it's not: "I motion to adjourn." It would be: "I move to adjourn." PO's, remember that you cannot "assume unanimous consent" - a member of the chamber must ask for unanimous consent.

~~~

Feel free to ask me any questions about the paradigm, both speech and/or debate before the round begins. Or feel free to email me questions about my paradigm at xavier.liu17@gmail.com.

If you are confused about the RFD/comments I have written for either speech and/or debate, please also feel free to contact me whenever you'd like to at the above email.

GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!!! GO. FIGHT. WIN.

Liping Ma Plano West Sr High School None

Siteng Ma Little Rock Central 8 rounds

Last changed on Sat November 19, 2022 at 6:08 AM CDT

About Me

In the 2000s, I was a TOC-qualified Congressional debater from Arkansas and fiddled around with policy but am not good enough to judge varsity in that event. During college, I started an undergraduate Congressional Debate and Model Congress circuit (which is now defunct). Today, I am a Chicago-based real estate finance and investment management executive. Feel free to look me up on social media / LinkedIn. I'll always explain my paradigm verbally in the round(s) but here are a few highlights:

Congressional Debate Paradigm

~ For authorship / affirmation speeches, I look for a well laid out, outlined summary of the key points of legislation and why the legislation needs to be passed on this particular issue. The best speeches will reference lines of legislation and explain what the legislation does / enforces / regulates rather than why to vote in your favor. For example, if you want to legalize unicorn hunting, you will not only explain why the unicorn population is plentiful to sustain with legalized hunting, but also what the legislation does in its text to regulate effectively such as the number of horns one can bag, color of rainbows allowed, etc.

~ Likewise, for negation speeches, I look for refutation and an outline of not only why the topic should not be regulated in the way the bill specifies, but also why the bill itself should not pass. Is it a poor enforcement mechanism, too broad, or overbearing? What specific line(s) say this and why are these lines bad? Talking about the topic broadly in an eloquent way will get your points, but specificity to the bill itself will give you a better rank.

~Specific references to text in the legislation will get you a higher score and rank if the rest of your speech is solid. Remember - the specific bill is being debated, not the topic itself. Some bills are too broad and others go too far. You can agree with the premise of the bill itself but not the way it is written.

~ CD is a form of debate. That means that there must be refutation, argumentation, and summation of the points which move fellow legislators to vote on your side. Do not rehash the same points or introduce new points further along in debate (after the 3rd speech on your side). This is repetitive and doesn't move the argument along. Instead, focus on clashing with the opposite side and reaffirming / summarizing the strongest points on your side. There is no need for a 2-3 point speech after the 4th speech on the aff / neg side. Summarize!

~Outlining / roadmapping your speech in the first 10-20 seconds is critical for me and your peers to follow along the speech. A clear transition between points is appreciated.

~ Timing of your points needs to be even. Too many CD competitors spend the first two minutes on their first point and scramble to finish. Do not be finishing up your 2nd point at 2:40 and rush through the third point, then go over 3:05. Conclusions are just as important as introductions. If you go over 3:10, your speech score and rank will be degraded.

~ Persuasion is key. You must compel your supporters in the room (and the constituents you are hypothetically representing) to be more firm in their beliefs and your opponents to waver to your side. You don't need a punny attention grabber, but I appreciate clever rhetoric and a well articulated speaker who doesn't go overbearing in "debate voice." The best US senators and representatives don't use a different tone when speaking at the lectern being nationally broadcast on C-SPAN versus having a 1:1 conversation with their voters.

~ Evidence is appreciated but I'm not a stickler for specific explanations, dates, and authors (e.g. you do not have to say "According to Ryan Reynolds of The Brookings Institute, a think tank on international affairs, dated January 1, XXXX"; just say "The Brookings Institute published a study earlier this year..."). Don't introduce new evidence to support the same point that's been reiterated in a past speech if it's beyond the 3rd speech on one side. Strong bonus points if you can point out inconsistencies or flaws in previous competitors' evidence.

~ For presiding officers, I look for efficiency, consistency, and control of the room. Keeping order is essential, but having a more effective way of moving along debate, Q&A, and voting will give you higher ranks. If you've done something innovative to make precedence, keeping time, or Q&A more effective, I will rank you among the best speakers in the room. I have ranked POs first and will continue to do so if they are truly outstanding.

Will Mascaro East Chapel Hill High School

Dany Matar Thomas Jefferson HSST

Sydney McDonald Hire 8 rounds

James McElroy Union Catholic None

Nupur Mehrotra Dougherty Valley High School

Susanne Menezes Lincoln

Jamie Miller Solon High School None

Alysia Moran Jupiter High School None

Luca Moretti Davis Senior High School None

Andrew Morgan Monte Vista

Radha Mukkoti Hillsborough None

Siva Murugesan Thomas Jefferson HSST

Swarnalatha Neema Unionville

Marty Nelson Lincoln

Cyrus Newquist Lake Highland Preparatory School None

Caleb Newton Trinity Preparatory School None

Daniel Norris Ridge High School

Last changed on Wed January 3, 2024 at 5:32 AM EDT

Fourth-year assistant coach at Ridge High School.

I teach AP Government, Politics, & Economics, Global History, and AP Euro there as well. I will be able to follow any content/current event information you include.

I've coached and judged all major debate topics. I work most closely with our Congressional debate team, but also have experience judging PF, LD, and Parli.

PF: I think it's important for you to remember the goal of the event. Anyone should be able to walk into your round and follow the debate. With that said, I do flow and will try to give tech feedback as well as general commentary. I think some speed is ok in PF, but I think spreading absolutely does not belong.

LD: I am not a former debater myself; I really struggle to follow theory debate, K's, and spreading in general. I've learned a little about it over the past few years, but if you are a tech/theory/spreading team you should probably strike me (just being honest!). For all other levels--I will flow both framework and case and have voted on both. Try to be concrete in connecting your evidence to your claims. I've found that LD debaters can sometimes get carried away with "debater math"...and no, not everything can lead to nuke war. I am partial to probability arguments--I'm a realist at heart :)

Congress: As a teacher of Government & Politics, I really enjoy this event. You should always be roleplaying being an actual representative/senator. What would your constituents think about your speech? Why is your advocacy in their interest? I really like constitutionality arguments--we have a federal system, and sometimes bills being debated are directly in violation of those principles. Feel free to cite those Supreme Court cases all day. As you get later into the round, I will be highly critical if you are just repeating points from previous speeches. I want to see crystal/ref speeches later on--as do your fellow competitors, I'd presume.

Kristy Nuttall Timpanogos

Osezele Okoruwa Hire 8 rounds

Last changed on Fri December 3, 2021 at 10:19 AM EDT

I competed in PF and Congress (3 and 4 years respectively) at Durham Academy.

TL; DR:I will be flowing the round, so feel free to refer to the flow on points you would like to reintroduce. Don’t spread, this is not LD. You can speak quickly, so long as you are delivering your points clearly. The main focus of my judging is who is winning the debate. You provide the set of criteria that defines what winning means. Respect each other. No off-time roadmaps.

Constructive: This speech is the foundation for the entire debate. As such, all of your main points should stem from this speech. At the beginning of the speech, I expect that you will introduce a weighing mechanism or lens through which the debate ought to be judged*. Your impacts should lead into this mechanism or lens. All claims made during the constructive need to have warrants and each warrant should have a reputable source. With that being said, the constructive speech is a great time to provide depth to arguments. I would prefer a more robust explanation of points in two contentions to a list of numbers in a case with 4 contentions. Additionally, this speech is the only one that should be fully prepared ahead of each round and should be spoken clearly, articulately, and should end on at the appropriate time.

Rebuttal: This speech should focus on explaining why your opponent’s points are either wrong or outweighed by your own. You can certainly use the time to extend your constructive, but you should ensure that you leave time to address your opponent’s points.

Summary: The summary serves as a funnel for the debate. It should narrow the scope to the points that you see as the most important. These do not need to be your own points, but they should be weighed to explain why you’re winning on those points.

Final Focus: The final speech in the debate should focus on voters and weighing. I strongly dislike reaching back for points that were not extended through summary. I appreciate when the weighing mechanism or lens for the debate are brought back in for the final focus, especially when your opponents have accepted that weighing mechanism or lens.

Crossfire: Please be respectful of each other. Each side should have the opportunity to ask questions. Keep the focus on the topic and avoid ad hominem remarks.

*This isn't required, but if you don't provide a framework then I will assume you're running util.

Miscellaneous:

· Use your prep time. There are no bonus points for leaving prep time on the board.

· Stay calm. It will help you maintain a reasonable speed and deliver points clearly.

· Avoid off-time roadmaps. Just signpost throughout your speech instead.

· Attire is not something I tend to worry about. I will not be counting it for or against you, but some judges might. I recommend professional attire.

Congress

Maintaining decorum during the round is important. Each competitor ought to be respectful of each other, regardless of what occurs during the round. I will be judging based on how each student operates as a legislator. Participating in cross-examination, presiding well, properly using points of order, and generally demonstrating a thorough understanding of the event will all be considered when I make my judgment. When giving a speech it is important that you support your points with evidence. Credible evidence should be clearly cited from a reputable source.

First and foremost, respect each other. Link your arguments back to the standard. When attacking your opponent's argument, make sure you use the standard established in the round.

Evidence: If you cannot produce evidence quickly when it is called by your opponent, I'll simply disregard that piece of evidence.

Spreading: Feel free to do so, but I value the quality of your arguments far more than the quantity.

Mary Papalski Manville High School None

Parag Patki Thomas Edison Energy Smart Charter School None

Ronnie Perdue Hoover HS 8 rounds None

Ashley Pinnell Loyola School None

Keith Pittman Asheville High School

Last changed on Fri January 5, 2024 at 6:41 AM EDT

General overview:

I was a high school and college debater and have been an active high school coach ever since. I am chair of my state league as well as an NSDA District Chair. Dating back to high school, I have over 35 years of experience in the activity. However, please don't consider me as "old school" or a strict traditionalist. Like any activity, speech and debate is constantly evolving and I am open to and embrace most changes. You'll clearly understand all of the rare exceptions to that as you read my paradigm.

It is very important to remember that debate is a communication activity. As such, I expect clear communication. Well articulated, supported and defended arguments, regardless of quantity, are far more important to me than who has the most cards that they can spout out in a speech. While I'm okay with a limited amount of speed, excessive speed beyond what you would use in the "real world" is not effective communication in my mind. Communicate to me effectively with well reasoned and fully supported arguments at a reasonable pace and you will win my ballot. I don't accept the "they dropped the argument so I automatically win the argument" claim. You must tell me why the dropped argument was critical in the first place and convince me that it mattered. I look at who had the most compelling arguments on balance and successfully defended them throughout the round while refuting the opponent's arguments on balance in making my decision.

Things to keep in mind about the various events I judge:

Policy debate is about policy. It has a plan. Plans have advantages and disadvantages as well as solvency or the lack thereof. Some plans also might warrant a counterplan from the negative if it is good, nontopical, and can gain solvency better than the affirmative plan. I am not a fan of "circuit style" policy debate and greatly prefer good and clear communication.

Lincoln Douglas Debate is about values. I am interested much more in values in this type of debate than any sort of policy. However, I'm not a strict traditionalist in that I don't require both a value premise and a value criterion that is explicitly stated. But I do want to hear a value debate. That said, I also want to hear some pragmatic examples of how your value structure plays out within the context of the resolution. All in all, I balance my decision between the philosophical and the pragmatic. Persuade me of your position. However, please don't present a plan or counterplan. Switch to policy debate if you want to do that. Bottom line: debate the resolution and don't stray from it.

Public Forum Debate is about current events and was intended for the lay judge. Don't give me policy or LD arguments. Clear communication is important in all forms of debate, but is the most important in this one. I am not open to rapid fire spreading. That's not communication. Please don't give me a formal plan or counterplan. Again, reserve that for policy debate. Communicate and persuade with arguments backed up by solid research and your own analysis and do this better than your opponents and you will win my PF ballot. It's that simple. Debate the resolution without straying from it in a good communicative style where you defend your arguments and attack your opponent's and do this better than they do it. Then you win. Persuade me. I am also not a fan of "circuit style" Public Forum that seems to be increasingly popular. Communicate as if I am a layperson (even though I'm not), as that is what PF was intended to be.

Congress Paradigm: (I'll be honest. It's my favorite event.)
Congressional Debate is designed to be like the real Congress when it functions as it was intended. Decorum is absolutely critical. While humor may have its place in this event, you should not do or say anything that a United States congressperson of integrity would not do or say. You should also follow Congressional decorum rules and address fellow competitors with their proper titles. When judging congress, I want to see clash/refutation of previous speakers (unless, of course, you are giving the first speech of the topic). Try to avoid "canned" speeches that are largely prewritten. This is not dueling oratories. It is still debate. I look for a combination of new arguments and clash/refutation of arguments already made. I do not like rehash. If it's been said already, don't say it unless you have a uniquely fresh perspective. I am not impressed by those who jump up to make the first obvious motion for previous question or for recess. Obvious motions score no points with me, as they are obvious and can be made by anyone. It's not a race to see who can be seen the most. I am, however, impressed by those who make great speeches, regularly ask strong cross examination questions and show true leadership in the chamber. Simply making great speeches alone is not enough. If you give three perfect speeches but never really ask good cross examination questions or rarely participate proceduraly in the chamber, you might not get the ranking you were hoping for. Although speeches are very important and a major factor in my decision, they are not the complete package that I expect from a competitor. I'm looking at your total constructive participation in the chamber (in a productive sense, not a "just to be seen" sense). Finally, to reiterate what I said at the beginning, I take decorum very seriously. You should too.

Congress Presiding Officers: Keep your wording as brief and concise as possible. Avoid the obvious. Please don't use phrases like "Seeing as how that was a negative speech, we are now in line for an affirmative speech." Here is a MUCH better option: "Affirmative speakers please rise" or "We are now in line for an affirmative speech." There is no need to tell anyone that the previous speech was negative. We should know that already. Just immediately call on the next side. It is acceptable and advisable to also very quickly give the time of the previous speech for the reference of the judges, but we do not need to be reminded of what side the previous speech was on. The phrase I dislike the most in Congress is "seeing as how . . ." So how do I judge you as a P.O. in relation to the speakers in the chamber? Most (but not all) presiding officers will make my top eight ballot if they are good with no major flaws. But how do you move up the ballot to get in "break" range? I place a great deal of weight on fairness and decorum, knowledge of parliamentary procedure and the efficiency in which the chamber is conducted. I reward presiding officers who are precise and have minimal downtime. And, as mentioned earlier, it does not require a great deal of language (especially jargon and phraseology) to be an excellent presiding officer. I'm not judging you on how much I hear you speak. I'm judging you on how efficient the chamber ran under your leadership. An excellent P.O. can run a highly efficient chamber without having to say much. Keep order, know and enforce the rules, and be respected by your peers. That said, you should also be prepared to step in and be assertive anytime the chamber or decorum gets out of hand. In fact, you should step in assertively at the first minute sign of it. Finally, while it is often difficult for a P.O. to be first on the ballot, it is also not impossible if your excellence is evident. And as a side note, while this is not a voting issue for me, it is worth noting. When giving your nomination speech, you don't need to tell me (or the rest of the chamber) that you will be "fast and efficient." That phrase is overused and heard from almost every candidate I've ever seen nominated. Everyone makes that claim, but a surprising number don't actually follow through on it. Come up with original (but relevant) reasons that you should be elected.

Things to avoid in any event I judge:

"Spreading" or rapid fire delivery. Just don't.

Ad Hominem attacks of any kind. Stick to the issues, not the person. This is the first thing that will alienate me regardless of your position.

Kritiks - You must be extremely persuasive if you run them. I'll consider them and vote for them if they are excellent, but I'd rather hear other arguments. Very few kritiks are in that "excellent" category I just mentioned. These are mainly only appropriate for Policy debate. I'll reluctantly consider them in LD, but never in PF.

Debate that strays outside the resolutional area. Stick to the topic.

Lack of respect for your opponent or anyone else in the room. Disagreement and debate over that disagreement is great. That's what this activity is about. But we must always do it respectfully.

Lack of respect for public figures. It's perfectly fine to disagree with the position of anyone you quote. However, negativity toward the person is not acceptable.

Condescending tone or delivery. Don't even try it with me. Trust me, I'll hear a condescending tone/delivery much louder than any argument you make, no matter how good the argument is. I'll make a condescending tone a voting issue that does not play in your favor. You don't want that.

Jay Prakash Pine View School None

Sid Puranik Hire

Joseph Quintana American Heritage Plantation HS None

Faiza Rahman East Chapel Hill High School

Girish Rao Hawken None

Rohan Ray William G. Enloe HS

Last changed on Sat September 19, 2020 at 4:51 AM EDT

Hello!

I'm Rohan Ray, a former competitor in Congress for 4 years in high school that's had a lot of experience in competing at tournaments all over the country, including TOC and NSDA Nationals and have had a fair bit of experience in coaching other students. My paradigm will be guided towards my expectations when it comes to a round of Congress and your specific role as a speaker in a round that I will be basing my ranks off of.

Firstly, Congress is an event that relies a lot on argumentation. The most important factor for me when evaluating your rank in a chamber is your argumentation and the logical flow of your argument. It's very easy to tie random arguments to a bill in this event, but finding the arguments that actually impact the flow of a round (your arguments prove to me why your side outweighs the opposition) are the ones that will get the highest rank. That being said, your role in the round also depends on where you speak.

If you are giving an authorship/sponsorship speech, I expect you to set the standard for the affirmative and introduce the specifics of the bill as far as it pertains to the mechanisms of the bill (explain what each section means for the people it will be affecting), and if you're giving an early constructive speech, set the framework for the round. If that means setting a literal framework for what needs to be proven from each said (Aff needs to prove xyz, Neg needs to prove abc), that's fine, but make sure you actually hold people accountable for it during cross-ex. Finally, crystallization/refutation speeches are all I want to hear after the 3rd or 4th cycle of debate. I really enjoy listening to crystallization speeches (ones that weigh the arguments of a round from both sides and make me understand why I should be inclined to vote for one side over the other) as they require a deeper level of understanding the bill and how the world works overall to interpret them. Refutation speeches and clash in general are extremely important to me. Refutation is a subtle art and needs to be done carefully in order to successfully disprove another person's arguments, but if you can give evidence as to why someone's argument is wrong (especially key arguments that haven't been disproven in a round yet), you will have gained a huge advantage for yourself in the round.

Questioning is where the good/great debaters stand out from mediocre ones. If you are successfully able to punch a hole in the person you are cross-examining's argument, and aren't just speaking loudly over them, you will have gained a point in my book. Conversely, if you are effective at responding to tough questions with substantive material from your speech, you will have also gained a point. I really enjoy listening to cross-ex periods, but please try to keep your cool during this period, as screaming over each other doesn't really help anyone evaluate how a questioning period is going, and I'll have gained nothing to evaluate you off of.

I enjoy listening to people with empassioned speaking styles, but if that's just not your style, I wouldn't fault you for it. The most important aspects to a great speech are in your argumentation and the impact your speech has on the round (weighing the round), but different speaking styles or anything that would make you stand out from the rest of your fellow competitors would definitely help me understand your strengths.

I value the role that presiding officers play in a round, so they do play a part in my rankings. If you are fluent in the general proceedings of a Congress round, and are able to successfully keep order in a round, you'll have done a good job. Keep good track of precedence and recency (if it's required by the tournament), as I will also be keeping track of it myself.

This event entertained me for 4 years in high school, and I hope all of you enjoy the highs and lows of competing in speech and debate. Be respectful of other's opinions, even if you may disagree with them, and most importantly, be fair to your peers in round. Even if you get dropped to the last speech on a bill, it's not the end of the world. Adapt to the circumstances that you face in the round, and you'll do well. I look forward to seeing y'all in rounds!

Linda Robbins El Camino Real Charter High School

Last changed on Sun February 19, 2023 at 12:35 PM PDT

Vita Roth

El Camino Real Charter High School

English Department Chair

Speech and Debate Coach

v.roth@ecrchs.net

I currently teach Honors British Literature and AP Language and have taught almost every English course possible at the high school level, including AP Language. I have over 8 years experience teaching English at El Camino Real.

Please share your opinions or beliefs about how the following play into a debate round:

Although speech delivery is very important for students, learning how to support their argument with facts and passion is just as important, if not more important. With the time constraints imposed on students they often speak very quickly so it is important to emphasize their supporting information very clearly and concisely. What generally helps me is if the student begins with the big picture so I can tell where they are heading, and following that up with line by line details, allowing some time for me to absorb the information and take notes. They should also be prepared for their opposition by stating any known contradictions and addressing them head on. Their final focus should repeat their strongest arguments and why I should vote for their side. Also, remember to repeat these strongest arguments whenever they speak again.

I find that sometimes students try to bring in too many arguments. Then they spend too much time defending these lesser arguments and lose focus on the big picture. Remember, the opposition will try to undermine your support so the fewer you have the easier it will be to stay focused on the facts you have to support your argument.

As far as style, first and foremost, be yourself. Be enthusiastic about your topic. Be confident in your argument, don't let the opposition distract you by hammering on one of your arguments, restate your facts and then reinforce your other arguments. If the other team or person does something you feel is against the rules, don't argue with them during your time. Wait for Cross and then mention it but don't let yourself be drawn into an argument at that time. State your concern and let the judge take it into consideration. I have seen a lot of time wasted as students argue the point during the speech process. Also, a few moments of silence is OK. You don't have to fill the time with "ummm" or something similar. You are allowed to take a moment to think out your answer or your next argument.

Finally, remember, you don't have to prove the opposition is wrong, only that your argument will lead to the best outcome. This should be the focus throughout. Yes, it is a good idea to point out flaws in their argument, but it is more important to reiterate your argument and why your point is the best outcome for the issue at hand.

Wendy Rubas Naperville Central

Quest Sandel James Logan High School

Last changed on Tue January 9, 2024 at 7:52 AM PDT

quest.sandel@ascendspeech.org for any and all questions. Please CC your coach if you reach out with a question. This paradigm is written for Congressional Debate.

Hey,

I am the Founder/Camp Director/Co-Owner at Ascend Speech & Debate, Director of Congressional Debate at James Logan High School, and former Director of Speech and Debate at John F. Kennedy High School in Sacramento, California.

First off, I believe this is a debate event before anything. That means you should be adapting to the round as it goes. Everyone from the sponsor to the closer has an equal shot at my one as long as they do their job. The job for the sponsor and first negative speaker is to set up the round for strong debate. The sponsor should state the problem, how this bill fixes the problem, give one or two impacts from solving it, and if you're a superstar give me a framework for the round moving forward. The first negative should give us the main idea of what we should expect from a strong negation argument. This should take the problem the sponsor laid out and then give us the negative thought process on whether or not this legislation fixes it. After that I should see an increasing amount of refutations mixed with original arguments as to why this legislation is good or bad. Once we are 3/4 of the way through I should be seeing a lot of extensions as the debate is coming to an end. Still give an original POV but keep it within the frame of the debate. At the end, I should see nothing but refutation and crystalized speeches. Once again I want your own original analysis but use it to end the debate through a refutation of the other side instead of individuals. No matter where you speak I want to see your personality/style shine through. Take risks and you'll likely be rewarded.

All effective argumentation is based around a solid understanding of the status quo. If you cant properly depict the status quo then I cant buy an argument from you. What's happening right now? Is the effect that this legislation has on it good or bad? How well you answer these questions will dictate your ranking from me.

Effective cross examination is when you attack the flaws in your opponents argument or set up refutations for your own. As long as you have a clear goal for your cross examination period, I'll appreciate your time. Overall, I tune out when both sides start over talking each other and I prefer a calmer style of cross x.

When it comes to speaking I don't have a preferred style. I can respect all styles as long as it suits you. Picking a speaking style is like picking a baseball batting stance in that there isn't a wrong way as long as you're doing what is best for you based on your natural voice, range, and variation. If you stick to that then I'll probably think you're a great speaker. DONT BE AFRAID TO TAKE RISKS.

I do rank presiding officers pretty well as a scorer and if I'm a parli it can serve as a tie breaker between two debaters. If you do it well then I'll boost you but if you don't then I'll drop you pretty far.

This next part should go without saying but your arguments need to be backed by evidence at all times and have clear logic behind them. Remember that your logic creates the argument then the evidence backs it up. Your evidence isn't your argument.

Lastly, be respectful and have fun. If you aren't having fun then you're doing this activity wrong. Best of luck!

David Sanders Stuyvesant High School

Samantha Sarli-Freeman Brecksville Broadview Hts High School None

Devon Shewell Millburn High School

Last changed on Fri April 30, 2021 at 5:55 PM CDT

Hi, I'm Devon Shewell, and my pronouns are he/him/his.

I debated for four years in Missouri (Near Kanas City), and my main focus was on Congress and LD, but I am also quite experienced in PF and Extemp. I go to Vanderbilt now and study Philosophy and Communication Studies.

Some general stuff - regardless of the type of event, use good evidence if it's needed, use organization in your speeches, and don't be a bad person. Please don't waste my time, your time, or your opponent's time. I high-key like voting issues (in congress make them to your colleagues, in LD/PF/Policy make them to me).

Adding this cause it hasn't happened much - please give me weighing mechanisms and tell me how to evaluate the round.

Give me weighing mechanisms/framework. Focus on strong internal structure within your speeches and give me lots of signposting. I look for each speech to serve a purpose towards the round, and for teams to be strategic in how they choose to extend arguments and which arguments slip out of the debate. Don't feel like you need to hit every single point in the round during every speech, some stuff won't be relevant and that's okay - just don't bring something up in the constructive and then never talk about it again until the FF. I will be flowing the rounds, and if you want something to be in the last row of my flow (FF), it needs to be extended. Please give me some voting issues and try to "write my ballot" for me towards the end of the round.

In LD, I am open to just about anything. That being said, I come from a relatively traditional LD Debate Background. I try to come to every round as an entirely blank slate that will mold to the round. I will judge you off the flow, but I am not opposed to people stepping out of the line-by-line norm. The round, although judging from the flow, is like a story. If you can tell the story better, I am inclined to vote for you. Of course, be sure that your evidence is good - if you are paraphrasing evidence, summarizing evidence, or doing the "reading bolded sections thing," you should make that clear, especially when sharing evidence. If you send me a card that is two pages long but only selectively reads two sentences, I'm going to think that's pretty suspect. Other than that, I am open to watching debates as they unfold - ask questions if you have them before the round.

If you are going to read Philosophy style frameworks it better make sense. Just cause you say Util is the framework doesn't mean I will accept it (unless your opp does too). You need to explain why frameworks are optimal, not just that you have one.

If you are wondering what my LD Style/Background is like, I come from the Heart of America District where I was a national qualifier - check out either of the wonderful debaters from the 2017 NSDA National Championship (shoutout Natalie and Nathan) or the 2019 NSDA Championship (shoutout Grace) to see what that debate looks like.

Virtually - Please include me on the email chain if necessary.

Please don't go crazy with speed. I can flow it, but if I can't understand or comprehend the argument in time, I don't think it helps you.

I really enjoy a good theoretical argument.

Good structure within speeches, both for the speech itself and within arguments, is great.

Speaker points will be high if you are clear, nice, insightful/witty, and signpost well. I also really appreciate it if you are not reading off blocks and prewritten responses to the entire debate. If you are funny, it's a plus, but not everyone can be funny (sorry), so if you aren't funny, don't worry about it. Generally, everyone gets pretty good speaker points. You can swear if you want to, I don't care - don't be mean though.

Give me good evidence - I love academia

Don't be a bad person (Racism, homophobia, hateful, etc.)

Congress

Things I Really Don't Like (I'll probably drop you).

- In House recess to prep speeches - it's your obligation to prep before a tournament; if you are the PO, I think you should rule the motion dilatory. Don't waste everyone's time.

- Asking about the "split." Debate on the side of the legislation you believe in. Flipping sides and making arguments you don't care about is quite potentially the silliest thing I have ever seen.

- Not using evidence and not knowing what your evidence actually says.

- Not being willing to solve problems/address the issues.

- Reading Speeches

- Going overtime - you have 3 minutes.

- Having Stale Debate (It's okay to not speak on every bill. You have lots of legislation, if stuff is boring, move on)

- Being a bad person

My first and primary focus is on quality argumentation - it's a debate. I want quality evidence; however, there is no need for you to read card after card after card - give me analysis from the evidence. If you are giving a later speech, clash is expected. Please try to contextualize your arguments and humanize your impacts. Debate in what you believe in - debate the issues for the sake of debating the issues (not to have an "even split"). I won't mark down any particular arguments, but I have a bias towards arguments that makes the lives of human beings better (particularly on economic and foreign policy.)

Delivery and style do matter, but you don't win from it! If you can't persuasively explain your argument, it's hard for me to buy it. I'm not a big fan of the quirky congress rhetoric; I would much prefer you simply explain your argument. Structure your speeches clearly and signpost within them. Don't be afraid to give an early speech. I think a good constructive explains what the legislation does (references legislation) and doesn't get caught up in nuances. Make sure you know what type of speech you are giving. i.e.) if it is six speeches deep on a topic, don't give a constructive speech. I have no preference for when you speak. However, if it is a longer round, and you have the chance to speak multiple times, it would benefit you to showcase different skills by giving different types of speeches.

I have a lot of respect for people who make arguments which they believe in. If you debate what you believe in, it should reward you. I also really respect people who give a speech when the chamber needs a speech; the most frustrating thing to me is taking a recess to prep a speech. If you give a totally extemporaneous speech because nobody else in the chamber is willing to speak, you will be looked at favorably.

Presiding Officer - I will hold you to a very high standard. Maintain order and keep track of everything (I will as well). Enforce time limits on speeches and questioning. Tell me about your procedures before the round starts. I also understand that in the virtual setting, some things are exceptionally difficult; if you prioritize fairness, you should be good. I am more than happy to give the PO a 1.

If you are a real nerd, you can see what I like as a PO (cause it's what I did) by finding my time as PO in the Nats final from 2018.

Other Notes on Ballots - High speech scores on your ballot do not directly lead to the best rankings. Everything will be put in the context of the round. I will try my best to give comments that actually help you improve. For so many of these rounds, everyone is very talented, ballots in those round may come across as critical of very small things, but that's how the decisions are made when everyone is good.

If you have any questions, my email is devonshewell@me.com

Cynthia Siva Lake Mary Prep

Isaac Slevin Evanston Twp High School

Olav Solgaard Palo Alto High School None

Susan Stayn Palo Alto High School None

Samantha Sun Thomas Jefferson HSST None

Shawn Tanner Highland Park High School None

Muhammad Tariq Syosset High School None

Maryam Tazari Roslyn High School

Brianna Terrell Walt Whitman

Last changed on Wed October 27, 2021 at 3:50 PM EDT

I debated for four years in the midwest competing in LD, Congress, and National Extemp. I then competed in two years of East Coast college debate in British Parliamentary and Policy (but not much Policy). All that background to say, my view of what debate should be is sculpted from a very traditional, accessible circuit, although I am able to understand spreading and non-traditional arguments.

Debate (of any kind)

The centerpiece of all debate is clash. Don't let the debate become two ships passing in the night. Throughout all of your speeches, but especially voting issues, make it very clear what the clash is and why you're winning the clash.

I don't care about evidence that much. Unless the use of a piece of evidence is contested (i.e. a debater is accused of completely misusing the evidence or being abusive), I don't care too much about reading it. I think it is your job as the debater to explain the piece of evidence and why it matters. I don't want to have to read your card to fully understand the debate - you should be making that clear for me. If you're going to extend a card, tell me why. I also will not kick an argument solely for lack of evidence if the debater has provided a well-linked logical argument (this is especially true in LD).

I can understand spreading but I don't prefer it because I believe it makes debate inaccessible to a larger audience. When I debated I tended to be a fast talker, but never speaking so fast I resorted to the wheezing/gasping for breath we've come to know in policy debate that has infiltrated other events as well (again, especially LD).

I will flow the entire round but I don't decide solely by going down the flow and seeing who won more arguments. Different arguments have different weight. That being said, weigh the arguments on the flow for me - don't make me do that work for you.

In line with my traditional background, I do not allow flex prep. CX is for CX.

Also, do not yell at your opponents. I will lower your speaks if you are condescending, rude, or mean to your opponents. Racist, homophobic, misogynistic, etc. language will absolutely not be tolerated and an egregious offense will cost you the round.

I do give out low-point wins.

I'm a traditional LDer. I love well-developed frameworks and the value clash. I will use the value clash as the lens for evaluating the impacts of all of the contentions, as the value clash is supposed to set the "goal" for the round. I like to see the value clash addressed in all speeches, especially voters.

That being said, I think there should be a good balance between framework arguments and contention-level arguments. I will entertain and have seen good cases where the framework takes 5 minutes of the Constructive, but in general I prefer a balance of contentions and framework with diverse and unique points made in each one.

LD is not policy and I think that using policy-style arguments and strategies in LD detracts from the original intentions and accessibility of LD debate. If you are going to use policy arguments, please include why you think your argumentation style is accessible and reasonable within the scope of LD debate. I will not vote someone down just for running policy style arguments, but it will be an uphill battle to win my vote, especially if your opponent provides sufficient rebuttal to you and has a solid resolution-based case. I prefer when the debate focuses on the resolution that has been given.

As far as debates go, I have the least amount of experience in PF. I've judged some rounds in my day so I can follow the debate and flow the whole thing, but without the LD-style framework to evaluate the round, I really rely on each team to do the impact weighing for final round calculus.

Congress

Most Congress debates that I watch significantly lack clash. I am always on the lookout for clash; engage with other speakers in the room (not just by dropping their names, but actually responding to their arguments!). Big fan of extraneous and integrated rebuttal mixed in with constructive arguments. Not a big fan of 4th-Affirmative speakers and later simply repeating constructive arguments from earlier in the round as if there hasn't already been three rounds of debate on the topic. Later-round speakers must add something new: new analysis, new evidence (and explain why this evidence is more compelling), weighing, crystallization, etc. The more debate skills you use (except for spreading, topicality, kritiks, etc.), the better. I'm indifferent to cheeky introductions.

As with the other events, be kind to other speakers and have fun. There's a difference between having assertive questions and being aggressive/not letting others speak. Stay on the right side of that line!

Ethan Thomas Hathaway Brown School None

Tammy Trout McIntyre East Ridge High School

Last changed on Wed February 14, 2024 at 1:51 PM CDT

I am currently the Assistant Coach for East Ridge High School in Woodbury, Minnesota. I coach Congressional Debate and Public Forum.

Background:

High School Debate (Iowa): Public Forum Debate, Congressional Debate, and Speech

College Debate (Loyola U): Parliamentary Debate

Coach/Mentoring: The Chicago Debate League, MN Urban Debate League

Retired Attorney – Business Law for pay and Constitutional Law for fun.

Congressional Debate:

-Congressional Debate is not a Speech event; I am looking for argumentation skills that further the debate.

-I encourage signposting, great intros, and a quick summary conclusion. When appropriate, a joke or pun is always welcome.

-I expect clash, cited evidence, and rebuttal.

-I also appreciate students who immerse themselves in the debate and act as if their votes have importance to their constituents back home.

-The authorship or sponsorship speech should address the status quo, lay out the problem(s), and explain with specificity how the legislation solves it. The first con should be equally as strong. Second-round speeches and beyond should advance the debate – offer something new, clarify something that has been said, or refute something proffered.

-If you are speaking near the end of the debate, then a top-notch, crystallization speech is in order and very much enjoyed when done well.

-One amazing speech will always beat out three mediocre speeches.

-No same-sided questions...it does not further debate.

-Don't break the cycle of debate; either flip sides or give a speech on another piece of legislation.

-Refrain from the three Rs: Repeat, Rehash, Recycle.

-Make your arguments stronger, not louder.

-I expect you to treat your colleagues with respect and civility. Shouting, pointing fingers (literally), and being downright rude in questioning will drop you quickly. I like questions that further debate and shore up the arguments. I frown upon unsportsmanlike shenanigans – no “gotcha” or snarky questions. My frown will extend to chamber rankings.

Presiding Officer: Please consider the job of PO ONLY if you are comfortable with Parliamentary Procedure, keeping track of recency and precedence, and running a controlled chamber. If you are a presiding officer, I want it to run so smoothly and fairly that I never have to step in. I do not mind some levity, but this is also a competition. As PO, please explain your gaveling procedure, your understanding of recency and precedence, and how you call on representatives for questioning. Please do not call for "orders of the day" in front of me. Y'all are using it wrong to give your stats from the round.

Public Forum Debate:

>>>SPEED: I am a Coach, but I still can't write as fast as I hear you. You never said if it does not make it to my flow.

Clear signposting.

Off-time roadmaps work for me.

I am a fan of clear and smart frameworks.

Don't cherry-pick your evidence.

I want to hear debate on the NSDA PF resolution only. Run anything else at your own risk!

I really need narrative and great warranting - please extend them through the flow. Quantitative impacts mean nothing to me if I don't know how to weigh them. Tell me your story.

Are you still terminally impacting to Nuclear War in 2023? If so, use caution because the probability is about 1%. I know that, you know that, and the academic literature states that.

I prefer line-by-line rebuttals.

Collapse as necessary to keep the debate sharp.

Please weigh in summary and final focus. If you want something to be a voting issue, put it in both the summary and final focus. If you don't weigh the round for me, I will, and I will use criteria that will definitely frustrate at least 50% of competitors in the round.

Tiffany Tucker Cabot High School

Luke Tyson Hire None

Stephan Voudris Kenston High School

Luke Vrotsos Natick High School

Last changed on Sat February 3, 2024 at 5:23 AM EDT

General: I view debate as an educational activity. You should be learning about the specific issues you're debating and about how to make a coherent argument in general. To that end, I value a strong, broad understanding of the topic that you're debating (not just the arguments you're making in this round) and clear explanation of each step of your argument.

Evidence is obviously important in debate, and I expect you to support empirical claims with appropriate sources. I want to know something about how your sources arrived at their results. A few studies that you've explained thoroughly are better than a laundry list of barebones citations.

Imagine you're trying to convince somebody who knows nothing about competitive debate, but is otherwise intelligent and knowledgeable about the issues (such as a judge, a good journalist, or a professor). Such a person will appreciate arguments that make sense and a presentation that is enjoyable to watch.

Last, but not least, I expect you to treat your competitors respectfully and politely.

Congress: Delivery matters in Congress. You should be speaking extemporaneously in a clear and engaging manner. I probably will not rank you highly if you are reading in a monotone off a piece of paper, even if your content is good. I also don't like yelling and fake anger.

If you are speaking fifth or later (approximately), you should be responding to earlier speakers at least a bit. Crystallization speeches are good as long as you introduce new analysis that helps me see why your side's arguments are better or more important than the other side's. I generally will not look favorably on one-sided debate, especially if there is a lot of rehash.

Unlike some other judges, I'm receptive to arguments about constitutionality and ineffectiveness. Concrete harms are good, but some bills are so poorly written that they won't have real-world harms because they wouldn't do much in practice, and it's fine to point that out.

I've noticed that Congress competitors sometimes distort evidence. I encourage evidence challenges (see page 39 of NSDA rules) where appropriate. With online judging, I can look sources up during the round, and occasionally do.

For presiding officers, I expect fairness and a good control of the rules. If you are competing at a tournament outside your local league, know that the rules may be different than what you are accustomed to. The amount of time spent on parliamentary procedure should be minimized.

If you are the author (as in, your name is on the bill, not that you speak first), I will consider the quality of your legislation and its conduciveness to debate.

PF Debate: I've judged some PF, but I'm still a bit new to it. Since the title and intent of the event is to model a "public forum", I want you to act like I have never seen a competitive high school debate before. I will vote on the impacts of arguments that 1) make sense as explained and 2) have not been convincingly refuted by the other side.

I'm pretty strict about time limits for fairness reasons. You can finish a sentence, but don't go beyond that.

Please don't talk much faster than normal conversation speed. Try to speak with a natural voice inflection. Avoid debate jargon like "non-unique", "collapsing", "extending", "link", "frontline", "the flow", "solve", and "terminalize". Instead, explain what you mean using normal English.

Make the strongest arguments for your side, not some bizarre argument that would get you laughed out the room if you weren't at a debate tournament. You can make surprising or counterintuitive arguments, just explain them well. I am skeptical of arguments with long chains of vague links, e.g. "this resolution causes X causes Y causes Z causes 100 million deaths". Often it isn't clear that the X that results from the resolution is the same as the X that causes Y, or that this Y is of the magnitude as the Z that causes 100 million deaths, even if the same word describes both of them.

It's fine to get help writing your case, but if I get the sense that you're reading off something that somebody else wrote and you don't understand, then I will likely reduce your speaker points. Warning signs include repeated mispronunciations of words (not including proper nouns) and difficulty defending your arguments during cross-examination.

About me: I went to Natick High School in Massachusetts, where I competed in Congress for four years. I also did Extemp and PF once or twice. Since graduating from high school in 2017, I have judged Congress, Extemp, BQ, and PF to varying degrees. I am currently a PhD student in statistics.

Jing Wang Naperville North High School None

Naiming Wang Dreyfoos School of the Arts None

Natalie Wang Lincoln

Scott Wasserman Hire None

Kayla Williamson The Potomac School None

Jackson Winder Northland Christian School

Last changed on Fri January 5, 2024 at 9:30 AM CDT

A quick note about myself:

Hi. My name is Jackson. I competed for Northland Christian School in Houston for four years. I have an extensive background in congress. It was my primary event. I competed in nat circuit tournaments like Berkeley, Emory, TOC, Sunvite, and others.

Congress:

-Before reading into this: don't feel like you need to change yourself as a debater. I understand people have different styles and techniques. I will equitably evaluate all of these.

- Facts first. You aren't making this activity educational by making things up.

- Relevant and captivating introductions will get even the most experienced judge's attention.

- I like hearing direct lines and quotations from your evidence. Sometimes paraphrasing is necessary. Use good judgment here.

- Cite your evidence to the full extent that you can (don't leave out author, date, etc. when that info is made available in the book or article). Make it easy for me to find your evidence!

- Think about the kind of speech you are about to give. Is it a constructive AFF/NEG, Rebuttal, Crystallization, Refutation, Combination? Remember that this is a debate event. Just as LD or PF starts the round with constructive speeches to set that debater's position, the first few aff/negs in congress do the same. As you get further along in an item, the speeches should be getting more conclusive/overviewing.

- Be careful about tautological arguments.

- As the PO, you will start at 1 and can move down with errors. Please be efficient. I'm not asking you to abbreviate parliamentary procedure but think about your word economy when calling for speakers and questioners. This could make the difference between a few more speeches happening or not. If you run against someone to get to the seat, I will expect more from you.

LD, PF, & Policy:

If you get me for these, don't spread. It would be best for you to stay topical, but if you decide to take the theory route, I will listen.

Everyone:

- Have fun :)

- Be respectful, civil, and kind

- Think of what you are about to say. Is it problematic and potentially harmful to someone? If you don't know, think of something else to say!

Amy Xiao Newton South High School None

Angela Yan East Chapel Hill High School

Jacob Zartman Louisville Senior High School

Last changed on Wed February 7, 2024 at 9:50 AM EDT

Hello!

My name's Jake Zartman and I'm the Assistant Debate and Extemp Coach for Louisville HS in Ohio. I competed in Congressional Debate (and USX) from 2012 to 2016. Most of my experience comes from the Ohio circuit, though I had the chance to compete on the national circuit a number of times throughout those years. My pronouns are he/him/his.

World Schools, Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, etc.:

I’m far from the most experienced tech judge in the world. Aside from a few rounds of Public Forum in high school and my having watched like a hundred rounds of Policy, my knowledge is reasonably limited.

That being said - I do understand argumentation, warranting, and impact analysis. A novel, well supported line of argumentation will always hold sway with me. I may not have hundreds of hours of experience line-by-line debating, but I know a weak argument when I hear one.

I am also well-versed enough to tell when debaters are acting in bad faith or debating abusively. So, for your sake and for the sake of the round itself, please debate fairly and respect your opponent at all times. Abusive or uncivil behavior is the only guaranteed way to lose my ballot.

***LD SPECIFIC***: Though I'm likely to favor the contention-level debate because of my background, I am also happy to vote on framework as necessary. I'm fairly comfortable with progressive debate, generally speaking, as long as you're willing to engage in good faith with an opponent running a more traditional case. Spread at your own risk, and only if your opponent is comfortable with it! (And if you can signpost clearly!)

WORLD SCHOOLS SPECIFIC: I will follow NSDA procedure and established WS norms to the absolute best of my ability. I expect to see clash, good argumentation, and human-centered impacts, but above all I expect you to debate your opponents fairly. If you can meet them at their highest ground and articulately present your case, I will ultimately vote for the team that most completely and persuasively argues their side. Also, I coach Extemp and so do appreciate extemporaneous speaking!

Congressional Debate

My overarching philosophy is pretty simple: Be an advocate. As a mock representative or senator, it's your job to be an advocate - for your constituents, for your communities, for the things you believe in. Each time you take the floor should be purposeful, instilled with a sense of passion and purpose.

There are three main ways to be a good advocate in a round.

The first is to engage your audience, competitors and judges alike, through effective presentation that is both clear and rhetorically sound. You can't bring attention to an issue or demand better for your constituents if no one wants to listen.

The second is to be unique in how you go about making your case. If I've heard the same points rehashed over and over again, I'm naturally going to assume that while it is important, your non debate-progressing information probably isn't. Novel argumentation wins!

The third and arguably most important way to be a good advocate is to put people first. Impacts are just as important in Congressional Debate rounds as in any other, possibly even more so because the role forces you to consider how the legislation will affect the people represent. That frame, that every action can be measured by how it affects the imaginary citizens of your districts, can be a powerful tool in a round - so use it! A bill might cause economic damage, it might help the environment, but those impacts mean nothing without considering how those changes will alter the lives of real people. Law isn’t written in a vacuum!

Hopefully this is at least somewhat illuminating, and good luck!

Email: jake.zartman@lepapps.org

Theodora Zeibekis Strath Haven None

Tiffany Zhao The Harker School

Last changed on Wed April 14, 2021 at 3:59 AM PDT

Hi everyone! My name's Tiffany and I'm currently a freshman at NYU Stern. I debated in Congressional Debate at Harker for three years and am now back as an assistant coach. Here are a few things I look for the most when deciding my ranks:

1. Clarity and relevance. First and foremost, I need to be able to follow the structure of your speech, understand your arguments, and identify your warrants and impacts with relative ease. Use specific signal words to help with this. This requires both strong argumentation/framing and effective speaking. After meeting this bare minimum, I'm looking for relevance. If you're giving an early round speech, the most relevant arguments are the apparent ones that shed light on the core controversies of the debate. Past that, the best way to make your speech relevant is to directly contextualize it by refuting, mentioning other speakers, or collapsing arguments. After the sponsorship, I'm looking for at least one mention of other speakers in the round. If you're giving a mid-cycle speech, it's not enough to pull out what might have been a super good and unique contention if you don't frame it as a response to the arguments already brought up in the debate OR weigh your impacts against others. By the time late-cycle speeches come around, in order to stay relevant, you have to ensure you're breaking down the debate into a few key points of contention and comparing both sides on these key points. You should always be asking yourself one fundamental question: am I helping my judge assess whether my speech is BETTER than other speeches in the round rather than just am I helping my judge assess whether my speech is GOOD. A good isolated speech does not always guarantee a good speech in a congressional debate round.

2. Speaking persuasively. I will always decide ranks primarily on my first point, especially because clarity and relevance inevitably requires some degree of effective speaking. However, if there are multiple people speaking at around the same level of clarity and relevance, I will turn towards persuasiveness to decide my ranks. For me, effective persuasion always includes conveying genuine concern and a sense of urgency. Conveying genuine concern can be done through utilizing rhetoric and speaking slowly while conveying a sense of urgency often requires momentum-building throughout your speech through varying your speed, volume, and intonation.

3. A few other things to keep in mind.

a) On an online platform, don't read off your screen. Extra points for having a setup and giving your speech standing with a legal pad the traditional way.

b) Provide solid evidence. When in doubt, use evidence.

c) Speak at different points in the debate. For example, if your first speech is a constructive, make sure your second speech is a rebuttal of some sort.

On a final note, please be respectful, kind, and easy to work with at all times. It really does come through in round if you are non-cooperative and dismissive of others, so just make sure to maintain decorum both in and outside of rounds. Debate is honestly a great way to better yourself as an individual and meet some great people along the way, utilize that! Looking forward to being your judge and hope this helps!

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Yale University Invitational

2020 — Online, US

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