Congress, overall - I am here to judge you and you are here to speak. I don't like when time is wasted not debating when that's the whole point of this event existing. Along this line, if previous question was moved and you still have a speech, maybe you should have been better prepared or chosen to speak sooner. I believe it is selfish to make an entire chamber sit through a broken cycle if your speech is not going to actually contribute to debate.

Congress Scorer- Congressional debate should be extemporaneous or have an extemporaneous feel. If I can tell that this is a pre-written speech and not your actual words, this will result in an automatic 5.

Because there is only 3 minutes per speech, the critiques I can provide are generally not the most thorough, however, I do try to provide feedback based on what I notice.

Speaker ranking is determined by conduct in chamber and questions asked. I do not necessarily take into consideration the number of speeches; however, in a competitive round, quality of speaking and speeches will be a distinguishing factor between close competitors. To break this down: You will be ranked higher in my ballot if you:
1) Use questioning time effectively both as a speaker and as a questioner (I don't mind asking question to bolster your side as long as you aren't wasting what little time is given in each block)
2) Effective and correct use of parliamentary procedure
3) Have well-spoken speeches that do not read from a page (or do not feel like they were written from a page).

Speeches scoring is determined based on this rubric on page 14 https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/2017-Congressional-Debate-Guide.pdf. I prefer this rubric to the 2020 guide due to its detail.

It is rare for PO to rank below 5th in the round on my ballot. I understand the difficulty and the difference in the role of PO vs Speakers in the Chamber. That said, if there are many people deserving higher ranks as speakers,

Congress Parliamentarian - I ensure that proper order will be kept in the chamber at all times. I am very familiar with Parliamentary Procedure and will assist the Presiding Officer as needed. For Novice and JV, I will generally hold a more interactive seat with clear and direct instruction, as well as advice. For Varsity, I will take a more observational seat (unless the PO has specifically asked for a more hands-on parliamentarian). My expectations for both are similar (being more lenient with JV/Novice), however, are also understanding of experience in Speech and Debate, as well as the category overall.

What you can anticipate from my feedback: If you are a speaker, honestly, unless I have to say something (for good or bad), don't expect to get feedback from me on your speeches. You have two other judges that are giving you feedback. If you are PO, expect very detailed feedback and suggestions. Don't be intimidated by walls of text and paragraphs (with links), because that feedback is there to share my knowledge and tips that I have had with my experience with ParliPro and POing and imparting that on you.

Scoring, overall, is based on conduct in the chamber. Generally, students will receive a higher rank if they:
1. Use proper parliamentary procedure in every role in chamber (personal privilege, point of inquiry/order, effective uses of motions, etc.)
2. Utilise questioning blocks appropriately and functionally (actually asking questions, and not bringing in more information that should be addressed in a speech and ACTUALLY follow NSDA and MSHSL, when appropriate, guidelines)
3. Ensuring fairness and efficiency from every role in chamber
4. Pet peeve of mine: If you say that you are going to follow NSDA guidelines, actually follow them. There are many things that are done that explicitly go against NSDA (and MSHSL) guidelines that no one corrects. Examples include, but are not limited to: opening the floor for debate (this has never been a thing as long as I have been alive), closing the floor for docket nominations

In competitive rounds, I am looking for competitors who are paying attention, genuinely adding to the debate, and making themselves appropriately known.

While I understand that speeches are an important aspect of debate, when I am Parliamentarian, they are my second focus while ranking. I do not score speeches in this role. Most of my feedback is provided on an as-needed basis, with the exception of PO.

I coach speech and perviously coached debate at Eagan High School and am the librarian/media specialist there.

I enjoy debate, so I look forward to hearing your round!

In general you may want to know this about me:
I want to hear you debate about the resolution/legislation at hand. Theory is very rarely needed. I like to hear real world impacts, and I want to understand how your arguments will impact the lives of people. I have little interest in unique/trick/squirrel/non-topical arguments. Weighing is important...so give me a clear way to weigh a round. Delivery is important, so speak well and avoid speed at all costs. Speaking of speaking, there have been five times when I've given a 30 in my life, and the lowest end I've given was 10. In all situations the speaker points were earned. My typical range is 26-29. I rarely disclose and there will be no orals after the round. Finally and most importantly, have fun and debate with class.

Specifically, in terms of congressional debate: I'm probably going to vote for the best legislator. You should speak well...but not have canned speeches. You should show me you can speak in a variety of positions (author legislation, introduce arguments, refute arguments, and weigh/crystalize the round). You should advance your arguments through questions. You should use motions to advance/end debate when appropriate. You should play the role of a congressperson with the decorum it deserves. You are always on...even during recess. You should be a good person (don't be a jerk).

In terms of public forum: I'm probably going to vote for the team that does the best job of explaining the big picture of what happens in the pro and/or con world. Real world impacts are important. Weighing is important.

In terms of LD: I'm old school. I would gladly judge a value debate. I would gladly judge a round in which the criterions are debated.

In terms of policy: Good luck. Use everything written here to adapt your approach to me. I might not be the best judge for your typical approach. I do not want to have to vote on presumption.

Good luck!

When judging Congress, I look for three things:

Is your point supported by a logical argument and/or a source?

Do you respond to other debaters and other points?

Are you respectful and attentive in the chamber?

And as always, be mature and be good people.

I did Classic Debate, PF, and Congress while attending Eastview High School. I qualified for Nationals for Congress and competed in Nationals in 2020. Now I am an assistant coach for Hopkins High School and occasionally judge for my former team, Eastview. Impacts are important to me no matter what format I am judging. Tell me why your arguments matter and how they outweigh. I flow everything so if you structure your speeches around the flow you have a better chance of impressing me. Make sure your speaking is accessible to everyone (don't spread). When it comes to Congress, if you don't have new points to add to the debate please don't give a speech especially if you're giving the second aff/neg speech in a row, know when the debate on a bill is over.

I'm a debater at Edina High School. I did PF for 3 years, and now I'm a Congress debater.

PF:

FLOW-ish JUDGE: I'll judge off the flow as my first and foremost criterion, but treat me like a lay judge. Take time to explain arguments thoroughly, extend links, warrants, and impacts; not just the card names.

HAVE FUN: Brownie points if you throw in some jokes/humor. To help you, here are some examples:

- Judge, put on your seat belt...we're going in for the turn.

- Make sure to put on your parachute... we're looking at some drops.

- Their argument is like an Ox...two points, and a whole lotta bull in between.

- Their argument is like Swiss Cheese...it has content, but a bunch of holes.

Extensions: extend important cards, but don't blindly extend cards without explanations. Card names are important, but I care more about good warranting and explanations. If both teams agree on a particular link/impact and both are going for that argument, you don't have to extend it. But please still weigh.

Evidence: If you misconstrue evidence, depending on the situation, I will either a) give you terrible speaks or b) drop you and give you terrible speaks. Generally, if a team indicts it well or I find it to be misconstrued, I will drop it off the flow. If you're paraphrasing, you need to have the card available for me or the other team to call for.

Framework: Unless you tell me otherwise, I will default to the generic util.

Weighing: I cannot stress enough that weighing is important. Please write the ballot for me, explain to me why did you win the round. I do not want to do the debating for you while I'm trying to make my decision. In close rounds, good weighing pushes my decision over the edge. That being said, focus on winning your case first, because otherwise the weighing doesn't matter.

Evidence Comparison: If there are 2 cards in the round that directly contradict with each other, explain why I should prefer your evidence via postdate, warrants, credentials, etc.

Summary and FF Cohesion: The final 2 speeches in the round for each side should mirror each other. Your speeches should go for the same arguments, rhetoric, with the summary collapsing on the argument and the final focus furthering your position. Make sure your voting issues are in both summary and final focus, or else voting for you is going to be very hard.

Speaker Points:

1) I am not afraid to give you 20 speaker points if you are rude or offensive.

2) I don't like to be a speaker point fairy, but I don't want to ruin your chances of breaking or something just because of speaks, so I'll try to be consistent with the tournament norms.

3) I begin judging from the moment you walk into the room.

Crossfire:

1) If you make a good argument, say it in your next speech

2) It's hard to win me in cross, but it's very easy to lose me here

Disclosure: I will disclose unless you or the tournament tells me not to. This paradigm is incomplete so don't hesitate to ask me questions before the round about my preferences.

General things:

- if you need any accommodations, let me know before the round!

- I would like to think I'm relatively competent, so don't lie about arguments

- preflow before the round

- don't hack prep

My name is Joe Rogers and was an Extemporaneous speaker at Pittsburgh Central Catholic. I have judged PF and LD for 10 years. As a judge, I am looking for consistent arguments that carry throughout the debate, a central theme, appropriate clash, and civil discourse.

Your arguments should be clear and concise, and you should address your opponent's points as well.

My name is Alary Schmitt. I did Congressional debate and a variety of different types of speech throughout high school (mainly a variety of interp, but I also did some public address and extemp); now I coach Congressional Debate for Edina High School and judge. I use they/them or he/him pronouns and am nonbinary & transmasculine; I prefer neutral or masculine titles, so Mx. or Mister both are preferred over Miss or Mrs.

General notes: I try to write as many comments as I can, but I often spend more time listening to your speech than I will writing things down. Also, if any comment I give you contradicts the advice your coaches give you, then take your coach's advice before mine.

For judging Congress:

I love good authorships or sponsorships. Please give me a good authorship or sponsorship. I like them more than rebuttals or crystals. Frankly in some ways I think they're harder since you set the tone of the debate. Please please give me a good author or sponsorship speech.

This is a pet peeve but please make eye contact with me/your other judges/your fellow reps. (Preferably your fellow reps/the other judges; I don't actually like making eye contact, I just like knowing that you're looking around instead of staring down at your legal pad/laptop).

PO: I love POs. Presiding officers will get great ranks from me personally. Don't be biased towards your team or your friends (I will notice). If you are good at precedency and recency I will love you forever. Leadership will also get high marks from me (this applies to you even if you're not presiding; I will notice if you're taking charge of docket coordination and it will make me think favorably of you).

Questioning: If you are too long you will get ranked down from me. Please at least let the person you're asking questions ANSWER. That said, the more questions the better and the more I'll like you.

Other things I enjoy and will rank higher: impacts, linking, a good AGD, and signposting.

I am a head debate coach at East Ridge High School in Minnesota with 10 years of debate under my belt and 15+ years of speech coaching / judging experience as well. I love both activities, and I love seeing creative / unique approaches to them. I've sent several students to Nationals in both speech and debate categories for the past several years.

In 'real life' I'm an intellectual property attorney. I love good arguments in all types of debate. But I will NOT make logic jumps for you. You need to do the legwork and lay out the argument for me, step by step. I LOVE legal arguments, but most of all I love a good Story. Frame your arguments for me. Make the impacts CLEAR. (e.g. in PF / LD - WEIGH them.) Tell me how and why to write my ballot for you and I probably will!

Voting Values
I vote on topicality in any type of debate that I judge. If your arguments are non-topical, and you get called on it, they will be struck from my flow. Everyone got the same resolution / bills, that's what I want to hear arguments about.

I am NOT a fan of Kritiks - you got the resolution ahead of time. Debate it.

SPEED

THIS IS A COMMUNICATION ACTIVITY. Your goal is to effectively communicate your arguments to me. If you are talking too fast to be intelligible, you are not effectively communicating.

If you make my hand cramp taking notes, I'll be crabby. I am a visual person and my notes are how I will judge the round. If I miss an argument because you were talking at light speed, that's your fault, not mine! :)

Attitude / Aggressiveness

100%, above all, you are human beings and citizens of the world. I expect you to act like it. I HATE rudeness or offensive behavior in any debate format. Be kind, be inclusive. By all means, be aggressive, but don't be rude.

Public Forum: I am a huge framework fan. You have the evidence, frame the story for me. If you give me a framework and explain why, under that framework, your evidence means I vote for you, I will. Don't make me do summersaults to get to a decision. If only one team gives me a framework, that's what I'll use.

Re: Summary / FF - I expect the debate to condense in the summary / final focus - and I expect you to condense the story accordingly. Look for places to cross-apply. I do need arguments to extend through every speech to vote for them - but I do not expect you to reiterate all evidence / analysis. Summarizing and weighing is fine for me.
WEIGH arguments for me. Especially if we're talking apples and oranges - are we comparing money to lives? Is there a Risk-Magnitude question I should be considering?

Re: new arguments in GC/FF - I won't weigh new ARGUMENTS, but I will consider new EVIDENCE / extensions.

Re: Argument / Style - I'm here to weigh your arguments. Style is only important to the extent you are understandable.

I generally don't buy nuclear war arguments. I don't believe any rational actor gets to nuclear war. I'll give you nuclear miscalc or accident, but it's a HIGH burden to convince me two heads of state will launch multiple warheads on purpose.

Lincoln-Douglas: If you give me a V/C pairing, I expect you to tie your arguments back to them. If your arguments don't tie back to your own V/C, I won't understand their purpose. This is a values debate. Justify the value that you choose, and then explain why your points best support your value.

Congress: This is debate. Beautiful speeches, alone, belong in Speech categories. I expect to see that you can speak well, but I am not thrilled to listen to the same argument presented three times. I expect to see clash, I expect to see good Q&A. I love good rebuttal / crystallization speeches.

I DO rank successful POs - without good POs, there is no good Congressional Debate. If you PO well in front of me, you will be ranked well.

World Schools: This actually is my favorite form of debate. I want to see respectful debate, good use of POIs, and organized content. I've judge WSD at Nationals for the last several years and I do adhere to the WSD norms. Please do not give me "regular debate" speed - I want understandable, clear speeches.

Amanda Soczynski’s Judge Philosophy

A little about myself; I have been involved with forensics for 19 years as a student, judge, and coach. I am currently in my 8th year as the congressional debate coach at Edina High School. My background was originally in speech where I competed and coached. In High School, I learned policy debate as a class rather than competition on a local level, so I competed but not in a typical local circuit. I have been judging debate for the last 13 years, in all categories. I judged CX for the first 5 years and the last 7 years in LD, PF and mostly Congress. I graduated with a Mass Communications degree from University of Minnesota School of Journalism and a J.D. graduate from William Mitchell College of law in 2014. I work at Thomson Reuters on legal software & research, as a content expert. I really love congress, watching, coaching. I always try to strive to do my best! If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. My goal is always to be an educator and help you succeed!

If for some reason my parli notes don't end up in your results packet, email me at amandasoc@gmail.com or amanda.soczynski@edinaschools.org. I will send you my google doc. I parli a lot and I always take lots and lots of notes and try to give RFD's when I can. If you don't get the link. Please ask, I put a lot of work into them. ????

I have a congress paradigm and CX,LD,PF one included in here.

Evidence / Citations / Warrants for all categories: *note - Statista is not a source, it's like Wikipedia, it's a congregation website not actually doing any of the studies that are on there. If you copy and paste the title of the stat you're looking at it will likely take you to the original source. Also the little (i) icon often will tell you where it can from. DON'T USE STATISTA as a source with me. I am a professional researcher by trade, so I care about citations! They matter and if they are from a source I don't know or if they're suspicious to me, I will google them.

Congress Paradigm:

General:

One thing to remember - judging congress is hard! It's just as exhausting for us as it is for you. We're trying really hard to compare a lot of people who have vastly different styles! I try to write as much as I can, but I spend a lot of time listening, so sometimes my comments can be lite at times. I'm working on that, the three mins go so fast. I'm hoping this will help shed some light on how I evaluate debaters.

When it comes to national level tournaments, at this point, almost everyone is a proficient speaker, so I really focus on the quality of arguments and ability to be flexible in round. Being a well rounded debater is important for me, especially as a Parli. I want to see a variety of type of speeches, and ability to switch sides, and flex to what the round demands. Make sure you are listening and not rehashing, if you're doing a rebuttal make sure you are extending or further attacking an argument.

I REALLY APPRECIATE A GOOD AUTHORSHIP OR SPONSORSHIP. Nothing is worse than judging or watching a semi-final round where there is no first aff, and having to take an in house recess immediately. Come prepared, have one. Spend the rest of your time doing great questions and defending your position there. I feel like people don't like to do this because they feel like they will be dropped. Rebuttals and Crystals are great, but there's a lot of them. If you can do this well, we'll know. It comes with the most amount of questioning time that if you know a lot about the topic you can show boat.

Linking: This is a debate skill you should have, you should able to link your impacts with others, link arguments together for rebuttal. Most national level congress debaters are great at linking within their own argument, but make sure you link and contextualize to the round. I want to see that they go together rather be a stand alone. That being said, contextualizing by: "I want to separate myself from the other AFF or NEG arguments", that's okay because you are still contextualizing within the round. Do not operate as an island in the debate, it's a good way to be dropped by me. Also remember, you can have great speeches, but if you don't ask questions, you're going to find your way to the middle of my ballot. It's a crucial part of debate.

Impacting:

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. Again, at the national level, most people can impact to lives or economy etc. But what I find people aren't as good, is contextualizing the impact. Example: You tell me that thousands of lives are being lost in Yemen, take it one step further tell me what percentage of that population is being killed, or how that compares to another genocide for context. Make it hit home for all of us. Just giving generic #'s, sure it's the impact, but it doesn't show me the impact. Make sense? Remember I come from a policy background where pretty much everything leads to nuclear war.

Questioning:

Direct questioning is great, but make sure you're not too long winded or too brief, there's a nice sweet spot, where you have maybe a sentence or two question and answer. I've seen people basically run out the time by doing a really long answer, and I've also seen debaters ask such long questions that there's no way the opponent can answer. You only have 30 seconds, make it count.

Participation in Round:

Leadership is important. Remember, I'm comparing a lot of kids, participation with motioning and making sure that all students get to talk is important. This can help make up for bad presidency etc.

PO:

I almost always rank P.O.s in the top 5. It's a hard job, and as a parli, we appreciate good POs. A good way to get to the top 1/2 of my ballot as a PO. The round runs so smoothly I barely know you're there. You are able to solve issues of people not being prepared / docket issues. (This happens so often, time restrictions make things complicated. Especially since lots of tournaments have their own rules).

Mistakes happen, one mistake is not going to tank you. Continuous mistakes, or failing to help chamber resolve issues. This makes it harder. Fairness is also important, I notice when you pick your teammates repeatedly or if you always start in the middle of the room.

Inclusiveness - especially on the local circuit. I don't like parliamentary procedure used to limit people talking. It is also important to encourage those who haven't talked to go. Do your best to make sure the chamber is inclusive.

DON'T ALWAYS PICK YOUR FRIENDS FIRST. I know this happens. And it's easier to pick up than you think it is. Presidency means a lot in congress. Make it fair.

There's a reason I love coaching congress, it's a fun event!

CX/LD/PF Paradigm

General: As I’ve previously mentioned I come from a legal background. I am a “big picture” judge. I do appreciate the attention to detail, however, I don't like when it devolves into a debate that’s myopically focused on one thing. Make sure you take the time, especially in rebuttals to do a “birds eye view” of the debate. Remember, the rebuttal is the last time I hear from you before I make a decision, make it count. I appreciate good crossfire, and cross ex, specifically using information obtained in these for an argument.

Topicality: I like topicality, especially in varsity level debate. I think it makes a for a boring debate to have a non-topical aff. So it’s a pretty garden variety argument for the neg to make.

Critical Arguments: As I wasn’t a debater in high school, I don’t have the technical experience dealing with these arguments, however, I don’t mind critical affs on-face. Since I don’t have the technical experience, I appreciate all critical arguments to be understandable and explained properly. I catch on to arguments quickly, however I loathe having to have to fill in the gaps of an argument because its poorly argued. Make it logical, make it understandable. I generally dislike affs that are anti-topical or affs that critique the topic. I’m not saying I’ll never vote for a critical aff, whiteness aff, performance aff’s, etc, but its the one area where an affirmative is asking the most out of me as a judge. Again, I have less experience with these types of aff’s so extra explanation of sources and philosophies. For kritiks from the negative, I prefer ones that are topic-specific rather than K’s that are broad or philosophical. I’m pretty familiar at this point with cap k, neolib, fem, eco-k, anything outside of these again you’ll have to communicate more effectively as it is a bigger burden for me to decipher.

Theory: I don’t have the background in this, so this won’t be very successful with me as a judge. I overall prefer substantive arguments over theoretical or procedural arguments. My training in law, and my work, deals almost exclusively with substantive arguments, so I tend to prefer and understand those better. If you do decide to go this route, it must be very well done. My flow can’t be muddy, and the explanation must be very logical and understandable.

Speed: I have no problem with speed. I do ask two things. 1. Slow down enough on the tags so that I can understand them 2. Make your tags count. I dislike deciphering poor tags that do not tell me anything about the evidence. Keep tags like 5-8 words, long tags suck.

Post Round Discussion: Please be respectful, I don’t appreciate a “shake down” when I’m explaining my decision. I don’t do speaker points till after the round is over and all the debaters have left the room and I take decorum into account. I am a bit of a non-traditional judge and I do make a concerted effort to bring up constructive criticism and positive comments. Please take these comments as an opportunity to learn!