I did PF Debate for my last 3 years of high school. I have done LD before and understand it well. I have competed in Parli Debate/Congress. I am currently competing on the OU Debate team for the college policy circuit. This means I am well-versed in all styles of debate. In terms of speech events: I have done DEX, FEX, OO, and Prose.

Things I will be looking for:

- Speaking: I appreciate elegant but assertive speakers. No spreading. Emphasizing points, especially if you really believe them, goes a long way. I want to see passion, or at least how well you can fake it.

- Professionalism: Do not disrespect your opponent. Say please and thank you. Ask for follow-up questions, don't just take them. You can talk down to your opponent's arguments without condescending them.

- Be Clear: By this, I mean you need to make it very clear why your side is the stronger one. Crystallize your arguments. The summary speech is a key opportunity to do this.

- Carry Arguments: Push your arguments through the round and do not drop any of theirs. I flow. Defend your case/cards, don't let them bring up an argument without refuting it (and continue to refute throughout the round).

- Impact Calculus: The main thing I, along with almost every other judge, will cast a winning ballot for. tell me WHY I should care. Like okay "yes this random thing is happening and it's probably bad", but how bad is it? And why? Make me care. Make it urgent. That is what a strong impact is. Make me feel like I literally have to vote for your side or it's OVER.

- Speaking: I appreciate elegant but assertive speakers. No spreading. Emphasizing points, especially if you really believe them, goes a long way. I want to see passion, or at least how well you can fake it.

So, my paradigm. When I judge, I will be using two different frameworks.

Argumentation:

Firstly, looking at argumentation within the Lincoln-Douglas debate format, the debater should use the value-criterion framework as the ends of their argument, and he/she should use contentions as the means to reach the end of that value-criterion end. Since LD is a value debate, I do not want to only hear about the information concerning the topic at hand -- I need to know why that information is important to your value and criterion, which should uphold your side of the resolution.

I cannot stress enough the importance of your case fitting together in a logical and grammatical framework. If evidence is equally appealing on both sides of the debate and neither debater drops any arguments, I will immediate look to who upholds their value and criterion the best, which means one should tell me why this information is important. The debater appeals to me, so I should not have to make conclusions on my own, except whose case is better.

Speaking:

Secondly, your speaking, which may not reflect if you will win the round or not but can help after preliminary rounds, should be understandable: Do not spread or speak to fast. You should enunciate your words, especially for the online rounds.

The framework I will use to judge your speaking points is the first three liberal arts: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. If you do not know what those are, do not worry. Aristotle, and many others, say they are inherent in people, so focus on speaking well and persuasively. Remember, you are trying to convince me your case is what we OUGHT to do, so have some energy. I do not want to fall asleep. However, not too much energy. You should use your own judgement. If you are to fault on either side, fault on the side of too much.

Finally, this last paragraph goes along with argumentation too. So, when debating, do not attack you opponent or his/her person but their argument. The issues could be personal to you, but the debate should not involve Ad Hominem: attacking the person instead of their argument. That would be a waste of my time, your time, and your opponents. I will almost always give you a loss if you decide to attack your opponent.

If I am not looking at LD I would appeal greatest to the level or argumentation and logic that you uphold in your debate. Information is extremely important, but it cannot stand on its own, especially when you are debating something. Tell me why this information is important.

Thank you for reading, and I wish you the best.

I am open to most any type of argumentation. I love kritiks, theory shells, topicalities, and all things squirrelly. That said, I believe spreading is an unethical practice and if I can't understand you enough to flow, you didn't say it. I have voted on probably 80% of speed Ks I have heard.

I did PF debate for 4 years in high school, qualified to both State and Nationals. I now work as a debate coach at Westmoore. - That being said I am familiar with most types of argumentation and styles of debate.

I vote primarily on frameworks/Impact Calc. If you don't have a framework, adopt your opponent's. You should be attempting to win on your framework and your opponent's framework, not telling me why you won on your framework and theirs doesn't matter. If there's two frameworks in a round, they're both valuable. I don't like to have to do the weighing on my own at the end of a debate, it should be clear what the round is weighed on. If you can't prove the impact calculus of your argument or why your argument matters, chances are I will not buy it.

Speed. I'm okay with mild speed, but not with spreading. I should still be able to understand what you're saying and flow without missing a lot.

Sign post what you're attacking. I prefer to see attacks going down the flow (cont. 1 first, cont 2. second, etc.) rather than jumping around. It makes for easier flowing and a more ordered argument.

Crossfire. I do not flow crossfire. If it's important bring it up in a speech.

Online Rounds. Please do not prep without timing while the other team is looking for cards or having technical difficulties. Be fair and honest. And please put me in the email chain, katelynmakjohnson@gmail.com. The faster you go the more you glitch (I really don't care if you go fast, it just happens) but if you're going to read "fast", even if you're not spreading, it would be in your best interest to send a speech doc

Argumentation. I understand the basic functions of theory and K's, but I am not well-versed in the lit. You can run those progressive arguments if you like and I will evaluate as best as I can, but just keep in mind that I might have some trouble if you are going very fast and not explaining things well for these types of arguments. It's just hard for me to follow and conceptualize these more progressive arguments, but I don't want to stop you from reading progressive arguments if that is what interests you. If you do like reading wacky substance arguments, go for it, I'm all ears.

Card Calling. I think calling for cards as a judge is interventionist, however evidence ethics is also extremely important. I will only call for a card if I am explicitly told to in a speech. If there is a piece of evidence you want me to look at, tell me in a speech, and I will look at the specific place that you tell me to look at. I try not to intervene, but I want to be fair, so if something is not right, just tell me in a speech and explain why.

Please don't ask me to time. In order to give you the best feedback and round I'd rather you timed yourselves, instead of me giving you time signals or calls for prep. 

Thank you and good luck!

Last Updated 12/5/2021

Ishmael Kissinger
Experience: 3.5 yrs for The University of Central Oklahoma 02-05 (Nov/JV & Open)
14 yrs as Coach @ Moore High School, OK
Policy Rounds Judged: Local ~10
Policy National/Toc - 2
LD Rounds Judged Local: 0
LD National/TOC - 0

PFD - Local = 0

PFD Nat Circuit - 0

Email Chain: PLEASE ASK IN ROUND - I cannot access my personal email at school.

*Note: I do not follow along with the word doc. I just want to be on the chain so that I can see the evidence at the end of the round if necessary. I will only flow what I hear.

LD -

Just because I am primarily a policy judge does not mean that I think LD should be like 1 person policy. Small rant: I am tired of us making new debate events and then having them turn into policy... If you are constructing your case to be "Life & Util" and then a bunch of Dis-Ads you probably don't want me as your judge. If you are going for an RVI on T in the 1AR you probably don't want me as a judge. I don't think that LD affs should have plan texts. If I were to put this in policy terms: "You need to be (T)-Whole Res."

Affirmatives should have: a specific tie for their value to the resolution. An explanation on how their Criterion(a) operates in context of the value and the ballot. Contentions that affirm the whole resolution.

Negatives should have: a specific tie for their value to the resolution. An explanation on how their criterion(a) operates in context of the value and the ballot. Contentions that negate the whole resolution.

CX

I tend to consider myself a flow oriented judge that tries to be as tab as any one person can be. Absent a framework argument made, I will default to a policy-maker/game-theorist judge. I view debate in an offense-defense paradigm, this means that even if you get a 100% risk of no solvency against the aff, but they are still able to win an advantage (or a turned DA) then you are probably going to lose. You MUST have offense to weight against case.

Generic Information:

Speed is not a problem *Edit for the digital age: Sometimes really fast debaters are harder for me to understand on these cheap computer speakers.

T & Theory need to be impacted with in round abuse. As the debate season goes on I tend to err more toward reasonability than I do at the beginning of the year. This is usually because as the debate year goes on I expect Negative teams to be more prepared for less topical arguments. This is generally how much judges operate, they just don't say it. I typically don't vote on potential abuse, you should couch your impacts on potential abuse in very real-world examples.

Please make impact calculus earlier in the debate rather than just making it in the 2nr/2ar

Kritiks are not a problem, but I am not really deep into any one literature base. This may put you at a disadvantage if you assume I know/understand the nuances between two similar (from my point of view) authors. **If you are going for a K or an Alt in the 2NR but are unsure if the aff is going to win the Perm debate and you want me to "kick the alt" and just have me vote on some epistemic turn you're only explaining in the overview of the 2NR you are not going to enjoy the RFD. If you think it's good enough to win the debate on with only a :30 explanation in the overview, you should probably just make the decision to go for it in the 2nr and kick the alt yourself.

When addressing a kritikal aff/neg I will hold you to a higher threshold than just Util & Cede the political, I'll expect you to have specific literature that engages the K. If this is your strategy to answering K teams I am probably not your "1."

I don't have a problem with multiple conditional arguments, although I am more sympathetic to condo bad in a really close theory debate.

CPs are legit. Just like judges prefer specific links on a Dis-Ads I also prefer specific Counter-Plans. But I will evaluate generic states/int'l actor CPs as well.

Dispo = Means you can kick out of it unless you straight turn it, defensive arguments include Perms and theory. (My interp, but if you define it differently in a speech and they don't argue it, then your interp stands)

DAs are cool - the more specific the link the better, but I will still evaluate generic links.

Case args are sweet, especially on this year's (2019) topic.



Personal Preferences:

Really I have only one personal pref. If you are in a debate round - never be a jerk to the opposing team &/or your partner. I believe that our community has suffered enough at the hands of debating for the "win," and although I don't mind that in context of the argumentation you make in the round, I do not believe that it is necessary to demean or belittle your opponent. If you are in the position to be facing someone drastically less experienced than yourself; keep in mind that it should be a learning process for them, even if it is not one for you. It will NOT earn you speaker points to crush them into little pieces and destroy their experience in this activity. If you want to demonstrate to me that you are the "better debater(s)," and receive that glorious 29 or maybe even 30 it will most likely necessitate you: slowing down (a little), thoroughly explaining your impact calc, clearly extending a position, then sitting down without repeating yourself in 5 different ways. If you opt to crush them you will prob. win the round, but not many speaker points (or pol cap) with me.

PF debater for 2 years with a some experience in LD.

What I am okay with:

- Progressive debate (K’s, Theory, Tech, etc)

- Spreading (IF you flash me your files)

- Yes you can time yourself

- Off-case arguments

Framework is obviously always important, but I do heavily focus on the contention level debate. Tell me how to weigh the round or I'm going to go off of straight impact calculus. Keep things organized and easy to follow on the flow because I am a flow orientated judge. Also, MAKE SURE TO EXTEND.

debated 4 years at Moore High School (oklahoma). was in state out rounds a few times, doing progressive (fast, Ks cool) CX.

CX:

tech>truth, with some obvious exceptions -- if i can't explain your argument to the other team in the rfd, i'm probably not going to vote on it even if it goes dropped. likewise, i'd never vote on a downright offensive arg even if it's dropped

i like to think of myself as tab rasa. read whatever you want. if the last rebuttal gives me a decent reason to vote on it, i'll vote on it. Ks are fine. K affs are also fine. T/FW is just as fine.

i've got a technical understanding of K debate, but don't expect me to know a lot about your lit. idrk how performance debates work (no experience with them), but i'm willing to vote for them. K aff vs K neg is a similar situation - not what i understand best, but a winnable debate if it’s explained well

condo's generally fine. i'll vote for any theory that you win. if you want to win theory, it needs to be all 5 minutes of the 2AR (most likely, it needs to be all 5 minutes of the 1AR as well, in order to make it convincing that you really got cheated so hard the other team needs to lose). if you think at any point in the debate that you may go for the theory you read in the 2AC, slow down on it. i will not vote for standards that i didn't hear in the 2AC, even if the rebuttals are so eloquent and convincing that the magnitude of the other team's cheating makes me sob out of sympathy for you.

"they drop it" IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR EXPLAINING YOUR ARGUMENT.

weird but sometimes important - i almost never catch author names on cards, so if you frequently refer to your ev by its author, i might get kinda lost. i can figure out what ev you’re talking about in the rebuttals if you preface the author name w the warrants tho

i default to offense-defense. it is exceedingly difficult to win zero-risk to me (unless it’s a politics DA with an especially shady link chain)

PF:

i have some experience with pf on one of the most lay circuits in the country. i will judge based off the flow, and my rfd will probably sound like a policy rfd. see my cx paradigm for more specific notes. i'm a bit more lenient on things like tech vs. truth and how much work you'll have to do to extend a dropped argument due to shorter time limits.

generally speaking, i don't think that pf should include spreading - if both teams want to spread, that's fine though

the neg doesn't get an advocacy. not sure if that's a thing in pf anywhere, but it wasn't in oklahoma and it's not in front of me. if the res is one of those stupid "on balance" ones or policy A vs. policy B, i guess the neg gets whichever advocacy the aff doesn't get.

LD:

i have no experience with high school LD other than judging a few novice rounds. spread if you want, explain any arguments that only LDers make like i have no idea what you're talking about, and you'll be alright.

my first impression is that the neg gets at least 1 advocacy in LD. i'm open to having my mind changed in any round with a decent theory debate. have fun.

Former Parlimentary Debate competitor at Cameron University (2005-2007). Coach PF- 5+ years LD - 3 years. Basically I understand policy, but I don’t like judging it, necessarily.

I will entertain any arguments in-round as long as they are developed with appropriate impacts/voters. If you want to argue topicality for an entire round, fine (I love words. Words are important). Just tell me why it's crucial to do so. Kritiks, sure! Just tell me why I need to vote here first. Is there abuse in-round? Tell me where, and specifically how it harms you/the activity, etc. and why that matters. This is your round to strategize in however you see fit; I don't have any real predisposed dislike for any argument. However, poor arguments are still poor arguments and will not win. Irrelevant arguments won't win either, no matter how fancy they sound.

Clear, significant impacts make it easy for me to vote for you. Don't make me do the work for you or your team, because I won't.Sure, it would be nice to end the contention at "and this leads to more discrimination." Spell it out for me, otherwise I will shrug and say, "So what? Who cares?" Be sure to pull them through to your final speeches.

One thing that will work against you: Speed. I know you have a lot of material to cover, and often both teams will be fine with speedy arguments. I'm not going to vote against you for spite, but I WILL drop arguments on the flow. If you are okay with that, just be prepared for the vote to possibly not go your way... even if you put 87 responses on your opponent's disadvantage. I'm not a speed debater, so I won't be able to follow you. If you feel your opponents are using speed against you as a tactic, I will listen to a speed K and possibly vote on it... IF IT'S WELL DEVELOPED. As I said, I won't vote for a speed K simply because I don't prefer this style; Poorly developed arguments will not win me even if I tend to share your viewpoint. Bottom line: If you want to improve your chances of winning, don't speed one another out of the round-- you'll likely flow me out of the round too.

— I’ve gotten MUCH better over the years. I don’t encourage speed, still, but I’m pretty good at

getting it all down.

I do enjoy debators who at least attempt to add some persuasive flare in their speeches, but I do NOT wan you to focus on delivery at the expense of content and analysis.

If I do get stuck in an LD round, you must spend some time convincing me that your value and criteria are better than your opponents. I've had two sides argue with fantastic evidence to support their values, counter-values, with NO clash about which one is superior. I'm a libra, so it's already a task for me to try and choose between two equal, yet differing options. INCLUDE A FANTASTIC JUSTIFICATION FOR YOUR VALUE IF YOU WANT TO WIN ME IN LD.

I did LD for 3 years at Bishop McGuinness and now I do policy at OU.

Include me on the chain:

blaine3252001@gmail.com