Background: I graduated from Franklin & Marshall College in 2022 with a degree in Government and Women's Gender & Sexuality Studies and I now work for the Human Rights Campaign in their legal department. I graduated from Gig Harbor High School in 2018 where I competed in Public Forum for four years and qualified for state and TOC. In college, I competed for my school's Mock Trial team and qualified for several national level tournaments. All this to say, I understand the fundamentals of how debates are structured and likely have a general understanding of the topic itself.

Style Preferences: I don't have a stylistic preference do whatever works best for you and speed is completely fine as long as you are still articulate. I care more about the arguments you are making than the speaking style you choose to use. Explain to me why what you are saying matters and what impacts it has. I won't do the work of impacting something out for you, that's your job. Overall just be articulate and explain things to me. Off-time road maps are fine as long as they're concise, you tell me in advance, and make it clear when the roadmap ends. Crossfire is a place to have arguments, but I will not tolerate abusive or overly aggressive behavior. If you think you've crossed the line, you probably have. If this behavior happens I will dock speaker points however I feel is appropriate and I have a low tolerance for it just for your knowledge.

Flow/CX: I will flow the round, but make sure you are sign-posting so I know where things are supposed to be. I won't do the work of extending arguments for you, meaning if you want something extended or your opponent dropped something tell me. I won't flow crossfire, but I am paying attention. If you think a critical argument is won bring it up in your next speech to get it on my flow.

If allowed by the tournament and time permits, I will disclose at the end and explain my RFD. I'll write more specific comments on your ballot for individual speakers as well as any thoughts I might have on the arguments you have made.

If you have any further questions or need clarification on anything feel free to ask before the round starts!

My name is Kaelyn and I did LD for 3 years in high school and have been judging and coaching for past 7 years. 

I will look at the round based first by the framework (value and criterion) that is set by the affirmative. The affirmative should be using this value and criterion as a way to prove that the resolution is true and support this with evidence. The negative must then either provide a counter framework to prove why the resolution is not true, or prove why the resolution is not true under the affirmative's framework. If the affirmative cannot prove the resolution to be true or the negative provides more persuasive evidence against the resolution then I will negate. I am open to other ways to weigh the round if both debaters agree on this during the round.

Other aspects to keep in mind:

I am basically going to be deciding who wins the round by looking at the key framework in the round (whichever is established as the most supported framework in the round) and looking at my flow to see which side has the most arguments on the flow that support that framework. 

I am in general looking to see the big picture at the end of the debate, I do not want to decide the round based on details of definitions or small semantics. I prefer have bigger impacts linked back to the framework. 

Delivery: I am fine with speed but like tags and important information to be read slower. I will say clear if I can't understand the speed. 

I do understand progressive debate arguments like topicality, theory, DAs, Ks.

I am open to vote for them if I feel it is warranted within the round. I do not like to see progressive arguments for no reason or to just be confusing. If it is going to be run I want it to be well explained and it is your job to tell me how this is going to function in the round and why I should vote for it. Similar to avoiding nitpicky issues, I expect to see a justification for theory to be run.

Overall, I am looking for clarity, politeness, and a debater to show me exactly how they win the round.

Hi, my name is Christine Pyle

I am a coach and participated in debate in school many years ago.

Fast talking(spreading) is fine, however clarity is key.

Signposting is preferred - organization helps not only me but you

If you are utilizing impacts to enhance your case, follow through with those impacts in your case to the end of the debate.

I'm looking for good case structure, compelling arguments, good use of crossfire, and that arguments with weight are flowing through to the end.

Note: This is a paradigm for my local circuit. For nationals, i still judge similarly.

Background: I competed for a couple years with no particular accolades. I judge Congress a lot. If you see me as a judge in a debate event other than Congress, consider me a smart lay judge with little to no understanding of conventions of your event.

Frankly, Congress is not as complicated as other debate events. You only get three minutes, and there aren't a ton of different ways to argue compared to other debate events. That said, this is how I will judge you in Congress:

Preferences:

-Content matters a lot to me. Lots of judges say they don't like rehash, but I really mean it. If you are the 5th speaker you should probably reference what other speakers are saying. If you are the 15th speaker, please don't pretend your points are new. Flow the round, weigh the values of both sides and argue why the values of your side are the most important of the round. If you have evidence that suggests that your side should win a value that the other side has tried to claim, explain why your side should get that claim over the other, rather than just stating that you do and expecting that to be undisputed. If your speech would work as an authorship and you are not the author, you're not debating. You're giving a 3-minute oratory. If you don't understand how to do that, go watch any PF round and you'll probably see a higher amount of debating than I see in Congress.

-How good of a speaker you are will matter. I probably value your speaking ability less than most Congress judges in Washington, but it still will play a factor in how high you score and rank. Even though we are (supposedly) debating legislation, you're doing it in the form of a persuasive speech, and so all speech conventions apply here.

-Ask good questions. It's by far the easiest way to recognize who is paying attention and understands what's going on in the room. Any question that will be really obviously answered with either a yes or no answer is probably not contributing much to the debate. Ask lots of why questions, especially when speakers should be answering them in their speeches and failed to do so.

-Don't just read off a piece of paper. At least try to make eye contact. I understand why novices do this. I don't understand why open competitors do. It doesn't really feel like you're paying attention if your "contribution" to the round is reading a prepared statement. If speaking from bullet points makes you stutter or lose your train of thought a lot, practice your speeches until it doesn't. I would rather you be a little less polished but be more adaptive and open to your chamber, as long as I can still understand what you're arguing.

-Don't try to be too smart. I see lots of debaters try to be smarter than everyone with their "unique" points that have minimal impacts and/or don't make any sense at all. There's plenty of room for imagination in Congress, especially considering how interesting flaws in legislation can be, but run your point by someone smarter than you before you give it in round.

-Don't be a jerk. I'm a pretty informal judge because that's who I am as a person. I think there's value in making your participation in this event reflect who you are and what you believe. But don't be so loose that you insult people, make racist/sexist/ableist/homophobic/transphobic/any kind of hateful or derogatory comments. I do believe there is room for debate to be fun and also to not be insulting. Don't attack people, attack arguments.

Hey!! She/they pronouns and I have two years of experience in debate, and three years of speech experience!

Debate- One year of experience in LD and PF forms of debate. For me, there are a few key things that stand out in terms of who is the clear winning of the round. I liked to see clash in rounds, either in cx or in rebuttals however, it still needs to remain respectful. Debate is an all inclusive sport and if you or your teammate disrespects someone else in the room in a way that is blatantly disrespected- you will with out a doubt loose the round. You should be impacting and weighing out your arguments to clearly show me in importance in your arguments. You should be making thee connections as it is not my role as the judge to do so. Be clear on why you won on specific arguments. Make sure to respond to every argument made and try not to drop anything. I like to see voters in your final speech as it is your final chance to convince me why your side won. When giving rebuttals make sure to road map where you are. If I can't find where you are, I'm not going to flow it. As far as presentation goes the only thing is to be standing while giving your speech and cross examination (grand cross for pf is an exception).

IE- hey speech kids :) I have three years of experience in speech, I did one year of interp and three years of platform speaking mainly focusing on expose or informative! I was second in state in 2019 for informative and went to nationals both the 2019 and the 2020 season (rip). Overall, I don't worry too much about timing. I know in higher level comps they really focus on it but at least in my case, I really focused on my times during practicing so I didn't worry about it when I was performing. I am assuming you guys know your times pretty well and I definitely still keep time and record it, I just wont down vote you for it. For interp pieces, I tend to focus on more technical aspects rather than the overall performance. While you can have a great script, it doesn't hit as hard if your execution of it is weak. I really look for creative blocking and a clear distinction between characters. This means making clean pops and having separate voices/posture/movements for each character so it is incredibly clear that you are a different character than before! For duo this means that the two people cannot touch or look at each other and please follow this! I'm a stickler for the specifics. DI- please have a clear climax and don't spend your entire ten minuets yelling:( For platform speakers! I love really creative topics because a lot of topics tend to be recycled which ends up having the same points done over and over. If you're going to pick a topic that seems like it's been done before, please try to put a fun spin on it or bring up a difference aspect of the topic that usually isn't talked about. Make sure that you have a good amount of jokes that actually are funny...trust me i know how hard it is to make your piece funny sometimes but it really is a very important part that I judge on and something that I really value in speeches.