Hi, my name is Stefani and I am parent judge. During my work life I am a CEO which means I give speeches, engage in debate, and value clearly defined, well articulated arguments. You will lose me with spreading — I want to understand your points and be able to follow them.

Please address your opponents’ contentions and make logical connections between your points. I don’t like a wash — I love a good clash.

I am looking forward to judging you…. speak clearly and have fun.

Interp/Speech Events:

Interpretation and Speech events are judged on the criteria of engagement, character development, and fluency. An excellent performance engages the audience and brings them into the world that the speaker is creating; the speaker maintains the audience's attention through clear diction, eye contact, and gesticulations (etc.) when appropriate. The speaker's development of their characters should be distinct and crisp; it should not be difficult to identify when another character is speaking based on their voice and body language. The fluency with which a speaker performs is aided by great engagement and character development; a fluent performance helps the audience suspend their disbelief that the performance is not real and helps to immerse them into the world of the piece.

Original Oratory/Extemp:

Original Oratory and Extemporaneous events are judged on the criteria of organization, credibility, engagement, and fluency. Good organization in a speaker's performance includes a clear outline of the speaker's topic, position on the topic, and main speaking points. A speaker also uses their physical space effectively to further punctuate their point changes and transitions. A credible performance is constituted by the identification of at least one source per main speaking point. An engaging performance involves the speaker's use of diction, eye contact, gesticulations, and intonation to appropriately stress and emphasize different important aspects of their performance. A fluent performance is free from filler words and unintended pauses.

In all events:

Regardless of the event, the manner in which the speaker conveys their speech is the most important element. As long as the information and subjects of the speech are not overtly offensive or derogatory, they do not influence rankings.

I am a lay judge and parent of a debater, but I am knowledgeable in this area. I do take notes, but it doesn't resemble a proper flow.

My only preferences are that you DO NOT spread and stay respectful during crossfires (no interrupting, yelling, talking over one another, etc.). I do like you to be respectful in letting your opponets finish their thoughts. The clearer and calmer your communication is, the better I will be at making an educated and fair decision. My overall decision WILL be affected by this.

Please keep your own time and hold yourselves and your opponents accountable. I do not base any decision on going slightly over time (due to my previous statements) but I do not want you to abuse it.

I feel that cross is for you all to work out your own thoughts with each other and it has very little impact on my decision.

Finally, make sure that your arguments and impacts are clear throughout the round. Having VERY clear impact statements with strong evidence is VERY important to me. I can not stress this enough. Good Luck to you all!

Regardless of speech or debate, all competitors should emulate good sportsmanship and be respectful during the competition. Examples of what this means:

> Paying attention while your opponent/competitor is presenting. (NOT goofing off on your phone or talking with a friend in the room).

> Being respectful and courteous, whether after a presentation or during debate cross-fires.

Debate Event Specific: Clear articulated and respectful debates. The pace of speaking should not be so rapid that the judge cannot clearly discern arguments being made. Additionally, while debate clashing is key, debate is still an exercise of public speaking, so be mindful of presentation skills.

I was a former competitor in Original Oratory, Congress, Commentary, and Impromptu. I have also made it to the State Tournament for Impromptu advancing to the quarterfinals round. Also, I was the previous president of the Speech and Debate team at Deer Lakes High School. I have judged for numerous years in the Pittsburgh District and other online tournaments after high school. In 2019-2020, I was the coach for the Deer Lakes High School Speech and Debate team.

Judging Experience

I am very familiar with all of the types of speech events. For debate events, I have judged as a parliamentarian in Congress as well as judged numerous rounds of Public Form debate and Lincoln Douglas. My main area of interest in judging is primarily speech events.