I currently teach public speaking and debate and previously coached middle school debate at Chaminade College Prep (Chatsworth, CA) for 12+ years. I prefer a CLEAR round and the analysis of arguments is stressed over just trying to go fast.

Do not expect me to vote for any claim that is not developed into an argument. Develop a complete argument including warrants, not just assertions. I will also of course consider how successfully arguments are refuted when determining my ballot. I like rebuttals that successfully weigh arguments and provide voting issues for the round.

I will look to the flow and consider rhetorical style when determining speaker points. If it is a parli round, I would expect to see some POIs offered/taken. This is unique to parli and you should take advantage of it!

I've competed in Lincoln Douglas debate for four years with Notre Dame High School.

likes

- clear speaking

- signposting

- links and impact-weighing

- constructive cross

- calling for evidence

- collapsing

dislikes

- theory (but I'll vote off it if you run it well)

- tricks and abusive ks

- mishandling evidence

- spreading without first flashing your case

- being too aggressive in cross

Congrats on making it to States and good luck!

Hi! My name is Anchal and I have been competing in Public Forum for 4 years. Keep it simple, make sure you have good roadmaps, warrants, and impacts that are extended throughout the debate. WEIGH in your speeches and do the weighing comparatively. Good with speed, don't spread (send speech docs if you do). Clean cut cards + fast evidence exchanges pls.

If you have any further questions I would be happy to answer them in round.

Hi, I'm Anika! UCLA, Debated at Notre Dame San Jose for 3 years, qualled 3 times, and earned 9 career bids to the TOC. Put me on the email chain (anikaganesh1989[at]gmail[dot]com) although speech drop >>

General

Will not vote on anything racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. that makes the round unsafe. This includes any arguments that deny the badness of death. Debate is an educational activity, but there are clear lines for what makes the space accessible and safe.

I was a policy and set col/ir debater in high school, which shapes my comfortability in certain debates. Pref me for pure policy, policy v k, and set col/ir v k debates. I’m fine in a kvk debate but substantially better for set col and ir ks than I am for pomo.

I won’t evaluate tricks even if they’re dropped and will lower speaks for every one read. I’m not your judge for phil and will be lost in anything other than a kant v set col debate. If you for some reason read phil in front of me, explain it to me like I’m 5.

I default reasonability > competing interps, neg on presumption, judge kick, no rvis, cx is binding, and dta. All of these can be changed with proper warranting. **NOTE FOR THEORY** I will not vote on 1ar theory without a warrant that becomes a 3 minutes from “condo is a voter for strat skew.”

“If your eyes don't move up from your computer your speaks aren't moving up either” - Sophia Tian.

I value high quality evidence and will give the same weight to arguments as is in the evidence (ie. my threshold for disads with 10 word cards strung together is way higher).

Policy

Weighing is extremely underutilized (especially turns case arguments) and should always be at the top of the speech.

I love cheaty/process counterplans, impact turns (reading the link for the aff is fine), and good da debates. Counterplan competition debates are fun and interesting, just make sure the warrant for the perm is in the 1ar. Inserting rehighlightings/perm texts is fine. Straight turn 1ar/2ar’s and impact turn 2nr’s are some of my favorite speeches to listen to. Risky NC's like 0 off case will be rewarded with high speaks.

K

My biggest pet peeve in k2nr’s is long and ranty overviews that throw around buzzwords. All of that explanation should be on the lbl. 2nr's should organize the debate into framework, link, and alt sections. Links should be contextualized to the aff even if they’re written generally. Please use link walls!

I like topical k affs that are written/debated well. That being said, you should err on the side of more explanation if the lit base is anything other than cap/setcol/ir/generic baudrillard.

My favorite k 2ar’s are perm + link turn + alt fails, but I also enjoy the fascist way out (framework, case o/w, no link, alt fails). Link turns should be carded. Great 2ar’s on alt fails cite and indict specific examples.

Fairness is ABSOLUTELY an impact. Good TFW 2nr’s have caselists, a TVA, and a clear abuse story.

Cx matters a lot in these debates – reverse pit of doom, asking what the alt does, how the TOP explains the aff, what the aff Does, etc.

Topicality

Topicality is great! I went for t quite a few times as a debater, but all my views were entirely shaped through discussions with Elmer Yang (the topicality GOAT). Nebel-T is less great than topic specific violations, and I’m not voting on the grammar da/niemi.

Theory

Please slow down on interps and standards.

I err neg on condo and other counterplan theory, but I don’t have extremely strong opinions on it. Anything you can do to keep the debate away from regressing to theory is great for me!

I’ll vote on disclosure and think proper disclosure is important.

I hate frivolous theory and will be extremely sad if I have to vote on it.

Make me laugh, keep the debate lighthearted, learn, and make some friends!!

Hi! My name's Madi, and I competed in LD for all four years of high school. Feel free to run whatever you want as long as you explain it well, and I'm good with speed as long as your opponent is.

HI :D

I'm Michelle, I've been doing debate since 7th grade (MSPDP), I am currently in 10th grade, and I debated parli for Campo last year, won a few tournies, pretty cool stuff.

You don't need to use formal terms to refer to me, you can just call me Michelle, I'm literally 14 some of y'all might be older than me JDFKJSKJ- (but I promise I am qualified :))

I'm gonna try to keep this short because I know typically people don't have a lot of time to read paradigms, so:

1. Make sure you give me warrants! I need to know why A will lead to B, so for example if you're trying to say that passing a plan will help homeless people, you can't just say if our plan passes homeless people will be helped. I want to hear something like "if this plan is passed, more funding will be put into XYZ so therefore homeless people will be helped". It's hard for me to consider a point if I don't hear why it's gonna happen, and also it's confusing for your opponents as well.

2. Remember that as a judge, I must be tabula rasa! This means that I'm not supposed to use my external knowledge, or anything provided outside of the debate to influence my decision. If aff tells me bananas are blue, that will be true so long as the neg doesn't refute it. Similarly, I can't actually use my own logic/analysis of the evidence you provide to make a decision. So if you just state a piece of evidence and don't tell me the links and impact of it, I can't really go anywhere with it. Make sure that you tell me WHY something matters and why it matters more than what your opponents are presenting, because it really puts me at a loss if no team tells me why their points are important.

General info:

1. Signpost!!

In case you don't know what this means, just make sure you tell me which point is which. Like, "Advantage 1: Alleviates Poverty" or whatever. Be clear when you move on to a new point, etc. etc. This will make it so much easier for me as the judge to flow what you're saying and it also makes things clearer for your opponents.

2. Speaks

Generally, I will give everyone very high speaks (28-29). I will give you extra if you stand out to me! And I will not dock speaks for stuttering, mumbling, etc. because that's both quite ableist and also I get that many people are just nervous. I give speaks based on the CONTENT of your speech, not the quality of articulation. I've seen people who get really high speaks just because their voice sounds really pleasant or they're good-looking or something, and I'm gonna avoid that as much as possible and just judge based on the content of your speech. However, if you say anything discriminatory (eg. homophobic, transphobic, racist, ableist, etc.) I will give you very low speaks, drop you (auto lose) and I WILL find a way to contact your coach. Debate is supposed to be fun, so let's just avoid bringing these things into the round. Continuing on with that idea, if you manage to smoothly incorporate the phrase "Eevees are awesome" into your speech, I will give you 30 speaks. It's up to you how :) But it has to be smooth, like you can't just say "Firstly, eevees are awesome". Ya gotta actually fit in there somewhere, somehow :D

3. Content/Trigger Warnings

Please use trigger warnings if you are going to discuss anything that might be triggering in your speech. Before you start, just give your warning and if anyone has any objections, I will allow it plenty of time to be raised. Do NOT just say "Content warning" then start like 2 seconds later. Give it some time if anyone objects. We want debate to be as friendly of a space as possible, and it's not really a fair round if one of the debaters is freaking out.

4. Referring to Opponents in Round

Use they/them pronouns for everyone involved in the round unless they specify otherwise. For example, "Their second point was..." instead of saying "His second point was...". Don't assume anyone's pronouns, I will not drop you for this but if you actually do misgender anyone it causes a lot of harm and I will remind you about using they/them after the round. Even if you "get it right", you will not always "get it right" and we want to make debate as much of a safe space as possible.

Finally, remember that this is all about fun! Not to be cringe or anything but it's really about the experience, I look back now on rounds that went terribly and laugh. Just make the best of this time :D

If we have extra time before the round because the opponents haven't showed up...

1. Ask me about the time when my friend yelled at the coach of our rival school in middle school debate

2. Ask me if I listen to girl in red :)

3. Ask me about the wlw debate trophy wedding we had in 8th grade

4. Ask me about egg legg

5. Ask me about eating raw

(okay so much for having a short paradigm-)

Alright! So good luck everyone in your round, I hope it's fun for you :) If you have any messages pre-round or you just wanna talk to me about anything, like the decision, your speaks, or just life, etc. you can message me on Discord (cyanic_eevee#7819)!