I Judge debate primarily and moot court. I have been judging events for over 10 years now. I am a trial attorney for 25 years and have tried thousands of cases. I am a regular speaker for both public and private events. I regularly speak at events and present seminars on various issues for the Oklahoma Bar Association and other entities. I spent 13 years in the United States Army and Oklahoma National Guard as a decorated NCO. I have a Juris Doctorate, degrees in Political Science, History and Sociology. I attended Oklahoma State University and The University of Oklahoma College of Law. I have participated in moot Court competition as well as Judged various moot court competitions and debate competitions.

When Judging, I am most concerned with presentation. I want to see someone who is organized and presents a solid case for their position. I want presenters to follow the prescribed format of their event, but most importantly convince me of your opinion. Set a strong foundation and provide evidence. Make me believe you and you alone are correct.

I will not tolerate bullies, racism, homophobia, sexism or other rude and unacceptable behavior. If you act like that, I will make sure you do not get positive marks from me. 

I am more concerned with substance over form. I use my vast trial and presentation experience, combined with my experience as a presenter and public speaker to evaluate the competitors as to the viability of their arguments and the foundation of their evidence and persuasiveness of arguments. 

cameronmdecker10@gmail.com

TLDR: run whatever you want, i can handle progressive args and speed, im voting on the flow. dont be problematic.

PF: i did pf for four years so i would say i’m pretty experienced and can handle most arguments.

be respectful in round, i don’t really care if you get aggressive because i know it happens, just make sure your aggression doesn’t come off as disrespect to your opponents. if you do/say anything problematic (ie being racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc.) in round you’ll get dropped.

Framework: i'll vote on your framework as long as you extend it through every speech and actually use it to tie your impacts. if you just say our framework is x at the beginning of every speech im more likely to just judge the debate as if framework didnt exist. essentially, tell me why youre winning under your framework with each impact you extend throughout the ff and summary. also, if your framework just says "if we prove x and y then we win this debate" and x and y are literally just your first and second contention, then im just gonna drop the framework and default to either your opponents, or if they dont offer one then cost benefit analysis. its abusive to say that the only path to the ballot is through whatever your specific arguments are.

last thing on fw: if you do not clash with your opponents fw and just say "we're winning under my fw" or "our fw is better" im either going to default to the opponents framework or default to cost benefit analysis because at that point youre not debating youre just being repetitive.

Argumentation: i really dont care if you wanna run progressive arguments such as counterplans or kritiks, but im only gonna vote for you if you actually know what youre talking about and not just using it to catch your opponents off guard. that being said, my experience with Ks is somewhat limited, so if you run one, just explain it thoroughly

another note on Ks and CPs: if youre only attack against them is that "they arent allowed in pf" then youre gonna lose the round. just debate the argument.

besides that im open to any argument really.

Weighing: teams that quantify impacts are gonna win my ballot 99.9% of the time vs teams that dont quantify anything. quantifying is by far the easiest way to weigh impacts against each other. if no quantifiable impacts are brought in the round its basically impossible for me as a judge to pick a winner if its a close debate because at that point youre making me choose which argument i think sounds better.

besides quantifying, i really like impact calc. if you tell me that youre impacts have more probability, bigger magnitude, and a better timeframe then it makes it really easy for me to vote for you.

Speaks: generally ill give good speaks as long as no one is rude, like i said i dont mind aggression as long as its not rude or disrespectful. i also will give you better speaks not only based on actually speaking skill, but how well your argumentation is within your speech. if you get up and give an absolute banger rebuttal or summary, youll probably get a 30 assuming youre not being hateful in the round.

Speed: i dont mind speed, just dont full on spread, other than that if you wanna go fast thats fine with me. im giving you the benefit of the doubt that if i can keep up, then your opponent should be able to as well, however, that works both ways so if i lose track and cant understand you im gonna assume the opponents cant either.

other than that, i think this is a great activity that everyone should have fun with. dont be afraid to make jokes, smile, and enjoy yourself. thats what this activity is for imo.

LD: i never did LD but i did PF for four years and i was a pretty progressive debater so im gonna be able to keep up with any arguments. i dont mind speed, just dont full on spread unless you wanna let me have the evidence youre reading, other than that if you wanna go fast thats fine with me. im giving you the benefit of the doubt that if i can keep up, then your opponent should be able to as well, however, that works both ways so if i lose track and cant understand you im gonna assume the opponents cant either.

I am the head debate coach at Crossings Christian Schools. I graduated the University of North Texas. I debated for four years at Edmond North High School. I have debated and judged both traditional policy and critique debate. I have also judged LD debate.

Debate what you are good at. I am comfortable judging any argument as long as it is clearly explained. However, I am more of a traditional policy debater.

Email: alexaglendinning@gmail.com This is if you have any questions about my decision, debate in general, or for email chains.

Some argument specifics:

Topicality/FW: I love a good T or FW debate. I think that these arguments are critical because it determines the rules for the debate round. With this said, I do NOT like RVI's and I probably won't vote on those. With T, I need a clear interpretation of what is fair and why the other team violates that.

Theory: I love Theory debates. It sets up the rules for the debate round. I think theory could either favor the neg or be a complete wash in debate rounds depending on how it is debated. With theory debates, I need a clear interpretation of what is fair and why the other team violates that.

Disadvantages: I like them. The more specific your link story, the better. However, if you only have generic links, I will still evaluate them.

Counterplans: I like them. I believe that all counterplans are legitimate unless debated otherwise by the affirmative i.e. CP Theory. You have to win that they are competitive in order for me to vote on them.

Ks: They're fine.

Case debate: I love a good case debate. I think that this has gone out of style in current policy debate. I really want to see this come back.

Other Notes:

Use CX wisely. CX is a great tool that teams under-utilize. It is an important part of the debate round. It is in your best interest.

FLOW!!! Flowing is one of the most important things in a debate round. This is your map for where the debate has been and where the debate is going to go.

Speed is fine, but clarity is more important. If you aren't being clear, then I will not be able to understand or evaluate the arguments that you are making. I would rather you be clear than fast.

What not to do:

Do Not steal prep. Use it wisely. If you use it wisely then you wouldn't have to try and steal it. DON'T STEAL PREP.

Do Not Run T as an RVI. See the T section of my paradigm.

Do Not text with anyone during a debate round. Just Do Not use your phone at all during a debate round. The only exception is if you are using your phone as a timer. You should be focused on debating. Put your phone in airplane mode. This allows for less temptation.

Have Fun Debating!

I’ve been debating competitively for over 4 years. I’m a freshman at UCO.

PF: I’m tech over truth and will flow any argument no matter how crazy it may seem. With that being said, it needs to be convincing enough on the debaters end. Framework should be a huge part of the round and you should tell me why your contentions flow under your framework and why I should prefer your framework. If neither teams convince me on their framework, I’ll probably vote on impact calc. I’m fairly confident with any speed, but if ur speaking so fast that you lack clarity then you should probably slow down.

LD: Pretty much the same thing but swap framework with value/value-criterion. Explain how your criterion links to your value and why your value is more important than the oppositions. Also explain how your case flows across both values.

Lincoln Douglas - I mainly debated in Lincoln Douglas during my high school debate years and went to nationals my junior year. I am well versed in philosophical and empirical debate. I judge rounds off the Criterion. What this means if that if you prove your Value is good but cannot uphold your Criterion or way of achieving this value I won’t vote for you. I also vote down the flow, so if both sides prove framework and there’s not a lot of clash I would move on to the Contention level and judge off the flow. I judge all arguments so even if it is ridiculous, if it goes unaddressed I have no choice but to flow it through the round.

Public Forum - I debated Public Forum my senior year of high school and got 1st alt. to nationals so once again I would consider myself knowledgeable in PF debate. I judge PF mainly on the flow. So argument clash and clashing of evidence and ideas is big to me. Once again even if an argument is ridiculous, if there’s no clash I’m gonna flow it through the round. I will rarely vote on framework or observations because they are there more to strengthen the empirical rather than becoming their own winning argument.

Overall I prefer good sportsmanship and respect in rounds and I will dock speaker points if this isn’t upheld in rounds and most importantly have fun because that’s what debate is all about.

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

Include me on the chain:

blaine3252001@gmail.com

Went to nationals twice in PF, got 5th at state in FX, got 8th at state in PF.

Totally comfortable with theory/progressive debate as long as it is not sloppy.

You can spread if you like just share the case with me first, and know that I will not give you any bonus points for doing it.

Add me to any evidence sharing chain (I will look at all the evidence) I will not flow against bad cards unless the opponents indict it but I might doc speaks for it.

Make the most of CX, because I will flow it through.

If you do not extend an argument, I will not either.

I am going to vote off warrants so make sure those are pretty clear.

Try to tell me what the bigger picture is, like what a AFF v NEG world looks like. (especially in National Circuit Tournaments)

Also, I appreciate any references to Taylor Swift or the exceedingly long One Piece anime series.

Overall, be respectful and have fun!!!