I'm a traditional Public Forum judge. I place significant value on quality of argumentation, particularly with well-developed contentions and significant depth of argumentation. I'd encourage you to state your points concisely, and without significant undue repetition. I do not tolerate spreading; I expect you to have developed reasonable skills of word economy by this point in the season, and would hope that you can concisely develop your case to fit within the required time. I reward the use of reasonably clear enunciation at a comprehensible pace. While I do encourage you to weigh your arguments, be mindful of the tone you use to do so. "Speakersplaining" to me, attempting to tell me which way I am going to decide in the round rather than a courteous appeal for my vote, comes off as arrogant and will not do you any favors in my evaluation of the round. For any clarification, feel free to ask me in-round.

tl;dr: I am okay with any and all arguments. That said, if you spread unclearly, and I am forced to say clear more than two times, I will drop you. To spread clearly, you must talk at conversational speed while reading tag lines, key pieces of analysis, and internal link elements of warrants. That said, I prefer rounds where everyone has the ability to absorb and evaluate the content of all present arguments, so I would prefer if you dont spread.

Hello there,

My name is Alex Sapadin. I am currently acting as the assistant coach for Mercer Island High School. And previously I acted as the assistant coach for Interlake High School. I have competed in speech and debate at both collegiate and high school levels. For the entirety of my debate career, which has now spanned roughly 13 years, I have specialized in Lincoln-Douglas debate, NPTE parliamentary debate, Extemporaneous speaking, and Impromptu speaking. I have both competed on and coached for national circuit competition. I have won the state title for various events including LD six times, and have gotten deep into out rounds at a series of national competitions.

I say all of the preceding to give you an idea of my experience and general knowledge level with all things regarding speech and debate. There are few argumentative positions that I haven't interacted with or taught at one point or another. So with that said, I invite you to run any position that you wish and have the debate you find most interesting.

I have one very strict caveat to the above; if you spread unclearly, and I don't understand your argument as a result of a failing in your communication style, I will not flow your argument or extend it throughout the round. I will also likely drop you for failing to communicate your case legibly.

There is an unfortunate "emperors new clothes" situation transpiring in speech and debate as of this present moment. The situation and problem is most prominent in Lincoln Douglas debate. Many debaters try and spread to emulate what they consider the most effective "national circuit" format of debate. Unfortunately, they spread without slowing down to a conversational speed to read significant points of analysis, significant components of a warrant, or most importantly, tag lines. More to the point, many debaters haven't been instructed on how to spread clearly using a series of drills that emphasize enunciation. As a result, most debate rounds involve a serious lack of clarity during the AC and NC. After, both competitors and judge are scrambling to retroactively understand a case throughout the CX and the subsequent rebuttal speeches. This results in poor rounds that are usually decided by what arguments go unaddressed, not which arguments have the best substantive clash.

More unfortunate still the practice of unclear spreading is so regular that most judges take it at face. Afraid that they're the "stupid" one in the room, they don't openly discuss how they could barely understand what was going on in the round. This silence surrounding the act of spreading has allowed practice to perpetuate. Judges are now becoming more confident, and coaches are taking proactive steps to instruct their judges to drop competitors if they dont present their case clearly. I stand amongst the coaches encouraging this practice.

If you feel any resistance to what I'm saying, and if you feel the state of spread in debate is fine, think of it this way; how long does it take you to read, understand, and apply your evidence at the time of constructing your case? For the more academic information in your case I'm sure it took a good chunk of time. The majority of warranted evidence in case is written at an academic level. Even college and professional level audiences need time to sit with academic level information to absorb its significance. Usually one paragraph takes a few minutes, and this is for a practiced and educated audience. So, that said, what is the likelihood that your judge will be able to understand a truncated version of the same academic information, read at two to three times the speed of normal internalization, in roughly 10-25 seconds?

If you spread and are unclear, it stops a judge from being able to sit with and absorb your arguments. We have no way of figuring out if your evidence supports the claims youre making. To fairly judge an argument, to be persuaded by it, I have to have the ability to clearly hear your claim, the support for your claim, and its significance. Without those three components of the argument, I cant tell if the argument is well built and persuasive. And if I cant evaluate an argument, I wont consider it in round.

All of the above said, I will say clear twice to help you gauge my ability to absorb speed. I am also very experienced in all things competitive speech and debate, so I will be quicker on the uptake than most. You will get a fair round with me, granted that you also work to set the precedent for a fair round.

The devils in the details as they say. Without the details present and at play, the devil has its way. Be clear and we will have a fantastic round!

All the best,

Alex