I am a debate coach in Houston and have exclusively judged WSD this year. I’m not particularly picky, but I do ask that you aim for clarity and sincerity in your arguments. I am more impressed by clear, well-developed logic than efforts to play gotcha.

More importantly, I am proud of all of you for advancing this far, and this will be a fun experience as long as we are respectful with each other, patient with our opponents, coaches and judges, and maintain a positive demeanor.

Public Speaking Events: Structure and presentation is important. It should feel like a conversation but not like I'm talking to a friend either so no informal language or tones

Oratory/Informative: I am not opposed to performance pieces when they are natural. If the "interp" feels forced, fake, or mechanical, it throw the speech off for me. Performance pieces should be for a purpose and a gimmick.

Interp Events: Blocking and conviction is key. Just because you have movement does not mean you have blocking. For example walking/running around the room is not blocking unless the script scene really calls for that. Blocking and transitions between character should be clean and clear. Literary merit is just as important as performance and when it comes down to breaking a tie between two amazing performances, I will go with the selection that has the most literary merit.

POI: Binder usage is fine but should be with purpose. Using it as prop for the sole purpose of having a prop is not okay. While I understand that most people memorize their performance this is not supposed to be performed that way. If you are going to memorize your performance do so with a sufficient number of page turns and block in reading from or at least look for a moment at your binder. If you never appear to read from it I will drop your ranking because you have given me a DI/HI. Additionally I am not a fan dropping images or words from your binder from visual effect. The only time I think this is okay is if it is a direct photo copy of the images in the original script or the only words you have spoken while on that page. Outside of this you are using the drops as a prop which is not allowed.