My email chain is monicaaima@gmail.com

My name is Monica Aima. I am a fairly new judge so please try to not go fast. I do not like spreading as I cannot understand it. Tell me why you want me to vote for you. Make sure to expand on your values and go over your impacts. Go into depth and make sure you have the right mix of offense and defense.

K Debate: I do not prefer K debate as it is very complex. I will not hold it against you and consider every argument presented in round. If you do plan on running a K, make sure you explain it very well. Do not read me jargon.

Counterplans: I like counterplans. Again, if you plan on running one, make sure you explain why it fits the resolution and why I should consider it.

Have fun during the debate and make sure to do your very best!

General Philosophy

I have competed in debate for two years in Parliamentary and IPDA debate, and coached LD/PF debate for 4 years. I am very much a flow judge - don't make me do work for you. Be sure to explain what your points are, show me how you got to your point, and tell me the impacts clearly. If I do not get the relation to real-world, big picture events, I will not weigh it out for you if the other team does. I do my best to be tab, but if I don't get what I need from either team, I'll intervene to make my decision. I can follow speed, but if it's abusive to the other team and it's brought up and not addressed I will drop you - this is an educational event, treat it as such. Impact hard in final speeches, and try to not bring up new arguments (this is the only place I'll protect flow).

Do's:

Show me your critical thinking skills. Use the game of debate to your advantage if need be: kritiks, framework, whatever. I can follow it if you do it well. Cite warrants. Give roadmaps, structure.

Don't's:

Don't be offensive. If it happens once and it's called out, I'll heavily dock it in speaks. If it happens twice or more, even if it isn't called, I will weigh it heavily on team and probably have a chat with you afterwards. Don't be abusive - if a team is unable to keep up with whatever is happening and you play an advantage off of that even if asked to cool it, I'll dock speaks. Don't run debate heavy stuff if it isn't understood - know your theory, framework, arguments. If you do it wrong and are called on it that'll be an easy decision for me.

Disclaimer that these are just guidelines, not requirements - do what you want to do, it is your round. I encourage fun, learning, and active discourse. If you have questions in round or afterwards I'll always be glad to help out.

If it matters to you, I used to make critical and performance based arguments. I have coached all types. I generally like all arguments, especially ones that come with claims, warrants, impacts, and are supported by evidence.

Do you (literally, WHATEVER you do). Be great. Say smart things. Give solid speeches and perform effectively in CX. Win and go as hard as it takes (but you dont have to be exessively rude or mean to do this part). Enjoy yourself. Give me examples and material applications to better understand your position. Hear me out when the decision is in. I saw what I saw. Dassit.

Add me to the email chain- lgreenymt@gmail.com

My "high" speaker points typically cap out around 28.9 (in open debate). If you earn that, you have delivered a solid and confident constructive, asked and answered questions persuasively, and effectively narrowed the debate to the most compelling reasons you are winning the debate in the rebuttals. If you get higher than that, you did all of those things AND THEN SOME. What many coaches would call, "the intangibles".

Speaking of speaker points, debate is too fast and not enough emphasis is put on speaking persuasively. This is true of all styles of debate. I flow on paper and you should heavily consider that when you debate in front of me. I am a quick and solid flow and pride myself in capturing the most nuanced arguments, but some of what I judge is unintelligible to me and its getting worse. Card voice vs tag voice is important, you cannot read analytics at the same rate you are reading the text of the card and be persuasive to me, and not sending analytics means I need that much more pen time. Fix it. It will help us all. Higher speaker points are easier to give.

Thank you, in advance, for allowing me to observe and participate in your debate.

TG

Hello! :D

I generally prefer logic and technicality, so make sure your arguments clearly flow from one to another (organization!). If space exploration leads to global warming, then explain step by step as to how they're linked. If you claim your opponent is abusive during a round, be clear what was abusive and explain.

Link and weigh impacts explicitly. Tell me what to cross off and highlight on my flow, and tell me why. You can point out voting issues or whatever, but please always elaborate.

My experience is mainly derived from LD, but I have knowledge of parliamentary debate as well.

Aff:

- Explicitly mention your impacts and frameworks - tell me why I should vote for you

- Road mapping is encouraged, helps with my flowing

- you can spew a sporadic of eloquently sounding words, but I will vote based on what I find sounds more logical in the end

Neg:

- You can read DAs, CPs, whatever - just make sure you have links to your arguments

General:

Please be respectful to your opponent, but aggressive clashing is always entertaining. If I pick up anything racist or homophobic, your speaker points won't look pretty.

Spreading is fine, but still try to articulate everything.

About Me

I am currently a first-year at the University of Chicago and I did compete in PF for four years so trust I know what I’m doing.

Email: sophialjansen@gmail.com

TL/DR

- I am a standard flow judge but assume I know nothing about the topic.

- tech > truth

- Second rebuttal needs to frontline all turns, respond to DAs, and respond to weighing.

- Anything in final focus should be in summary especially if you are trying to use it to win.

- Don’t be bigoted, I will not stand for it.

Basics

- I am tech > truth please don’t be ridiculous though.

- I can flow pretty quickly but if you go over 200wpm I may ask for a speech doc for clarity’s sake. Do not go so fast that the round is inaccessible to your opponents, I will drop speaks.

- I will only call for evidence if you tell me too, so please argue not only for why your evidence is good by why the warranting is good as well. I’ve ran enough cards that make absolutely no sense to need to see warranting along with the cards you read.

- Please please please weigh, if you don’t I will assume the other teams weighing or have to make up my own and I’m sure you don’t want that. Alongside that please tell me why your weighing mechanism is better than your opponents don’t just assume I will vote by yours. Don’t concede your opponent’s weighing otherwise it will flow through.

- As for extensions, it is pretty likely that I will miss card names in my flow so don’t just say “extend author X” because I will not know what you are trying to extend. Uniqueness, link, warrant, impact, and important cards need to be extended through the round if you want me to count your argument. Final focuses need to be more on big picture rather than extension, but there still needs to be a clear argument to vote for extended through to the final speech.

Speeches

- THESE ARE JUST MY PREFERENCES. Read them and try to follow them but everyone has their own style of debate, if it works for you, use it.

- First rebuttal is the only speech I will accept not having case extensions in.

- Second rebuttal needs to respond to all weighing, DA’s, and frontline all turns otherwise I will consider them dropped. As a principle, I do not like new offense in second rebuttal but I will still flow it, that being said I will accept much weaker responses to new offense than I would otherwise.

- First summary must extend all turns, weighing, and offense that they want to use later in the round. You will also need to respond to the frontlined defense you want to use later. As for responses to second rebuttal I need responses to turns, weighing, and new offense. I will accept blippy responses to defense as long as it is warranted and/or carded. I know this is a lot for first summary so please collapse, it will make all our lives easier.

- Second summary, this is where you need to collapse the round if it hasn’t been done already. I will lower speaks all around if everyone’s full case is being extended into final focus. Extend anything you want in final focus from both sides of the flow and please weigh.

- Both final focuses, everyone has their own style here, do whatever you want but make sure that I have a proper argument to vote for left after you are done. Tell me why to vote for you and tell me why not to vote for your opponent.

Content Warnings/Trigger Warnings

- Debate is meant to be a safe space, do not make it otherwise.

- As a principle, if your team runs any case or argument that engages with potentially graphic details or triggering content without a content waring I will drop speaker points significantly and it may cost you the round.

- If you read arguments relating to suicide or sexual assault without a content/trigger warning I will automatically drop you and give lowest speaker points possible.

K’s/Theory

- I have little to no experience running these types of arguments so don’t assume I will know any proper terminology or ways of handling them.

- I will evaluate them just as I would a traditional argument, thus I will also accept line-by-line responses.

- That being said I would much rather judge a topic round rather than a theory one so please keep that in mind.

Evidence Ethics

- Cut your cards properly; broken hyperlinks, screenshots, sketchily cut cards will most likely make you lose speaks and may mean the evidence is dropped.

- Intentionally misconstrued evidence is not acceptable and may cost you the round.

- Evidence should not take long to pull up, please send all called for cards to the email chain in a timely manner.

- I ran enough sketchy cards to know what one looks like, don’t make this awkward and make me call you out on it.

Speaker Points

- I am pretty generous with speaker points.

- Be nice and respectful and you should be good.

- Obviously, the better you are at making good arguments, responses, round choices, and making the judging easy for me you will get higher points.

- I only evaluate content in this round for speaks, nothing about race, sex, clothing, etc. so just be respectful.

- Do not waste any of our time reading 30 speaks theory arguments, I won’t evaluate them.

Extra Stuff

- Assume I know nothing about the topic because I do not. I will be able to pick up on it pretty quickly but err on the side of caution.

- Pre-flowing needs to be done before the round.

- Off-time road maps are nice but not required.

- Don’t go over time. I will not flow more than 3-5 seconds over.

- In the case that no offense is generated I presume 1st speaking team.

DO NOT BE BIGOTED. I WILL DROP YOU AND STOP THE ROUND. This includes any kind of racism, homophobia, sexism, transphobia, etc. either directed to me, your opponents, or ran in the debate.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me ahead of the round or ask me before we begin.

Do not exhibit racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic/ableist/discriminatory attitudes or behavior. You will be immediately dropped.

Be aggressive but do not be rude. If you are a toxic debater you will be dropped.

If you start lagging during your speaking time, I will try my best to judge you based on your performance given when your internet connection was stable.

Congress:

I value content over performance. Clearly structure your arguments so that they are understandable. Provide strong links and warrants to back up your contentions. Expand your impacts. I really do value the technicality of a bill, such as the bureaucracy behind it and the constitutionality of it. I try to be a blank-slate judge, but if you state something completely incorrect or extremely misleading, I will mark you down. If you are not the first speaker of the round, you should mention or respond to the other debaters in the round. Answer your questions clearly and ask good ones. Refrain from asking yes or no questions. Cut your competitors off if they are dodging the question. I really appreciate good cross-ex.

For performance, speak at a normal speed. Make your pronunciation and enunciation as clear and accurate as possible. Your body language should aid your performance, not distract from it. Be passionate. Try using different tones to create a better performance instead of just altering between aggressive and informative. I do value content over performance, but Congress still leans pretty heavily on the latter. If you present amazing arguments but stumble every two words and sound exactly like the rest of the chamber, I am not gonna give you a high rank.

A PO should be fast, fair, and efficient. You should make procedures understandable and maintain control of the chamber. If a debate becomes very repetitive, try to move the chamber onto the next piece of legislation. Make sure to know the procedures. If I notice that you continuously give speeches and questions to the competitors from your school, I will drop you.

Policy, LD, Public Forum, Parli:

Run whatever arguments you want. Theory, K, or anything that makes a compelling case for your side. I do not care about what kind of arguments you are running, because I judge based on flow. Provide solid warrants, tight links, and strong impacts and you will win. If you spread, you have to be extremely good at it. I expect clear enunciation and good fluency, or else just go at the normal talking pace, cause if I do not catch what you say, it will not be on my flow.

Speech:

Performances should match what is expected from the event. Be passionate about the issues you are talking about OO, and make me laugh if you are in DI. But in general, make sure you are varying between tones; do not just stay at one for 10 minutes, it will get boring and the lines you need to highlight will be lost. In your speech is argumentative/informative, then the content will be just as important. Make compelling arguments, use respectable sources and link them together well, and sprinkle in good rhetoric.

PS:

Just a pet peeve of mine, but if you are debating foreign policy, for the love of god do not cite examples from other regions as evidence that something will succeed/fail in this particular area. Respect the massive geopolitical and economic differences between each country and region, even if they are close together. Do not point to Libya and tell me a similar program is gonna succeed in West Africa, no no no, just no.

Experienced Parli and PoFo debater. Seven years coaching and judging parli/pofo/LD at high school level. Flow judge.

Tabula Rasa judge, I will make a conscious effort not to bring preconceived notions about evidence/analysis into the round. Source credibility matters. Not a fan of spreading, please don't gish galIop your opponents and try to act like it's credible. I'll allow some spreading, especially in LD, but if I can't understand you that only counts against you. I dislike complicated theory arguments, I don't necessarily believe they are appropriate for the high school level 90% of the time, but I will judge them if I have to (but know that I will not like it). I appreciate clear voters in final speeches, tell me why I should vote for you.

PoFo:

I weigh style and argumentation equally. Arguments should be valid and presented clearly. Extend arguments across the flow. If you drop an argument and your opponent notes it, I will consider it dropped by you. I prefer analytics to evidence, but any good analysis has to be based off something. If you raise new arguments in crossfire, please reaffirm them in your speech. Make sure you adhere to your framework, if you set a value I want to see you support it.

LD:

I expect to see value/value criterion that your evidence/analysis can support. Framework debate is important but I will favor the case over it unless the framework is an absolute dealbreaker. While I think theoretical arguments are interesting, I would prefer that the debate remain in the realm of evidence/analysis as much as possible. Plans and counterplans are acceptable, but I'll be harsh if you run a kritik. If you're going to pull something like that at a high school level you better make it immaculate and understandable.

Parli:

I judge heavily on weighing mechanism in Parli rounds when applicable. I do not expect WM in fact-based rounds. I appreciate definitional creativity but I dislike debates that get bogged down at the top of the flow in theoretical worlds. I prefer analysis over evidence, but I understand that some variations of Parli require an emphasis on evidence. Do not spread, I do not believe it belongs in Parli. Try to maintain decorum during POIs, do not abuse the mechanic.


Policy:

I am not an experienced Policy judge. Analysis matters over evidence and I'll try my best.

*Varsity Speaks: Boost in speaker points when you compliment your partner in-speech - the more fun or earnest, the higher the speaks boost :) I've found this gives some much needed levity in tense rounds.

*Online: Please go slower online. I'll let you know if you cut out. I'll try on my end to be as fair as possible within the limits of keeping the round reasonably on time. If the tournament has a forfeit policy, I'll go by those.

Background: 3 years of college super trad policy (stock issues/T & CPs) & some parli. I coach PF, primarily middle school/novice and a few open. She/her. Docshare >

PF:

Firm on paraphrasing bad. I used to reward teams for the bare minimum of reading cut cards but then debaters would bold-faced lie and I would become the clown emoji in real time. I'm open to hearing arguments that penalize paraphrasing, whether it's treating them as analytics that I shouldn't prefer over your read cards or I should drop the team that paraphrases entirely.

Disclosure is good because evidence ethics in PF are bad, but I probably won't vote for disclosure theory. I'm more likely to reward you in speaks for doing it (ex. sharing speech docs) than punish a team for not.

“Defense is sticky.” No it isn’t.

Ex. Fully frontline whatever you want to go for in second summary in second rebuttal. Same logic as if it's in your final focus, it better be in your partner's summary. I like consistency.

If you take longer than a minute to exchange a card you just read, it starts coming out of your prep. Speech docs make sure this is never an issue, so that's another plug.

Collapsing, grouping, and implicating = good, underrated, easy path to my ballot! Doc botting, blippy responses, no warrants or ev comparison = I'm sad, and you'll be sad at your speaks.

Cleaner debates collapse earlier rather than later.

I'm super into strategic concessions. "It's okay that they win this, because we win here instead and that matters more bc..."

I have a soft spot for framing. I'm most interested when the opposing team links in (ex. team A runs "prioritize extinction," team B replies, "yes, and that's us,"), but I'll definitely listen to "prioritize x instead" args, too. Just warrant, compare, etc.

Other "progressive pf" - I have minimal experience judging it. I'm not saying you can't run these debates or I'm unwilling to listen to them, but I'm saying be aware and slow down if I'm the one evaluating. Update: So far this season, I've voted down trigger warning theory and voted for paraphrasing theory.

I'll accept new weighing in final focus but I don't think it's strategic - you should probably start in summary to increase my chances of voting off of it.

All else fails, I will 1) look at the weighing, then 2), evaluate the line-by-line to see if I give you reasonable access to those impacts to begin with. Your opponents would have to really slip up somewhere to win the weighing but lose the round, but it's not impossible. I get really sad if the line-by-line is so convoluted that I only vote on the weighing - give me a clean place to vote. I'll be happy if you do the extra work to tell me why your weighing mechanism is better than theirs (I should prefer scope over mag because x, etc).

LD:

I’m a better judge for you if you're more trad/LARP. The more "progressive," the more you should either A) strike me if possible, or B) explain it to me slowly and simply - I’m open to hearing it if you’re willing to adjust how you argue it. Send a speech doc and assume I'm not as well-read as you on the topic literature.

All:

If it's before 9am, assume I learned what debate was 10 minutes ago. If it's the last round of the night, assume the same.

Open/varsity - time yourselves. Keep each other honest, but don't be the prep police.

On speed generally - I can do "fast" PF mostly fine, but I prefer slower debates and no spreading.

Content warnings should be read for graphic content. Have an anonymous opt-out.

Have warrants. Compare warrants. Tell me why your args matter/what to do with them.

Don't post-round. Debaters should especially think about who you choose to post-round on a panel when decisions echo one another.

Having a sense of humor and being friendly/accommodating toward your opponents is the easiest way to get good speaks from me. Be kind, have fun, laugh a little (but not at anyone's expense!!), and I'll have no problem giving you top speaks.

If I smile, you did something right. If I nod, I'm following what you say. I will absolutely tilt my head and make a face if you lost me or you're treading on thin ice on believability of whatever you're saying. If I just look generally unhappy - that's just my default face. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

UPDATED 6/1/2022 NSDA Nationals Congress Update

I have been competing and judging in speech and debate for the past 16 years now. I did Parli and Public Forum in High School, and Parli, LD and Speech in College. I have judged all forms of High School Debate. Feel free to ask me more in depth questions in round if you don't understand a part of my philosophy.

Congress

Given that my background is in debate I tend to bring my debate biases into Congress. While I understand that this event is a mix of argumentation and stylistic speaking I don't think pretty speeches are enough to get you a high rank in the round. Overall I tend to judge Congress rounds based off of argument construction, style of delivery, clash with opponents, quality of evidence, and overall participation in the round. I tend to prefer arguments backed by cited sources and that are well reasoned. I do not prefer arguments that are mainly based in emotional appeals, purely rhetoric speeches usually get ranked low and typically earn you a 9. Be mindful of the speech you are giving. I think that sponsorship speeches should help lay the foundation for the round, I should hear your speech and have a full grasp of the bill, what it does, why it's important, and how it will fix the problems that exist in the squo. For clash speeches they should actually clash, show me that you paid attention to the round, and have good responses to your opponents. Crystallizations should be well organized and should be where you draw my conclusions for the round, I shouldn't be left with any doubts or questions.

POs will be ranked in the round based off of their efficiency in running and controlling the round. I expect to POs to be firm and well organized. Don't be afraid of cutting off speakers or being firm on time limits for questioning.

Public Forum

• I know how to flow and will flow.
  • This means I require a road map.
  • I need you to sign post and tell me which contention you are on. Use author/source names.
• I will vote on Ks. But this means that your K needs to have framework and an alt and solvency. If you run a K my threshold for voting on it is going to be high. I don't feel like there is enough time in PF to read a good K but I am more than willing to be open to it and be proven wrong. For anyone who hits a K in front of me 'Ks are cheating' is basically an auto loss in front of me.
• I will vote on theory. But this doesn't mean that I will vote for all theory. Theory in debate is supposed to move this activity forwards. Which means that theory about evidence will need to prove that there is actual abuse occurring in order for me to evaluate it. I think there should be theory in Public Forum because this event is still trying to figure itself out but I do not believe that all theory is good theory. And theory that is playing 'gotcha' is not good theory. Having good faith is arbitrary but I think that the arguments made in round will determine it. Feel free to ask questions.
• Be strategic and make good life choices.
• Impact calc is the best way to my ballot.
• I will vote on case turns.
• I will call for cards if it comes down to it.

Policy Debate

I tend to vote more for truth over tech. That being said, nothing makes me happier than being able to vote on T. I love hearing a good K. Spread fast if you want but at a certain point I will miss something if you are going top speed because I flow on paper, I do know how to flow I'm just not as fast as those on a laptop. Feel free to ask me any questions before round.


LD Debate

Fair warning it has been a few years since I have judged high level LD. Ask me questions if I'm judging you.

Framework
You do not win rounds if you win framework. You win that I judge the round via your framework. When it comes to framework I'm a bit odd and a bit old school. I function under the idea that Aff has the right to define the round. And if Neg wants to me to evaluate the round via their framework then they need to prove some sort of abuse.

tabula rasa... no spreading please. outline format preferred. roadmaps and signposting a plus.