PF, LD, IPDA, BQ

Speak clearly and concisely, have a clear message and for partnered events build with your partner, not on top of them :)

CONGRESS

Use full body to give an intriguing speech. Grab my attention!

Hi! My name is Caroline Hsu and I've participated in speech and debate for 3 years now. I'm a junior in high school and compete in interpretation and public address events. I've dabbled in debate (BQ and have judged LD + PF) and have way too many congress friends, so I do understand those in an extremely flay judge manner!

Introductions for IE's: Intros are one of the most important parts of a speech. Make sure to explain your topic well and draw me into your piece and connect it with your story. Be influential.

Interpretation Events: Blocking is always an important addition to your work, but don't compromise the story with extra blocking if it's not necessary. Make me laugh or cry and make me remember your piece.

Public Address Events: Topics are the most important thing. Make sure they pertain to the general public and affect many people while being a niche idea. Really enunciate but don't yell at me. Have fun with your topic: humor goes a long way, and remember to really advocate for what your speech is about. If you believe it, convince me I should too.

Lip Sync/Vocal Events: Read the rules and be dramatic! Make sure to lip-sync and sing to the best of your abilities! As a theatre kid and someone who won a tournament in vocal solo, I believe you all have the talent :)

Extemp: Be creative with your intro! Be funny, smart, or impactful! Give me good points and substantiate them clearly. Make sure to have a clear link chain. Use rhetoric as well!

Congress: Speakers - With content, I expect to see good arguments with strong links (strong warrants and impacts). Don't repeat arguments others have brought up before, aka no rehash. I expect to see refutation and clash. With delivery, please don't yell at me or the chamber. Be passionate, have tonal variation, and use pauses to your benefit. Use rhetoric to make your arguments stronger and make sure your questioning is clear and attacks specific arguments or flawed link chains.

POs - Please keep the round running smoothly while adhering to parliamentary procedure. Due to online, time cards are preferred. Your job is to moderate debate seamlessly, while still being the leader of the chamber. Likewise, if you know the answer to a question posed by the chamber, try to answer it yourself before involving the judge. They should not have to get involved in the round unless absolutely necessary.

LD/PF/Policy: For all intents and purposes, consider me a flay judge. I understand argumentation to a good extent and I try my best to flow your arguments!!! Overall, I want you to explain everything clearly and walk through everything clearly. The clearer you make the reason to vote AFF/NEG the clearer my ballot will be. I should not have to do the work for you to cross-apply your contentions and refutations to your opponent's case. Please do not try to run theory, tricks, or K's, I don't understand them.

Speed: We are online. Adjust accordingly. I can tolerate fast speaking but remember your computer microphone may not be able to. At the start of the round, please ask me for my email and add me to your email chain with your case. This will make the round clearer.

CX: This is the only time you get to directly interact with your opponent. Make the most of it. Don't spend the entire time clarifying something they said.

Prep time: Prep time starts when you start prepping. I don't count emailing docs as prep time.

Novices: Please don't be afraid to ask me any questions about debate or my paradigm before the round starts! I promise I don't bite. I'm a firm believer that while speech and debate is a competition, it should still be an educational experience for everyone.

Lastly, speech and debate should be a safe space for everyone. Respect pronouns, be kind, and be conscious of social and economic positions. Don't be rude or disrespectful. I take this very seriously. If the tournament does not provide this, ask your opponent before round.

Overall, I know you all can do your best! Good luck in rounds!

Personal Background

As of Feb. 2023, I have competed/judged speech for 5 years and judged debate for around 3.5 years. I also participated in theatre/musical theatre and MUN in high school.

Speech

I can always give time signals and will usually ask if you would like any if I forget to, please feel free to ask for them

Generally anything goes, I never really expect you to make any significant change in speech based on a judge’s preferences.

That being said for interp my ballots often end up being highly technical(Pantomime inconsistencies, vocal inflection at key moments, etc.) as I want to give you as much actionable feedback in my comments as possible, however the ranks may not seem to match as often the more non actionable reasons of the RFD supersedes in importance for my decision.

For platform/limited prep I generally want to see some physical organization that mirrors your speech organization(walks to separate points, etc.).

Debate

• I keep time and I expect you to keep time for both yourselves and your opponents, keep everyone honest

• for speeches I generally give ~2-3 seconds of grace to finish a sentence unless in a panel, do not abuse this privilege

• Spreading is fine as long as articulation is good, although scale back some for PF such that a lay judge can fully comprehend your arguments(whatever that looks like for you)

• If a format has Cross, I generally want to see you do something more than just clarifying questions, ex. Like probing for weaknesses that will be expanded on in your next speech

• Fully realizing your impacts is very important especially in the final 1-2 speeches even if some repetition is required

• Unless instructed otherwise, feel free to run almost anything at your discretion Ks, Aff-Ks, Plans, Theory, etc.

• That being said your links need to be strong for me to vote for it

• Specifically for Ks, I often want to see a R.O.B argument to give me a reason to vote for you in the round even if I do buy the K

• Specifically for Theory, the communication of what the theory argues/shows needs to be clear

• Unless you can explain one of the above to a Lay judge with ease I would advise against running the above in PF

• At the end of the debate I will often give verbal feedback (exceptions being if a tournament runs on a tight schedule with flights, I have been double booked in the speech and debate pool and need to make it to a round, the tournament is running far behind, or I am instructed not to do so), after this verbal feedback I may if I have a clear winner(unless instructed otherwise), otherwise I will not

I would consider myself a traditional speech judge. I am very comfortable judging all interp, public address/platform, and limited prep events. I have competed, judged, and coached at all levels (middle school, high school, and collegiate) and am open to the many styles of interp/performance.

As a judge, the thing that matters most to me is that your performance choices are intentional/purposeful. I want to feel like the choices you make are driven by the text. While I appreciate super cool tech/transitions and visually interesting blocking BIG TIME, I also don't like blocking for blocking's sake. If you are incorporating sound effects, etc. in your HIs and DUO/Duet transitions, they need to make sense and have artistic purpose.

Intros matter.

In all speech events, I am looking for the performer to truly CONNECT with their audience. This is just as true (perhaps even more so) for virtual performances. I like polished/clean performances that also feel conversational and authentic. I should always feel as if this is the first time you've spoken these words.

I am pretty picky about clean binder technique in binder events. Your binder tech (sloppy pages turn, etc.) should never pull my focus. This does not mean I don't LOVE cool binder tricks/additions to enhance POI/PR/POE performances. As long as they are clean/polished/purposeful, bring it on! :)

For Platform/Limited Prep Events, I am looking for solid structure (intro, preview/roadmap, conclusion, etc.), good variety of current sources, depth of analysis, and clean/fluent delivery. While delivery is certainly important, a few small fluency issues in limited prep won't bother me - I would ultimately prefer a speech with a strong analysis of the topic that isn't canned.

Overall, just try to have fun, take pride in sharing your stories, and I will have fun with you! :)

General:

The key to a debate is to listen, never leave something out. When you listen to your opponent, so much can come to mind. ALWAYS weigh the arguments. I dont believe a debate should be seen as why the problem in the world is bad or good, however a debate should be about how we should either fix or not intervene on something.

Behavior:

We as a society should mantain a large amount of respect for everyone, I hope to not witness any behavior that is racist, transphobic, ableist, or violent-

-Be prepared.

-DO NOT confront agruments and rehash them.

-I value credible evidence. Statistics quotes, sources.

-On one sided debates be prepared to speak on the other side. Be different and provide a different side of things.

IDPA:

-include sources. this helps me understand that you used your thirty minutes to truly understand the your topic.

- Try and have a rebuttal.

-During the second speeches remember to always try and state your oponents points. DONT ARGUE but hash out and make me understand why youre right.

-During questioning period try and make it great

(USE ALL YOUR TIME)

Extemp:

-I truly enjoy good introductions.

-Always try and grab my attention with interesting facts and a backstory.

-Again, I value evidence and sources. Always having credible sources can backup your argument.

- Have a great structure. This is basically impromptu, remember what you are doing.