OO/INFO: structure and organization! Teach us something!

HI/DI/POI: I look for clear characters that have been crafted. Clarity, diction, and emotion are huge for me. Tell us a story and take your audience on a journey!

Duet/Duo: Utilize your space, I love creative blocking that adds to the story!

Have fun! No one can bring to the round what you can offer!

Best of luck!

My name is Robin Monteith and I am the coach for The Overlake School in Remond, Wa. I am a parent coach and was introduced to speech and debate through being a parent judge. This is my8th year judging at speech and debate competitions. All years, I judged PF, LD, Congress, and many speech categories, more recently I have coached and judged WSD, Big Questions, and Middle School Parli. I have no policy experience. I became a coach in the 2019-2020 school year. My educational background is in psychology and social work.

I am looking for students to convince me that the side they are arguing on is right. I like statistics, but am also looking for the big picture, but with enough specifics to understand the big picture. It will help if you give a clear and highly organized case. Make sure that you don't talk so fast that you lose your enunciation. Also, remember that I am trying to write and process what you are saying so if you are talking really fast some of your arguments may be missed. While the point of debate is to take apart your opponents case, I do not like it when teams get too aggressive or cross the line into being rude. I value both argument and style in that I think your style can help get your argument across or not get it across well. Don't do theory or Kritiks. I am not a flow judge, but do take extensive notes. You need to extend arguments in your summary and final focus and I will disregard any new arguments presented in final focus and second summary as this is unfair to your opponents. In summary I like for you to summarize the important parts of the debate for me: both your side and your opponents. In final focus I want to hear voters. Why do you think you won the debate. What evidence did you present that outweighs your opponents evidence, etc.

Preferred email: rmonteith@overlake.org