Hey All! Glad you're reading this. I'm Eamonn (any pronouns).

Speech-wise, remember that this is Congress, and we're debating bills with serious weight. Passion in your advocacy is key. If you don't firmly believe in everything you say (or, at a very minimum, are good at convincing people you care), then you cannot expect anyone else to believe in your cause. Clinical, evidence-heavy speeches never convinced anyone of anything. Obviously, well-sourced speeches are important (reputable news sources and the bare minimum should include the month/year of publication), but that evidence means nothing if it cannot be connected to quantifiable human impact. I would be willing to forgive an evidence-light speech if your rhetoric carries the slack. I am also a sucker for a funny introduction - do not be afraid to be obscure! I have dropped in everything from 60's ecological horror novels to Rina Sawayama lyrics in the first 25 seconds.

How you deliver your speech is just as important as what is in it - clear voice and enunciation, varied pacing, and purposeful phrasing. If it's too fast, your audience will probably only catch every third word, and then you're up creek. Too slow, and you'll lose the emotional core. This category blends performance and debate - tell me a story!

As the round goes, aggressive and purposeful questioning is key. This is where the contours of the debate show as time progresses, and you should be right there in the thick of it. Please be sure to keep questions brief: If it is direct questioning and you're speaking for longer than 10 seconds on first go, you're doing something wrong. Avoid trap questions - you're here to debate, not embarrass.

PO wise - the best PO is one that you don't notice. Feel free to throw in a joke here or there, but if you can run the round without me ever having to look up, you're golden.

Lastly, a huge pet peeve of mine - avoid implementation arguments. Anything to do with how the bill is funded, who's enforcing it, etc, etc. Unless there is some huge, glaring issue with the bill (and even then, it better be the best speech you've ever written). They often ring lazy, and as a way to avoid actually engaging with the merits of the topic at hand.

For Congress:

Speakers-

I will judge you fairly for wherever you speak in the round; I don’t want to give privilege to the person who comes up at the end of the round to crystallize the debate as I feel that just slows down the round’s progress by disincentivizing sponsorships and such.

Other than the sponsorship, where I want to see you present the problem in the status quo and how your legislation specifically solves it, I want to see constant analysis of other speakers in your speeches. How you push the debate forward in your speech is really important. Make sure your cards are logical and support your side’s argument. Weighing impacts is also necessary; we need to know what’s so good/bad about your contention. Remember speech structure and delivery too, Congress should incorporate both speech and debate.

POs-

I give high praise to POs who know proper procedure and pretty much just run the round smoothly. It isn’t an easy job, despite seeming so. If you’re running the round properly and in a sense, I “don’t notice you,” you’re doing the job and will receive my high praise.

Content and speaking both matter to me.

-Content:
*clarity - easy to follow

*ref - no drive by refs; your refs need to hold significance and the other competitors arguments actually need to be addressed

*intros - pick a style that works for you, I am not the biggest fan of generic intros that work for any bill

*impacts - weighing is appreciated, consider other arguments when making your impacts, make sure they are meaningful in the context of the round!!

I want to see adaptation and integration to whatever is happening in the round. No rehash!!!! Your speech should work for where it is given - this is very important to me

-Speaking/round presence:

*tonal variation - not every part of your speech should sound the same

*Hand gestures - use them to your advantage

I want to hear you asking questions, making motions, and engaging with the round outside of your speeches. BE MEMORABLE.

Most importantly, don't be disrespectful, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or anything of that sort. It goes without saying.

Hi, I'm Joey. I competed in congressional debate for four years in high school. I am a very content-heavy judge (maybe 90% content and 10% presentation). I rank each bill individually, and average ranks to come to my final ranks.

To me, content is evaluated off on how much you swing the debate in favor of your side during your speech. Imagine me as a judge having an internal meter in my head of what side is winning, you will be scored off on how much you can swing that meter in the course of your speech. Some things this system of evaluation will reward:

-Strategic argumentation: congress has the worst time skew of any event, in that the 11th speaker has 3 minutes to address 30+ minutes of debate. Speeches that strategically group arguments off common links and impacts, and concisely address them together with an offensive response or turn are the most strategic and time-efficient approach to congress, if done correctly this will be a huge deal on your ballot.

-Solid evidence: I am generally not a huge fan of rehashy arguments even when the link work is improved, but top-of-the-line evidence is an exception to this. In particular, high-quality studies that quantify your links are an immediate plus on my ballot.

-Solid Round Integration: Even if your argument is great and very strategic unless you take the extra step to explain to me what makes it strategic and how that affects the round, it's difficult to give you credit for it. Take the time to explicitly implicate your speeches to the round.

Some other notes:

CW Procedure: All POs should have a content warning procedure prepared, and all speakers should give content warnings before a potentially triggering speech. A speech that requires a content warning but is not given one will not reflect well on your ballot.