I am the Speech/Debate teacher and coach at The Colony High School in Texas and although I've judged quite a few tournaments over the past two and a half years, I consider myself still learning about coaching and judging debate and interp events. I pledge to do my best to judge events fairly and accurately. I appreciate articulate and easy to understand speakers and do not like spreading. I may ask you to slow down if you are speaking too fast so that I may adequately judge your speech. I may disclose results to you after your performance or may choose for you to review my comments on Tabroom. I consider myself a coach first and judge second - so if you ask how you did after a round/performance, you may hear some words of encouragement or gentle critique. I would want a judge to do the same for my students.

Know that I am listening intently to your performance or for the case you present in your argument and wish everyone the best of luck!

“As a coach member of the National Speech & Debate Association, I pledge to uphold the highest standards of humility, equity, integrity, respect, leadership, and service in pursuit of excellence.”

How Should Debaters approach Constructive Speeches?

A few well-developed arguments prove more persuasive than a larger quantity of arguments., Arguments should each be addressed individually.

How Should Debaters approach Rebuttal Speeches?

Rebuttals should provide voters to address the important issues advanced in constructive speeches., Rebuttals should extend arguments individually which debaters advanced in constructive speeches.

How Should Debaters approach Evidence?

Citations after the article introduction are preferred.

How should debaters use values, criteria and arguments to support a value position?

Build a value that is not overly complicated and should be relatable, and the criterion should not be over technical.

What arguments (such as philosophical, theoretical or empirical) do you prefer to support a value position?

An empirical, but highly persuasive philosophical approach can potentially work just as well.

Please explain your views on Kritik arguments.

Critical arguments should provide substantial evidence for their support: as every criticism needs at least one "For example" or at the very least a thorough clarification with a credible referenced source.

How should debaters run on case arguments?

Make sure all claims are supported with specific, defined examples. Avoid paraphrasing.

How should debaters run off case arguments?

Make sure they have a purpose or illustration for the case at hand.

How should Debaters run theory arguments?

The focus should be on winning the debate, not just attacking a person's style or flaws, or method. Winning on technicalities isn't winning a debate.

What other preferences do you have, as a judge?

Remember that in order to win a round, respect towards your opponent is paramount. It is hard to find in favor of debaters who belittle or berate their opponent in or out of round. This is especially important for Policy and World Schools: teams will lose points for whispering audibly during their opponents' speeches; learn to communicate with your teammates by writing!

Graceful winners are as important as those with the maturity and fortitude needed to learn from each loss.

Be respectful of your opponents and your opponent's arguments. Clash. Impact your arguments out.

This is your round, I'm not here to impose my opinions, and beliefs onto your round. I strive to be a blank slate for your arguments. Keeping that in mind, your words have meaning. I will hold you accountable for problematic arguments.

Jimmy Smith has over 45 years of coaching and is a 5 Diamond Key along with a very proud member of the NSDA Hall of Fame. Over the 45 years he has been honored to 9 students on the Final Stage with one National Champion. After retiring in 2017 Jimmy re-entered the classroom because to quote him, "this isn't work, it's fun"

I am the coach of a highly successful speech and debate team in Plano, TX. I am a two diamond coach in the NSDA and coach all debate events. In college, I was a policy debater and still enjoy the nuances of policy debate. Overall, I follow the logic in debate. I don't care about how you look, but I always follow the logic. As such, I always flow every round. If I am sitting there looking at you while you are delivering, that is a bad sign because you are not giving me arguments to flow. I am quite happy to give a low point win if one debater is a fantastic speaker but the other debater had the best arguments. My paradigms for the different debates are as follows:

L/D: I am more of a traditionalist with L/D debate. You can speak fast, but I want to know you can communicate. Don't spread. I enjoy the philosophical aspects to LD, but as an old policy debater, you must back up what you say with evidence. Give me a value and go deep with your framework. Because I was a policy debater, I do enjoy unique cases and actually believe that a K is fun in LD. So, feel free to give a unique perspective on your resolution. However, as I stated earlier, communicate it to me. In Policy, I don't care about the dressing, but in LD I do.

PFD: Show me you can work as a team. I am fine with you dividing up the workload. I am a framework judge. Really explain your FW, don't just say, "Judge, you must vote this way if..." In reality, I can do what I want. If I really should vote a certain way "if.." then explain why fully. For your rebuttals, group your arguments. Kick out what doesn't work. Again, give me something to flow. I want deep warranting. Explain, explain, explain.

Policy: I love policy! Topicality is one of my favorite arguments. Disads need to be bad, really bad. Don't give "might happens" as the fact that they "might not" is running through my mind. Don't whine and call arguments by your opponent abusive, unless they truly are. I rarely agree when debaters call the opponents arguments abusive. This is debate, research and develop arguments of your own and stop complaining that you didn't have time. Your harms need to be significant as do any advantages. K's are fine, but they better be explained well.

Speech: For oratory and Informative speaking, I am looking for a unique perspective on the topic you chose. With Informative, inform me. I don't mind advocacy but I am not looking for a Persuasive speech. I do not want an act, I want to know you care about the topic you are presenting and that this is a speech, not an act.

Interp: I try really hard not to take notes during your performance as I want to give you my full attention. If you can make me forget that I am timing you, that is a great thing indeed. It means, you took me to a new place, time, thought and away from the real world for the moment. That means you hit the mark! I love that. I enjoy all types of selections, those with many characters and those with one. I judge on how well you performed that selection.

Congress: Congress is a wonderful event. I want you to clash with the other debaters in the chamber. If we are in the fourth or fifth speech on a particular piece of legislation, you better be bringing something new for argumentation or your speech will not be ranked high. I judge on the quality of your research.

I am a high school science teacher and speech and debate coach. I've coached speech and debate for 9 years. I competed in speech and congressional debate in high school, then some speech in college. I am very passionate about the power of communication. Above all, it is extremely important to me that you articulate and enunciate well. This can still be accomplished with reasonable speed. Take care to explain your arguments well. I strongly prefer constructive speeches with resolutional analysis, framework, key definitions, and a standard that I can use to weigh arguments. I should have a solid understanding of what you think are the most important issues in the round. Please use voters! If you want me to vote on it, please make sure it is in your final speech and explain it thoroughly so I can understand it.

Arguments

Argue on logic, not emotions. Construct well-impacted, well-supported arguments. Quotations have no meaning without explanations. Therefore, always explain the significance of your evidence. The debater that most clearly presents a logical argument AND effectively refutes the opponent will be the victor.

Evidence

I may ask you to post your case or cards, if a virtual tournament. I may call for cards if your opponents ask me to, if the card is widely disputed during the round, or if it sounds exceptionally sketchy. According to NSDA rules, you can also access the Internet during round if you need to show your opponent the full citation.

Speed and Flowing

Anything below spread speed is fine. If you go fast, you should: SLOW DOWN when using tag lines and signposting. Give clear citations. Make sure you tell me where you are on the flow (off time roadmaps). Please look out for physical cues if you are speed-talking. If I look visibly confused or if my hand isn’t moving, that’s probably because I can’t understand you. While I don’t flow crossfire/cross-ex, I’ll remember anything exceptionally witty or smart you say. Make sure you repeat anything significant from crossfire/cross-ex in your next speeches. Rebuttal speeches should be well organized. Please go straight down the flow.

Behavior

Don’t be mean. If you’re mean, my brain will naturally find a way to vote against you. Being assertive is valued. Being aggressive is unnecessary. There is a difference between a passionate debater and an abrasive or condescending debater. Crossfires/cross-ex needs to be conducted with civility. You can be civil and still have clash in the round. I enjoy good clash.

Specific to LD

My judging paradigm for Lincoln Douglas (LD) Debate is a clash of values. The value represents a means to an idealistic, just world. The criterion is the standard by which to measure the opposing value and to ultimately define the value that should be upheld. The contentions are used to uphold the value. Impact all your contentions back to your value. Value, criterion, and contentions must be clearly stated by both sides. Therefore, the debater that upholds their value and criteria with the strongest contentions and strongest cross examination will receive the higher points, thus (generally) the win.

Speaker Points

30: Excellent job, you demonstrate stand-out organizational skills and speaking abilities. Ability to use creative analytical skills and humor to simplify and clarify the round.

29: Very strong ability. Good eloquence, analysis, and organization. A couple minor stumbles or drops.

28: Above average. Good speaking ability. May have made a larger drop or flaw in argumentation but speaking skills compensate. Or, very strong analysis but weaker speaking skills.

27: About average. Ability to function well in the round, however analysis may be lacking. Some errors made.

26: Is struggling to function efficiently within the round. Either lacking speaking skills or analytical skills. May have made a more important error.

25: Having difficulties following the round. May have a hard time filling the time for speeches. Large error.

Below: Extreme difficulty functioning. Very large difficulty filling time or offensive or rude behavior.