I am a parent judge for Congress. My degree is in Political Science with a focus on the U.S. govt. I have lobbied Congress, written opinion pieces on behalf of a Senator, and worked closely with govt. agencies such as FDA.

I am looking for a healthy debate. Can you provide new facts or pull the facts given together and summarize? If not, please think twice about speaking. Speaking for the sake of speaking and not to further the debate, seems rather useless. Try not to read your notes. You need to have a strong open and at least three reasons we should affirm or negate a bill. Smooth language read from a page is less important than a passionately delivered, well researched piece.

Last Updated:3/9/2024

Pronouns: They/Them

Background:

• Competed for 6 years: 4.5 in LD and 1.5 in Congress. Have been judging LD and Congress for 3 years now.

Overview:

• Debate should be inclusive and available to all people. If your goal is to speak as fast as possible and run the most obscure arguments to exclude people, then this isn't a winning strategy for you. My suggestion would be to run topical arguments at a pace that is inclusive to all students. The more obscure the argument the more time you should spend on explaining it. Don't just throw out random words and assume I'll fill in the blanks for you.
• If you have questions about your ballot, feel free to ask me about it! My email address isBonBrynteson@gmail.com :)

Congress:

• This is a debate event. I reward debaters on their skill to rebuttal and crystal first and then constructives/authors. This is not to say I will not rank someone high if they give constructives but I do tend to vote for people who can mix it up and give different types of speeches/can analyze the round correctly.
• There should be no reason for you to have to put a trigger warning in your speech. We as the Parli and Judges are not able to leave the room like everyone else if you are saying stuff that could be triggering so please do not put us in that uncomfortable position. I promise you that you can make that same exact meaningful point without saying triggering things and if you cannot, that speaks more for what you need to personally work on in this activity.
• I can promise you that you will not be dropped because your speaking isn't "pretty enough" in my round :)
• I track precedence/recency in all sessions and flow.
• Remember all of your opponents, judges, and Parli are all human. The topics we are discussing may personally impact the people in the room with you. Be aware of what you are saying and the impact it can leave on others when leaving the round.

Notes for PO's:

• You will always start at being ranked 5 and will move up or down based on how well you perform. The reasoning for this is there are some POs with computer programs that will auto-order and PO for you which takes the entire skill out of the position.
• I personally do not like it when you share your PO sheet with the chamber. It is their job to also track, don't make their life easier. This is a competition.
• Please do not tell us to rank you. We are told to in judging meetings and TAB reminds us every round.
• The point of a PO is to disappear from the round. I should forget that you are next to me with how well you are running the room. Comments like "and the chair thanks you", "and we will never know the answer to that question" or any other sentence that is unneeded will poorly look on you in my eyes. You should be moving so efficiently that you can move speech to questioning to speech within seconds. In addition, the chair does not have emotions.
• I know this Paradigm is long and seems like a lot but please do not be scared to ask me questions! I have POed more times than I can count and it's nerve-racking. Let me help you succeed and grow so we can have a fun fast round.

LD:

• If you start running a K, I will just want to run back to my congress land. Please do not run them in my round.
• Please do not spread. I can not keep up and will be lost.
• I do not mind jargon or technical language but if you are being inaccessible to your opponent that is unfair to them and will reflect on you.
• Voters/Framework/Weighing are big points to me. If you weigh but lost framework, what are we actually weighing on? If you save more money but your opponents saves 100k lives, why do I care about someone missing rent for a month? Etc etc
• I love love love! a good CX

Overall I just want you kids to have fun. Let's work together to create a safe space in this round where everyone feels comfortable and enjoy the round! :D

A note to all debaters: although I try to be completely objective when scoring, remember judging is essentially just my opinion of how you did. Your own evaluation of how you debated is at least as valid as mine and probably more so. I try my best to leave constructive comments for each speaker, but time constraints while a debate is in progress can make that difficult. If you do not get feedback, it's not because I do not care, it's because I ran out of time.

Expect comments of the form:

Cycle w/ notations, for example 3A (break) (cut-off) means it was the 3rd Affirmative speech, it broke cycle and the PO cut you off at 3m10s
Strength: Something you did well
Suggestion: Something to consider when working to improve

Congressional debate
I personally consider Delivery to be the most important skill you can acquire from debate because it's a life skill. Even if you never debate again after high school, being comfortable with speaking to a group is useful forever. My comments are often heavily weighted towards Delivery strengths and suggestions for this reason.

I prefer a traditional speech with a defined introduction, main body and conclusion:
1) Tell me what you're about to tell me (30 seconds) - Introduction
2) Tell me (2 minutes) - 2 or 3 main points
3) Tell me what you just told me (30 seconds) - Conclusion/summary

I use speaker points mostly for my use in post-session ranking but in general:
6 - Outstanding (rarely given)
5 - Excellent
4 - Average
3 - Below average (rarely given)
2, 1 - I don't use these scores

I try to be as objective as possible without introducing bias, opinion or knowledge external to the debate. If you claim "The sky is purple", back it up with evidence, persuade me, show why it matters, and rebut any opposition counter-claims, then the sky is actually purple for scoring/ranking purposes.

I also take into account the overall experience level of the chamber and judge each speaker in comparison to the others present. For example, if a novice House speaker simply reads a prepared speech, I'm much more forgiving in my rankings than I would be for a Varsity Senate speaker doing the same thing.

How I judge a debate speech in detail:
Introduction
Simple, direct and concise is best. An attention-getter (like you would do at a speech tournament) is probably unnecessary and uses valuable time. For NEG speeches it's ok to agree with something in the bill as long as you immediately follow-up with what's wrong with it: "While I agree that passing this bill to get "X" is a noble goal, the enormous problem of "Y" makes passage impractical and counter-productive".
* Main point overview - "Tell me what you're about to tell me". For example, something like "The main [benefits/problems] with this bill in general are financial which I'll cover in my 1st main point and quality of life covered in my 2nd and 3rd points about health care and tax reform" This can also set up your conclusion/summary where you can echo your intro and "Tell me what you just told me".
* Bill overview - This is critical in 1st cycle speeches. State the primary [benefit/liability] for [passing/failing] this bill as written. A short and meaningful (quantified if possible) impact statement is best. For example, "Passing this bill will feed 10 million malnourished children per year who would otherwise go hungry and cost just $50 per child - that's 14 cents per day per child!" i.e. AFF should avoid stating the $500 million cost directly, and NEG should do the opposite.
Content
* Organization - Speech should have a clear intro, main body (2 or 3 main points) and conclusion with obvious and meaningful transitions.
* Credibility - mispronounced words, world leader names in particular, can indicate to me that the speaker is simply reciting a speech written by the team.
* Decorum - Never raise your voice in questioning. Always refer to actual politicians and chamber members with their honorific: "President Washington said..." rather than "Washington said...". Respect the position even if you don't respect the person currently/formerly holding that position.
* Links & Connections - Whenever possible connect your related points to a previous speaker/argument, ex. "My 1st main point about financing [supports/refutes] Senator Lincoln's argument about budgeting and Senator Jefferson's claim about debt".
* Logic, facts & evidence - Ideally, about half your main point explanation(s) should "prove" why the bill should pass/fail.
* Persuasion & passion - Ideally, the other half should convince me why you are correct and/or the opposition is incorrect.
* Answers - Simple, clear and concise answers are best. Never raise your voice no matter how aggressive the questioner gets. It's ok to subtly critique the questioner when appropriate, ex. "That was a long winded question but I'll do my best to answer in the few seconds remaining..." or "That was a statement. Do you have an actual question for me?"
Arguments
* Claim - simple, clear and concise is best. "This bill will cost $500 million dollars and the country simply cannot afford it right now!"
* Proof, experts & citations - Support your claim with evidence from subject matter experts as much as possible. Avoid long back and forth "dueling expert battles" in questioning. It's ok to point out "your" expert is stating the exact opposite of "their" expert but let it go after that.
* Impact / Explanation - Tell me why it matters! Use intro phrases like "This is important because..." or "The primary overall impact of [passing/failing] this legislation is..."
Clash (N/A for 1st cycle speeches) - Be specific and detailed when you tell me what's wrong with the opposition's case.
Closely related to "Links and Connections" above. This is most important at the Senate level. If your speech is presented like a 1st cycle speech with no clash, it will impact your ranking.
* Speakers - Name all previous speakers who made similar (but distinct) points before making your new point.
* Arguments - Group similar but distinct previous arguments together as well.
Delivery
Do not simply read your speech. I give some allowance for 1st cycle speeches, but holding a laptop with both hands, standing still, looking straight down at the screen and reading will impact your ranking.
* Extemporaneous - your prepared material should be used as notes and not as a script. Using voice technique (volume, tone and pacing) to add impact/drama to your most important points will positively impact your score/ranking
* Gestures - Use hand gestures to add non-verbal emphasis and impact to your important spoken points.
* Movement - Use meaningful movement as a non verbal signal to indicate transitions. For example, as you end your intro and start your main point 1 topic sentence, move 3-6 feet to your left or right and again at other main point or summary transition points. Avoid meaningless pacing and shifting from foot to foot as it can indicate nervousness.
* Eye contact - "Talk" to all members of the chamber - center, left and right - switching at transition points is fine. Avoid just talking to one "location" (judges and/or the floor/ceiling/back wall)
Conclusion
The word "Affirm/Negate" does not count as a conclusion if you run out of time speaking on your main points.
* Main point summary - Make the transition obvious with something like "So in conclusion..." and then add a sentence or two about the broad categories of your main points, something like "The main [benefits/liabilities] of this bill are financial as I clearly explained in my first main point and quality of life as my 2nd and 3rd main points on health care reform and fair taxation prove." The categories you choose (financial & quality of life in my example) give following same-side speakers an easy way to link back to your speech as well.
* Big Picture statement - One or two sentences on the primary impact of [passing/failing] the bill is good enough, but tell me why it matters.
Time - anything between 2:30 and 3:09 is fine.
Do not force the PO to cut you off at 3:10, this will impact your ranking. A common comment I make if you ran out of time or rushed your summary is something like "Consider using the PO's 2m30s double gavel tap as a signal to begin your conclusion to avoid running out of time."

For crystalization speeches, I strongly prefer advocacy on one side or the other. If you properly flow the debate you can simply add a statement in your intro and conclusion to support either AFF or NEG to avoid breaking cycle. For example, in your intro say something like "I'd like to focus this debate by first summarizing the AFF speakers and their arguments. Follow up by summarizing the NEG side, and conclude by telling you why [AFF/NEG] should get your vote". In your conclusion something like "Now that I've summarized both sides, let me tell you why argument "X" is the most compelling, briefly explain the Big Picture impact of this legislation and ultimately why it's important you vote for [AFF/NEG]". It is critical you reserve the last 30 seconds of your time for the conclusion and advocacy statement. Use the PO's 2m30s gavel double tap as a signal to end your main point discussion.

Presiding Officers are judged on:

Speaker Recognition (Precedence and Recency)
Fair and even distribution of speaker recognition throughout the chamber when preset precedence is not used is important, i.e. you do not constantly favor Reps. sitting on the right side of the room. Making mistakes, but catching and correcting them will impact your ranking a little, not catching and correcting them will impact your ranking a lot.
Parliamentary Procedure
You handle motions, timing and voting efficiently. It is critical you use the standard/recommended NSDA timing signals. If you confuse speakers with non-standard signals, it can and probably will negatively impact your ranking.
Delivery / Presence
You speak loud and clear. Call on speakers quickly. Shutdown post-time arguments in questioning, etc.
Running a smooth and efficient chamber is key. "You did your job so well I barely noticed you" is the highest compliment I can give.

Experience: 7 years of judging PF and Congress, Juris Doctor with Legal background.

Philosophy:

I approach debate as an educational activity that fosters critical thinking, effective communication, and the exploration of various perspectives. My role is to evaluate the round based on the arguments presented, the quality of evidence and analysis, and the overall coherence of the debate.

Roles of the Debaters:

1. Clarity and Organization: I value clear, concise, and organized speeches. Debaters should articulate their points effectively, signpost, and provide a clear roadmap for the round.

2. Argumentation: I prioritize well-developed and supported arguments. Provide strong evidence and analysis to back up your claims. Quality over quantity; I prefer a few strong points to numerous weak ones.

3. Rebuttal and Clash: Engage with your opponent's arguments. Effective rebuttal involves addressing the core of the argument, not just the surface-level claims.

4. Flexibility and Adaptability: Be prepared to adapt your strategy based on your opponent's arguments and the direction of the round.

Evidence and Sources:

From my legal education and background, I pay very close attention to sources. Cite reliable and credible sources. The quality of evidence is more important than the quantity. If a source is questionable, make sure to highlight this in your argumentation.

Cross-Examination:

I consider cross-examination to be an integral part of the debate. It's an opportunity to clarify, challenge, and extract concessions from your opponent. Effective cross-examination can significantly strengthen your case. I will pay close attention to challenges to opponents' arguments and how it is used to strengthen your case.

Speaker Points:

I will assign speaker points based on clarity, argumentation, strategic choices, and overall contribution to the round. Be respectful and professional throughout the debate.

Role of the Judge:

My role is to fairly and objectively evaluate the arguments presented. I will not inject my personal opinions into the decision-making process. I will assess the round based on what transpires in the debate.

Speed and Delivery:

While I can handle a moderate pace, I value clarity over speed. If your arguments become unclear due to rapid delivery, it may hinder your overall assessment.

Respect and Decorum:

Maintain respect for your opponents, partner, and the judge throughout the round. Be mindful of time limits and follow the established rules. I do not tolerate arguing over each other or unnecessary interjections as it muddles and slows the debate.

Final Thoughts:

Remember, debate is an educational activity, but don't forget to have fun! Embrace the opportunity to learn, grow, and engage with different perspectives. I look forward to a productive and insightful round!

I want to see clash, argument, and discourse. At the end of the round you should completely disagree with the other speakers, but remember they are people and deserve respect same as you.

I do not give perfect scores because perfection is impossible.

Debate well

Any questions about how I judged, send an email to john.novack@und.edu (put like "debate question" or similar in subject line and I'll get back to you w/i 24 hours.

Congress:

Please DEBATE with each other. If you refute and weigh you'll do well. For sponsors and authors, I need a problem/solution explanation of the bill, and I love when you frame the debate around one metric/value/impact we should weigh both sides on. Also keep me interested! Have fun with it! If you're enjoying debating and care about what you're saying, I can tell and it makes me want to care. If you're speaking on the NEGATION of a legeslation, you need to prove a net harm of passing it. The later in round your speech is, the more refutation it needs to have.

I did congress for four years of high school. I know what good debate looks like. Also I'm evil.

1. If you give a pre-written speech while holding your laptop in front of you and staring down at it, I'm telling on you. Speaking extemp is wayyyyy cooler and sooooooo much more fun. all the cool kids are doing it.

2. Keep in mind: this is high school debate. if you stumble or say the wrong thing or mess up in some way just remember it's okay! Be kind to yourself and others & give yourself grace. I'm not dopping your rank just because you stuttered. We're all in this to have fun. Spread love, everypony!

TLDR; REFUTE, WEIGH, RESPOND, IMPACT & BE KIND

POs: Have control of the room. Be in the background. Be accurate above all else. Don't take up excess time in the chamber with unessesary flourishes. If I hear a "the chair thanks you" your rank is being moved down.

If you want more feedback after a round, my email is pear0816@umn.edu

My name is Dave Pitts and by trade I am a Management Consultant with a large public accounting and consulting firm. My job requires me to helping large companies to grow and operate more efficiently to improve outcomes for their shareholders and importantly, their customers.  To succeed, myself and the staff that I work with have to be effective storytellers. We need to make clear-cut points, supported by tangible facts and figures, to convince a diverse group of executives, staff, and maybe even their customers, to work a different way... together.  It's not an easy task!

In Congressional Debate, I am a big proponent of a well structured speech that includes a thesis and preview of your points. It goes along way to help me score your speech when I have a roadmap. I will be looking for CLAIM, WARRANT, and IMPACT each time. Please have cited evidence to support your claim but also provide real-world impact for your argument so it shows that it matters. Anything else will sound just like an opinion speech.

I believe that being a clear, concise speaker is integral part of Congressional Debate. I prefer quality speeches over the number of speeches given.

I value clash and non-repetition. Avoid rehashing the same arguments and please refute the points of specific representatives and show how you differ by pointing out specific arguments. I want to hear the debate advance and not get stuck on the same point. I will lose interest no matter how well-spoken of a speaker you are.

Be clear and concise during the question and answer period. Above all, be respectful and kind to each other during this process.

I expect the P.O. to be fair administering the parliamentary procedures. Make sure you call on people fairly. I will be understanding when it comes to other procedures that arise and it can be a tough task.

I expect professionalism and proper decorum throughout the session. No bigotry or disrespect of your fellow representatives will be tolerated.

Have fun and make it an enjoyable round! Stand out and give unique arguments. Be passionate and confident because that will come through and make me more engaged.

I am a head debate coach at East Ridge High School in Minnesota with 10 years of debate under my belt and 15+ years of speech coaching / judging experience as well. I love both activities, and I love seeing creative / unique approaches to them. I've sent several students to Nationals in both speech and debate categories for the past several years.

In 'real life' I'm an intellectual property attorney. I love good arguments in all types of debate. But I will NOT make logic jumps for you. You need to do the legwork and lay out the argument for me, step by step. I LOVE legal arguments, but most of all I love a good Story. Frame your arguments for me. Make the impacts CLEAR. (e.g. in PF / LD - WEIGH them.) Tell me how and why to write my ballot for you and I probably will!

Voting Values
I vote on topicality in any type of debate that I judge. If your arguments are non-topical, and you get called on it, they will be struck from my flow. Everyone got the same resolution / bills, that's what I want to hear arguments about.

I am NOT a fan of Kritiks - you got the resolution ahead of time. Debate it.

SPEED

THIS IS A COMMUNICATION ACTIVITY. Your goal is to effectively communicate your arguments to me. If you are talking too fast to be intelligible, you are not effectively communicating.

If you make my hand cramp taking notes, I'll be crabby. I am a visual person and my notes are how I will judge the round. If I miss an argument because you were talking at light speed, that's your fault, not mine! :)

Attitude / Aggressiveness

100%, above all, you are human beings and citizens of the world. I expect you to act like it. I HATE rudeness or offensive behavior in any debate format. Be kind, be inclusive. By all means, be aggressive, but don't be rude.

Public Forum: I am a huge framework fan. You have the evidence, frame the story for me. If you give me a framework and explain why, under that framework, your evidence means I vote for you, I will. Don't make me do summersaults to get to a decision. If only one team gives me a framework, that's what I'll use.

Re: Summary / FF - I expect the debate to condense in the summary / final focus - and I expect you to condense the story accordingly. Look for places to cross-apply. I do need arguments to extend through every speech to vote for them - but I do not expect you to reiterate all evidence / analysis. Summarizing and weighing is fine for me.
WEIGH arguments for me. Especially if we're talking apples and oranges - are we comparing money to lives? Is there a Risk-Magnitude question I should be considering?

Re: new arguments in GC/FF - I won't weigh new ARGUMENTS, but I will consider new EVIDENCE / extensions.

Re: Argument / Style - I'm here to weigh your arguments. Style is only important to the extent you are understandable.

I generally don't buy nuclear war arguments. I don't believe any rational actor gets to nuclear war. I'll give you nuclear miscalc or accident, but it's a HIGH burden to convince me two heads of state will launch multiple warheads on purpose.

Lincoln-Douglas: If you give me a V/C pairing, I expect you to tie your arguments back to them. If your arguments don't tie back to your own V/C, I won't understand their purpose. This is a values debate. Justify the value that you choose, and then explain why your points best support your value.

Congress: This is debate. Beautiful speeches, alone, belong in Speech categories. I expect to see that you can speak well, but I am not thrilled to listen to the same argument presented three times. I expect to see clash, I expect to see good Q&A. I love good rebuttal / crystallization speeches.

I DO rank successful POs - without good POs, there is no good Congressional Debate. If you PO well in front of me, you will be ranked well.

World Schools: This actually is my favorite form of debate. I want to see respectful debate, good use of POIs, and organized content. I've judge WSD at Nationals for the last several years and I do adhere to the WSD norms. Please do not give me "regular debate" speed - I want understandable, clear speeches.

I'm a volunteer and I've read over some information about this event and watched a demo video, but I'm new to judging.

I competed in four years of Public Forum in high school and am now the head coach at Andover High School in Minnesota. We primarily focus on Congress and Public Forum in our program.

Congress:

If you contribute meaningfully to the debate (rather than reading a pre-written speech repeating arguments), that's a good way to rank highly with me. I want to see clash and rebuttals, even if those rebuttals are logic-driven and not necessarily evidence-driven. I want to see that you're following the round and thinking critically about it.

I understand wanting to stay relevant in the round, but please be mindful of the questions you ask. I am unimpressed by questions that are really a statement that you end with "wouldn't you agree?" or "what's your response to that?" Please don't use questioning periods as time to bring up other evidence or preface. And ask questions that are relevant to the speaker you're asking them of. If they didn't talk about an argument, a question about that argument doesn't make sense.

Public Forum:

Arguments that are well-warranted go further for me than an argument you try to fiat your way out of. Almost always, I think that's a cheap way of dictating the round and avoiding a question.

Don't make me do the work of making arguments for you because I won't and a half-baked argument isn't going to generate you a lot of offense on the flow.

On the topic of weighing- do it. Give me quantification, a weighing mechanism, magnitude, an impact calc, I don't care. This goes along with the whole judge intervention thing- I want you to be pretty clear what I should flow as most important in the round.

I'll take a logical rebuttal to an argument if that logic is very sound. If that logic is sound, I may not necessarily need evidence read to clunk up the argument.

I enjoy giving feedback after the round and I'll usually disclose if I've made my decision at that point. Feel free to ask me anything else you'd like to know. But don't shake my hand please I'm v not a fan.

Competition Background

High School Speech: Eden Valley - Watkins HS, MN (6 years): Drama, Original Oratory, and Great Speeches

College Speech: Gustavus Adolphus College (4 Years): Informative, After Dinner Speaking, and Extemporaneous Speaking

College Debate: Gustavus Adolphus College (2 years): Parliamentary Debate

Coaching Experience

Wayzata High School - Speech (3 years): Great Speeches & Original Oratory

Watzata High School - Debate: (2 years): Congressional Debate