Creighton University, Psychology + Justice and Peace Studies (Pre-Health)

weiqichan19@gmail.com

I debated at Lincoln East from 2017-2021 in Congressional Debate on both the Nebraska & National Circuit.

Currently: Assistant Coach for Millard North

I’m basically a combination of John Holen & Amrit Ammanamachi , so I’ve linked their paradigm, as my judging philosophy mirrors theirs.

Congress:

In Congress every speech one gives should be forwarding debate. Please do not rehash. I pay attention to questioning- both how you respond to questions and how you ask questions in round. That will undoubtedly impact your rankings on my ballot. Arguments should have a claim, warrant, and impact. I expect there to be clash every speech except the authorship.

A note on being the Presiding Officer:

Being selected from amongst your peers to preside over the chamber is an honor and a privilege. It is a crucial role and is one that needs to be done in both an efficient and accurate (to Parliamentary Procedure) manner. Because of this, I am more than happy to rank PO's.

PF:

I'm a lay judge who cannot handle speed. In the Summary and FF please specifically talk about voters and weigh for me in the end. I'm pretty nice on speaks, but please make sure to adapt!

High School Debate is a competition and a chance to prepare you for the real world at the same time. There is a high chance in real life that you will have a job that will require you to argue, defend, find, and propose solutions for many of the real problems we have in life. Whether you are an aspiring doctor, scientist, lawyer, businessman, CEO, IT computer scientist, plumber, carpenter, mechanic, engineer, politician, etc. skills you learn in debate prepare you for the vast majority of jobs in the real world. Public Speaking, teamwork, and problem-solving skills greatly improve while doing high school debate. Many of the most successful people who have ever walked this earth did debate at some point in their lifetime. That said, debate is an opportunity to learn and grow, and that you may not get it right the first time, but the important thing is to keep learning and being civil to one another!

For all congress rounds, I look for overall content, argumentation/refutation, and delivery. To go over the fundamentals of strong content and argumentation, I want to see your claim, warrant, and impact for each argument you make! Your claim should be clear and concise, and your warrants need to explain WHY and HOW your claims and data are true. For example, there is a difference between saying Drinking water is important, and Drinking water is important because according to (a source), you can’t survive more than 4 days without water. Finally, your impacts need to explain why does this matter? This is where you get to explain how this saves money and/or lives and connects it with the constituents that you are representing in the congress. This is where quantification with specific numbers and impact calculus (scope, magnitude, probability, and timeframe) become important for your fellow representative to be more bought in on your claims! How effectively you explain your impacts can make or break your speech! Always, always, always make sure to have all 3 components! If you forget one or more of them, then your speech will have quite a bit of holes in it for others to attack you!

To emphasize the importance of refutation, I look for how you interact with the congress under the present circumstances and your arguments overall. If you are not the author, sponsor, or first neg, I expect you to at least address the content already brought up and/or refute one or more of your fellow representatives. REFUTATION IS ESSENTIAL!!!! You need to have it! Without it, this isn't debate! Refutation also indicates that you are being an active listener and just makes your speech stronger by at least connecting your arguments with those already presented in the round!

Overall speech adaptation and round awareness are very important for this event. For each piece of legislation, you are essentially working as a collective group on your side to explain why your side is the side we should all pick! I am a firm believer that where you speak in the round must be well adapted to where we are in the debate! For every bill, the first 2 speeches (Authorship/Sponsorship, and 1st NEG) need to set the stage well, explain ambiguous terms, and contextualize with historical or current events! Then, the next 6-12 speeches need to be adding NEW content to the debate and back-and-forth REFUTATION! Finally, once numerous arguments and speeches have been given, your speech should be based almost entirely on refutation and should be crystalizing/consolidating arguments already brought up to convince your fellow representatives to choose your side unless you have something NEW and substantial to bring up! On this note, please avoid rehash at all costs! Rehash does nothing for a round and just wastes everyone’s time! Rehash either indicates a lack of awareness of what is going on in the round, or the unwillingness to adapt your speech to the appropriate stage in the debate!

For delivery, I would like to see eye contact, fluency, and poise throughout the speech. Being able to talk without depending on a word-for-word paper is the biggest key to mastering delivery! Practicing and learning to give speeches with simple notes and not scripts will help you in the long run. Congress and Debate in general are supposed to be dynamic events as opposed to static events. It's okay if you are one of the first 2 speakers on a bill, but after that, it’s important to be able to adapt as the round goes on and speak on the fly with simple notes and not word-for-word papers. This will also help you immensely with refutation in your speeches! To use a sports analogy, your first few plays can be scripted, but after that, you need to pull out your playbook and adjust to what the other team is throwing at you, and if you just stick to your set of pre-determined strategies no matter what, you likely will not succeed.

If you do all or most of these things mentioned above, your speech will score very high and it's a great way to ensure you have high-quality speeches! I look for overall quality over quantity! 2 home run speeches are better than 5 mediocre/bad ones! Giving the most speeches does not necessarily give you the win, and not being able to speak on a bill is not going to set you back! It’s always better to choose your spots wisely to speak. In Congress, you have a very finite amount of opportunities to speak! Therefore, it’s always better to put your best speeches on display if you can, and not waste those opportunities on sub-par speeches, but of course, some speech is better than no speech. The big picture is to just be aware of what you have prepared and be strategic when you speak. If you know that you don’t have a good speech on this bill, but you know you will for the next one, it’s wise to give your best one in that case, and know how to make that speech better next time! While it’s not the end of the world if you cannot speak on every piece of legislation due to certain circumstances, try to give a speech for the vast majority of legislation available. If you can’t speak on a bill for some reason, you can always participate in questioning to show that you are still involved in the round!

My Scoring Rubric: (Out of a 6 point NSDA rubric)

6 - Great Argumentation, Evidence, Sources, and Impacts. Well Developed-Refutation. Speech was well structured as a whole and mostly delivered without the use of a word-for-word paper. Points were original with no rehashed arguments. You used the 3 minutes well, and the speech made a great contribution to the round. Responses to questions were very prepared and professional. Also, the speech was well adapted to the appropriate stage in the debate. (This score is not easy to get, If you get one from me, you should feel very proud and expect a very good rank on your ballot).

5 - Argumentation was solid with evidence and impacts. Refutation was included and made a positive contribution to the debate. Speech was delivered solidly with minimal lapses and made an effort to make eye contact with your fellow representatives. There may be a small area or two of improvement needed in your speech that will likely earn you a 6 next time. Overall, this is a very great score and a couple of pieces of improvement will be scoring you at a 6 in no time.

4 - Speech may be missing a couple of key components such as sources, impacts, or refutation. Argumentation could be smoothed out a bit with more structure. Speech had some good components to be proud of. Speech is going in the right direction. Integrate my feedback and you should be scoring much higher in the future. Overall, this score means that you did some things well and have some improvement to do at the same time.

3 - Normally the bare minimum I give. Speech is missing a few key components. Speech may be too short, not developed enough. Argumentation may need some specific improvement. Rehash and dependence on a pre-written script may be present. Speech structure and development may be needed. Speaker may need to be more prepared to respond to questions next time.

2 - Speech had no purpose. Speaker was off-topic and made no contribution to the round. Speech may have no evidence and impacts and was just a few sparse sentences. This score normally is not given unless the speech was very sparse.

1 - Speech was given on the wrong side or speech was under a minute with no substantial information brought up. This score will also be automatically given if your speech was rude or offensive or even trying to offend another student. Any major rude or offensive behavior will result in a warning and be reported to your coach and you will not be ranked on my ballot for that tournament. PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL TO EACH OTHER!

As parliamentarian, I will look for overall decorum, parliamentary etiquette, and adherence to Robert's Rules of Order! This means taking initiative by making motions when appropriate, addressing the chamber if something is not right, and functioning as a coherent house and not just for your self-interest. Also, being attentive to the round (Taking Notes and Researching is fine) and not being a distraction in the round also factored in when evaluating overall decorum.

Also, it's your job to make motions and understand where we are in the parliamentary procedure! The PO should not have to remind you to make motions! Understanding parliamentary procedure and the order of proper motions is key to making the congress sessions very efficient! Although decorum and etiquette are not reflected in the points you earn, they can be used to help determine and nuance your final rank at the end of the session.

A note about POs

Presiding Officers have a crucially important job in each session. One could argue, the Presiding Officer is the most important student in the round because of how procedural-based Congress Debate is. Because of this, I am more than willing to rank POs anywhere on my ballot. However, PO rankings are not an entitlement by mere virtue of being the PO. I evaluate POs on how they handle Robert’s Rules of Order throughout the round as well as parliamentary procedure and should run an efficient congress. As a PO, you were chosen by your fellow representatives for a reason and you owe it to them to run an efficient congress before them. For varsity rounds in particular, make sure to practice and really know the parliamentary procedure before deciding to be PO. Ideally, the PO should be able to run the entire session with little to no help from any of the judges. This means reminding the chamber if something is wrong! It’s ok if you screw up once or twice, but overall make sure you know what you are doing! Practicing before you do it in a session of Congress is the biggest key to performing the best during a round!

Have Fun! I want to see you all succeed! Best wishes!

Please ask me before a round if you have any questions!

The following is just a few brief ideas, so if you have specific questions, feel free to ask before the round when everyone is present. In general, I will vote on the issues you tell me are most important in the round.

I competed in policy debate in the late 90's. After high school I was away from debate for several years, but I have been a coach at Norfolk Senior high for the last 14 years working with PF, LD, and congress. Within the last few years, my primary focus has been PF and congress.

In any style of debate, I find it important for you to weigh the impacts of your arguments for me. Tell me why you are winning the round by analyzing both sides in a side-by-side comparison that shows how you outweigh. Tell me what arguments are most important, why they are most important, and how you have won them. I will vote on the issues you tell me to vote on.

In PF:

I like the idea that the judge is suppose to be someone who is unfamiliar with debate, so I expect you to not just throw out debate jargon, but explain the issue thoughtfully, logically, and with sound evidence to support your position. As far as plans, counterplans, and kritiks, I don't feel PF is the place for these, and will not weigh them heavily in the round. If you choose to run them anyway and your opponent calls you out for it, they will win. If they don't, then I will look at how they impact the round. Lastly, I do believe that second speaker needs to address both sides of the flow in the rebuttal speech.

In LD:

I very much like the value/criteria debate. I do not believe your value/criteria has to win the round for you to win if you are able to link into theirs and win there. I don't mind speed if you do it with clear articulation. I also have no problem with plan/counterplan/kritik arguments in LD. Just make sure they link back to both the resolution and the value/criteria debate.

In Congress:

Argumentation is key. I want to hear original claims well supported with cited evidence. I don’t want you to just repeat what other representatives said before you. If you are the authorship/sponsorship speech, make sure to explain how how this legislation could solve a current issue. First neg should tell what is wrong with the legislation AND refute the speech before. All speeches after authorship/sponsorship should refute previous speeches. When one of your arguments have already been used by another, make sure to add something new to it or don’t use it. If you rehash, you will lose speech points. When two speakers are equal in providing well done argumentation, then I look at speaking ability/presentation. It is okay to have prewritten arguments and read them IF you are making adjustments in round and referencing previous speakers. You will loose points for reading a prewritten speech that ignores all other representatives unless you are the author/sponsor. If you choose not to use notes, make sure you know what you are saying. It is not a benefit to not read and sound like you have no idea. It hurts credibility. Finally, to rank well, be present. Ask questions, take notes, participate constantly.

Final thought:

This is your round, I will vote on the issues you tell me are the most valuable.

Congress

I love a good speaking style but the number one emphasis must be solid arguments. Speaking loudly and with energy is awesome but it isn’t a good substitute for making unique logical arguments.

Sources

Use professional sources. I typically like to hear their qualifications (professor at Harvard, etc.), and year. I would make sure you have your sources accessible in case a debater challenges your sources. When someone challenges your sources, and you have them available to support your claim, it makes you look really prepared.

Refutation

Refute your opponents. If you aren’t refuting, you aren’t really debating anything. The further and further the debate on a bill goes on, the more and more refutation I would like to hear. You should be able to do this by taking notes of the opposing arguments and researching or pointing out flaws. Directly refuting specific points of other representatives respectfully can be done by saying something along the lines of “Representative Smith, when you claim ____, understand _____.”

Rehash

Make sure your points are original. Hearing the same points over and over again by different speakers doesn't add anything to the debate, it just drags it on. If you can't come up with anything new, then you should refute what's been said. If everything seems to have already been refuted, it's probably time to move the previous question.

Presentation

Try not to read off directly from your notes or laptop. Having notes is great but make sure you're not just reading them off word by word in a Congress event. This can be difficult to do in the beginning but if you practice your confidence in this will improve.

Professionalism

Show professionalism. This means avoiding slang, slouching, talking during other speeches, or any type of manner that could be perceived as rude to your peers. Remember that this is a mock Congress so you should be acting as an elected Representative.

Quality > Quantity

While I appreciate being active in the debate, giving the most speeches isn't going to necessarily make you rank the best. Quality is over quantity when it comes to giving speeches just to give speeches. That being said if you have a great speech for every bill, that's really awesome. Just make sure you aren't wasting time in the debate with half-effort speeches. There’s no specific number of speeches I’m necessarily looking for in a tournament. Your questions themselves do not get ranked however actively asking questions does show you are participating in the debate and that you care which is very good to see.

Respect

Treat all of your peers with respect. This should be self-explanatory.

Scoring

On Tab, I’ll list what you can do to improve.

6 - Exceptional Speech. I don’t give out lots of these so if you did this you were great. Great arguments, great refutation, great sources, great presentation, great professionalism, and great time.

5 - Great Speech. There was likely a bit to improve, but overall this is something to be proud of.

4 - Above Average Speech. Good work, look at my tips and you’ll be placing in no time.

3 - Decent Speech. You got the hang of it, check to see what you can improve

2 - Alright Speech. You have a good bit of room for improvement.

1 - Something’s not quite right. There’s some work to do.

Overall, if you’re scoring on the lower side, it’s not a reason to feel bad. Look at the advice your judges give you, practice, and you will improve. If your judges are ranking you lower it’s not because they don’t like you or are trying to be mean, but they want you to succeed. If they tell you it was an awesome speech when in reality it needs some work, it’s not going to help you grow as a debater and ultimately that’s the goal of giving feedback.

Have fun

If you mess up, don’t worry about it, just keep doing your best.

PF

Refutation is number 1. When one side gives me point A, B, and C on we should pass a resolution and the other side gives me point A, B, and C we we should fail a refutation, there's not much to work with there on which side is the clear winner. But when one side can not only tell me why they are in the right but the other side is in the wrong the winner is clear. If the opposing side is saying something that is wrong or doesn't make sense, do not let them get away with it- tell me why they are wrong or why it doesn't make sense.

Make sure your links are clear. If you're going to be debating a topic such as free school lunches and start talking about nuclear weapons, its probably a pretty bold claim. Bold claims are fine, but the bolder they are, the stronger the link back to the resolution needs to be.

I debated in high school and college (graduated 1968) and have been coaching since. I have lived through the transition from Debate to Policy Debate and the birth and development of both Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum

Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Lincoln-Douglas (value debate) was created because many people did not like the direction that Policy Debate had gone. As such, LD debate centers around a conflict between two values. Debaters argue that one of the values in the round is of higher importance than the other. This value priority determines the affirmation or negation of the resolution. Thus, the debater argues Justice(ex) is the higher value, and since Justice is the higher value the resolution is affirmed. A plan can be used to demonstrate how the resolution could be applied in a practical sense. Since LD is designed not to have a plan, if the opponent raises that argument, I will vote on that. Otherwise, the plan can be debated in terms of workability, practicality, etc. Regardless of the strategies used – in order to win the round, the debater must win the value conflict.

Public Forum was introduced to correct the flaws that had emerged in LD (excessive speed, strategies and tactics rather than sound argument, etc) and is designed to be judged by a non-debate person. Thus – a good Public Forum Round is clear and persuasive. Arguments and evidence relates directly back to the topic. There are no plans in PF – I will vote on that. A test that I use in judging PF is whether or not a “regular person” would understand the arguments and be able to decide the outcome of the round.

Since debate – in all of its forms – is an educational, communication event the following hold true:

Delivery is the means by which the debater presents the arguments and evidence for decision.

The presentation should be as clear and understandable as possible – rate and articulation are important elements because the judge must hear and understand the case in order to vote on it.

IT IS THE DEBATER’S OBLIGATION TO ADAPT TO THE JUDGE – NOT VICE VERSA.

Debaters should present their material and conduct themselves in a professional manner. They should avoid attitudes (reflected in both tone and facial expression) that are unprofessional. Word choice should be appropriate to an educational event (cussing, swearing, vocabulary choice etc) have NO PLACE in an educational activity.

I did both speech and debate for 4 years at Creighton Prep High School in Omaha Nebraska. I've also debated for the University of Sydney in Australia. I mostly have experience in PF, Congress, Extemp, Info, and BP debate.

Policy:

You're pretty much screwed... I know absolutely nothing about it and probably never will.

LD:

I don't have a strong background but I've seen enough to be able to judge a minuscule amount. Probably should treat me like a lay judge to be safe

- I am a huge fan of creativity in argumentation. I want to see nuanced argumentation with impacts that aren't basic (this applies to all forms of debate)

Speed

- I'm usually able to keep up pretty well but if you're just dumping arguments to dump them don't expect a strong speaker score or a vote for your side

- Whether you go fast or slow I really value fluidity

PF:

- In terms of argumentation as long as you can impact it back to the resolution I'm good with it. Make sure to impact all arguments though

- Please explain the impacts. Why should I care that the gold market will collapse? If you don't explain I'll just assume it means no bad impacts and the argument was just smoke

- I expect more persuasion and spin instead of spreading. If you do go faster there should be an equal ratio of analysis to justify why you needed to spread to create that extra time.

- I do listen to cross ex so use it wisely

- Be respectful. Speaking louder does not make you more right...

Speed

- refer to my LD section on this

Congress:

- This is probably where I am most experienced

- don't rehash, open wifi means that finding new arguments and evidence is so much easier.

- one of my biggest pet peeves is just a great speech with nothing else. Congress is not dueling oratories. Unless you are 1st aff or neg, I expect you to interact with what your opponents have said before you and extend.

- this is a debate so please actually debate. Sessions are long and I just like you must sit through them except I can't take personal privileges so please give me a reason to stay focused.

- Congress is the one event where speaking is so so important in terms of ability. I don't expect you to be the next Abraham Lincoln but please speak clearly and coherently. I value strong argumentation with strong impacts as well. If you give me 1 great speech that is worth 3 average ones. Someone once told me the greatest speech you can ever give is the one you don't give. This does not mean don't speak but rather don't keep speaking for the sake of speaking. Pick and choose your spots wisely.

- Puns. God do I hate basic cheesy openers. I mostly see this at nationals but please be unique and don't be stupid. Rapping will not give you the win and neither will singing your intro. I respect the theatre aspect of Congress but less is always more

If there's something I can do for you please let me know!

GOOD LUCK!!!!

As a Congress judge, I put argumentation above everything else. Whereas good presentation and speaking style are still important in the event, I favor good argumentation – backed by solid sources that clearly and properly cited in the speech.

Refutation is also important during the round, especially in later speeches on a piece of legislation. I like rounds with a lot of clash, not hearing independent speeches on the same topic one after another.

In general, staying engaged in the debate is important too. Whether it's through relevant argumentation, questions that further the debate, or being on top of things during motions/legislative procedure, I like to see people being present in the debate beyond just giving a speech.

Email-chain: benwheeler194@gmail.com

Background: I was a policy debater for three years at Millard West High School, from the years 2016-2019, and I have been judging debate from 2019-Present. I have experience judging policy, congressional, and Lincoln-Douglass debate. I have obtained my degree in Microbiology with minors in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Nebraska--Lincoln. I have experience in both traditional and K debate, but I have no overall preference (I will listen to any argument and weigh them against each other). I have debated as both a 2N and a 2A.

TL;DR: Run whichever argument you are most comfortable with--just make your arguments smart. I try not to put my own personal biases in the debate round, so just run the arguments you are more comfortable with (I am more likely to vote on a smart argument which you are comfortable with than I am for a certain type of argument). Make sure the way you frame your arguments makes sense, and that you answer the opponents arguments. My favorite things to see in-round are clash and framing debates.

Policy

AFF: I am a big fan of continuity throughout the AFF (i.e. extend your arguments throughout the round, and make sure your arguments all make sense with each other). This can be done as either a simple case overview, or can be more complex, given the context of the round. Vote NEG on presumption (unless you give me a REALLY good NEG debate). I am not a huge fan of not using the AFF throughout the debate. If the AFF team, specifically Policy AFFs, do not at least extend their plan-text throughout the round, I have a hard time voting for them.

NEG: Anything you want to run, run it. Typically a bigger fan of Policy arguments on the NEG (T, FW, CP, or DA's), but I think all NEG arguments warrant some merit.

Specific Arguments:

Policy v K AFFs: I think that both Policy and K AFF have merit within the debate round. If you run a Policy AFF, make sure you put forth the plan-text in every speech, and give me a reason why your plan-text matters, not just within the round, but also outside of it. For K AFF's, I would prefer to see some sort of advocacy, but if you don't use one, make sure you tell me why that matters. If you don't, i'll just assume you don't have any sort of plan, and therefore, no out-of-round solvency. For both types of AFF's, I like to see solvency and framing above impacts. Even if the impacts seem smaller than those of the NEG, if you can solve it better than that of the NEG, you win the round.

Kritiks: On the K flow, I think links and solvency are the biggest issues you need to solve for. Not only do you need to prove you solve, you need to prove how you solve better than the AFF. But you also need to link to the AFF for that to work. Outside of these, I like to see both a good impact debate, as well as a good theory debate on the K flow (perm theory or otherwise). Alternatives should also be thoroughly explained as to how they solve, or if you don't have an alternative, tell me why.

Theory: I think theory arguments can be very interesting, if you can spin them right. I think most theory is very under-utilized within the debate space, especially within the Nebraska circuit. Vague Alts and Multiple Worlds are good arguments, if you can explain to me how they work, and why not voting on them is a bad thing. Other than those, conditionality theory and framing debates are always fun debates to watch. If you are going to run theory, just make sure you explain yourself well so I can follow along.

Topicality: Interpretation debate is an important factor of this, as well as having counter-interpretations. Make sure you explain why your interpretation is important to this round specifically, and how it operates better than the counter-interpretation. Make sure that these also have standards and voters, or I won't vote on them. If you run either Effects-T or Extra-T, just make sure you know how they operate against the AFF.

FW: Big fan of FW, but same things as said in the Topicality section. Make sure you have a good interpretation, standards, and voters, or I will not consider it against the AFF. I am a big fan of education arguments, with both FW and T. You also have to gear your arguments specifically against the AFF (generic FW shells are usually un-interesting, and lead to a lack of clash on the FW flow). If you actually engage the AFF specifically within the FW flow, I will consider the arguments more than if you don't.

CP's: Extend your plan-text within every round, and if you can have your own internal net-benefits within the CP, I am more likely to consider it than without it. Internal net benefits are not necessary by means, but it is difficult to evaluate a CP against the case if there are no net benefits (either internal or from a DA). Big fan of perm debate on the CP flow as well, especially if it's outside of perm do both.

DA's: If you are going to run a DA as a net benefit to a CP, make sure you actually link to your CP, and that there is an internal link between the DA and its impacts. Otherwise, your DA will be wishy-washy at best. If you are running a DA on its own, the impact debate is going to be the most important thing I look to. Sometimes these DA's work better as straight case turns, and sometimes they work really well as standalone off-case--depends on how the round is playing out. If you run a DA as a net benefit to a K, I will cry actual tears of joy.

Counter-Methods: Essentially a CP against a K AFF, I think these are hella under-utilized and could lead to really good debates. Just prove to me how your method is better than that of the K AFF, and how its solvency mechanism actually operates.

In-Round Procedure:

Speed: Read as fast or as slow as you are comfortable with. As long as I can still understand what you're saying, go for it.

Prep: Don't steal prep--if you do, just make sure I don't notice. I won't count flashing or emailing against your prep time. Just don't steal prep, and we'll be cool.

Fun: Have fun.

Congressional Debate

TL;DR: When judging a congress round, the most important things I look for are sources, clash, and decorum within the round.

Sources:When making an argument within a congress round, I would like to see some evidence to back up the arguments you are making. This is not necessarily important if you are refuting an opponent or referring to evidence provided by other debaters in the round--this is specific to the arguments you make. Sure, some arguments are good as analyticals, but if you are making any claims involving statistics or empirical evidence or whatnot, I would like to either see some evidence to back up these claims, or some REALLY convincing analytical arguments.

Clash:One of my biggest gripes with congress rounds are a lack of clash/interaction with other speeches in the round. I can grant that this is impossible for the first speaker, but if you are the second speaker or later and you do NOT referring to opponents speeches/arguments, you are missing some opportunities to make your case sound stronger. Having good clash within the round can make the claims you are already making seem much stronger, and fully utilizing all the evidence within the round may help you make arguments that you otherwise might not have considered. A "plan in a vacuum" with good evidence and warrants to back it up seems less convincing to me than an argument that fully incorporates arguments made throughout the round, but has slightly worse evidence. While clash is not an expressly "necessary" part of the congressional experience, clash, in my opinion, makes the round more fun for me and in turn, means I am more likely to vote you up.

Decorum: This mostly has to do with speaking points, but clear and concise diction throughout your speeches is appreciated. When watching someone speak and giving them speaker points, I look to the debater that is the most confident in the round and can put together arguments/refutations in the best order. Good speaking means good diction, clear speaking, and convincing arguments.

Miscellaneous: If you are chosen as a PO for the round, don't think of that as a bad thing! POs have a tough job within the round and my scores for you will reflect that. As long as you are keeping every on track and keeping good time of the round, I will generally score you well.

Other than what I said above, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

Lincoln-Douglass Debate

Given the current board state of LD debate, my judging is typically very similar to that of policy. If you are reading anything resembling a policy speech (such as a K), refer to what I have said above.

Value Criterion: If you are still running a value criterion in 2023, then kudos to you! I love seeing value criterion within the round, irregardless of if there is a plan/advocacy to back them up. Just make sure that your value criterion is not vague, and make sure the value criterion actually does the thing you want it to do. It doesn't matter how good a value criterion is if you can't debate it effectively.

Logic: When watching a LD debate, I want the arguments you are making to be made in a logical order and in a way that I can easily interpret. High theory Ks and other likewise arguments are fine, but just make sure that you can explain it to me or I will NOT vote you up on it. Being too technical isn't my favorite either, but a good mixture between the two can help you to make fun arguments while still being logically sound.

Public Forum

I have never judged PF, but it seemed rude to not include in my paradigm (since I already have the other three styles listed). Basically for PF, make your arguments clear and easy to follow, and I will judge from there. I do apologize if I judge it like a policy judge though.

Big Questions
Based