Hello!

I’m very excited to be judging you today. I competed for 4+ years in a variety of events, but mainly PF, Congress, and speech events like OI, Expos, and Extemp. In college, I competed for 3 years on the collegiate Model UN circuit. As for my judging history, I’ve judged regularly ever since I graduated high school and have had the opportunity to judge most events. Here are a couple things that I look for:

Debaters: I like off-time roadmaps, it helps with signposting and keeps my flow clean. I do flow and keep track of arguments and evidence but that doesn’t mean you can disregard speaking style, eloquence, etc. The winner of a round should be the better speaker AND have the best arguments. Make sure you’re impacting your arguments and carry these impacts throughout the round. It makes my job a lot easier and then I won’t consider them as dropped. If you have a standard or value criterion, make sure to tie back your arguments to it (it should act as a thesis to your arguments). If you do not have a standard/VC and your opponent does, I will be forced to weigh the round on their standard unless you give me promising reasons why I shouldn’t. When I was debating, I used to be able to keep up with full speed spreading. I can no longer do this so please do not spread. You may speak quickly but if I’m not able to keep up on the flow, I’m going to miss your arguments and it will only hurt you. I don’t understand theory shells, Ks, or any other obscure parts of debate. Do not include them in your speeches because I will disregard them. Be kind and respectful during CX. I really hate when people consistently talk over others or end up yelling in rounds. You can have the same debate respectfully and calmly.

Speech: Make sure you’re staying in time and do not overly dramatize parts of your speech. For extempers, try your best to dedicate equal amounts of time to each of your points and be clear with your transitions.

Above all, please just be mature, respectful, and have fun!

Meg Petersen

they/them

barabriefs@gmail.com

Conflicts: Joplin High School, Missouri State University

Experience

Policy - 2 years of competition at the collegiate level at Missouri State University. Experienced mostly with policy-based debate but somewhat knowledgeable on K debate as well.

Lincoln-Douglas - 4 years of competition at the high school level, 2 years of competition at the college level with Missouri State University, plus a half year of high school coaching experience. Very experienced with value-based LD debates at the high school level. Very familiar with policy-based Lincoln-Douglas also.

Speech - 4 years at the high school level. Most experienced with informative speaking, oratory, and extemporaneous speaking.

Interp - 3 years at the high school level. Most experienced with duo interpretation and humorous interpretation.

Congress - 2 years at the high school level, plus experience with different styles of student congress at NSDA nationals.

Above all

Speech and debate is an activity you spend a lot of time and energy working on. You've already prepped for this tournament and put in the effort for this round. Relax and communicate your arguments to us. This activity should be fun! Have fun with it and be respectful to your fellow competitors, they've worked hard too.

Policy paradigm

Speed - I am comfortable with spreading as long as your opponent is. The debate should be accessible to everyone in the room. If I or your opponent call for speed or clarity and you do not accommodate, I will stop flowing the speech.

Documents - I like to be on any email chain or speech drop, my email is above. If you cut cards in speech, I need to know where. Flagrant card clipping will result in a loss from me.

Evidence Quality - In general, I am willing to accept evidence unless challenged by the other team. Exceptions to this are cards from sources that are clearly intended to spread misinformation and/or hateful messages (think Infowars or Breitbart).

K's - I don't know every critical author out there, so I may not immediately be completely familiar with your advocacy or position. If you can clearly defend what the advocacy is, why I should be voting for it, and what your critical basis for those things are, you can win on any K with me.

Theory - It takes a lot for me to vote on theory. I have biases but am willing to be persuaded by very good argumentation. Saying "condo bad" and moving onto the next page isn't enough for me to vote on. My biases are as follows:

Fine/good: Conditionality, dispositionality, PICs, kicking planks

Bad/not cool: Uniform 50-state fiat

No preference: Process counterplans

Anything not listed here, feel free to ask about pre-round.

Framework - I tend to think framework debates have been settled and that K debate is a valid form of debate at this point. That being said, I will listen to any framework argument and decide the round purely off of the flow here. I've debated as a policy-only team and know what it takes to win on framework. I generally default to fairness and proven in-round loss/abuse. Tell me what to vote for and why though.

2AR and 2NR - Go for fewer arguments. I want a couple of reasons to vote for in those last few minutes. Don't try to bring every page into your last rebuttal. Pick a couple of really strong ones and tell me why those issues win you the round.

Topicality - Topicality is pretty important in policy aff debates, and I'll listen to any argument you make here. If you're going for topicality, it usually has to be the entire last rebuttal to be cohesive enough for me to vote on it.

K affs - See framework for most of my thoughts on this. I just need a clear reason why you shouldn't be putting forward a plan and you're good to rock and roll.

Lincoln Douglas Paradigm

Values - If you're running a value and criterion, that's how I will evaluate the round. Prove to me how (1) your value clashes with or outweighs your opponent's and (2) you achieve your value better than your opponent does.

Progressive LD- See policy notes above. The only difference is your arguments need to be concise. Pick a few good arguments that you can make in the time you have.

Speed - I am comfortable with spreading as long as your opponent is. The debate should be accessible to everyone in the room. If I or your opponent call for speed or clarity and you do not accommodate, I will stop flowing the speech.

Documents - I like to be on any email chain or speech drop, my email is above. If you cut cards in speech, I need to know where. Flagrant card clipping will result in a loss from me.

2AR and 1NR - Go for fewer arguments. I want a couple of reasons to vote for in those last couple of minutes. Don't try to bring every page into your final focus/voting issues. Pick a couple of really strong ones and tell me why those issues win you the round.

Evidence Quality - In general, I am willing to accept evidence unless challenged by the other debater. Exceptions to this are cards from sources that are clearly intended to spread misinformation and/or hateful messages (think Infowars or Breitbart).