As a judge for PF I am looking for participants to work as a team and to be respectful of other teams. I appreciate teams that can use cross to their advantage. I expect you to back up arguments with evidence. I appreciate teams that address each of their opponents' contentions, extend their arguments and weigh.

Speed of speech is inconsequential as long as you are speaking clearly.

About me:

Former Mid Nat-Circuit PFer. Charlotte Latin class of 2022

The Basics:

– Tech>Truth. Exceptions made if opponents read arguments that are racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.

– Fine with speed but please keep it reasonable, if you're spreading email me the doc at dmcary21@gmail.com

– Any offense you want me to vote on should be in summary AND final focus

– Defense isn't sticky for either team, so make sure you're extending any defense you want on the flow

– Carded warrant > Uncarded warrant > Carded unwarranted empirics. My threshold for accepting extensions also follows this rule. Basically I care less about the stats and more about the reason behind them

– I'll call for evidence either if you tell me to or if i think it's *really* suspect, but please have CUT CARDS ready to share and don't ask opponents to command f something. This is annoying so I'll drop speaks if evidence exchange is taking forever.

– Cross is pretty pointless, so I don't really flow it. Obviously concessions in cross are binding though, just remind me of them in the next speech. Also don't just start reading your case is cross idk why people do that

– If you don't weigh, I'll default to strength of link. If nobody has any offense, I default neg.

– Read K's and theory if you want, just know I won't be the best at evaluating them. Also please read disclosure theory. It will give me so much joy to drop you.

Parent judge, most experienced with Congress.

I appreciate credibly sourced research, well-constructed arguments, a clear speaking style, and most importantly, respect for your fellow debaters.

I am a lay judge and am new to judging. Please speak slowly and clearly, in order for me to be able to follow along with your arguments. Do not be disrespectful to your fellow competitors.

Best of luck!

I have been a parent volunteer for four years. I have never competed in Speech and Debate myself. Please keep your delivery clear.

I don't like spreading. I prefer to hear well formed arguments. Speaking as fast as possible is not a substitute for having good arguments.

Please stick to the topic.

Please treat everyone with respect.

As a former high school debater, teacher and judge from European System, you can expect from my side attentive listening, respect, impartiality, conciliation, truth and fairness. During the flow, I take note of any outstanding sayings. On your side, you are expected to go by the National Speech and Debate Standards. * On delivery, talk with a moderate speed; let it be clear, precise and concise, no spread. * Every major contention requires evidence, know what you are saying. * Listen with respect, no sarcasm, be professional. Like a game, let’s have fun! But remember: You have to persuade, to convince your audience.

Welcome PF Debaters.

I am a parent judge and sharing few suggestions how you and your team can be successful.

1. Please stay focused with your contentions all the time and time yourself for every speech
2. Please highlight the supporting data points/sources during your discussion and request/challenge similar information
3. Please maximize your prep. time and the cross-fire to support your debate, kindly consider sharing equal time with other debaters
4. If you speak too fast, I won’t understand anything you say and you’ll likely lose the round. It will also affect your speaker points
5. Please follow the PF rules, be respectful in rounds to both your partner and your opponents.

Debate should be a fun activity and debaters should enjoy it. All the very best.

PF Judge - Karthikk

I am new to debate competition judging but work in the public policy field professionally.

Please present your arguments with empirical evidence with a well-intentioned pace and intonation to emphasize your points. Racing through your presentation will not earn points, effective eye contact and emphasis on points that are important and that you think will be the most influential are much more impactful to my response and ultimately your score.

Being respectful and effectively responsive during cross will also gain points. Don't let the other team get the better of you. Defend your position well, don't just attack.

I have judged speech and debate events for the past 13 years. My son was in Congress.

General thoughts

Regardless of the event, I expect professionalism and preparation from all competitors. Showing up unprepared or engaging in unprofessional behavior wastes your time, my time, as well as that of the other competitors and your coaches.

Public Forum Debate & LD

Although I’ve judged PFD more than LD, I feel comfortable with both events. I appreciate assertiveness but actively dislike aggression. Clarity is extremely important. Don’t be cocky: instead, try to convey how deeply you’ve researched the topic. I always leave my personal opinions on the topic aside in order to be fair to all debaters.

Interp/speech

I started off my judging career judging interp, even though lately I’ve been judging debate more. Regardless of the piece, you have to give your best when performing. Delivery must always be clear and interesting. Tech should be smooth and reflect the norms of the event itself (tech in DI is very different than tech in HI).

My email is annapinkerton3141@gmail.com, add me to the email chain.

Debated for 4 years for Ardrey Kell High School. Did PF and World Schools, now doing APDA in college.

I'm now coaching at Walt Whitman in the PF program!

Ask me about my paradigm before round if you have any questions

General:

• Round narratives are important. Tell me who you impact, why they need help, how you help them and why that matters. Convince me to care about the issues you care about.
• I default util, but util is boring so please give me something else (can happen in case with framing or later with weighing)
• I don't need hard quantification. If you tell me you decrease bigotry or gentrification, I don't need a number for that, but I do need a general idea of how much you impact it.
• I like args focused on social issues more than I like war/extinction args but I also understand that this is PF and PFers love nuke war.
• Communication matters, if I don't understand your arg, I can't vote for it. This means two things, that speaking style matters and that you need to explain your link chain well.
• Well warranted analyticals are better than a card with no warranting
• I like banter in rounds, have fun make me laugh

Tech>Truth but at a certain point, the more outlandish the arg, the lower my threshold for responses (AKA don't tell me discrepancies in arrests for BIPOC are just a coincidence). I like impacts that are more interesting/nuanced or more realistic much more than the constant nuke war/extinction arguments.

Prog- I debated substance all of my debate career but I dipped into structural violence impacts/weighing in my last year. I now run theory shells to check abuse on my college league. I like prefiat weighing for substance args (AKA because I brought up impacts to a marginalized group you should vote me up to increase education in the debate space). I care a lot about accessibility/education, if you're going to run prog, have one of those as your prefiat impact. Don't run prog on novices or the local circuit, it's bad form. The exception to this is trigger warning theory.

LARP: I don't like trix. DAs and plans/CPs are completely fine, go for it.

Theory: Fine as long as there's an actual abuse (AKA trigger warning theory is great). My threshold for responses for frivolous theory is pretty low, but I will evaluate it. Theory doesn't have to be responded to in 2nd case if you're trying to keep the round substance.

Kritiks: Go for it, just explain everything clearly to me as I don't have much experience evaluating Ks

Speaks:I default to whatever the tournament tells me for speaker points. These will likely be decided based on a mixture of how well you speak, strategy and content. I love love love a good speaking style, but I can handle speed. If you're funny, I'll like you more and will probably boost your speaks. Don't spread and send a speech doc if I or anyone else in the round asks (this is an accessibility thing).

Cards:NSDA rules say that you must give author last name and last two digits of the year with every card, please do this (AKA Smith '22). I shouldn't need to say this, but cut your cards and have them readily accessible to be called. Paraphrasing is fine as long as the card is cut when called for. I will only call for cards if they are essential to my decision or you tell me to call for them during a speech.

Framing/Weighing:I default util but I think util is boring so please give me something else (well run intervening actors/structural violence weighing is my favourite). Weighing must be comparative, so metaweigh. If your opponent runs a framework, you don't need to respond in 2nd case, responding in rebuttal is fine unless they give me a reason that waiting to respond isn't okay. I don't care about money or economic impacts in a vacuum, give me a terminalized impact.

Cross:I won't flow cross, but being able to handle yourself well in cross impacts my perception of you and probably your speaks. Cross is binding, but you have to bring anything you want on the flow into a speech.

Summary/FF:The obvious stuff like no new responses past 2nd summary, no new evidence in finals, and no new weighing in the second final applies. Defense is sticky. Don't give me blippy extensions, actually walk me through your link chain (I should be able to just watch summary/FF and write a ballot off of that) Please please please collapse, it makes everyone's lives easier.

Hello everyone!

My name is Michele Reich and my son is in public forum. Please speak conversationally and use a normal rate of speech. I really don’t like when debaters speak super fast to cram in a bunch of info. I will automatically vote against you if you run theory- please be respect of each other!

I am lay judge and I am new to judging.

Please speak slowly, and clearly so that I can follow along with your arguments.

Please do not be disrespectful towards your fellow competitors, else your speaker-points will be deducted.

Good Luck!

I am a novice, parent ‘lay’ judge with little experience judging speech & debate events, and honestly find public-forum a little chaotic at times. Speak clearly, at normal conversational pace and stay ‘on point’ with your arguments. I value substance over style and quality over quantity – speaking in a rush to the point of hyperventilation to squeeze in as many disjointed points as possible will not impress me much – making the strongest, soundest, evidence-based case and laying those arguments out in a clear and cohesive style will.

Be sure to back up your contentions with strong evidence and finish strong in final focus. Please don’t run theory or any type of progressive debate because I’m not even sure what those are and I will not understand what you are even talking about.

Good luck, have fun and give yourself credit in advance for having the courage to participate in speech & debate and learning this invaluable life skill.

This is my third year of Judging.

I judge PF and LD debates. I prefer you speak slower. If you speak too fast I won't keep track of what you say on my flow.

Being polite is important to me. Don't bring up new evidence during final focus.

Parent judge. No spreading or sliming. Explain to me why you win. Have realistic impacts, not everything leads to nuclear war. You can be aggressive while not being rude.