Concept Explanation

CREI ORGANIZATION STRATEGY: CREI is an acronym that stands for claim, reasoning, evidence, and impact. The claim should tell the judge what you are arguing. The reasoning should show why your claim is true in your own words. The evidence should show why your claim is true using the words of another. The impact should tell the judge why your argument matters.

RIOT METHOD: RIOT is an acronym that stands for reduce, indict, outweigh, and turn. Reducing your opponent’s arguments means to put the arguments into perspective. Putting your opponent’s arguments into perspective includes breaking the argument down into its core components to show the judge the ridiculousness of the argument, or you can take the weight of their argument and compare it to the other numbers that make the weight of their argument seem small. Indicting your opponent’s arguments is the most common form of refutation. You can indict your opponent based on flawed logic and bad evidence. Outweigh is when you look at the impacts of your arguments and your opponent’s and tell the judge why your impacts have a greater weight using IMPACT CALCULUS. Turning is taking your opponent’s argument and using it to benefit your side. If your opponent presents an argument and you notice it helps your side the same or more than your opponent’s point that out and explain why to the judge.

THREE-POINT REFUTATION STRATEGY:Three-point refutation breaks down the refutation process in an easy-to-manage way. The first step is to say, “my opponent said _______.” Then you follow up by saying “my opponent is wrong because _______.” Then you end by saying “this error is significant because _________.”

VOTER ISSUES:Voter issues give the judge criteria to vote on other than his own. Providing these voter issues will allow you to demonstrate to the judge why you have won the round. Common votes include better evidence, rhetoric, and greater impact weight.

WORLD COMPARISON:World comparisons are a persuasive way to demonstrate to the judge what is happening in the aff/neg (pro/con) worlds. World comparison tells the judge what the world would like if he voted for one side or the other and illustrates why one world is more/less desirable than the other.

IMPACT CALCULUS:Impact calculus is an easy way to illustrate to the judge why your arguments have more weight than your opponent’s. Impacts can have a greater weight depending on timeframe, scope, magnitude, and probability. Timeframe compares how soon the consequences of the impact will happen. Scope observes how many people the impact will affect. Magnitude explains how bad/good the consequences of the impact are (think getting sick vs. dying). Probability measures how likely the impact is to happen.

Lincoln Douglas

Judging Criterion:

I primarily judge on how the debaters engage with the values presented because LD boils down to the values. Focusing on the values requires great LD debaters to rely on mostly rhetoric, philosophy, theory, and history to support their arguments. Using studies and other academic journal works would prove insufficient in LD when they stand alone because the findings only serve to illustrate debaters’ reasoning. Because debaters’ main reliance comes from their own reasoning, they should maintain a conversational pace when speaking.

The next quality I look for in both debaters is accomplishing the goal of each speech for the debate.For constructive speeches, the debaters should focus on communicating their main arguments to the judge, except for negative using some time to refute the affirmative’s contentions of course.To communicate their constructive arguments clearly,debaters should use the CREI ORGANIZATION STRATEGY or a similar strategy (explanation above).

During cross-examination,debaters asking questions should make sure to only ask questions that let them gain information for their refutation, however,please do not only ask yes/no questions,give your opponent the chance to slip up when they are over-explaining an answer to one of your questions. The questions should be concise so the opponent cannot claim to “not understand” your question and waste your CX time, and the questioner should not let opponents waste their CX time by giving long answers. Therefore,questioners should let their opponent answer their question plus one sentence and then politely cut them off.The questions a debater asks should indict one of three elements in an opponent’s case: reasoning, evidence quality, and impact weight.Debaters answering questions should keep their answers concise and answer only what their opponents asked them, so they do not accidentally give their opponent more ammo for when they start their refutation speech. However, when answering questions,you should not only answer with a “yes” or “no.”You need to explain why the answer is “yes” or “no,” especially when a “yes” or “no” answer damages your argument in the eyes of the public.

During refutation speeches, debaters need to focus on both attacking their opponent’s arguments and bolstering their own. For attacking,debaters should use the RIOT METHOD (explanation above). Along with this method,debaters can use the THREE-POINT REFUTATION STRATEGY(explanation above).For bolstering arguments, debaters should not just repeat their argument in different words; instead,debaters should try to focus on what their opponents said and counter the reasoning or evidence their opponents used during refutations.

Finally,debaters should end the round with a strong closing speech.Strong closing speeches NEVER summarize what each debater said during the round. Instead,strong closing speeches tell the judge why you won the round.The best methods to use to tell the judge how you won include VOTER ISSUES,WORLD COMPARISON, and IMPACT CALCULUS(explanations above). Debaters should also make sure to relate their concluding arguments back to their value and why their value should be preferred during the round.

During all these speeches,debaters should relate all that they say in support of their side back to their value. Remember this is a debate about VALUES. Therefore,the debater who convinces the judge to prefer their value wins the round.Without convincing the judge to prefer your value, you will miss the whole purpose of this format and probably lose.These are the strategies that will make you a great LD debater.

Breakdown:

CONTENT: 70%

Values – 30%

Logical Reasoning – 10%

Impacts – 20%

Supporting Materials – 10%

SPEAKING: 30%

Conversational Pace – 15%

Non-fluencies – 10%

Tone and Non-verbals – 5%

NSDA endorsed speech coach.

For speech: I view judging speech events the same way that I view casting a play or musical. I have a problem: determining who is the best competitor in the event. The competitors have the solution. Be confident. Make a choice - even if it's not a great one. Present the best of yourself and your skills in that moment. Much like theatre, I want to see a well rehearsed piece with the "illusion of the first time."

I will strive to provide you with positives and areas for improvement.

For debate, I am looking for a clear, logical argument and line of reasoning, well supported with unquestionable sources. Deliver with the skills and confidence of a speech competitor. Solid counterarguments and a good defense/response to questioning moves you ahead in the rankings.

Hello! This is my first time at Nationals and I'm really looking forward to judging at the National level for the first time. I have been judging for the past 2 years and have judged both Debate and Speech events.

Please know that I am always listening, but I do look at my computer a lot or writing on my notepad during the round. I want to make sure I am giving fresh feedback, and I want to be sure that I am following the rules of your individual event if I haven’t judged your event before.

Please Do not spread. If I can’t keep up with what you are saying, I will drop you.

Additionally, please speak so that I can hear you. Enunciate and show your passion for your topic and event.

Finally, be respectful and try to have fun!

I am a parent judge from Carolina Day School and have been judging speech events at the local, state, and national level for 2 years. My background in journalism, pubic speaking, and theater helps inform my judging style & scoring. I am an engaged listener and I want each student to feel comfortable and confident when presenting. I want to see all students grow in their experience & my feedback is usually succinct where I outline areas of strength and areas for improvement.

When I judge interpretation events it is important for me to see you showcase your storytelling ability & confidence with the material. Pace, rhythm, and tone are critical to help bring the piece to life. While I enjoy "voices/ charachtures" - I believe those should be natural and not forced. All action & character choices should feel connected to the piece and serve a purpose when communicating the story and not just act as a gimmick.

My judging focus for public address speech events is on clarity of message and a deep understanding of the material you are presenting. There should be an effortless flow and confidence in a more structured/memorized presentation. With impromptu - the speeches should have a clear narrative direction and the student should feel confident in their delivery.

I love judging speech and my goal is to celebrate each student's hard work & talent!

I appreciate poise, confidence and intentional movement.

Please be prepared.

I appreciate statistics and they must be cited with source and date/timeframe.

Respect for each other is required.

WSD is about the burden of proof, so my main criteria for judging the round is whoever upholds and frames the debate under the burden best. Make logical connections, clash with the other side, and back it up with warranting and impact. Tell me why it matters and why I should care.

Delivery and Engagement in the round are just as important. You have 8 eight minutes for most of your speeches so make use of all of your time to the best of your ability. Speak clearly, don’t spread, I don’t mind if you speak a bit quicker than a normal speech rate, but make sure you annunciate and I can understand you. Be actively engaged in the whole round, I expect everyone in the round to be participating and standing for POIs at some point.

Most importantly, just have fun! You all prepared for this tournament to the best of your abilities, so this is your chance to showcase it. Take it round by round and try your hardest at every point, no matter the outcome of your previous debate. Good luck to everyone!