Email: blainesdebatestuff@gmail.com (add me on all email chain's.)

Preferences:

If you have any specific questions about my paradigm, a ballot, or a decision please feel free to reach out to me at blainesdebatestuff@gmail.com and I will be happy to help you out.

Please prioritize debating how you are comfortable rather than conforming to every little thing that I say in my paradigm. My paradigm is more of a suggestion than a requirement to win the round. Debate is for the debater, not for the judge; and I want to see rounds where teams want to be there. I am comfortable with all styles of debate and don't think there is an objective best way to do it. If you debate how you know how, you will do great!

I judge mostly on tech, but I do like big picture arguments in the ladder half of the debate. However, please please please EXTEND YOUR WARRANTS first before going big picture on me. Common sense is your greatest tool, warranting will almost always trumps cards.

Weighing is important. I need you to tell me why you win. I don't want to be the one to decide what arguments are most important. You as the debater should be telling me this. With that being said, effective weighing is reliant upon good link debate. Good warrants are a pre-requisite to weighing, and good evidence is necessary to have good warrants. Please extend before weighing - it makes flowing easier.

T: I am comfortable voting on T in all events. Competing interps are best. However, I should have a reason to vote for T, like if your opponent violates but there is no real impact to T, I'm just gonna drop it. RVI's are dumb, so if you want me to vote on one you better be very sure your justification is solid.

Case K: You can read them, but they should have direct links to the case or topic. If you have specific questions, just send me an email or ask me in round. K's in PF feel like you are shooting yourself in the foot because of the time constraint, LD and policy are preferred.

My current pet peeve with K debate right now is that I am seeing teams are kicking the alt and running the K as a DA/Turn to case. I am not a super big fan. It feels scummy. This is fine in some circumstances, but people are doing it way too often. If you are going to do this, you better have super solid framing.

Performance or Debate about debate: Threshold for winning on these arguments is higher than a case K, but you can run them. Just make sure your framing is good, and I need solid warrants on why I should vote on performance.

Warranting is everything. Evidence is great, but the evidence has to have a warrant to weigh it. This is also true if you are trying to do evidence comparison. (Ie. If you tell me to post date, there needs to be a warrant as to why the post dating matters.)

I am not a fan of tricks. I only understand it on like a 3rd grade level, and most of the tricks rounds I have judged were unbearably unorganized. I'll vote on it, but the threshold to win the ballot is very fine.

I am comfortable with both trad and progressive LD and am happy to judge on both and don't think one is better than the other.

Judge Instruction is your friend. Paint a picture of the round and why you win and you will have a better chance of me voting for you.

Most importantly, just be comfortable and have fun!

Debate Good. More specifically I like to see students use critical thinking, or the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment, in the arguments they present. Logic, evidence, and clarity are what makes a convince argument for me.

Me as a judge- I like to take notes. Please keep your own time as well. I did debate in high school, but I was firmly in impromptu.

Spreading- not too fast, please!

Standing is your choice.

You may call me Bree, or judge.

Hello!

As someone with extensive experience in extemporaneous speaking, I will primarily judge speech events. Here are some things I look out for (in no particular order):

1. A solid roadmap/outline. Let me know what you are going to talk about. Signposting is important!
2. Body language. Project confidence and allow your movement to guide your audience.
3. A solid stance. I understand that it is easy to fence sit, but give me a thesis that is nuanced or well-grounded.
4. Personality. Let me get to know you a bit through your performance. Show passion for your event and topic!
5. Diversity of outlooks. It can be easy to get wrapped up in statistics and sources, which is why I believe it is important to show the human side of things in a speech. How does your topic impact everyday people?

Best of luck, and remember to have fun!

Lincoln Douglas:

I look for debates that produce a philosophical argument. While statistics can be an important part of this form of debate, it should not be the main source for the arguments. Quotes from philosophers (I define this as any public figure with an opinion) should be the main source of evidence in debates.

Correctly pointing out valid logical fallacies in your opponent's argument will help to greatly weaken it.

I also need to be able to understand you and comprehend what you are saying, so make sure you speak at a normal pace.