I am a lay judge but keep doing what you have been doing all year. Make sure we converse respectfully and professionally throughout and make sure we rebuff the other team's arguments while providing further and relevant support of our own. Good luck!

I am a parent judge. If you are going to talk fast, please enunciate and speak coherently so I can best understand. Be respectful and do not interrupt each other, debate is a learning experience and I do not want things to become heated in the round.

Things I look for:

good evidence, impacts, carrying your arguments throughout the round, being respectful, making best use of crossfire while being respectful, and a case around quantitative data and analysis tends to work best.

Please note: Your speaker scores will reflect your speech skills, in the sense of respect, voice enunciation, and quality of argument.

I'm a traditional Public Forum judge. I place significant value on quality of argumentation, particularly with well-developed contentions and significant depth of argumentation. I'd encourage you to state your points concisely, and without significant undue repetition. I do not tolerate spreading; I expect you to have developed reasonable skills of word economy by this point in the season, and would hope that you can concisely develop your case to fit within the required time. I reward the use of reasonably clear enunciation at a comprehensible pace. While I do encourage you to weigh your arguments, be mindful of the tone you use to do so. "Speakersplaining" to me, attempting to tell me which way I am going to decide in the round rather than a courteous appeal for my vote, comes off as arrogant and will not do you any favors in my evaluation of the round. For any clarification, feel free to ask me in-round.

New judge. 

Hi, I'm Allison (she/her) and I competed in Public Forum for 4 years in high school and in Worlds debate at the National Tournament for 3 years. I am also the daughter of two debate coaches and have grown up in the activity.

Public Forum:

I am a traditional Public Forum judge. The biggest thing I ask of any debaters I judge is that you persuade me to vote for you. Your FF should be spent spent weighing the round for me, I will not do it for you. I will only vote on points that are carried through from summary to final focus. I do not prefer off time roadmaps. Respect and be kind for your opponents.

I'll be flowing the debate but don't expect me to weigh the debate on an issue if you don't touch on that issue during your final speeches. Use the first three speeches to win the debate, use the last speech to tell me WHY you won the debate.

Lincoln Douglas:

I'm not a fan of progressive argumentation so use only when necessary, I would much rather see a traditional Value-Criterion debate. I can handle some speed. Depth > breadth. Make sure you have clear signposting and use voters! If you do not weigh your impacts, I will not weigh them for you and you will drop my ballot.

All debate styles: The best debaters are the ones who know the most, prove to me you're the debater who knows the most.

Also feel free to ask any questions before the round if you need clarifications. Good Luck!

Hi, Im Sami (she/her) and I am currently a 3rd year student at the University of Washington, studying Political Science and Community, Environment, and Planning. While I have personally never have competed in speech and debate, I grew up going to tournaments since I was 7 years old with my dad who was a debate coach. I also have an older sister who competed in Public Forum and attended Nationals 3 years in Worlds Debate, so I am more than familiar with the event.

Public Forum:

I am a traditional Public Forum judge. My biggest ask from debaters to win a round is persuade me to vote for you. I like to see clear arguments with strong support. In your summary, I would like to see what the debate is boiling down to, not just a reflection, I want to see the main ideas and why your side is winning, and why the other is losing. I love to see clash between the two teams, and cross used efficiently. In your final focus weigh the debate for me, I will not do it for you. Finally, please respect your fellow debaters, I don't want to see one group speaking over the other or having personal attitudes filter into the debate.

Also feel free to ask any questions before the round if you need clarifications, Good Luck!

This paradigm wasn't written by me btw - my actual knowledge on policy is much worse.

Parent judge - take your worst imagination and multiply it by 5
- If you read a K-aff, strike me
- Honestly for best arguments I will understand - DA, CP, T if you must (but only if the violation is exceedingly obvious - not some random T-Substantial Interp)

Too long; didn't read (TLDR):
- Please don't read theory or kritiks (Ks).

Policy:
- I'm a lay judge - go Public Forum (PuFo) slow or slower if you want me to flow the arguments.
- If it's not in my flow it probably won't be evaluated when deciding the round
- Preferably don't read kritiks (Ks) - if you do, it'll be considered a non-unique disadvantage (DA) since I won't understand framework debates.
- Preferably don't go for theory - it still must be answered though.
- Topicality (T) arguments need to be incredibly convincing - I defer affirmative (aff) in general.
- General framing is based off probability * magnitude, specify in round if you want it to be something else - although it's not recommended to change framing because I probably won't understand it.
- Please include as much judge instruction as possible in the last rebuttals (specifically impact calculations).
- Note that my debate argument experience consists of a 20 minute lecture of all the key things to look out for - no high-level jargon.

I am a parent judge and this is my 2nd year judging PF. I am open to any arguments and rebuttals but will be specifically looking for arguments that are supported by evidence and will rely on you to demonstrate the impact and calculate the numbers (where appropriate). I am looking for you to flow your arguments and rebut your opponents arguments. Please do not leave your opponent's contentions hanging without a rebuttal.

While I will weigh the round, I am looking for you to provide you point-of-view and will certainly take that into consideration.

Lastly, please be respectful (I will deduct points if you are not), have fun and speak slow enough so that I can understand you. Compelling arguments with evidence and impact are more important than speed and volume.

I am a parent judge. I have judged roughly 40 rounds in the last 18 months and I did policy debate in college.

I would consider myself a flow judge and you should expect that I will vote on the flow. I expect clear links as well as impacts, one without the other doesn't mean much. I expect to see debate on both the links and the impacts.

I prefer it when you can explain your arguments in some context. If you just read cards and don't tell how they tie to together, that's likely not to be compelling. Reading me a random set of arguments that aren't really anchored in your case or your opponent's case or reading them in a random order so I don't know what you're arguing against may leave you in a spot where I can't put them in context and, thus, you don't get much value out of them.

Tell me a story in final focus about why you won and about how I should interpret the flow and the weigh the impacts. Repeating your impacts without explaining anything about probability or timeline doesn't have the same impact as explaining why and how your links and impacts outweigh.

I don't mind speed, but if I can't understand you then I can't flow you. Frameworks are fine as long as they're not abusive and I'm open to theory, although I am likely woefully inexperienced in judging it.

Off-time roadmaps are fine, but just enough so that I have idea what parts of the flow I need to have in front of me.

I am a lay judge, and have judged once before at a district tournament. My kid does debate so I have a little knowledge, but I am still not very experienced when it comes to technical debate terms. Please explain things clearly and speak slowly. I prefer logical arguments over ones that sound unrealistic or fake.

Current coach, Former LD competitior and traditional Flow Judge.

I can deal with a bit of speed but Please do not spread and speak clearly.

I enjoy getting an idea of the structure of your argument so I appreciate off-time roadmaps and sign posting.

Be respectful of your opponent, especially during cross.

My background is primarily Policy and Public Forum Debate. I am rapidly gaining experience in LD.

FOR LD DEBATE

I am not a fan of speed. I hate listening to spreading and my brain borderline shuts down if you speak too fast. If I can't understand you because you're going too fast, I'm probably not flowing and probably not really tracking your arguments at all. I like to judge primarily on my flow, so you should probably slow down a bit.

I won't vote on tricks.

My background is primarily CX and PF, so you may have to briefly explain the purpose of some of the very LD specific terminologies or theories.

Explain why your value/criterion are preferable to your opponents'.

Please do impact calculus, and please ground your impacts in reality.

Be nice to each other. Being rude or snarky sucks.

FOR POLICY DEBATE

I am not a fan of speed (especially constructive speeches when you are presenting your case). I would much prefer quality of arguments over quantity. If I can't keep up or understand your arguments, you won't win them. I know you like to spread in Policy, but I borderline hate it. SLOW DOWN. You can do it. You can adapt to your judge's paradigm. You are capable of doing that, I promise. You don't have to run 6 off-case on the neg. You really don't have to!

I would like to vote on pretty much anything if you are persuasive enough. I am generally okay with everything as long as they are explained well. Don't just read your arguments, explain their purpose in the round! However, I am more of a "traditional" judge in that I would usually much prefer a solid debate about the resolution rather than endless K debates with super generic links. Lately I have seen more bad K debates than good traditional debates. It makes me very sad. I judge primarily based on what I see on my flow. It is in your best interest to use roadmaps, signposting, clear taglines, and SLOW THE HECK DOWN to make my job of flowing the debate as easy as possible.

I also prefer impacts grounded in realism. If every single policy debater for 50 years that has been claiming nuclear war as an impact was actually right about it, the world would've been destroyed 1,000 times over. But regional conflict? Economic downturn? Environmental damage? Oppression of minority populations? These are impacts we've actually witnessed as a result of policy action. I strongly prefer impacts that I as an Earthling can actually visualize happening.

I will be friendly with speaker points to debaters who are friendly to each other. I will be unfriendly with speaker points to debaters who are unfriendly with each other. This should be a fun experience for everyone. Just be nice to each other.

Nicholas.Phillips@bellinghamschools.org

Debate is as much about learning as it is about winning.

•Speed: I’m comfortable with faster than conversational speed and if you’re too fast, I’ll hold up my pen high to indicate that I’ve stopped flowing.

•Organization: Clarity and structure are important and it helps me to flow your arguments. Tags are helpful. I’m good with off-time roadmaps.

•Extend your arguments: Please no surprises late in the debate. .

•Policy style arguments: I’m not a Policy judge. Make sure you explain your terms if you choose to go this route. I will not vote for arguments I don’t understand.

•Common decency:

Respect your judge. Respect your partner. Respect your opponent.

Avoid name-calling (EX: saying your opponent or an argument is stupid). That’s rude and also lazy debating.

Avoid yelling matches in crossfire.

I do not like "theory." Debate the topic.

As always...for me, quality is much better than quantity. It is better to have one or two really strong arguments, supported by both evidence and logic, than 4 or 5 weak points.

While I can handle spreading, if I can't understand something you say because you speak too quickly or unclearly, then I can't write it down. If I can't write it down, then I can't refer back to it when making my final decision. In other words, it's as if you never said it.

If it comes down to your evidence says "x" and their evidence says "not x" and I have no way to know who is right, you will lose. What do I mean? Explain why your evidence is more relevant, accurate, and credible...and/or why theirs is not.

Other points:

Signposting is good. Please signpost. Is this a new thought or more warrants or impacts on the same claim?

Off-time road maps are bad. They are a waste of "real" time. I'm guessing you're going to tell me why you're right and they're wrong. Right? If you signpost, I'll know which order you're going in. This is a more valuable skill to learn. For those of you motivated by speaker points, know that I will deduct a full point for each off-time road map.

Be respectful of your opponents. Let's be real, if the coin toss were different, you'd be arguing for the other side so don't act like your entire life's work has focused on your stance on this topic. Keep it civil. On a related note, rudeness is unacceptable as is outright lying. I've seen too many teams blatantly lie in round. If you lie, you lose.

Yearn to Learn. This is high school debate. It's a learning experience. I don't expect you to be perfect and would hope you take every opportunity to learn, whether you win this round or not.

1. Your arguments should have quantifiable impacts if you want to win; qualitative impacts will not be sufficient in most cases

2. I I cannot hear or compile your argument(s), I might not be able to judge it for correctness or completeness. Therefore, do not spread

3. Use logic to win your argument, pathos will not work with me

I'm a parent judge that has been judging debate for two years. I strive to be impartial.

Respect your opponents and be polite to each other.

Speak slowly and clearly.

I will dock speaker points if you cut anyone off, or condescending.

I stop listening when you go over time.

Have fun!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PiSENj9X4taoU2p1SM3ORhd8Frd80FY69zN8OSukJdM/edit?usp=sharing

Hello, I'm a lay. I've judged in locals, toc bid tournaments, and nats '23, but please treat me like your average lay. Before the round starts, make sure I am 100% clear about who is who and their position.

I don't know anything about the topic so it would be nice if you could restate that for me. I'm comfortable with English but not spreading.

Please SPEAK SLOW and DO NOT USE DEBATE JARGON, as I will most likely not understand it. I don't vote on perceptual dominance or anything but if you talk slower and clearly, I'll be able to understand what you're saying. If I don't understand you then I won't vote for you.

If you dump 50 responses I will remember none. I would prefer if you could just overexplain a couple points and make them really clear to me. Tell me which arguments you are addressing (signpost) and make the back half of the round as clear as possible for me. Do not make this an evidence debate. at that point I will have no idea who won and who lost because I don't know how to call for evidence. If it turns into an evidence debate, I am strongly inclined to vote for whichever team stops talking about the evidence and gives me another reason why they should win.

I will be taking notes during the round but don't think I'm a flow judge yet. -- I don't take notes on cross but I will notice if you're getting destroyed and it'll probably go towards speaks.

Speaks range from 27-29 and I err on the higher side. I don't disclose.

Be respectful and have fun!

tldr: very lay judge, speak slow, be respectful, cross matters (i can elaborate why)

the length of this paradigm doesnot mean that i am a flow judge. do not be confused i am being very clear in the way i vote to prevent confusion.if you are confused in ANY way, PLEASE PLEASE ask me before the round.i am more lay than the average washington local judge and that's saying something

scroll down to important notes *there are asterisks

english is my second language, parent judge

do not use jargon unless you want me to be confused

please speak slow and enunciate-- slow

i mean it. if you see a confused look on my face you've done something wrong.

that said, make eye contact with me but absolutely do not yell at me-- this is a professional enviornment for education

if you are going over conversational speed, send a speech doc (idc if its constructive or rebuttal do not read fast if you cannot provide a speech doc). unless you want me to miss whatever you say.

idazhu@yahoo.com (also remind me to check my email when you send the case)

set up email chain before round--also include me in card chains

if one specific evidence becomes a major point of clash in the round, say "ida take a look at this" and let me know what to look for.

i would advise against running theory/ks because i barely understand pf as is although please have faith in me that i can recognize abusive debaters and will take action accordingly (going to tab, marking in ballot).

etc. cursing at your opponents.

i am giving up my time to judge so treat me and your opponents with respect as you would do so in a professional environment.

do not steal prep time PLEASE and do not lag at the beginning pf the round when setting up come prepared.

truth>tech unfortunately, squirrely impacts into nuke war or smth will probably have me confused

hint hint i am afinancial planner so numbers make a lot of sense to me

warrant out CLEARLY how you get to those numbers though..

weigh weigh weigh weigh weigh i will not weigh on your behalf in my ballot.

i would advise weighing during rebuttal then summary then ff so it becomes rly clear to me how i should vote

i do not know what framework is, explain it to me (make sure i nod)

etc. "judge, you are going to be casting your vote on this round off of x. this is more important than larger numbers bc xyz. my opponents agreed/conceded to this in y speech. we are all on the same page for you to proceed to sign the ballot based off."

if ur gonna run fw, come to round early and explain to me what it means before round. again make sure i nod

be professional. i don't want to see a messy workspace with 897713 flow sheets everywhere or fiddling with clothes/hair, i believe that this reflects confidence

please approach me if u have an issue with this

probably collapse, i'm not keeping detailed flow so it's hard to keep track of so many arguments

obvs make sure ur ops dont have any residing turns on ur case

if ur the op, explain what a turn is before u say "turn"

most important***

cross matters a lot- if it is a wash or if you and your opponents don't clearly implicate how i should sign my ballot throughout your speeches (ff is not adequate) the round will come down to how you treat your opponents.there are three, total 9 minutes. i don't think that time should go to waste. every speaker has more than a whole speech's worth of time in cross. if u have additional qs about why i listen to cross, ask me before the round.

attitude and presentation of knowledge is important in my judging methodology.

be respectful to your opponents, let's have a calm round.

do not argue i get annoyed if i feel like i'm being yelled at

do NOT interrupt during cross. i can tell if your opponents are talking straight for 2 minutes and trust that i will dock them accordingly. if i pause your cross to tell you that i feel you consistently interrupt, that is the only warning i will give.other indicators will be my facial expression during the round

be professional- please don't eat during the round. i understand rounds run late and it's difficult to find a time to eat. this comes off as disrespectful towards your opponent and i as well as the sport of debate. if you have a genuine reason to eat,make it clear to me before the round.

please try not to be late-debate always makes speech run late so let's get it started asap

confidence wins- everyone has similar knowledge on topic, so i'll probably sign the ballot on whoever is able to best present and communicate to me (as well as adapting to my indicators) unless theres a distinct difference in skill level--i do take notes but i will not be able to catch quick "turns " "delinks" etc

1. don't throw out jargon or topic specific acronyms, explain it.

2. i will vote off if u give one turn, explain what a turn is, and exactly how it interacts with your opponent's arguments rather than if u dish out 15 turns at a speed i can't understand

not about quantity or tech, but about how i perceive the round, which is lay

3. i probably won't have a technical flow, but tell me to write something down "judge, make sure to note for your ballot (if u win or lose the round) that my opponents did xyz"

thank u for reading this long paradigm but trust these niche little things help you win the round, especially if the clash is unclear to me. i want u to be successful and judge adaptability is definitely a skill to acquire.

also keep in mind just because certain terminology was used in this paradigm does not mean i understand it. if u aren't sure, double check or err on the side of no. i used debate terms so you can easier understand how to adapt

if you are confused by my paradigm, ASK me about it before the round starts. my daughter wrote this

kk bye good luck<3