I'm a two time national semifinalist from high school and in my 8th year coaching. I try to be tabula rasa, but I have a vast knowledge base and don't like being talked down to as a judge. I also have a pretty strong RBF and will visually react to what you are saying, so be aware that if you think I'm mad at you; chances are its just my face.

Call Africa a country and you will automatically get low speaker points. It's a continent and offensive to misidentify it. If you are going to refer to regions within the continent, label them appropriately. I understand if you can't pronounce the country/city correctly, but YouTube and Google exist. Please try your best to utilize these resources to improve proper pronunciation. If you're intentionally misrepresenting a demographic/word/culture for the purpose of humor, be mindful of offensive stereotypes. IF I'm bothered by it, you will see it reflected in your ballot; IF it's egregious enough to warrant a report to the tournament officials, I will allow the tournament officials to contact you/your coach directly.

If it appears that you don't fully understand the topic, I will do my best to give you resources to help you develop your understanding on your ballots (links, concepts, places to bolster research) but I won't allow it to impact my decision on the round unless it's blatantly false or has no evidence to support the claim.

Decorum matters. In digital format, this means being mindful of what you post in chat/what you put onto your onscreen camera. I don't downvote on dress/appearance; however I appreciate professional dress and being able to see a student's face when possible.

Speech

I love seeing animated and engaging speech pieces. I have a few areas I get nit picky about, but it's because I want to give you as much feedback as I can to help you improve.

IE's should have some popping/characterization if there are multiple characters being portrayed. If the digital format does NOT allow me (the judge/viewer) to see your whole body, it's makes the speech harder to judge.

Be mindful when presenting/filming of how your technology allows you to give the best speech possible. If your voice echoes in your video, consider resubmitting and/or moving to a different space for better audio quality.

Info/Oratory - Speeches with structure are favored. If your speech sounds like a stream of consciousness, it's really hard to follow the topic at hand and very hard to judge. If your visual aids have any sort of writing on them, either plan on reading/explaining the writing or don't have it at all. As a judge, if I'm trying to squint to read what's on your visual aids, then I'm probably missing some of your speech because I'm trying to read your boards.

If you/your coach feels that my advice does not work for you, please don't take it. You know your own circuit and if the advice would work for your local league. If there are specific questions, my email address is attached below for further clarification. Generally, I want to help you become a better competitor and if the advice I offer is something that will harm you, you shouldn't consider it.

Debate

Email clingern13@gmail.com to add me to the email chain.

Slippery slope arguments or ELEs are only realistic within the confines of a topical debate. This trend relies heavily on scare tactics I don't subscribe to as a debate coach or judge. I will downvote/give low speaks if your impacts lead to improbable outcomes. Ex: "You should vote for our plan to change the wording of this immigration reform bill because it will lead to global extinction if you do not..."

I like progressive debate, but if it gets too meta or narrows the debate to a specific thread, I will base the debate on what is relevant to the argument and topic at hand, especially if your opponent is presenting a more viable option.

I'm a PF/LD traditionalist. I dislike framework in LD; that is what the v/vc debate is. I love framework in PF, but if your framework is unnecessarily or unfairly limiting (abusive), it will work against you and your speaker points will correlate. I tend to vote on stock issues in CX.

If your very narrow interpretation is the only way to interpret the topic, therefore, you're right and win, I will not vote in your favor. It feels like you've found the one loophole to win and have ignored the spirit of the debate or the topic at hand. I like debate to address the topic's core, rather than a narrow and specific element. "A just government allows for civil disobedience" should not be debated on what a just government is; rather it should debate the merits of civil disobedience within a society.

Debate needs clash. If there is no clash between the two presented sides, I'm going to vote whichever side is better presented/is more viable under the topic. I will write down on my ballots if the debate held no clash in the RFD.

I don't flow any Cross Examination time, so if you want it to be on the flow, PLEASE bring it up during rebuttal speeches.

Signpost, go straight down the flow and TRY to minimize flow hopping. If you have a direct argument on your case that attacks/answers your opponent's case, state it at each interval where the argument would apply. Ex: "My c1 directly addresses their c2 sub a..." should be stated twice when you talk about BOTH your c1 AND their c2 sub a.

Extend your arguments and impacts, not your cards. Ex: "Extend Oxford here..."; tell me why "Oxford" is relevant, why it refutes the opposition's point and WHY IT MATTERS. My job as a judge is to base my decision on what you present and how you link it, not if my brain linked it for you. As a judge, I'm not going to make inference between your impacts and cards, you need to explicitly state them for them to be considered.

I can handle spreading, but try to avoid it because it's a bad habit. Be mindful of speed if you choose to not add me to the email chain. (TOC Specific)

If it appears you did not write your cases yourself (it's a team case, you bought the evidence or someone else gave you the information just prior to the round) I will assume you bought the case and don't know what you're talking about. I strongly dislike students that use prewritten cases and don't show mastery of the topic because looks like plagiarism. If you don't know what you're talking about and misunderstand the arguments, it will be obvious.

Case sharing: enoahgarcia2006@gmail.com

V/C Debate

I LOVE VALUE AND CRITERION DEBATE!!! As a traditional judge I tend to evaluate the value and criterion level first. Impacts are important but they mean nothing in LD if there's no correlation or link back to value/criterion.

LD

•I am a tab judge with a bias to traditional LD.

•I do have knowledge of CX so if you run theory, DA/ADV, T, etc. I will understand the arguments you're using. I'm not the best with K's so if you're running one make sure to signpost and extend the main points well. (have good FW, UQ, Alt)

•Since I prefer a more traditional round I don't feel the best about speed. If I can't understand you then I'm going to assume your opponent can't either.

•On the more tab side of things... I love hearing weird arguments (as long as the link chain is there). Just tell me how to vote and I'll take it into evaluation.

•During cross period, all I say is be courteous. CX is binding so be careful and truthful!!

The final decision is not a measurement of your skill and ability. I'm here to help you through the L's and the W's. Win and lose with class and dignity!