Hello, everyone and I can't wait to judge your round!!

To introduce myself, I am Idara Etuks. I am an undergraduate student at Washington University in St. Louis and a former competitor in congressional debate and Extemporaneous Speaking. I competed at the local, state, and national level, semifinaling TOC in Congress and TFA State in Domestic Extemp, finaling at tournaments like Harvard and Emory, and placing 8th at TFA State in Congress, placing 2nd in UIL 6A Congressional Debate, and placing 3rd at the 2024 National Speech and Debate tournament in the Senate.

For Congress:

Congress is both speech and debate, meaning you need to speak well and convincingly while mastering the argumentative part of the event. I don't want to hear the same rehashed argument as we continue, but I will give brownie points to someone who provides a great late-round or crystal. Your objective as a senator or representative is to present the issue to me in a way that I would immediately vote for what side you are speaking on. The people who will rank on my ballot are the ones who embody their personality in their speeches, provide an argument that applies to the real world*, and are respectful.

If you want to make jokes in your speeches, make them funny and easy to understand. I don't want to be in the 3rd hour of the round laughing at a joke you said in the first 30 minutes because I just now got it. If you use rhetoric in your speech, I am a sucker for a good theme and story. I would always run rhetoric related to that, or I made it personal!! If you attempt personal rhetoric, I just pray it is real. The only type of rhetoric I dislike is abusive rhetoric like "blood on their hands", generalized negative rhetoric (for certain groups or nations), descriptive language of death or abhorrent conditions, or just blatantly restating another individual's words. You may think it sounds pretty cool, but I would be looking at you thinking it sounded pretty annoying. Make the round fun, not unbearable.

I have been in the event for a long time and watched too many rounds; if I hear a speech that copies a former competitor's speech, expect a 9 and an angry comment on your ballot. If you PO, you should expect a ranking between 4-6--if the round is terrible, you can expect a 1-3. For speaking, you can be a great speaker, but if absolute nonsense is coming out of your mouth, I won't listen. The same goes for content. You can have the round-winning argument or the best content in the world, but if your speaking prevents me from understanding the argument, then I will tune you out.

*Added this because I am so serious when I say your argument must understand the way the real world works. You should not be drafting an argument based on something someone ran in 2019 or 2020 because it benefited them at that time. The world is always changing, so your arguments should too!!!

For Extemp:

If you follow the structure of having the hook/ AGD, background source, your answer and question, a roadmap, and 3 points with the right amount of evidence and analysis, then you will be set! The point of extemp is to inform me about a topic, give me your opinion, and provide an engaging argument as to why your opinion is right. Projection and speaking is key for this event because that's mainly what I must go off of. The best speakers may not answer the questions the best, but they will keep me engaged. Don't lose me in the 7 minutes, and you will do great.

For Speech:

I don't typically judge speech, but I love it so much!!! All I have to say is for oratory, I go based on the most compelling topic with an adequate solution and clear problem. Same for info. I need to be able to relate in some way to the topic so that I can care for it in my ranking. This doesn't necessarily mean making the topic about black people or being a woman, but you should incorporate relatable content in your speech that is a universal experience for most judges. The solution should be a solution. If it is one that is hard to implement, then focus on making it feasible in a certain area. I just want to know if the issue can be addressed. Now, it is lovely to hear about everyone's families because the stories are truly inspiring, but if you have little relation to the story, don't put it in. There will always be real-life stories of other individuals that can fulfill that part of the speech. Also, when deciding what current events to include in your speech, include examples not just from 2024 but from 2019, 2012, 2005, and before. Your judges will most likely be familiar with those events as well and it prevents you from repeating the same current event as another speaker.

For Interp:

I love watching Interp so much. If I cry during your speech, congratulations!!! I was moved. (I cry really easily, though) Ensure your piece is polished and the story is clear. As a judge who spends more time in debate, I will be critical of content but understanding of the differences in the events. If I am placed as your judge for interp, do not fret!! I have reviewed the information necessary to be a trustworthy judge. Just be confident, have fun, and do well!

For Debate:

Say your prayers because I probably did not want to be in that round. Not because of you! Just because I don't love the event. If I am judging, I will know what I am doing, but probably do not spread.

I've done congressional debate for four years, I'm extremely experienced in the event and have pretty much competed at every level and tournament you can think of. I have a ton of experience in the debate space. Just remember to be kind and respectful.

Congress

Speech structure:
Honestly whatever you think fits the round the best. As long as it's organized in some way that is understandable to me idrc.

Argumentation:
Know what ur talking about. I will be flowing. I do check sources (don't cap I can usually tell)

Speaking:
Everyone speaks differently. As long as I can hear you and fluency is not an issue, you get the checkmark from me. Be confident, professional, and don't be afraid to show a little personality!

^^^ I will always rank the best speaker and the person I thought did the best from an argumentative perspective. Sometimes those are the same people, sometimes they aren't.

For POs: You start at my three and can only move up to my 2. You can move up or down based on how I think you are running the round. If you make too many mistakes I'm not opposed to giving you 9s. POing is a great and strategic way to break, but make sure you are good at it pls, otherwise it def hurts the round as a whole and can impact others' abilities to give x number of speeches.

Hi everyone- my quick philosophy on paradigms is that people spend too much time making it an unnecessary explanation of the event. Obv POs shouldnt make mistakes, obv fluency is important- so the following statements are my personally philosophy on debate. But first a lil about me.

My qualifications- Qualifications are stupid. Debate should be accessible to everyone. If yk me you do, and if u don't ask someone who might.

I'm a senior at Tompkins High School, I've done congress for 4 years but have done Extemp, Lincoln Douglas, Public Forum, Prose, Oratory, World School, Impromtu, and most importantly BIG questions. In all debate events I want to see 3 key things

-Leave nothing unexplained. If u can't translate it to a 5 year old, you yourself do not understand it. Research the feynman technique for more information

-Clear speaking. In debate I'm "ok" with spreading but if u start doing 200 words a minute you gotta chill out dawg.

-Be respectful. Debate is a safe space for thousands of people to express themselves and their views. Racism, homophobia, or bigotry of any kind will result in an immediate last place on my ballot, lowest possible speaks, and a report to the tournament if its egregious enough.

Now onto individual events

Congress

-"be yourself, everyone else is already taken" -Oscar Wilde. In essence, having fun is key, play into your own personality.

-POing should be abolished. If you do it correctly you'll get a 4.

-Do not copy any rhetoric or content. I'll know. On that same vein, don't fake sources or you'll instantly get dropped.

-There is no right way to do congress. Don't restrict yourself to a specific style, structure, or any other system. Simply going up there and making arguments is the best way to get a good rank. Speeches that seem forced do worse. That being said, there are certain conventions I still expect ie- having an intro, ref, no rehash, and weighing

-Questioning is the most important part of congress. Don't 'dominate' the block. Imagine you're tryna convince your colleagues, as if it were acc congress

-If I had to describe congressional debate in an artist it would be Kanye West

Extemp

-Unlike congress, there is a 'correct' way to do extemp. I'm not gonna go into it here because that's not the point of a paradigm but go watch the jacky wei intro to extemp video if you don't know it.

-I value substructure alot, don't ignore impacting, and be sure to answer the question in its ENTIRITY. Most extemp speeches don't really answer the question.

-If I had to describe extemp in an artist it would be Drake

Flow Debate (PF, LD, Policy)

-Aight soooo my team doesn't do much of these events but I acc did some, so if I'm coming back to judge a local this is probably what I'm judging.

-I understand the basics of tech, Ik Ks, Ts, Shell, and CPs, but anything more and I'll get lost. Implicate it to the topic.

-Running things like 'death is acc good' is disgraceful to the event. I'm a flow judge but you're supposed to be advocating for real people and to trivialize their suffering by flipping the loss of life like its a good thing is disgusting. Don't minimize the loss of human identity. Similar strategies should not be used

-Not everything needs to impact to nuke war. However, I do vote on the least mitigated link chain to the most powerful impact.

-Debate isn't a game, I want to understand why your side acc wins, not why some silly lil dropped contention wins the round. Implicate with the topic by weighing arguments hollistically. Interact with their sides warrants. Usually the better researched person will win.

-If I had to describe flow debate in an artist it would be Eminem

Speech

-idk what the point of a paradigm is for speech. It's your job to convince me why you're the best, why should I tell you what I'm expecting. Like oh 'tonal variation is important' yeah sure but like tonal variation should exist to make your content more persuasive and the point of these events is to persuade (except for info ig). There is no objectively correct style. Do yo thing, and you should win.

-Physical presentation matters just as much as the auditory

-If I had to describe speech in an artist it would be Frank Ocean

Worlds

-Worlds, in my mind, is the purest debate event. Because of that my philosophy about winning the debate hollistically from the other debate events carries over.

-Teamwork makes the dream work.

-If I had to describe World School Debate in an artist it would be ABBA.