I coach at a 3A high school in Kansas. I'm a policymaker in that I look for impacts and weigh them against the defense in the round.

Do not tell me about the rules of debate unless there is an impact to your argument. The impact could be fairness or something.

Generic DAs are fine if the links are clearly analyzed.

Topicality is super important. I weigh it first, but don't run it on the biggest aff on the topic.

CPs are fine, although I'm not crazy about topical CPs.

Kritiks are acceptable in context. However, I didn't do policy debate in high school or college, so am I going to understand it by the end of your speech? The odds of me 1. understanding your k lit, and 2. being able to see nuance in your k lit during cross-ex or prep time between constructives is pretty low if I've never seen it before. Am I going to see why it can't be permutated? Are you running it just to confuse your opponent into defeat? Does it clearly link? Are you not winning on anything else on the flow? Maybe it's a better idea to shelve it this round...

Kindness is a voter.

I prefer moderate contest speed.

I flow. Please keep your speech organized.

I am a Stock Issues judge first and foremost. That means that I hold all four (4) Stock Issues at an equal and high regard in a debate round. Inherency, Harms, Solvency, and Topicality are the biggest voting issues for me. However, that does not mean that I won't listen to DisAds, Ks, Advantages, CPs or any other argument, they just hold spots within the different Stock Issues.

Disadvantages and Advantages deal with Solvency and Harms to me as they talk about how the plan will make everything better or worse. Counter Plans deal with Solvency and Inherency, and should clash against the plan itself. As for Ks, I am not that familiar with them, however I will listen to them, and take them into consideration. The central issue is the AFFs plan, if it solves the problem (stated in the Inherency), fixes the issues caused by the Status Quo (Harms), and makes the world a better place (Solvency).

I have no problem with Topicality at all, and will listen to all T arguments. However, I do have an issue with restatement of KSHSAA rules. Unless there is an actual infraction of KSHSAA rules, please don't recite them to me. I am a coach, and I am aware of KSHSAA's debate and forensics rules.

As for Forensics. I have a history in Theatre, and will view each performance as a performance. Entertain me. Lead me into the world of the piece. The more you make me look up, and the less I'm holding my pen as a judge, the better your chances are in hitting a 1 ranking.

If it's a speech event (Extemp, Impromptu, Oration or Info), then I will listen to the presentation as if I'm judging a speech in my classroom (I am also a Speech teacher), but more because I expect more than what my Freshmen do.

Small town KS former debater and coach. I will follow just about any argument, but my thoughts on each are below:

DA - Generic links are fine with me usually. I will default to weighing impacts of the DA vs Adv of the Aff unless framed otherwise. I don't like you to leave too much up to me here so please explain in the round.

K - Don't like generic alts, so if you do make sure that you very specifically lay out what the world of the alt looks like.

CP - usually need to win the net benefit debate to pick up my ballot. Not a fan of CPs that just claim to Solve better, especially if Solvency is

T - Love it but hate it if you don't know how to run it. If you only know how to address the violation debate without even touching interp, standards, or voters, you will probably drop my ballot on T.

Stock Issues - Fine but don't just say "the aff loses one stock issue so they should lose the debate". Explain why that matters.

At the end of the day, how I feel about the arguments doesn't really matter. What matters is that you are primarily:

a. Flowing, most rounds are lost because someone is lost in the round and not addressing other arguments

b. Clashing, lots of rounds just like to throw evidence back and forth without really clashing. Analytics are good on why I should realistically prefer your argument.

c. Framing the round and telling me why I should prefer your impacts/alternatives.

My experience:

-Competitor @ Remington HS 2013-2016 (Policy, primarily speech focused IEs)

-Competitor @ Sterling College 2016-2020 (IPDA, platform speeches + extemp)

-Coach @ Ashland HS (a.c. 2021, h.c. 2022-23; IEs only, but judged a few policy rounds here and there)

-Coach @ Nickerson HS (a.c 2018-2020, h.c 2023- present; Policy, Congress, all IEs, some LD and BQ)

2-Speaker Policy:

Please include me when you share the SpeechDrop! I feel like I'm able to be a better judge when I can see your speech as you're giving it.

What type of judge am I? I am a stock issues judge, so I'll tend to weigh the round based on if the aff has supported the stock issues after negative speeches. That doesn't mean that I don't vote on DAs -- if you have a nuke war impact that goes unanswered, that seems like a pretty big harm of the aff plan.

I also want to see kids thinking, not just kids reading (which I see too much of). Read your cards and then give me some sort of analysis to prove to me 1) you understand the argument you're making and 2) it actually competes with the other team's position in some way. Providing this kind of analysis boosts your chance that I'm gonna follow along with your train of thought and potentially vote for you at the end of the round.

New in the 2? If you want to, go for it! But don't just do it because you think it'll make me happy. Just know that I'm fine with it.

Speed? As long as I can understand you and you're telling me where to flow things, go the speed you want to go. If I can't understand you anymore, you'll likely be able to tell because I'll stop writing stuff down on my paper or trying to follow along in the SpeechDrop, I'll just look at you until I can understand you again.

How do I feel about topicality? I'm willing to listen to legitimate topicality arguments, but would prefer you don't just run it as a time suck. I understand that people see that as strategic, but I would really rather hear more interesting arguments. If you can prove legit abuse as the neg, I'll probably vote on it.

How do I feel about DAs? I don't like generic DAs that link to all aff plans. I do like case specific DAs and I love big impacts (like nuke war), so long as you've got an internal link to get me there. If the link to the impact is too big a logic jump, though, I'm less likely to vote on that impact if the aff does a little bit of legwork.

How do I feel about CPs? I really like counterplans when they're run well. I think I'm in the minority of younger judges in saying I don't like when they're conditional. I'd much rather you run a competitive CP that is truly an alternative to the aff plan that I should vote on. If you kick the CP at the end of the round I will be very sad :(

How do I feel about Ks? I have minimal experience in judging K's, so run at your own risk. If you run one, you're REALLY going to have to explain it to me; I'm just not familiar with any K literature. Also, as much as I don't like judge intervention in a round, you are going to have a really hard time selling me on K's that just dunk on debate as an activity. (Along this same train of thought, if you run a justification that in-round fairness doesn't matter because of some out of round benefit, plan on spending some time explaining that because I'm REALLY hesitant to get behind that kind of logic.)

Finally, debate is an educational and professional activity (even if we're here because we think it's fun). When I'm deciding speaker ranks, I'm going to prefer your arguments and analysis's impact on the round more than how pretty a speaker you are. However, kindness is a voting issue. If you do something that is extremely rude or offensive to another debater (it doesn't matter which team!) I cannot and will not reward you with a high rank or the win. I like to see debate rounds. I don't like to see bullying. This activity provides an AWESOME opportunity to create connections with other people. Do not let the heat of the moment take that away from you.

I did debate all through high school and college, and have coached it as well. So I can keep up with most arguments and ideas.

Things I like in a debate are clash, good theory, stock issues, and impact calc. The more straightforward the better. The more squirrely your argument the less likely I am to vote for it.

PLEASE DO ROADMAPS

I like good Topicality arguments, and can't stand ones that are just there for time sucks or because you have nothing better to run. Please don't do this.

I really don't care for K's. If you run a good one, and it explain it very well, I'm good with it.

Some speed is fine, but if you can't say the whole word, you're going too fast.

Be polite. There is a line between being assertive and a jerk. Know that line, because I don't like voting for jerks, even if they were the better debater.

Eight years as a competitor, four of those as an assistant coach, second year as a head coach at Emporia HS, KS.

Topicality - Not my fav argument but I'll vote for it. PLEASE focus on standards and voters. Do not just argue definitions without standards the entire time - I probably won't vote on it. Prove you win your standards and voters AND that they are better than the other team's. Don't just run T on any case...

Disadvantages - Make sure you do strong impact calculus.

Kritik - Run whatever, Theory is cool if you know how to run it well. Not a fan of vague alt, I'd listen to theory on it.

Counterplans - Focus on net benefit, that's about it. I like CP's and I'm not super picky. Theory is cool if you know how to run it well.

Speed - I don't really care, but if the other team can't follow, slow down for them. It makes for a better debate if your opponent can understand you. If I'm not on the SpeechDrop, give me a little signposting to help me out.

Flowing - Do it. :)

I usually will just conform to whatever you want me to vote for in the round. Just be kind to each other and have a good debate.

Almost every round I judge is lost on two things:

1) The team doesn't flow and loses a debate they should win but they drop things without realizing it.

2) The team does not clearly show where they are at on the flow, so I'm forced to guess/search for the argument on the flow that they are attacking/answering. Be clear in your signposting throughout the speech (I often call it they say/we say on my team but your team may call it something else) and I will be able to flow well and judge well for you!

I would appreciate being on the email chain/Speechdrop. My email is adam.moore@usd253.net