Last changed on
Wed September 4, 2019 at 6:43 PM CDT
About me: Debate and extemp speaking for a couple of years in high school in Texas, 35+ years ago. I honestly remember very little about policy debate. Assistant debate coach and judge, briefly, 25 years ago while teaching school. Practicing attorney and trial lawyer for 21 years.
My son's school is a newer debate program (1.5 years), and I've been judging debate (PF, LD) and speech (OO, extemp, impromptu) events since Spring 2018.
Paradigm:
I appreciate organization and signposting in debates, and off-time roadmaps are fine. Tell me which arguments you are refuting. Tell me your contentions (e.g., say, "Contention 1," "In response to the Aff's Contention 1," etc.) so that I can outline/flow easily.
Tell me what your voters are. Defend your value as being more important than your opponent's value, etc. It's better not to drop more arguments than your opponent does, although drops don't mean you automatically lose my vote if your case -- as a whole -- is more effectively proven. Impacts are important.
I try to flow debates. If I were to go into court and spread my case to a judge or jury, would I win? If I were a candidate for public office in a values debate with my opponent, and I spread my arguments to the audience, would I win? If you speak too fast or unclearly, I will miss something, thus I do not PREFER spreading (although this does NOT mean you get an automatic loss if I can understand what you're saying). I find most spreading to be monotonous and unpersuasive.
I like traditional debate, and prefer that you actually run a case supporting or opposing the resolution as given and refuting your opponent's case, rather than running theories or PICs, or whatever. As I say, these are preferences, but are not automatic win/loss. I like real debate of issues. To be fair and open toward each individual, I do NOT vote my own beliefs. If you convince me that your case is better, and you are more persuasive -- even if I disagree with what you're trying to prove -- then you can still get my vote.