Olathe West Novice Experience
2021 — Olathe, KS/US
Novice Judges Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HideCongressional Debate--I expect your speeches to address the major issues addressed by the legislation or the concerns raised by the assumed passage of the legislation. I look for speeches that are continuing to advance the debate, not just re-hash points already brought up by previous speakers. Please follow parliamentary procedure. It really is not that hard.
POs should keep the chamber moving efficiently and professionally. Maximizing speech time and cross-x time plays a huge role in my evaluation of a presiding officer. I also expect much consistency from a PO in rulings and recognition of speakers.
Lastly, have fun. This is a fun event. Use humor where appropriate. Enjoy your time in these chambers.
Policy Debate--I'm that judge you wish you did not get. I am old school and I don't like speed.
Hello there! I have the privilege of serving as your judge. I hope you'll find the information below useful.
Experience: I debated for four years in high school and currently serve as the assistant debate coach for Olathe West.
What I look for in the round: Since every debate round is so different in terms of argumentative focus, I appreciate it when teams specifically tell me what I should be voting for/on. For me, the best rebuttals, regardless of the level of debate, are the ones that include specific appeals to the judge to vote a certain way.
Speed preference: I'm okay with speed as long as you are clear. I need to be able to get taglines, authors, and dates down on my flow.
Topicality: If you feel there's a pretty serious violation that is preventing you from creating adequate clash, run it.
DAs: With solid analysis, disadvantages are great.
CPs: If it's consistent with the negative strategy, go for it.
Kritiks/theory: If you run a Kritik, you better know what you are talking about. Please don't run one if you are simply just trying to throw off the other team. Moreover, if you choose to make a critical argument, please make it worth everyone's time. I tend to find debates that are dominated by abstraction and epistemology unsatisfying, especially when I get the feeling that there's little substance behind the convoluted language. That said, I can appreciate a Kritik if it highlights a flawed assumption that is specific to the language and logic of the Aff case. Specific links will go a long way with me.
Decorum: Be kind and respectful to your opponents and judges. The people that are involved in this activity do it because they enjoy it. Please don't kill that enjoyment by being rude or unkind during a round.
Misc: Debate to your strengths. The best rounds involve great clash and top-tier strategy. If you need to ignore parts of my paradigm in order to make that happen, please, be my guest.
Lastly, clarity is huge to me. Explain your evidence; explain what your argument is; explain what arguments you are countering; and explain what I, as the judge, should consider when formulating my decision.
Qualifications: I am a 4th year debater and I am highly active in debate and forensics. I have qualified for nationals 3 times in different forms of debate
Judging style:
- I will flow, so I know when you drop arguments, please do not say a team dropped an argument when you know they did not. (It is my biggest pet- peeve.)
- I will follow well so it is extremely important- even if you don't have evidence- give analyticals!! Well thought out and explained analyticals can be very helpful. I think it is very important for an educational debate, that serves a purpose to understand what you are talking about.
- use cross ex wisely.
- As for on- case arguments, solvency is so important, if you can prove the affirmative cannot solve for everything they say they solve for, you win.
- Too many people get caught up in topicality, it is the biggest time waster in a round so do not drop it- but do not waste your time.
- For off- case arguments DAs and CPs (in my opinions) are the most productive use of your time.
- Theory debate gets a thumbs up
- I also will not tolerate any kind of sexism, racism, or homophobia- I will immediately vote to the other team regardless of how good your arguments are, and I will report it to the tournament director. No one should feel like debate is not a safe place for all to express themselves and be educational.
- Good luck and have fun, debate is very important to the education of our youth and I am happy to judge!
Kylie Gunderson
4th year debater
Just be respectful to the other team and try your best. I will give you feedback on your ballot unless it’s something to tell both teams and then I will tell you after the round.
Three years of high school policy debate experience and five years of judging experience. Preferences for: a clean, organized debate. Focus on the issues and good debate strategy. I prefer to judge based on stock issues, but only will default to stock issues if the debate is organized enough. Be careful running T.
Hello!
I've judged Debate for about 6 years, and have been an assistant Debate coach for the last 3 seasons. Although I did not Debate in high school, I consider myself a fairly experienced judge.
I prefer to judge based on Policy Making (the Legislative Model). In other words, I weigh the affirmative and negative arguments against each other and make my decision based on the comparison of pros and cons presented in the round. Common solvency arguments (impracticability, insufficiency, counterproductivity, etc.) dis-ads, and inherency arguments all play a role in this comparison.
In evaluating topicality, the impact calculus of the round plays a large factor in my decision, but can be overruled by debatability and fairness. In other words, if you are providing an argument that does not give the opposing team a fair opportunity to debate and reap the educational rewards of the round, it will count against you in my ballot.
In terms of speed, I am comfortable with rapid speech, but (and I cannot stress this enough) it MUST BE COMPREHENSIBLE. If you are spreading so fast that you're stumbling over words, mumbling, not enunciating clearly, or anything else that does not allow me to understand your argument, it will certainly count against you in the ballot.
I am not comfortable giving oral feedback at the end of rounds or revealing the results of a round. All feedback will be included in my ballots.
If you have any other questions about my paradigm or require any clarification, you are more than welcome to ask me before the start of the round. Good luck, and most importantly, have fun!
Current 4th year debater. I have debated on this years resolution, but I am a flow judge. Tell me why and how your team wins the argument by applying to the flow. Please be respectful to each other, we will all enjoy the round more if you are kind. As long as the argument isn't completely outrageous I'll go with it, just run what you feel most comfortable with. Good luck!
Hello! I debated four years at Olathe West. Multi time state and KDC qualifier with JDI experience. My senior year, Iread aweird AFF and a lotof K's. This being said, read what you're most comfortable with and whatever speed you're best at. With this being don't try and do something you're uncomfortable with for a ballot. 55% tech and 45% truth. You'll lose if you drop the flow and the other teamproperly calls you on it.
DA: Unq/L/IL/IM: if this order isn't followed, good luck getting the ballot with it.
CP: This is how I won most of my neg rounds up until senior year, Have fun with these. Actor cp's have my heart. Please explain net benefits, this can be a DA or it can be as simple as first actor net bad second actor net better.
T: Won't vote on T unless it's blatant. My favorite AFF I ever read was Agriculture with a resolution about NATO.
K: Your alt must be better than the AFF. Novices running K's is something I support because to be a successful DCI/KDC team, K's are crucial. Prove your alt, solvency is a must. Impact should be real world.
Please Please Please ask me before the round if y'all have any questions. Im a social butterfly and am not scary. I hope y'all have fun and enjoy your novice year.
(P.S.) I goto the University of Arkansas- Woo Pig- and live in Louisburg Kansas, keep this in mind while trying to figure out the args you read me. I WILL value everything, but debates about your audience,remember this!
Good luck!
Ryan Seiter <3
Updating May 2024 for NCFL.
Yes email chain (I prefer Speechdrop if it's all the same but good with whatever) - eskoglund@gmail.com
POLICY DEBATE
Clipping Policy
Clipping - Representing, through sending a speech doc or other means, that you have read evidence which was not read in the round. If evidence is highlighted, skipping any un-highlighted words is clipping; if evidence is not highlighted, skipping any un-underlined words is clipping. Verbal indications to "cut" or "mark" a card are acceptable indications that you have chosen not to read all of a particular card in the doc, and you should be prepared to provide a marked version of your speech to your opponents if requested.
Last year at NCFL, I noticed a severe problem with clipping among many of the teams who are competing. You are welcome to use whatever tournament rules are involved to make a formal challenge, but even absent that, here is how I will handle clipping at the 2024 NCFL (and beyond).
1) If you clip a card, I will make my decision as though you did not read that card at all. It will be removed from my flow.
2) If you, as a team, clip four or more cards, you will lose my ballot on poor evidence ethics without the need for a formal challenge.
3) If both teams in a debate violate #2, I will decide the debate as normal based on any un-clipped cards from both sides.
Background
Olathe South 2001, 1 year at KU
Head coach, Olathe Northwest HS, Kansas (assistant 2006-2016, head 2016-present)
90%+ of my judging is on a local circuit with varying norms for speed, argumentation, etc.
1) My most confident decisions happen in policymaker-framed rounds. That is more of a statement of experience than philosophy; I will do my best to follow you to other places where the debate takes us.
2) If your aff doesn't advocate a topical plan text, the burden is on you to ensure that I understand your advocacy and framework. If you don't make at least an attempt to relate to the resolution, I am likely to struggle to understand how you justify an affirmative ballot.
3) Debate is an oral activity. While I will want your speech docs, I flow based on what I hear. If I don't hear it, I will not fill in my flow later based on what you send.
4) I will follow speech docs to watch for clipping. Egregious clipping will lead me to decide the round even if a formal challenge is not filed. (Also see above for specific info about this at NCFL.)
5) Whether you've got a plan, an advocacy statement, or whatever - much of the work coming out of camps is so vague as to be pointless. You don't need a six plank plan or a minute of clarification, but a plan should be more than the resolution plus a three word mission statement. I will err neg on most questions of links and/or theory when affirmatives ignore this.
6) I don't judge kick unless given explicit instruction to that effect. I don't generally believe in a conditional 2NR.
7) Flow the debate, not the speech doc. Very little moves my speaker point calculation down faster than debaters responding to arguments that were not made in the debate.
8) Anytime you're saying words you want on my flow, those need to not be at 400 wpm please. If you fly through a theory block at maximum evidence speed, it probably won't all make it onto my flow.
9) On T, I primarily look for a competing interpretation framework. "Reasonability" to me just means that I can find more than one interpretation acceptable, not that you don't have to meet an interp.
10) Long pre-written overviews in rebuttals are neither helpful nor persuasive.
11) I will not lie to your coach about the argumentation that is presented in the round. I will not tolerate the debate space being used to bully, insult, or harass fellow competitors. I will not evaluate personal disputes between debaters.
12) I think disclosure probably ought to be reciprocal. If you mined the aff's case from the wiki then I certainly hope you are disclosing negative positions. My expectations for disclosure are dependent on the division and tournament, and can be subject to theory which is argued in the round. DCI debaters in Kansas should be participating in robust disclosure, at a minimum after arguments have been presented in any round of a tournament.
CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE
First and foremost, this is a debate event. Any speech after the authorship/sponsorship speech should be making direct, meaningful reference to prior speakers in the debate. Simply repeating or rehashing old points is not an effective use of your, or my, time. Several speeches in a row on the same side is almost always bad debate, so you should be prepared to speak on both sides of most legislation.
The fastest path to standing out in most chambers is to make it clear that you're debating the actual content of the legislation, not just some vague idea of the title. Could I get your speech by just Googling a couple of words in the topic, or have you actually gotten into the specific components of the legislation before you?
I come from the policy debate planet originally but that doesn't mean I want you to speed. We have different events for a reason.
Role playing is generally good, particularly if we're at a circuit or national tournament where your constituents might be different from others in your chamber.
I notice and appreciate effective presiding officers who know the rules and work efficiently, and will rank you highly if your performance is exemplary.
LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE
I come from a fairly traditional LD circuit, so while I can understand policy type argumentation, my decision calculus may be a bit unpredictable if you just make this a 1 on 1 CX round with too-short speech times.
I am watching for clipping and will directly intervene against you if you clip cards in a way that I judge to be egregious, even if the issue is not raised in the round.
My default way of evaluating an LD round is to compare the impacts presented by both sides through the lens of each side's value and criterion, if presented. If you want me to do something different please run a clear role of the ballot or framework argument and proactively defend why your approach is predictable enough to create fair debate.
Your last 1-2 minutes, at least, should be spent on the big picture writing my reason for decision. Typically the debater who does this more clearly and effectively will win my ballot.
PUBLIC FORUM
Clash is super important to all forms of debate and is most often lacking in PF. You need to be comparing arguments and helping me weigh impacts.
Pointing at evidence (i.e., paraphrasing) is not incorporating it into the round. If you don't actually read evidence I won't give it any more weight than if you had just asserted the claim yourself. Smaller quotations are fine, but the practice of "this is true and we say this from Source X, Source Y, and the Source Z study" is anti-educational.