BASIS BRANDEIS BASH
2022 — San Antonio, TX/US
congress Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HideI was a long-time high school coach of CX, LD, PF and Congress and was a college policy debater MANY years ago.
Debate Judging Paradigm
1. Speed (Spread):
- I prefer a moderate pace. Excessive speed detracts from the clarity and depth of the arguments, making it difficult to capture the nuances. If you choose to go fast, ensure your arguments are still clear and easy to follow.
2. Critical Arguments:
- I value critical arguments, but they need to be explained thoroughly. I am less persuaded by dense jargon without clear explanations. Focus on the depth and clarity of your analysis.
3. Topicality:
- Topicality is a prima facie issue for me only if there is demonstrated in-round abuse. Merely claiming non-topicality is insufficient; you must show how the case is unfair or disruptive to the round.
4. Argument Strategy:
- Avoid making time-suck arguments that you plan to drop later. This wastes time and detracts from the quality of the debate. If you bring up an argument, be prepared to defend it.
5. Organization:
- I pay close attention to my flow. Please clearly signpost your arguments and keep your refutation organized. This helps me track the debate and evaluate your arguments effectively.
6. LD Debate Specifics (Value and Criterion):
- In Lincoln-Douglas debate, emphasize your value and criterion. These are central to your case, and I expect you to tie your arguments back to them consistently. Make it clear how your arguments uphold your value and criterion better than your opponent’s.
7. Congressional Debate:
- Speeches in Congressional debate should be extemporaneous in nature, showing clear evidence of preparation while allowing flexibility and responsiveness to the debate as it unfolds.
- Make sure to include clash; engage directly with the arguments made by other speakers.
- Strong research is essential, but avoid excessive rehash of points that have already been made. Originality and depth of analysis are key to standing out.
In all types of debate, don’t be rude to your opponent. Respect the activity with professional demeanor.
I judge Congress often and am always looking for excellent delivery, effective eye contact, and original thinking/clash that will set the speaker apart from the pack. I really search for the speakers who really make me want to listen to them. Speakers need to ask relevant questions, answer questions quickly and completely, and be respectful of the rest of the room. I expect the PO to run a tight ship and keep tabs on speaker order and frivolous questions. POs can be ranked first in the room, depending on the quality of speakers and PO. Evidence is crucial, but a clear speaking voice with passion, wit, and grace goes just as far.
For Congress, I care most about content of a speech. Too many debaters have unclear or missing links. If you don’t follow a link chain through, it will be very hard for me to see your argument as good or thoughtful. I don’t care about a base system- if you want to try for a third speech when everyone else is getting two, I will not penalize you, but an extra speech will only place you above someone if I’m struggling to decide who did better. For speaking style, I don’t judge off of how you sound, but detest rudeness and like professionalism. The real US Congress doesn’t start a speech with a joke or trite phrase, so neither should you. IF YOU USE A CANNED INTRO OR PHRASE I WILL NOTICE AND BE UPSET. Also, I don’t think any news site is good evidence and prefer you use actual research- not just reporting. 9 time out of 10, a news source will cite something else, and it's lazy citationing on your part to not cite the original source.
When you clash- you cannot just tell someone that they're wrong. You have to either weigh your impacts against theirs and tell the chamber why your impact is preferable, or prove their link chain is incorrect. The latter your speech is, the more clash I expect to see. If you're giving constructive speeches late into a round, I will not rank you well, if at all.
For POs- I want to interject as little as possible (someone asking for tournament rules, like about hard stops, does not hurt you). How smoothly the round runs is your main job and will reflect on your rank. If there are a lot of recesses for people to write because they are not prepared, then you will do worse. You should manage the round and that includes making sure people will have future speeches.
Hi, I'm Adrita! McNeil '22 UT Austin '26
email: raychaudhuriadrita04@gmail.com
I did LD for 4 years, competing on the tfa circuit mostly and some on the nat circuit before online debate burnout lol. I qualified to TFA state my sophomore junior and senior yearsm breaking my senior year, as well as NSDA nats as a junior.
I will vote off of anything that isn't morally repugnant (sexism/homophobia/racism/etc. good) as long as you are doing the work to tell me why you're winning. That being said, I was a policy debater for the most part so I understand the CP/DA debate the best but this did become boring at times so I occasionally ran T/theory, Ks (cap/set col), and low level phil (kant/rawls/hobbes type stuff).
please don't read tricks. or an underview with 76 blips where 1 becomes 3 min of the 2ar. also friv theory is a pretty hard ballot to win in front of me, my threshold for a response is very low. also eval after 1nc/1ar will make me upset
prefs -
1 - larp
2 - T/theory, K(cap/set col), phil (basic kant/hobbes/rawls)
3 - dense pomo/id pol Ks, anything beyond basic phil, K affs
4 - friv thoery/tricks (i will be sad if i have to judge tricks)
random things: time yourself, i'm good with flex prep, idc if u sit or stand during speeches
speaks go down if your mean
speaks go up if you make good strategic choices, or make me laugh
good luck, have fun, and make sure you're learning! ask me any questions you want
I am a retired speech and debate coach. I coached almost all the events. I was a policy debater in high school and college (a long time ago).
Congress:
Be prepared. It is frustrating to take multiple in house recesses because nobody has a speech. Be active in the chamber (ask questions, make helpful motions or suggestions). Refute and/or reference previous speakers. Please don’t rehash. I love a good synthesis speech but don’t often see them. Good Presiding Officers are appreciated and will get ranked well.
Speech:
Public Speaking: In general, I prefer a more natural/conversational style and audience engagement. Ideas should be well supported. Transitional movement should be natural and appropriate for whatever space you are in. In extemp, the points should directly answer the topic question and the sources should be recent. I'm big on content so I'm looking for depth of analysis. In Info. I like to hear an interesting topic that isn't something everyone already knows about. Visuals should not be static - i.e. just a bunch of small pictures. In oratory, I appreciate good content balanced with humor. The solution section shouldn't just be a sentence or two.
Interp: Again, I prefer natural, believable characters. I appreciate good technique but it shouldn't be the focus. Put me in the moment with you and make me feel.
Debate:
I default policymaker but will vote for critical frameworks. If you are going to run a K, however, you should assume that I have not read the lit. and will need clear explanation. Things I like to see in a debate round: impact calculus, evidence comparison, clear signposting (If you make me guess where it goes on the flow, it might not be on my flow.) Please, please, please extend your offense. Things I don't like to see: blippy theory arguments, reading 5-10 pieces of evidence that all say basically the same thing combined with no analysis of how it responds to the argument, repeating arguments rather than extending them. Don’t go for everything in 2NR. Don’t kick the puppy rule: If you are clearly winning the round against a much less experienced team, be kind. Please feel free to ask me questions before the round.
Speed: Slow down on tags and authors (and anything else you want on my flow). I don’t care how fast you read evidence. I broke my right thumb in a car accident and although it has healed, writing is still painful. Speech drop or an email chain would be much appreciated.
I competed in public forum and extemp, and occasionally congress, for three years in high school. I've judged tournaments both online and in-person and am familiar with the format both ways.
Public Forum
I am fine with most types of arguments and will flow them in round. State an off-time road map outlining your speech prior to reading it.
I am not flowing/voting off of crossfire, but rather listening for knowledge of your own case and ability to ask questions to minimize confusion in round (clarification, contradictions in evidence, etc). Note that crossfire is not the time to continue an argument, but rather to ask and answer.
I am great with any speed. I flow contentions, impacts, extensions, statistics, and weighing of the round. Make sure you have a warrant and extend your impacts throughout the round. Know when to drop certain aspects of the round, and hit hard on why your team wins by weighing in final focus (mag, prob, time, etc).
Theory is fine, but if competing against novices, think twice about its usefulness before bringing it up in round. Don't bring up new arguments in summary or final focus (general rule), especially if there's no direct connection to any of the arguments carried throughout the debate. Use prep time if you're going to ask for multiple cards in round.
LD
I did not debate LD in high school and have only judged rounds. Explain technical lingo when using it and I will judge similarly based off PF. I will also look at how your framework fits your case and encourage clash with your opponent.
Send cases to dishadots@gmail.com.