Mayde Creek Ram Classic TFA Tournament
2023 — Houston, TX/US
Congress Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HideI've been judging various forms of speech and debate events on local, state and national levels since 2013. Head coach of St. John's School since 2020.
I have no event specific expectations on what should happen, I prefer everything to be spelled out in round. I do not like intervening.
Speaker points are a tie-breaker, so I am a bit more conservative with them, but that doesn't mean I'll tank your points unless you're unclear, have frequent speech errors, go over time, or if you're rude. Expect an average 27.5-29.5 range in PF/LD/CX and a range of 68-72 in Worlds and a 3-5 range in Congress. Perfect speaks reserved for those who truly exemplify great public speaking skills. Rudeness can also be a cause for a team losing.
Don't assume I know anything, explain as if you were talking to someone non-specialized in whatever subject matter you're speaking on.
Ask before round any further questions you might have.
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For WSD
I will be following the conventions and norms from the WSD mandatory judge training.
This is a debate event, where you speak. Your speech and rhetoric must be at the forefront of your competition.
"There are no new waves, only the sea" - Claude Chabrol
Your arguments must be concise and CLEAR. These are not practice rounds. Every round is a test that you face against yourself before you even begin responding to your opponents claims. Do you understand your arguments?
I will flow the round, but I will not flow for you, as in I will not make extensions unless stated, and I will not place arguments on the flow, you must tell me where to apply them.
SPEED: I can generally follow along as long as things are clear, but on a 1/10 scale, I'm at like a 5.
I am a policy maker at heart, I like to evaluate the arguments you make and then from there, I will look at your metrics. So please define your metrics for winning the round and tell me why your arguments are more substantial.Set a metric in the round, then tell me why you/y'all have won your metric, while your opponent(s) has lost their metric and/or you/y'all have absorbed their metric.
On the speech side: I want to see speeches that give a thesis and tell me what's happening in the larger topic area. Idc about sources as much as I care about logical arguments.
On the IE side: technique, efficiency of physical movements and blocking are important. Tone, volume, and timber are important things that your voice has to use to make me feel your performance.