Hi,

I'm a new judge for congressional debate. I'm excited to be here today and look forward to listening to you. I will be taking notes so I will not be continuously making eye contact even though I will be fully engaged at all times. I wish you best of luck!

Hello! I’m new to judging and excited to support you on your journey in Speech and Debate.

Please keep a good pace and avoid jargons and acronyms. I will be evaluating your speech presence (your tone, eye contact, posture, inflections, etc) and your debate skills (i.e.the strengths of your argument), paying close attention to your ability to grab my attention and have carefully selected citations. Having a respectful debate is important, so focus on the arguments of others and how you can prove/disprove their points.

I am generally a flow judge and can follow fast paced debate.

Framework should be established and followed throughout the round. Tell me why your framework is superior and back up your claim with evidence in contentions. If there is no framework debate, the round will rely on weighing evidence in contentions.

Contentions should be clearly stated with supporting evidence and analysis. Your evidence should be fully explained and analyzed as to its impact on the debate. I prefer evidence be referred to by subject/topic throughout the round rather than simply the author's name. Know your evidence well enough defend it in cross-examination.

Your case should be organized, focused and come to a reasonable conclusion that convinces me to vote in your favor. Failure to communicate the importance of evidence, weighing values and impacts, or extending key arguments may result in a loss.

I have experience judging since 2022 and have judged about 7+ rounds. Judging is based on looking for following criteria:
Content: organization of speech, evidences, language used

Pace of speech: very important

Projection and Posture during speech

Pronounciation

Eye contact with audience (not glued to the paper)

Traditional LD judge. This is not policy. I look for a solid clash of values throughout and would prefer that you avoid jargon as much as possible. A thoughtful and well-supported value structure is more important to me than individual cards.

I prefer that when you are speaking you speak clearly. If you are talking too fast and I miss some of your information I consider that to be your fault.

I do not mind if you sit or stand.

I haven't competed in this event in almost 10 years. But spreading is heavily discouraged. If I can't understand your argument, it doesn't matter.

I am a lay judge with some experience in public forum and speech, and limited experience in Lincoln Douglas and Congress.

Please don’t spread or do anything that would make it hard for me to understand you.

Tell me why you are winning, tell me what’s important, don’t make it hard for me to figure that out. WEIGH.

If you have a speech document and are comfortable with sharing it, that would ensure that I do not miss anything you say.

My email is djacobs@mytruloan.com if you want to share anything.

I am a parent judge with little experience judging PF, Congress or Speech events. I prefer that you don't talk too fast or spread - I need to be able to understand what you're saying in order to judge its merits.

I take a lot of notes and will try to judge on the flow. For PF, please clearly articulate your contentions, back them up with warrants and support with strong evidence. I don't fully flow Crossfire or Cross-Ex, so anything important that you want noted, please extend in your next speech, and make it clear why it's important to your case or detracts from your opponent's. Please don’t run progressive debate unless something extreme has happened in the round, I will not know how to evaluate it.

By your final focus or last speech, you should have made a convincing case why your impacts or value out-weigh your opponent's. And in keeping with the rules of debate, do not bring up any new arguments in the second half of a round, or they will be disregarded. Good luck and have fun!”