This is my first year as an Assistant Speech and Debate coach for Bettendorf High School. My background in debate comes from my time as a student at Muscatine High School where I competed in both Policy and LD debate with a preference towards Policy.

1. Speed is just fine with me so long as you read clearly and at an appropriate volume. I prefer speakers don’t sacrifice expression for the sake of speed- please add emphasis to your arguments by slowing down during your contentions, sources, and key points. If your opponent is struggling to understand your speed I expect you to be a good sport and slow down.
2. Debate is meant to be FUN as well as challenging. I enjoy hearing creative interpretations and arguments so long as you show me you understand the argument you are making inside and out and that they are presented in a well supported manner. K’s are welcome.
3. I expect speakers to treat their competitors and judges with respect. While expressing passion during the debate is appreciated, I expect participants to interact with each other calmly and kindly before, during, and after the round.

I was a national and local circuit LD debater in high school. I now coach and judge LD, PF, Congress and Speech.

I like classic debates through and through.

So here's the rundown:

I will flow and I will vote off of the flow. So extend, sign post, and give me voting issues. Don't make me do the leg work at the end of the round.

I want you to engage in a discussion of the resolution or legislation. If the resolution or legislation asks you about jury nullification, I want to hear that term use and I want the substance of the debate to involve that concept.

If it sounds outlandish or illogical, it is probably outlandish and illogical. In this sense, creativity will not win you the debate.

If the crux of your case deals with the role of the judge, I will vote you down.

If you are going to launch into a debate about debate, I will vote you down.

If you use the round as a platform for your pet advocacy, I will vote you down.

I think moral skepticism is stupid.

I will not evaluate theory. If you feel cornered or that the AC doesn’t give you any ground, tell my why the Aff is abusive. I don’t care for shells.

FRAMEWORK. Please discuss it.

Counterplans are fine with me as long as they are competitive with strong links. Also, don't expect the Aff to have the perfect card to combat your unique counterplan.

I dislike spreading. I can flow quickly so talking fast is okay as long as you slow down for tags and impacts, but avoid full spreading. I will say clear and expect you to slow down.

That being said, I’m fine with some speed, but I strongly dislike spreading that overwhelms your opponent. I’m not going to go out of my way to ensure that I have your case perfectly flowed. So, use speed at your own risk.

In congress, I reward students who can read the round and fill the gaps. Do we need another affirmative speech on this legislation or would your speech be better spent refuting, summarizing and weighing existing points? I value smart debaters who use their time to benefit the debate, not just themselves. I would rather hear from you once at your best than twice for the sake of speaking twice. Quality over quantity ALWAYS.

I do value oratorical skill as a part of debate. Please talk TO me, not AT me.

Also, be civil. I will vote you down if I don't like how you treat your opponent(s). "Don't raise your voice, improve your argument"

Most importantly, I will vote for logic over tech every time.

TLDR I want a classic debate about the resolution or legislation. I value solid impacts, evidence, a good framework debate, and weighing. I reward solid presentation skills and respect between debaters. Spreading and theory will not help you.

If you have specific questions feel free to ask.

I prefer clearly articulated, rational argument over speed word vomit. A stronger presentation involves clear discussion of two or three main points, rather than a word gush of several points, within a short period of time.  To me, the latter signifies that the speaker has done merely superficial research into the issue up for debate and is just throwing out verbage without much thought or substance. 

Also, please don't waste precious time telling me "that's why I win" or "that's why my opponent loses." I know this is a competition and someone is going to win or lose.  I don't need you to tell me. Phrases like this are just filler that carry zero weight for me. Focus on the substance of the issue. Your substantive discussion of the issue is what will determine who wins the round. 

When I judge Congress, not only am I looking for arguments (claim/warrant/data/impact), I am looking at the quality of your presentation. Speech still applies to Debate. I look for a confident, passionate persuasive speech that asks us to affirm or negate. As a session progresses, I look to see follow up speeches that draw in other supporting Senators/Representatives, as well as refuting the opposition - including being presented more extemporaneously. If the topic makes you angry or frustrated, I want to see and hear that. If it makes you happy or satisfied, I want to see that, too. For Q&A blocks, I expect to see the level of prep that anticipates what others will ask after your speech. I look for confident, crisp answers. Thank you.

Hello, I’ve done speech and debate through all four years of high school, and I now compete in college. I competed in Public Forum, International Extemp and Oratory. I’ve competed at the nationals circuit in both public forum and International Extemp as well. I think Speech and Debate is a great tool to initiate meaningful civil discourse, for that reason, it’s imperative that you are respectful during rounds. If you are being unkind to your opponents, your partner or to me, you will get low speaks, and possibly the down in the round.

Speed

I truly believe in the idea that anyone should be able to walk into a round and understand what is happening (especially in PF). I can handle rapid conversational speed, but if you speak too fast, I will not be able to flow what is being said, and therefore will not be weighed in the round. I prefer quality arguments over quantity of arguments. If your strategy is to spread the other team in the Rebuttal, remember that the debate is meant to be educational, and spreading does lead to that. I don't believe that talking faster equates to being a good debater. That being said, I am not unreasonable; if you have to speak faster in the rebuttal, if you are second speaker or during summaries to cover everything the other team put out, that is acceptable.

Public Forum

I appreciate well-organized debaters who use effective signposting. I've noticed that debaters tend to be more successful when they can skillfully apply their own evidence and arguments to counter the opposing side's case, resulting in a more streamlined debate that centers on the quality of argumentation. I'm a flow judge, so keep a good flow.I really like contention level debate, but I also think I also weigh the framework debate heavily. In public forum, I've observed that summary speeches often neglect their own case by addressing too many arguments. To increase your chances of winning, defend your case and respond to the opposing team's previous arguments. I love line by line, but make sure you crystallize your points effectively, so I know what I am voting for. Likewise, if the opposing team overlooks critical arguments or drops, these are clear wins in my eyes, so please highlight them, unless you point it out, I can’t vote for it. For the final focus, I think it's best to focus on two or three primary voting issues. The last 15-20 seconds of your speech should be spent talking about impact calc, and why your arguments are better. Closing speeches need to be weighed if you run framework I expect you to pull it through throughout round and not just in the final focus to why you win the round. Also if you drop any of your contentions, and bring it up during final focus, don't expect me to vote for it, because it was dropped.

Flashing evidence: I won't take prep, but be quick with it.

LD

I have never debated it before. Most likely, I will not familiar with the topic. I have judged it before and I understand the value, criterion, and the works of LD, but I’m definitely not extremely well versed in it.

CX

I have never debated it before. Most likely, I will not be familiar with the topic. I have not judged it before but the debate forum I do in college closely lines up with it, I understand plans and advantages and DA's, stock issues etc. But bare with me because it is a very unknown/new type of debate for me.

Speech

Extemp: Please be sure to not abuse sources, I would much rather hear your analysis than you make up sources or numbers.

All of the other speech events: Do your thing, you’ll be great. Let me know if you want time signals when you get to 9/10 minutes.

Theories/ Kritiks

Once again, debate should promote education, and it’s best done when both teams have an equal opportunity to research a resolution. It is my inherent belief that intentionally debating issues outside of the realm of the resolution affects the fairness of the round. That being said, I am open to listening to any issues you believe in and to educate the people in the round; I am just not likely to give you the win.

You all are incredibly talented, and I’m so excited to watch you. Good Luck and you’ll be great. If you have any questions feel free to ask me during the round or feel free to email me at abiahsg@gmail.com if you have questions after the round.

I am a theatre director with a long background in performance, writing, and directing. My area of expertise is interpretive categories.

When judging speeches and interp categories, I expect to see confident, well-prepared, thoughtful, and honest speakers. I enjoy performances and speeches filled with creativity, emphasis on communication, and a heartfelt, honest quality that can't really be put into words. For any interp piece, your flashy tech and blocking is cool, but don't forget to ACT and make me BELIEVE what you're saying and doing! Please note that I judge also on your selection of literature. Any content with sexist, racist, classist, or ableist overtones will be scored accordingly. Speeches and interpretations on pieces regarding these matters are incredibly important, of course, but we must always consider whose voice is being amplified, and what exactly we are trying to communicate. Be wise and considerate!

In extemp & impromptu, speak confidently and passionately. Make good eye contact. Address the prompt in impromptu without going on random tangents that don't tie in. In extemp, make it possible for a layperson to understand. I enjoy extemps that are kind and educational, not just filled with tons of confusing facts and jargon.

For info, the visual is important. Be creative, or at least be neat. Be funny and engaging, but don't forget to INFORM!!

For duo, I expect to see balance between partners, strong emotional content, and some interesting tech and blocking. Tell the story with heart!

For DI, I expect to see something that I believe. That's really all I'll say.

For POI, I want to see something new, fresh, and original. Binder tech is cool and everything, but what are you saying? Why are YOU saying it? Make me believe what you're doing and talking about.

For HI, be creative with characters, have clean pops, have great forward energy, use an appropriate script, and don't choose something that just bags on women or minorities. Let's do better, yeah?

For all other speech categories, this is a SPEECH contest. The writing of your piece is extremely important of course, but it is your DELIVERY that really brings it home!

Plain and simple: communicate. If you don't communicate with me and your audience, you missed your mark. I will do everything in my feedback to help you improve. I am not the kind of judge who will just destroy you with rude feedback (unless you are rude to me). Problematic content and jokes will be pointed out, I have zero tolerance for them (and I'm not talking about language, I'm talking about openly promoting oppression). My goal is to help you improve wherever you are at. If you're at nationals ready to hit the final stage, great. If you're just starting, all the more power to you. Everyone can get better at this activity.

If you desire more feedback, you may always email me at ehageman@siouxlandchristian.org.

Hello, and thank you for competing!

A Little About Me

I competed in Lincoln-Douglas debate for four years at Sioux Falls Washington High School. I also did speech and interp events for all four years, specifically Info, Non-O, and Impromptu. I'm currently on Arizona State University's Oxford debate team for the 2024 Regent's Cup Tournament. I like dogs more than cats and enjoy a good gyro.

If I'm Judging PF...

I started my debate career in PF in the fall of 2019. I transitioned to LD in January of 2020, and I haven't done any PF since. If I'm your PF judge, bear my lack of recent experience in mind. Go slower, and err towards logical arguments rather than torrents of arguments and voters hinging solely on dropped cards. In short, cut my poor LD brain some slack.

If I'm Judging LD...

I consider myself a traditional Lincoln-Douglas judge. The value and criterion debate are of paramount importance, and should be treated as such. The debater who wins my ballot will not always be who wins the flow, but rather who convinces me the arguments they are making are achieving the value that is winning the round. This being said, I recognize the importance of strong contention level arguments, so be thorough in all speeches.

Strong voters are incredibly important, especially to the aff. In the final aff speech, the entire time should be spent on voters, and I generally recommend a first voter on the value/criterion debate before going into the contentions.

On speed, I will not flow anything I cannot understand. I top out at around a rapid conversational pace, so spread at your own risk. The purpose of debate is to instill public speaking and argumentation skills in students, and this purpose is negated if debaters are encouraged to argue in a manner indecipherable to the public at large.

In this vein, I will not consider Kritiks, Counter-Plans, or other policy refugee-esque arguments in LD debate. Just as a baseball player does not have to worry about their opponent pulling out a cricket bat, a debater should not have to worry that their opponent might attempt to play by an entirely different set of rules. This being said, I'm a sucker for a good topicality debate, and I enjoy RA and observation arguments. A general rule of thumb is "does this argument interpret the intent of the resolution, or does it attempt to circumvent or nullify the resolution?" If an argument falls under the former, go right ahead. If it falls under the latter, I'd advise saving it for a different judge.

Generally, I'm a Tech over Truth judge, but if a truly outlandish argument is made in round (an argument that the KKK helped race relations in the south after reconstruction is a particularly salient example I recall from my debate years), a brief statement pointing it out as such will be sufficient.

I flow all arguments given in a round. I do not flow cards. If you wish to make an argument, you will have to actually make that argument (claim, evidence, warrant, etc). You can't just say "O'Connor 11 says climate change will kill us all." In this vein, when pulling through arguments, you have to reiterate the thrust of the argument itself, you can't just say "Pull through O'Connor 11 which proves my opponent can't access...whatever." If you try this, odds are I have no recollection of what O'Connor 11 is, as I only write down "climate change will kill us all." In this vein, I don't believe all arguments have to be derived from cards. A well-reasoned analytic argument will beat a poorly reasoned card every time. So debate with arguments, not by volume of cards, and pull the arguments, not the card through to win my flow.

Don't try bringing up new arguments in the 2NR or (God forbid) in the 2AR. It won't work. I won't flow it. Please save my (and, more importantly, your) time through crystallizations and voters.

A minor final point: I enjoy historical allusions. If you have a command for history, and can give a historical comparison (or, even better, if you can poke holes in an opponent's historical comparison), do so. It will both give you extra speaker points, and make my heart glad.

If I'm Judging Speech/Interp...

I did just about every speech event over my years in high school, and understand the requirements of each. I especially enjoy info, and particularly like speeches about oddball topics nobody cares about (my senior year info was about early South Dakota political scandals). I also reject the infusion of OO formats into info. Thus, I ding infos for including overtly persuasive language or calls to action. The requirement of the event is to INFORM me about something, not to PERSUADE me to do something.

All things considered, I would prefer to not give time signals during speech and interp events (except extemp/impromptu). I want to give you every chance to suck me into your story/argument, and that is inhibited if I'm constantly worrying about looking at the clock and putting up the right hand gesture and the right time. Also, your writing, cutting, and performances in these events are set before a tournament begins. While I understand that at the beginning of a season pieces are often in flux, by the middle and end of a season, you should know that your piece runs under ten minutes. It shouldn't be on the judge to do that for you. Therefore, I will still give whatever signals you ask for, but know that I'll be more distracted during your piece if I'm thinking about signals and if I'm judging a close round at the end of a season, and the only thing distinguishing two pieces is that one competitor asked for time signals every other minute, I'm going to give the round to the competitor who didn't ask for time signals on the grounds that they know their piece better than their opponent knows theirs.

A Word on Common Courtesy...

In debate, be respectful to your opponent. I will not tolerate belittling, rudeness, or offensive language. Recently, I have noticed a troubling trend in Nat Circuit debates of overt rudeness and disrespect in round. Such actions are counterintuitive to growing the activity of debate; after all, who wants to join an activity where they just get yelled at and insulted every weekend. If you engage in such behaviors in round, it will be reflected in your speaker points, and (if particularly egregious), in the result of the round.

In speech events, I will rank you lower if you are disrespectful, loud, distracting, or obviously not paying attention. Speaking to an obviously disinterested audience just plain sucks. As competitors, we can have the basic decency to at least appear like we care about what the other person is saying. If I notice someone being overtly disrespectful or disinterested (eg: falling asleep, talking with another person during a piece), it will be reflected in the result of the round. So, pay attention. And for heaven's sake, DON'T LOOK AT YOUR PHONE!

In short, to quote Bill and Ted, "be excellent to one another."

If you have questions/comments/concerns/funny dog videos/information about Jimmy Hoffa, please email me at jarhinrichs@gmail.com. Alternatively, you can ask me anything you need to know before a round starts. Or after a round ends. Really, any time that isn't the middle of a speech works.

Thank you for reading, and have an excellent round!

I'll vote on anything so long as it is justified and I can follow the logic (I do not take a sense on if the logic is truly logical, rather if there is a chain I can follow), absent anything grossly offensive (racism, sexism, homophobia, etc). Please be nice to your opponent. I give high speaks and take the time to make a decision that I can fully justify the logic of.

Especially over zoom, try to slow things down. It's been 5+ years since I competed in VLD, so not as good at keeping up with spread as I was. Dense phil Ks I'll have trouble understanding. I'll vote on them (as I'm open to any type of argument), but it will be a dangerous strat. I love theory and think the curcuit needs more of it. I also think that the general structure of theory/Ks are beneficial to judges understanding, but I make no requirement that anything be structured in a standard shell.

PF (everyone, but PF especially) - I will be highly skeptical of any cards and will probably call for them if the warrant is paraphrased. I highly recommend cutting the cards with direct quotes instead.

Include me on email chains.

Hello! I am a former high school debater for Okoboji where I did LD all three years. Currently a high school science teacher and NSDA speech and debate coach for Waukee High School. This is my second year of coaching and judging. I frequently judge LD and IEs.

rowens@waukeeschools.org

DEBATE:

tldr: I flow and should hear clear extensions, turns, and weighing; Speed is fine, but check with your opponents before spreading; be thorough and respectful.

Flow: I will judge based on what I've flowed and what you tell me the voters are. Evidence should be prevalent and should also be clearly linked and explained. Don't just read a card without telling us why it's important. When extending, tell us what you're extending and why. You do not need to reread the entire card during your extension.

Speed: Speaking quickly is fine, but it should not come at the price of your clarity or depth of argument. I prefer not to flow spreading, especially on the local circuit. I will say "slow" or "clear". If myself AND your opponents are not able to keep up, you need to slow and speak clearer. Debate should still be accessible to all, so please check with your opponents on whether they are comfortable with spreading as well.

Weighing: Need to link to your framework; if what you're weighing doesn't match the value/criterion of the round, it won't have much strength.

Theory, Ks, etc: Have limited experience running and responding to these in LD. Generally not preferred in the local circuit. If you make a warranted argument, I will judge it. I will not automatically vote against you for running it, but these are not the preferred main arguments to be run.

Speaks: Generally give speaks between 26-29. Use your time, try to make solid arguments, respond to your opponents, be courteous during the round for higher speaks. Lower speaks if you are rude, make short speeches without addressing all relevant arguments, or are lying.

BS- Speech Communication, MBA. Competed at the National Level in IE events. Qualified for NFA and AFA NIET in persuasion/info/extemp/impromptu. Graduate Assistant for a Department of Theatre.

Limited Prep:

Looking for clear speech structure and signposting. Would rather hear a really great, thought out speech than a rushed speaker that should have used more prep time.

Prose/POI/HI/DI/Duo etc:

Looking for clear defined character development and script selection.

Info/Persuasion etc:

Looking for well researched and cited speeches in memorized events. Bonus points for compelling topics.

*In all events: will reward polished events and good sportsmanship amongst competitors when on the fence! Looking for language that is appropriate for all ages, unless the omission would significantly impact the script.

Affiliations:
2010-24: Lakeville North High School (MN)
2024-: Edina High School (MN)

Did Policy Debate in the late 90s & coached Policy and then later LD in the 00s. In that time, my students qualified to NSDA Nationals and the TOC. Since 2011 I have primarily coached limited prep and platform Speech events and some Congress. I taught at Gustavus Speech and PF camps when those were still around and have been teaching Extemp Speaking at ISD since 2018.

When I coached Debate, I preferred a faster, more technical approach, but time away from active coaching means I've not kept up with how the events have evolved. If fast and technical are your preferred style, I'll try to keep up but no promises that I can entirely. Podcasts at 2.5x aren't quite the same so please watch and adjust. Chances are I'm unfamiliar with topic-specific lit or whatever critical lit is currently in style so you may need to do more connecting of the dots to keep me on the same page as you. For familiarity and thresholds for types of arguments, please feel free to ask before the round.