I have been actively coaching for over 15 years. I have been coaching and judging Public Forum Debate since its first appearence at the state tournament. I prefer a reasonable rate of delivery. I do not prefer over use of debate jargon in Public Forum Debate. During the rounds I prefer to take bullet point notes on key points of the respective arguments. I value both argument and style. I find logical and persuasive arguments valuable. My expectations for debaters to treat each other with respect.

Cooper's Paradigm -

To be able to judge a round, competitors must speak loud and slow enough for me to understand their arguments. Arguments should be supported by evidence along with sound reasoning. Dropped points do not necessarily win a round.

LD Debate- focus on values. Why is your value better than another's? Explain and analyze values and criteria please! How do you uphold your criterion and/or how do you uphold your opponent's criterion? Show me and tell me why a dropped argument matters. If, on the flow, your opponent drops one or more of your salient points, tell me why that matters and analyze that argument in order to carry it through for you. Be cordial, especially during CX, be professional and have fun. The point is to clash and to learn.

I find that it is best to judge on what's being said and understood rather than the largest amount of evidence presented. I want to see competitors use their voice to convince me of their position rather than sprout out tons of pieces of evidence. I want ethos, pathos and logos in your arguments. That being said, I need to hear the arguments so rate of speech is key for me, especially in cross examination.

If you are sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, or ableist you will lose my vote.

About me:

I was a policy debater in the 90s.

Congress:

I want to see good speeches with meaning, not just a lot of speeches. You'll win more points from me with one better defined speech than three poor speeches. Be respectful of your fellow senators.

CX:

I lean toward a tabula rasa mindset when it comes to CX. I want to see a good clean debate, tell me where you win and how. I look at the flow and see where the winning points are and the better policy option wins.

LD:

This style of debate should not be able cramming as much information as possible into your speech. Speak clearly.

LD is a values debate and should be won based on how you best uphold your value. State your value and value criterion clearly. Then explicitly link your arguments and criterions back to these.

The weight of decision goes too who best upholds their value and/or can incorporate their opponent's value into their own.

All Debaters:

Just because a weak argument has been dropped doesn't mean you'll win on this point. If you have 10 points and lose on 9 but your opponent drops one you'll still lose.

I am the time keeper and my time piece is right. I don't mind self timing but don't bother with "and time starts now" when you start talking I'll start my time. I give hand signals starting at 3 minutes.

I don't find tricks where you paint your opponent into a box they cannot debate in convincing. Everyone has prepared for the same topic, let's debate on that.

Finally, treat each other with respect.

Add me to the card exchange: DebateDrea@yahoo.com