Hi! My name is Abby and I debated in PF all four years of high school and dabbled a little in congress as well! I have competed on the local circuit in New York and Iowa as well as the national circuit, so I have been exposed to many different styles of debate.

I am 100% Tech > truth. I will vote for completely bogus arguments if they are not properly refuted, but I will be sad so please don’t make me do that.

Add me to the email chain: abbybonat@gmail.com

Speed: I can handle fast paced rounds but if you are going to spread I expect you to send a speech doc to everyone in the room/zoom call.

Framework: I don’t really like framework because it limits the possibility for an interesting weighing debate, but that’s just my opinion. I will not penalize you for running it as long as you warrant it. Don’t just state your framework without telling me why I should prefer it over util.

**Please tell me which side of the flow you are starting on before giving your speech! With that being said, do not give a 5 minute off time roadmap.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE signpost clearly!!

First Rebuttal: just use this time to respond to your opponent’s case and weigh if time permits. You do not need to go back and extend your case since there is no ink on it yet.

Second Rebuttal: you should always frontline in second rebuttal (especially turns!) i also think it's strategic to collapse here! If there are turns on a contention you MUST either concede to any delinks or frontline the turn. Dropping the contention does not drop the turn!

DO NOT EXTEND THROUGH INK

Summary: I do not require defense in first summary but I do think it is strategic to extend turns! You should also start weighing here if you haven’t already!

Weighing: Your weighing must be comparative! I will be very sad if you just say “we outweigh on magnitude” without any further explanation. Thats not weighing!! I will be very pleased to see metaweighing or at least see you respond to your opponents’ weighing and tell me why I should prefer your’s. Also, I would really like to see evidence weighing. If there are two pieces of conflicting evidence in the debate you must tell me why to prefer your's instead of just repeating your evidence over again.

I have ZERO tolerance for any sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. If i see anyone behaving inappropriately or overall making the debate space uncomfortable i will drop you and report to tab without hesitation.

Cross fire: I will not flow but I will listen. If something important happens it must be brought up in a speech. Mentioning in cross fire does not equal extending!

Please keep a consistent narrative through the round! Do not decide to collapse on a contention and then change your mind. This means your final focus should follow the same format as your partner’s summary.

I will not call for evidence that is not refuted in the round. However, if i read your evidence and it does not say what you say it says, I will be less likely to buy anything else you read. If you feel your opponent is practicing bad evidence ethics, feel free to use that as a voter in the round. Nothing makes me more mad than power tagged evidence!!

Extend claim, warrant, and impact! Do not just extend your impact evidence and expect me to vote off it.

I began debating PF (and Parliamentary on occasion) in 2014 for my high school debate team, during that time I competed in regional and national tournaments as a part of New York City Urban Debate League. Since then I’ve worked in debate education with NYCUDL, where I coach multiple forms of debate and assist in tournament administration.

When judging I focus on presentation as well as arguments. I look for clear, concise arguments with claims, warrants and evidence— frameworks are encouraged. From a teaching perspective, the debate should be understandable to non-debaters and debaters alike. Please don’t speak too fast. I enjoy evidence comparison and weighing, this is vital for my judging style. As a debater, you should focus on convincing me why to vote for you. Explain the impact, contextualize, extend it and crystallize why it matters over your opponents.

Most importantly, debate should be fun for all: keep the round respectful, ethical and appropriate.

I believe the best debaters are able to identify the conflict in the round specifically (i.e., where the most clashes happened) and crystallize for the judge how their side won the conflict by either upholding the core value better or yielding the most benefits socially and/or individually. Flow does matter: you should try to carry your case throughout the round (I won't accept new arguments in the final speech). Philosophical arguments or more esoteric tactics like counterplan and critiques in policy can win the round, if well-executed. Finally, delivery does matter and each student should strive to be clear and poised in their speeches. I will generally evaluate substance over style but in a very, very close round the better speaker could win on better speeches.