Last changed on
Sun March 10, 2024 at 10:48 PM CDT
Hello Speakers and Debaters,
As of writing this, I expect to be judging several debate events and speech. A few general statements across all events to start with.
- I will vote down any actively discriminatory arguments based on race, gender, sexuality, religion, etc. Be good human beings within the space and outside of it
- Clarity of speaking is important across speech AND debate events. I view this activity as a form of communication if you are going to spread cases do so intentionally and well practiced.
- Show good sportsmanship to your competitors in and out of the round. If I see or hear any contestants badmouthing or being rude to other contestants I will mark it on ballots and let coaches know. We're all here to learn and make an environment where everyone is comfortable to do so.
Debate events
CX- I debated CX as a trad debater. I primarily did it on the TFA circuit and not NSDA. I understand more complex argumentation styles (Ks, theory, etc) and am willing to hear them in rounds. SPREAD WITH INTENTION.
PF- PF is an event meant to be judged by anyone off the street. I will use that as a metric when judging, but won't base ballots on that alone. Don't spread in PF :(. I'm fine if you're going to do more progressive arguments (make it CX), but it will still be judged as a PUBLIC forum.
Congress- Don't be rude to your peers. Make questioning intentional. I love to see students taking action when it comes to setting the docket in rounds and communicating effectively with each other to make the rounds run smoother. While this is a debate event, I do judge it very similar to speech.
Speech Events
If you're reading paradigms for speech, good on you I never remembered to check for it. I expect clean clear tags on all evidence. A well-thought structure no matter how complex is an important aspect. In all speeches, you should have variations in tone. For each event, I am willing to give time signals that can be discussed before starting the speech. I will allow you to time yourselves but will be keeping my own time that will go on the ballots. Yes, you can ask for your time after speaking :).
