I did Public Forum for 3 years and am now a debater at Whitworth University!

General things to keep in mind:

1) I can keep up with speed, but be clear on taglines (Spreading ok, but if I don't catch it, it won't go on my flow; so be sure I catch it.)

2) Be respectful in round; I do not mind being assertive in cross etc. but direct insults and other forms of disrespect will result in low speaker points. Do not speak/whisper while your opponents are speaking. Disrespect will result in speaks being docked.

3) No impact = no voter; tell me why your evidence matters. Do not just read cards with no analysis.

I do not flow cross.

Definition and framework debates are not my favorite, so if you debate on fw/def make it worth everyone's time.

You may time yourself, but my time is the official time. If you want hand signals ask, otherwise none will be given.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me before round starts :)

If you ever have a question on a round that you feel wasn’t answered in rfd and feedback you may email me, and I will hopefully respond in a timely matter. clairebacon06@gmail.com

I am a volunteer and this is my third year judging. I appreciate a professional debate, devoid of rudeness. Please keep your delivery relatively slow and clear. I do not like spreading. I like arguments that are organized, cohesive, and provide rational support. I appreciate signposting and I appreciate clear analysis of why you should win in the final focus. Have fun! Be proud of yourself! What you are doing is amazing!!!

As a debate judge, I value a few things:

-Signposting: Please tell me where you are at in the flow to assist in my ability to accurately judge the round. This will also be extra powerful in points of clash -- show me where your cases are in direct contention with one another and why your side should be preferred.

-Cards/Evidence: I get that evidence matters in a debate round. I honestly don't place a lot of value in a lot of a round being focused on when an article was published or when a study was conducted ... like I get that it matters and can be important to a round, but I much so value your wholistic arguments and ideas in your case over niche disputes on sources.

-Impacts: By making your impacts clear and concise, I am better able to understand the most important/essential elements of your argument.

-Voters: By the end of the round, you should be able to tell me why you won the round.

At the end of the day, I am not a very picky judge! I want to see you do what you do best.

Congres:

I want to see you bring your own personality to your argument style, if you like using props and visuals, use them (as long as it does not waste time), if you prefer citing various legal documents instead, go for it, whatever works best for your speech style. Amendments are welcome, as are caucuses for dockets or votes. I prefer a more formal chamber and follow the NSDA Congressional book. Your speeches should not be re-iterations of speeches I have already heard unless you have something new to that argument and need to recap the concept briefly. I love it when people respond to the chamber and use Clash in Questioning.

Remember that in the end congress is a performance for the judge and have fun with it.

Parli Notes:

Please as a PO open space for paradigms for judges, and if you have questions about policy/procedure I usually try to have the first few minutes (below 10) open for questions before nominations. This is not speech time or judged but is meant to help you. This can be anything from how to go to the bathroom during the round, to what is a caucus and why it exists. I keep my recency/precedency digitally and if you would like a copy it is in excel sheet and you just have to ask.

I am here to help you

Policy:

I am doing a form of Policy in college debate called CARD, the biggest difference being that we do not spread in this forum. What this means for you is that I can handle fast talking, I did LD for three years, but I can not manage spreading. As I can not have your personal emails, I usually wont be in the email chain for disclosure so make sure to slow down for taglines and analytic arguments. Remember to provide order/roadmap before your speech and have fun. I usually judge on flow clarity and how well you argued the ideas in the round.

I'm a parent judge who has been judging nearly every tournament for 6 years for my kids.

No Swearing.

No spreading. I can't understand it, and if I can't understand you, I can't judge you and that's sad.

Sign post. If you don't sign post then I get to guess where what you say applies and you don't want me to do that. I often don't guess correctly.

Provide impact(s). Tell me why what you said is important. It should not be a restatement of your contention.

Don't make me think for myself. Please tell me how to think, how to judge how to apply your arguments. Otherwise I have to use my own bias to draw the lines, no one wants this. Not even me. I will take the path of least resistance to a ballot. If one is better explained, I will go with that one. Make sure your case is well-explained.

For CX
hlsoderquist@gmail.com for document sharing.

• Use 5th grader terms. While I am aware of Ks, T args, perms and the like, my knowledge comes from their use in LD, so my depth is lacking. If you accidently use a term in round please explain it.

• Seriously, please don't spread. I'm sorry. I will say out loud "clear" if you are going too fast. Most likely, you are going too fast. I'm sorry. Slow down on taglines, contention names, and other very important issues...like your case. I'm sorry.

• I think linearly, so don't rely on my ability to multi-thread thoughts in order to get through your links to your impacts. Keep it simple OR clearly connect it for me. If it is muddy or I don't get it, I will not vote on it. Your job is to explain your case to me in a way that I can vote and understand it. In other words, I am a flow judge.

• If you "kick" something, please tell me the tagline or contention or argument name and instead say We or I am dropping this. If not, once again, I will guess what you dropped, and that could be really bad.

• My favorite cases are ones that outline their case, support it with evidence, explain the evidence and tell me what and why I am voting for them. Contentions - Impacts - Voters

• If you change the role of the ballot, tell me what triggered it, why it is more important than the resolution and what the new role is. I will then be able to decide if I want to use your new ballot, or if your arugment is lacking I will keep the current one. This must be a rock solid argument and trigger for the new role.

• I will go wherever you take me. I am happy to entertain any debates backed by evidence and a clear train of thought. Nuclear war, extinction, fascism, and all the things are on the table. But please argue them with tact and warrants and clearly show me how we will get there. If you can do this, I am willing to judge it and weigh it in the round.

• Thanks for accommodating me and good luck.

For PF, if you use a RA, make sure your contentions support your analysis. Ensure I know why it is important to judge on that analysis.

For LD, I expect a traditional LD debate on moral grounds tied to a value and seen through the lens of your value criterion. Make sure all of your contentions support that value/value criterion.

I like a clear case with well defined arguments. I am an Industrial Automation Engineer who designs autonomous machinery. Give me facts and data to judge by. No fear mongering. Emotional arguments will not impress me.

I'm a flow judge so I'm going to vote based on what was said in the round. This means be explicitly clear as to why you are winning the round, not just the individual arguments (WEIGH). How should I be viewing the round and what is the most important ballot issues.

If an argument is dropped, I'll flow it for you, but just saying it was dropped is not a winning voter. You need to tell me why that argument is explicitly winning relative to whats happening in the rest of the round (true for any argument really).

Feel free to ask any specific questions you may have.