I was a successful high school and college debater, and I believe in clear, accessible, well-paced, and well-organized argumentation. I flow debates. I value debaters who listen carefully to the opposition’s arguments. I am not impressed by any kind of esoteric debate jargon. I hate spreading and other approaches to debate that deprioritize basic public speaking skills. I am a professor of political theory, so I get cranky when people misrepresent philosophers or cherry-pick quotations from them. I believe that humor, decency, vulnerability, and creativity—not just reason and evidence giving—make better debates and debaters.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11jZDk15UIPhhyBojzFnXayCETBt36yUnRHWGgTizBEI/edit?usp=sharing

I am familiar with all forms of debate and have a particular interest in LD, Public Forum, and Parli. I debated on the national circuit in college and have been coaching for about 17 years. I am fine with speed, as long as I can understand what you are saying. However, I am not a fan of extreme spreading and do not think it is a skill set that benefits competitive debate, nor is it a skill set that I believe will help students in their future lives. I am familiar with all forms of arguments, theory, etc. I am open to all of them as long as they are well articulated. To be honest I am not a fan of kritiks based on semantics.

I most greatly appreciate debate that uses logic and sound reasoning supported by relevant and credible sources. In LD make sure you are supporting your value and criterion with the rest of your case. I find it disappointing when a debater presents their value/criterion and then almost never references them again throughout the debate; novice mistake!

I believe I evaluate every round with fairness and expectations that deserve the division in which you are entered (novice/JV/open). Do not make up facts and/or evidence. If I feel like you present false evidence intentionally I will inform Tabroom and urge them to punish you accordingly. I definitely will increase speaker points for those who speak with respectful conviction and enthusiasm. If you sound bored, I will be twice as bored. I do not award wins to those who speak "pretty" just because they speak "pretty". I will increase your speaker points but I award wins based overwhelmingly on the logic and comparative analysis you offer.

Congressional Debate: Show a good understanding of the bills presented and make a clear argument of your stance. Engage in the debate with good questions that challenge opposing sides, and be prepared to answer questions form the opposing side that challenges your stance. Be confident in the arguments that you present, but also respectful to your opponents.

Hello Competitors! My name is Gracie. I am 20 years old. I competed in speech and debate events in all four years of my high school career, specializing in debate events. I was a debate captain for two years and this is my first year coaching a debate team. Use any technical debate terms you want - I will understand.

I will be flowing the round, but if arguments are dropped, they will not be carried through the flow unless you make that clear to me during argumentation. What I really want is to be personally moved and convinced. I prefer you don't spread!If I/your opponents were not able to hear the arguments presented and understand what you delivered then it did not happen on my flow. I will likely be timing for my record but I will not time for competitors unless absolutely necessary- I.E. forgotten phone, timer, dead computer. All arguments and questioning should be directed at me to convince me and they should remain civil.

For LD I will be judging heavily on moral implications of your arguments and less on statistics. That being said, statistics still come into play and evidence is still important. Evidence should be used to pull on my heartstrings for LD's morality-based topics.

What I will judge on:

-Quality of arguments

-Clear presentation

-Evidence quality and recency

-Speaking skills and presentation

What I will not judge on:

-Clothing/Appearance

-Pleasantries before or after round (no bonus points for extra niceness/handshaking/etc)

-Technological advantage/ability

-Normal/unavoidable speaking flaws

I am a volunteer parent with over a year’s experience judging speech and debate events. I judge for a number of reasons, most importantly is that a seeing the skills and dedication students have for connecting community members and making society batter for all GIVES ME JOY AND HOPE!

In order for me to best judge events it helps me if students:

1. Speak slowly enough for people who may be unfamiliar with the subject vocabulary to follow what they are saying;
2. Project their voices and speak more loudly if they notice me leaning or cupping an ear toward them;
3. Are silent, still audience members; and,
4. Keep noise to a minimum in buildings where events are taking place.

In debates, as I do my best to follow the arguments, logic, supporting points, refutations, and how definitions and weighing mechanisms apply. When students explicitly indicate what points they are providing support or a critique for, and how they think their definitions and weighing mechanisms matter, it helps me be a better judge of these important factor.

Also, I recognize that critiquing and interrupting others, speaking loudly, dramatic gesturing, and heckling are all used in various debates, but I also pay close attention to any instances of people invading the personal space of others, yelling at or personally insulting their opponent, or otherwise not respecting the equal rights of all debaters, and I will ask coaches for guidance in how to judge what I think I have seen. I love the community I see among speech and debate teams!

I hope EVERY student feels proud and enjoys tournaments as I am impressed by the work and courage of EVERYONE participating. If students do not get the recognition they hoped for I encourage them to remember that judges such as me are not professionals and may make mistakes. That may be a reality we all have to accept, but if anything seems unfair please speak with a coach.

Best wishes and thank you for your consideration.

Hello, I am an associate professor in the Journalism dept. at Cal State Northridge. I have a Ph.D. in political sociology and mass communication so I can say I am knowledgeable about U.S. and global political and cultural affairs, so don't try to talk about issues unless you truly understand inside out. I've taught college level news reporting for more than 15 years and worked as a newspaper reporter so I favor concise logic, brevity, facts, objectivity, simple common sense instead of puffery, empty promises, pompous speech. Make your points simply so even the 4th graders can understand. Importantly, I strongly dislike spreading. If you're going to simply read your case like 100 mile per hour speed hyperventilating so no one can understand, what's the point of standing up? I am a big fan of BlackPink (Rose), by the way.

Parent judge.

Lay congressional parent judge. Have clear and understandable delivery.

I'm very expressive when it comes to how I'm feeling about your argumentation and style. Eye contact is very important to me, as is organization and flow.

I will not accept rehash, as repeated content does not enhance the round. Please make adaptations as needed throughout and clash with previous content.

During questioning I will dock people for being overly aggressive. Fiery and passionate is good, condescending and snarky is not.

Good luck.

email:

Isaiahsalgado24@gmail.com

About Me: I am a former Open Debater at Cal State Fullerton. I had 3 years ~ debating in college and experience as a coach at CSUF. I have vast judging and coaching experience at the High School level. I spent a lot of my Career running mostly critiques including Settler Colonial K's, Afropessimism K's, Baudrillard K's, performance K's, as well as experience running Framework.

Aside from that my cases usually involved futurisms and storytelling.

Coaches: Toya Green, Romin Rajan, Lee Thach.

Me as a judge real talk: I can understand spreading, and I'm as good as anyone at getting this down. But Imma be honest, it is hard for me to stay organized. I joined debate in college, no high school experience.

In other words, framing is super important for me. Clarity is important to me, because I want to understand how you think we/you/ I should think, view and participate in the community, in this round, at this tournament, etc. Is debate a game? is the game good? why or why not? I'd like these question answered either implicitly or explicitly. I don't inherently work with the perception that debate is (just) a "game", but if given a good argument as to why I should take on that perspective (in this round, all the time, etc) I'll take on that perspective. I prefer not to feel like a worker in the debate factory who needs to take notes and produce a ballot, but idk maybe I should function in that way-just tell me why that's true.

Evidence Reading: I will read your cards if you urge me to look at them, or if they are contested during the round. Otherwise, I am assuming they say what you tell me they say. IF you don't mention the evidence outside of the 1ac/1nc, they most likely wont stay in the forefront of my mind during the debate. This means reading the evidence will a clear voice will give you an advantage with me, because I will most likely understand the evidence better.

Impact: Proximity and likelihood> magnitude and time frame

MISC:

Clipping Cards is an auto DQ.

I really don't care what you do as far as tag teaming, changing format, playing music, using stands, seating placement, etc. Do you, just don't make the debate go longer than it needs to. Also feel free to talk to me before, after and during prep in rounds. I generally enjoy talking about debate and like helping young peeps. Just chit chat and such.

Policy- I think that a straight up policy plan is dope. MY biggest concern is the debaters ability to explain numbers to me. ITs hard for me to do the calculations and understand why specific stats are important and win you the debate. I am pretty line by line when it comes to a policy debate. Id say with me, focus on some impact calc because thats usually where my attention is mostly at. Liklihood and proximity are more important than severity, magnitude. Time-Frame is iffy but doable.

FW- Honestly, framework is pretty cool. I think its become kind of a meme at this point about my annoyance with whiney FW debaters, so make sure you are being real with your critique. Framework says that there is a structure which needs to be followed for this activity to run efficiently. This assumes that the game of debate is good, so explain why the game is good, or why your specific version of the game is good. When you run framework you are saying that the other team is debating in a way that lessens/nullifies the benefits of debate. That is a big claim, so treat it as such. If you are just using it strategically- more power to you buuuuuuut, it makes you hella less persuasive if thats how you are coming off. Also, Fairness is not inherently a terminal impact, lol. At least mention debate is a game and tell me why the games good.

K- I love k's, but they get hella sloppy. With k's, i need to know that you are solving your impacts. seems basic but im shocked at how often debaters dont explain how their "self abolishment" solves antiblackness. Acknowledging that there is a problem isn't a solution, or plan or anything. It's just a diagnosis. I need a prescription. HAving said that, Im pretty open minded when it comes to different strats. The more weird the more fun for me.

I'm way more truth than tech.

Email:a.sinsioco1@gmail.com

-Peninsula' 21 - USC' 25

Have fun. Be nice.

Outside of the occasional tournament I judge at, I think very little about the topic. Slow down and don’t take for granted I understand any topic specific jargon

tech>truth generally, although some arguments, of course, require more tech to win than others

I’ll try to find the simplest way to the ballot which requires the least work

Very hard pressed to vote on presumption type arguments. Absent any offense, even the smallest chance that the aff does something positive for the world is enough reason to vote affirmative

Other than that, any opinion I have about arguments can be overcome by better debating.

Thoughts

The first 30 seconds of the final rebuttal should write my RFD.

K Affs:

Probably read a plan tbh, but I will enjoy K affs with a strong explanation of what the aff actually does clear articulation of how debate operates under their framework.

I often find defensive arguments weaker and think the counter interpretation solves little of the actual neg offense. impact turn framework standards and the neg's model of debate. Have better answers to fairness. I think most 2ac’s lack here

Fairness >>>>>>> Education/Skills > whatever else. Please go for some combination of fairness and strong defense (SSD, TVA, no subjectivity shift, etc, especially if the aff is designed to impact turn education. My voting record in these debates is pretty aff favored despite argumentative preferences, and it’s because 2n’s fail to recognize how K affs are designed to beat certain strategies. Go for a framework impact which is better insulated from case.

However, if going for an education type impact, at least go for an impact related to the intrinsic critical thinking skills we gain from debate versus anything that requires you to win the state is good. Again, you can do whatever you want, but policy education good strategies require you to decisively and substantively engage with case which is often very difficult.

I really enjoy and prefer judging substantive offense against the K itself. Don't be afraid to go for the heg da or cap good or whatever.

K:

If your K is able to disprove thesis of the aff and the assumptions it relies upon, I will love your K.

I will default to weighing the aff versus the K.

I have an aversion to strategies that solely rely upon winning framework and arbitrarily disregarding huge swaths of the debate. I will assign less weight to these arguments unless they are dropped. K debate is case debate. The kritik should engage with the affirmative and disprove its thesis.

Your links should reference a specific line/assumption which the affirmative's scenario relies upon, explain why that line/assumption is flawed, impact out why I should care/the material implications of that flawed assumption, and how the alternative resolves the link. The more specific the better.

Ideally, you should be leveraging your answers on case to bolster your argument otherwise I'm willing to grant the aff the truth of their scenario which makes it difficult to win that their assumptions are flawed.

CP: I dislike cp's that compete off immediacy and certainty. Tbh the more time I spend out of debate, the less I understand functional vs textual competition and the other issues that come up during these debates. Given that please err towards over explanation and clarity

DA's: Enjoy most flavors of disads, but generally dislike ones whose links are predicated on silly interpretations of fiat.

T: Slow down and clearly explain what debate looks like under each interpretation and the implications of your impacts, as well as how your interpretation solves your impacts. I generally feel predictability and precision often guides the way I adjudicate these debates on a top level. What I should prioritize is certainly debatable

Case: I find well-researched, dissections of the affirmative case to be the coolest things to judge and will reward the effort.

Theory: Condo is good, and I don't see value in interps that numerically limit the number of conditional advocacies. Either all condo or no condo

Most theory arguments are reject the argument unless you specifically explain otherwise

LD: Will judge this like a policy round. Same predispositions as before. Won’t vote on presumption. Bad for frivolous theory. Might be better for phil than I think I am?

Anything Else: will judge like a policy round including biases towards a consequentialist (Risk*Magnitude) unless otherwise stated. Definitely may make me more likely to give the extinction outweighs even assuming a low risk of a smaller impact type decision. To avoid me giving a decision which is too policy pilled, do comparative impact calc and proper weighing! Not sure what the norms are for new arguments so justify if it’s unclear.

don’t use debate jargon incorrectly lol. If you’re not fully sure what a debate word means, just use the plain English replacement.

New to judging but excited to evaluate your arguments.

Don't spread. I won't evaluate new arguments introduced in the rebuttals.

Will try to use offense-defense.

2025 Update

Second Coaching Diamond Y'all!

The 2024 update was less than two months ago, but I'd like to add something here. Some of the varsity members out there reading my paradigm are thinking that this is way beneath what they are capable of doing. That's not true because if you're messing up getting your assertions, reasoning, evidence, and impacts in the debate, you need the reminder. Still looking for the basics, then beyond that show me what you can do in an intelligent fashion. But don't forget the basics. Remember your judges have not done the research that you have, and you should be stating the resolution, giving some definitions, and filling in all those blanks that I'm not allowed to bring with me. Good luck to everyone!

2024 Update

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!" - Michael Corleone

I'm still here! Now I'm doing limited coaching, fewer tournaments, and less judging overall. That does not take away from Two Diamonds of NSDA experience.

I'm writing this for Public Forum Debate, but it would apply to all debates. The older things below are still applicable, but let me make it easy for you to figure out how to win my ballot.

1. Speak clearly and enunciate. You will probably talk fast and that's okay, ONLY if your words are all clear. If your words are garbled and slur together that does not make you easy to understand. Clarity is most important.
   
   

2. Use effective pacing. If you don't give a pause at the end of one idea or contention, it blurs together with the next one. If you want me to really get the point of what you're saying: pause, slow down, and say "judge that means blah blah blah". And then it clicks in your judge's brain that is the most important bit of information, the reason you have told us all the other things at whatever speed. This is important especially when you're giving impacts or refutations in your debate round.
   
   

3. SIGNPOST! Your road maps okay, but I'm not going to write it down fast enough and I'm not going to remember it. So signpost so we don't get lost. By using good sign posting skills you will be less likely to drop an argument, which could make or break your round. Many contentions sound kind of like the other ones. If you're not being clear where you're at, I don't know where to write what you're saying on my flow. Say things like "our first contention", "in our third contention", "in our opponent's second contention they said"... This makes it super easy to see that you have the winning points.
   
   

4. I ❤️ AREI! (Assertion Reasoning Evidence Impacts) I want a clear assertion for your contention, a handful of words to focus all you are saying in that contention. I want solid reasoning that tells me what you're going to prove with your evidence and how it all connects together. Remember that I am only allowed to use the information you give me, and a lot of times debaters expect judges to do the reasoning, to put the pieces together. I'm not supposed to, therefore will not. I'm supposed to use the words that come out of your mouth and your reasoning. You link it all together for your judges please. I want evidence that is precise to what you're trying to prove. I want clear numbers, and properly used evidence. If you use one sentence to prove your case, but the rest of the article disproves your case, your opponent will catch on, nullifying this piece of evidence. Recency is important, however there are some things that outweigh recency and that is the importance of who said it. I have used Aristotle as a piece of evidence in the past, because you can't beat Aristotle even though he's not recent. I want to know what the impacts are. How will voting on this topic change things from the status quo? Not everything goes to nuclear or biological warfare. Are we going to lose something? Are we going to gain something? Is it worth the gamble? I want to understand the cost benefit analysis (if applicable) of why I should vote for you.

5. Be clear with your acronyms and definitions! Even if I am coaching, my students are doing the research. I expect them to tell me about the topic. In this case because we're in a round, I expect you to tell me about it. I should not wonder what your acronym means. That should be made very clear in the beginning, probably in your definitions. In a debate round the students should be educating the teachers/judges. Be clear and include all of the information. Again I'm not supposed to bring any of the information I already have to the room and I can't look it up, so I need you to inform me.

6. I still love clash during any kind of cross-examination, but it must not be rude. The destruction of your opponent should not be a personal one, but should be due to you being able to find flaws in their cases, properly question them about it, and then refute that answer in your next speech. In the end, we should all still be friends as part of the relatively small speech and debate community.

7. I have done most, if not all, of the NSDA accreditations. It's just not updating for some reason.

Best of luck in your rounds!

2022 Update

Not coaching anymore, but still running tournaments and judging. Last night I realized that my paradigm was showing up for the CHSSA State Tournament and the NSDA Last Chance Qualifier, and I am judging Congress at both. Do not apply the things below to Congress, with the exception of signposting. Congress is completely different, and I have expectations of decorum, professionalism, knowledge of proper procedures, and efficiency in showing what you can do. Your rank depends on polished speeches, concise questions, knowledgeable responses to the questions you are asked, and demonstrating that you are better at those things than other people in the room. Things like crystallization speeches are awesome if you know what you're doing. We're at higher level tournaments, so I'm optimistic that you probably know what you're doing. Clash is wonderful, as always, but it needs to happen within the realm of Congressional decorum. Not the lack of decorum that many politicians have shifted to, but genuine people coming together to try and make something happen for the greater good. That leads to people being civilized to one another. Keep it classy, Congress!

2021 Update

You must signpost. That will help me follow your arguments better than any roadmap. I'm looking for solid argumentation, with assertions, reasoning, evidence, and impacts.

2/4/2020

Below is some 2015 nonsense, for sure. Written for policy so please don't try to apply it to everything. Some is still true, but let's all have a hearty laugh. Since last updated, I finally earned a Diamond with the NSDA. I still work for the same program, and have expanded my knowledge a great deal. I still love speech. I love Congress more than ever. I was elected VP of Debate and Congress for my league, and have been on the Board of Directors for the California High School Speech Association for the last five years. See the large gaps in judging? I only judge at a couple tournaments a year because I'm helping run the rest. I like rules and procedure. I stopped liking 99.99% of your kritiks. I actually want to hear that you did research on your topic. Don't try to drag circuit policy practices into other events. They are different for a reason. I still flow non-standard. I still think about your mom's hair and car commercials because I am still easily distracted. I still dislike bad roadmapping and pretentious windbags. The later in the day it is, the more likely I am to start squirreling. But wonder if that really is bad, because squirrels are simultaneously awesome and terrifying. Distracted!

4/4/2015

I am currently the assistant coach for the Claremont High School team in Claremont California. My area of expertise is speech, but that doesn’t deter me from being active in judging debate. Before I started coaching anything, I was judging policy. I have judged all forms of debate over the last three years, including at State and Nationals. I frequently judge prelim and elim rounds at West-coast invitationals, including Stanford, Fullerton, Cal Lutheran, and La Costa Canyon.

My philosophy on debate is fairly simple: I want a round that is educational. I try not to limit what debaters will try in a round. Just do it well, and you can win my vote. Make sure you understand what you are trying to do. If you are being slaughtered in cross examination because someone else wrote your case and you don’t understand it, you probably aren’t winning the round. That said, I do like some good clash.

I flow in a non-standard manner. It works for me. Speed is okay, as long as you are loud and clear. If you aren’t, I will let you know.

Because I don’t spend all of my time in the debate rooms, some of the terminology slips my mind. You are already saying thousands of words to me. Please just add a couple more to make sure I am completely following your terms, abbreviations, and acronyms. If you are talking about fiat, please don’t allow me to get distracted thinking about car commercials. Perms are that thing your mom did to her hair in the 80s, right? Keep me focused on your tactics and what you are really trying to do in the round.

I am operating under the idea that you have done a lot of research to write your cases. I haven’t done as much topic research. Please educate me on your topic, and don’t leave blanks for me to assume things. I won’t. I will sit there hoping the opponents will call each other out on holes in the case, and maybe write about it on my ballot after the round. My job as the Judge is to only be influenced by the things that are said in the round, not by what I know from my education and experience.

I really hate people stealing prep under the guise of “off time roadmaps”. I believe they are one of the reasons tournaments run late. Please be concise in the time you have been allotted for your speech. If there are other judges in the room and they want a roadmap, please be brief with your “off time”. Signposting is preferred. Longwinded RFDs are the other reason tournaments fall behind. If we are at the point where the tournament is allowing us to take the time to give a RFD, I will probably only have a couple solid reasons for why I voted the way I did. If I have more, someone has really messed something up.

Don’t be rude to your opponent. You are better than that. But sarcasm is heartwarming.

I like to see a lot of clash between arguments. I like it when competitors explain their argument and the impact of their arguments. I weigh heavily on the value criterion and voting issues expressed in the first constructive speeches, extending to the last rebuttal speeches. I do not like fast reading or spreading. I am OK with value debates, policy debate and philosophical debates.