Gayton,+Melissa

4 years policy debate experience at Ronald Reagan High School

I'm also throwing performance under the no-plan umbrella. It's fine too.
 * __Plans ( or the lack thereof)__** - Plans are cool. Not having a plan is also cool. I'd like to think that I'll vote on whatever kind of aff you run, plan or not, as long as it has some impacts and a way to solve them. I ran affs with plans (of sorts), but I enjoyed a lot of non-plan affs that I ran into. Just make sure that if its a no-plan aff you make sure I understand the theory behind it, as well as what it is you do do. An explanation of the role of the ballot would be helpful.


 * __Kritiks -__** I like kritiks. I ran them. I think it's really annoying when they're really generic, but really fun if they're really specific. I'm also not a fan of jargon, since it's pretty useless unless you have background knowledge about the specific K. Even if I do understand it, I find that often it's a poor substitute for more specific explanation. I might know the phrases you're using, but if I don't know what it has to do with the aff it's pretty useless.


 * __Counterplans and Disadvantages__** - I have no particular feelings or thoughts about these. They are useful arguments.


 * __Theory -__** I'll vote on it. Not necessarily as a reason to reject the team though, so prove that. Go slow or I can't flow it and you won't win on it.


 * __Topicality -__** I went for topicality a lot, but I'm not sure if that means I'll vote on it more because I think it's a fun argument or less because I have higher standards for it. Make sure you develop it fully throughout the debate - I'll be hard-pressed to vote for a topicality violation that the block spent 30 seconds on. I default to competing interpretations, but I can be persuaded otherwise. Go slow.

For speaks, I guess just be clear and persuasive. Go a bit slower on tags and cites and/or do something fairly obvious when going to the next card. It gets really difficult to flow and keep things in order when everything is the same speed and there's no sign of when a card begins and ends.

Be respectful to everyone in the room. Flashing is prep. I'll say clear a couple times if you're unclear. I'll probably stop trying to flow after that. I'm really bad at timing so I prefer not to do it. I'll default to the debaters being in charge of timing. Or you could take the risk having me time and see which team ends up with a couple extra minutes of prep (I love a good gamble).

Ask me whatever other questions you have before the round.