Subramanian,+Shyaam

My name is Shyaam Subramanian, and I did LD for four years at Lynbrook High School in San Jose, CA. I traveled to tournaments such as St. Marks, Greenhill, CPS, Stanford, Berkeley, the Glenbrooks, and TOC so i am familiar with the national circuit. I haven't judged too many rounds recently, but my guidelines are pretty flexible and if you have any specific questions that arent answered here just ask me before the round.

I think a lot of rounds devolve into competing extensions without real comparison. A big help to me in deciding the round would be to really weigh the arguments against each other. This will be generally how i award speaker points, on the basis of how well you are able to compare the arguments you are winning to the arguments your opponent is winning. It's fine to concede that you have lost some arguments, as long as you factor in why they are relatively unimportant.

I generally did not run a lot of theory or go very fast, but i am not against theory so long as you explain clearly how this should factor into the decision calculus and provide logical reasons. I am fine with speed but just be clear, signpost and try not to be blippy in one speech and then expand on the blip in the next speech.

Other than that, i am like any other judge who looks at the standard and looks to impacts back to the standard. Other than that, just be yourself and have fun.