Kalra,+Kevin

Hello, my name is Kevin Kalra, and I have been involved in the debate/speech world, on and off, for 11 years now. I've competed, judged, and on the rare occasion, even coached. I am an aspiring law school and MBA student, so I find these tournaments absolutely exhilarating! The wealth of information available is just astounding, and the overall experience is just super fun!

As far as my judging philosophy goes, above all else, I value Pathos, Ethos, and Logos the most, as well as overall confidence. I do take into consideration items like speed, clarity, organization, structure, continuity, teamwork, as well as your flow, value, criterion, observations, etc., and winning one of those items could very well tip the final scale in your favor. However, with a strong, confident footing in three modes of persuasion you will not only go far on my ballot, but definitely on other judges' as well.

Speaker points are incredibly important, as these are speech events. Therefore, I expect competitors to have practiced verbal and nonverbal cues. Good eye contact, natural facial expressions, robust hand motions, and a strong posture/stance are the bare minimum nowadays, in both the speech and professional worlds. Struggling at these is understandable, but I also hope you understand if I call you out on it when I write down my notes. Please don't take it personally, I'm just trying to help. :)

Lending a helping hand is something that I love to do, so of course, I try to help the event organizers as much as I help the competitors. I am always down for hauling heavy items around the venue if need be (hey, it is a good workout after all), and since I have experience with debate, extemp, interp, acting, and other speech events, I try to be as flexible as possible, just to make scheduling and coordination that much easier.

Overall, there's a lot to consider in the speech world, but honestly, by mastering the fundamentals and trying to keep it (relatively) simple, you will have the sturdy backbone you need to excel and achieve your goals.