Berner,+Brandi

Affiliation: 4 year policy debater at Truman High School

Experience on this topic: judged at a few tournaments

General Notes: If you don’t give me any other paradigm, I default policy maker. I typically enjoy a good impact debate. I like judging policy debated positions. I love listening to DAs and CPs the most. If you don’t like my paradigm, then just debate how you would like to debate. I can adapt to most arguments that you present. I don’t like to intervene on my rfd, but if you leave holes/questions left to interpretation/don’t explain something then chances are there will be slight intervention; however, note that it wouldn’t ever be to the extent of voting completely on an argument that wasn’t even read, just me answering the questions you left unanswered. Tell me where and why I should vote on something. Please signpost and give a good line by line. The rebuttals should make the debate as clear as possible and outline what you win on. Speed is okay with me as long as you’re clear. Never sacrifice clarity for speed. If you’re not clear then you will see me put my pen down and miss your arguments.

Topicality- I like T, but most teams don’t do enough work to make it a winning arg. So, if you run it make sure you’re able to effectively argue T, specifically create a good violation and standards debate. Don’t just claim that you’ve lost ground or it’s unfair, this is not enough and will not win you the standards debate. Also- don’t run ground loss as a standard and then find yourself reading solv blocks which are incredibly specific.

Kritiks- I didn’t particularly enjoy reading the K when I debated, but that doesn’t mean I won’t listen to your argument. I’m not as well versed on the lit in some of the k’s as some of the other judges you’ll get, so if you do chose to read the K then you must present it in a way that is understandable. I like discussions about the role of the ballot and other such implications. Explain your alt, I think that the debate on the k should come down to whether the alt solves the aff or if the aff is able to beat the alt, so please explain how you do so. Also, don’t read the K if you don’t understand it yourself- you will probably without a doubt look like an idiot.

CP- These are fine with me, I generally don’t have any problem understanding CPs at all. I think conditional CPs are okay, but I don’t mind the theory arg. If you as the aff; however, are going to run conditionality bad then don’t make it your only arg on the CP. I like PICs, but only if they makes sense.

DA- love these. Specifically enjoy politics and well put together econ. DAs, but will listen to any. I love a good impacts debate. Please do impact calc. Crazy impacts like nuke war, global econ crash, Armageddon are all okay, but you should probably have a good link/internal link story put together.

Case: I generally find case turns to be strategically effective, if you make them.

You may ask me questions before the round if something is not clear enough for you.