Chen,+Amanda

Weston '15 Harvard '19

I debated in policy for Weston for four years (both national circuit and more traditional), and I now debate in parlimentary at Harvard.

QUICK NOTES - Spreading is fine, just be clear. Slow down when reading tags/cites/theory/anything else that needs to be noted more or less verbatim. I won't backflow things I don't get the first time. I also won't call for or give much weight to cards that I couldn't understand as you were reading. If you stay organized, I won't miss things. - Good CX is great to watch, and I will give it weight. - Be respectful, make jokes, entertain me.
 * Speaking**:

- Go with what you're best at. I have no preference on what you run as long as it's not blatantly offensive (i.e. explicitly sexist/racist/homophobic/etc.). I ran a number of critical positions as a debater, including non-traditional ones. I also read plenty of straight policy positions, and I enjoy a detailed disad/counterplan debate as much as anything else. - Make sure to explain and weigh your advocacies, especially complicated philosophical positions -- even if I have prior knowledge, I won't make the automatic associations. The more you engage the other team, give me weighing mechanisms, and do comparative stuff (aka the easier you make my ballot), the happier I'll be. - Tech over truth; dropped args don't need much extension to convince me. - Theory/Topicality: I don't have a lot of preconceived ideas about theory. It's strategic, and I'll vote on it -- as long as it has a clear interpretation and is impacted with clear decision calculus. Make sure you isolate specific in-round examples of your impacts. Also, if you plan it ever being anything more than a time suck, flesh it out early-on. (Note: left to my own devices, I lean toward rejecting the argument, not rejecting the team.) - Flashing files is not prep, but take forever and your speaks //will// start dropping. And please time yourselves.
 * Other stuff:**