Koester,+Megan

I serve as the Assistant Director of Forensics at University School of Nova Southeastern University. I teach the Debate courses, thus I introduce students to the basics of debate. I introduce students to the foundation of value/criterion, argument structure, and rebuttals. In high school I did a semester of novice policy, interpretation, oratory, and public forum debate. I reached the quarterfinal round of the TOC in public forum and at NFL Nationals I reached the same level for dramatic interpretation. When I judge a debate round, I’m not philosophically opposed to speed or specific arguments; however, given my limited exposure to national circuit LD (aside from watching my students) I’d advise you do not go “circuit fast” and structure a well-developed standard and link your arguments back to that standard. Crystallization does not need to take the form of Voting issue 1 is X, but you do need to crystallize the round for me. I view speaking points as a combination of evaluating who won, but also how well you spoke in terms of executing your strategy. To be more specific: a lack of clarity, excessive filler words, and long pauses would lead to a decrease in your speaker points. If you have any questions before the round, please ask, and I will do my best to clarify anything about which you have a question. Have fun and enjoy debating!