Kotecha,Aditya

I am currently a freshman at UC Berkeley who debated in policy and parliamentary debate at Dougherty Valley High School. I am open to pretty much all types of arguments and tech>truth. That being said, here are a few specific things to make our debate experiences more enjoyable.

Speed: Go as fast as you want, however, I will yell "clear" if I'm unable to follow you and if I'm forced to yell multiple times I will stop flowing. Do not sacrifice clarity for speed

DA: I'm a big fan of case specific DA's. Generic DA's are fine as long as I see strong, case specific links. Overviews and impact calculus are also very important. Good analysis that weighs the DA against the case is critical if you want me to vote on the DA.

CP: CP's are great. Once again, make sure you're doing a good job with weighing the CP with case. For CP theory, I tend to generally buy the claim "reject the argument, not the team".

Kritiks: I am not very familiar with K literature, as I didn't debate the K much in high school, but I'm still very open to teams running these types of arguments. Just make sure you explain the thesis of the K really well. In most of the debates I've seen pertaining K's, alt solvency has usually been weak, so make sure you're running a clear, solid alt.

T: If you want me to vote on T, you need to impact it really well and explain to me why an untopical aff warrants a win for the neg.

Theory: Fairly high threshold on theory. If you want me to vote on it, your entire last speech is going to have to be theory.

Speaker Points- based off of Jordan Trafton's philosophy To increase Speaker Points -Bribery (this exists in the real world. i think it's educational to simulate it). Do what you deem necessary to gain extra points. -Ending speeches early. If you don't have anything to say then don't stretch it out. You don't have 8 minutes to speak in most interviews, congressional speeches (I'd assume), and other important things. Use the structure of your speeches as a rhetorical device. -->TKO: Technical Knockout. If you are 100% you have won the debate, call a TKO. I will stop the debate, evaluate it, and if you are correct, you and your partner will receive two 30s. If you are wrong, you will receive 0s. Do you dare take the challenge? -Jokes If you can make me laugh during the debate round, I will grant you 0.5 extra speaker points.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">General Things: I love good clash. Some of the worst debates I've seen/judged are those where two teams keep making arguments that don't interact with each other. Please be nice and courteous to your partner, opponents and me. Debate is only a fun and educational environment when the members who partake in this activity act in a decent manner. I will give off nonverbal cues during speeches, so be cognizant of my facial expressions and movements throughout the debate. If it looks like I'm extremely confused, try to slow down and explain your argument a little bit better. If I'm nodding my head while I'm flowing, keep going along that line of argumentation, I think it's very good. I think awareness of these nonverbal cues is extremely educational.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> I understand that judging is imperfect, and I can not even begin to tell you how many times I've felt "screwed over by judges". I will do the best I can to evaluate the debate as fairly as possible, but understand that judging is a highly subjective activity so be mindful of that. Always ask questions and ask for clarifications when I give my RFD, but try to not come off as condescending. Above everything else, just have fun. :)