De+Alwis,+Niruk

//__Experience:__//

I am a freshman at the University of Edinburgh, who has debated for four years at TASIS The American School in England. I mostly debated LD, and have been coaching LD for three years now, but I also have some experience in PF. This will be my second year of judging and I will be judging JV rounds.

//__ How I approach Debates: __//

When it comes to a debate, I believe one of the most important things for debaters is to **be clear**. I appreciate complex arguments, and don’t mind if debaters choose to run kritiks, disads, extensions, etc., as long as the debater does so clearly. Furthermore, I would prefer if debaters ** signpost ** and suggest the use of off-time roadmaps. This is largely because I ** will be flowing ** each and every round I judge. If it isn’t clear to me which arguments you are addressing, then I am likely to miss the arguments you make because I’ll be more focused on trying to figure out what you are talking about. This links back to my point of clarity. Being an experienced debater, I can often make the link between arguments on my own, however as a judge that is not my job. It is your job to show me the link between your arguments. By doing this you’re making it easier for me to understand your arguments more in depth, and that will help me make a decision with each round. I would also suggest clarifying why I should vote for you. Tell me which arguments you believe you won, why your value prevails, why your opponent shouldn’t be given the win. By doing all of this, you won’t be harming your case but instead you’ll be giving me the clearest route to picking a winner.

//__ Speed: __//


 * DO NOT SPREAD ** . I am firm believer of the idea that LD debate is based around rhetoric. Debaters should speak like they are giving a speech to an audience, not like they are trying to say every possible word they can within the given time limit. This does not mean I don’t like debaters who talk fast, if you want to talk fast that is perfectly fine, but please do not spread. I am quite a fast speaker myself and I understand that you have a lot to say and a limited amount of time to say it, however, there is a difference between speaking fast and spreading and I’m sure we all know what that difference is.