Velto,Gino


 * Macro Issues **

__ Speaking: __ It’s what debate is all about. Debate is completely based on communication. I think debate has become way too focused on speed. I debated on the national level for 4 years so I’ll most likely be able to flow at whatever speed you want to go at; as long as you’re relatively clear I should be able to flow you. It’s important to remember that speed isn’t measured in words read per minute, it’s measured in ideas successfully communicated per minute. If you’re totally unclear and I can’t flow you I will most likely stop flowing; your partner should take the hint and tell you to clear up. Remember that I can only make a decision based off of what I have on my flow.

__ Speaker points: __ They are influenced by a number of things. These include: clarity, ability to communicate effectively, cross exes, the sophistication of your strategy, level of preparation and execution among other things. (Hint: To get really high speaks from me do impact comparison and analysis, and clash with the other team’s arguments)

__ Paperless Debate: __ I think paperless debate has its advantages but I think it has had a very negative impact on flowing. If you flow completely off the speech doc and answer arguments that the other team didn’t even make, that could hurt your points. I don’t count flash time as prep time unless it’s excessive; it shouldn’t take that long to click “Save As” and name the document. After 30 seconds it starts to look like you’re just prepping.

__ Evidence: __ I appreciate evidence comparison in the debate. Whether that be indicting the quality of their ev or indicting their authors I like it. I don’t like to call for cards because I feel that you should be the ones explaining your arguments; I shouldn’t be interpreting them for you. The highlighted portion of your cards should make complete arguments; not just claims. If you mark a card during your speech, you need to be able to tell me and the other team where you marked it.


 * Micro Issues **

__ Topicality: __ The aff should probably have a topical plan text enacted by the USfg. I’m not really into the whole not reading a plan text thing but I can deal with it if that’s your thing. I think Kritiks of T are just another version of an RVI. I can enjoy T debates if they’re done properly; make sure you clash with the other teams arguments and aren’t just reading generic overviews to answer their arguments.

__ Kritiks: __ I probably won’t be the best at evaluating these types of arguments. I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t read or studied much philosophy in my academic life so a lot of these arguments may be over my head. I also might not understand what a lot of your specific K language means. Therefore if you’re going to go for these arguments in front of me you need to do a lot more in terms of explaining your arguments. I’ve seen a lot of K debates that end up in one team trying to ‘out K’ the other team and there is no real clash between arguments. I don’t like these debates because then I’m forced to make a philosophical evaluation that I’m probably not qualified to make. So the best thing to do in these debates is to clash with the other teams arguments and explain why what you’re saying is important within the round.

__ Counterplans: __ I usually lean negative in terms of counterplan theory. I think aff teams let neg teams get away with cheating counterplans too much. If a team runs a conditional consult counterplan for example, don’t just read conditionality bad; read consult CP’s bad as well. As far as permutations go (I guess this goes for the K too) perm do both doesn’t really mean anything to me. I think you need to read out the full text of your permutation for it to mean anything. As a final note, I enjoy theory debates if they’re done properly. (Please answer the other team’s offense on theory and don’t just read your generic block)

__ DA’s: __ These were kind of my bread and butter in high school. I think I went for the status quo all but 6 times my senior year. The politics DA is cool sometimes, although I havn't seen a good politics scenario so far on this topic. Topic specific DA’s are really cool and are probably my favorite.