Husakovic,+Belma

**Experience:**
I was a three-year varsity public forum debater and the PF team captain at Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with some experience in circuit debate. I qualified in Student Congress to the 2017 National Speech and Debate Tournament.

**General Tips:**

 * **Speak up.** This should be pretty straightforward to understand. I don't want you to yell at me for the entirety of the round, but I need to be able to hear all of your arguments in order to flow them. If it isn't on the flow, I won't weigh it.


 * **Be kind.** Do NOT be condescending in round. If your opponent doesn't understand something or doesn't do something right, don't be harsh about it. No snarky comments or behavior. Keep the mood positive for //everyone// involved.


 * **Confidence is key.** If you sound confident in what you're arguing even if you might be losing on that front or personally don't believe in what the argument says, it helps boost your ethos (and it makes the round more interesting to listen to).


 * **Remember to explain.** If you're reading a card, don't just cite the author, read what you cut, and then move on. Explain to me //why// that evidence matters. What kind of impact does that card present? Why does that impact matter? Does it outweigh another argument? If you can explain it to me in your own words, it's a sign to me that you know your evidence well, and I value that over just reading what the card says.


 * **Most importantly, enjoy yourself!** Don't let any bad rounds get to you. A negative attitude can spread to others easily if you don't contain it, and the last thing almost any judge or competitor wants to witness is a tournament with no positivity or liveliness. Remember to relax and have fun! Enjoy the activity while you can.

**Public Forum:**
Seeing as public forum is the event I am most familiar with, I am also the most critical with it. I'll try to keep everything as concise as possible to make it all a quick read.

__**Regardless of which speaker position you are, remember to speak at a conversational pace (or at least try to).**__ I don't mind if debaters go slightly faster every once in awhile (I totally understand if you do as I had the habit of doing the same thing), but it isn't acceptable if it sounds like you're spreading in every speech. I can generally keep up with speed, but I urge against it for the sake of not developing a habit that may bother other judges.

__**Constructive**__ Since this is typically a pre-written speech, I expect to have eye contact from debaters (but this point really goes for every speech). Definitions are fine to have when needed, but don't turn them into a voting issue in the round. I prefer it when the resolution is stated verbatim rather than when teams say "we affirm/negate" and then jump straight into their contentions. Framework is an important factor in this speech. I need some sort of weighing mechanism for the round; no framework means I default to the one your opponents used. If they don't have one either, I will default to a cost-benefit analysis.

__**Rebuttal**__ Start with framework on top and tell me how I should be viewing the round. In my opinion, the first speaker for the rebuttal should spend all 4 minutes on attacking and making offensive arguments, because there's no need to defend your case if it hasn't been touched yet. The second speaker should allocate time for 2 minutes of offense and 2 minutes of responding to attacks made on your case. Remember to extend and cross-apply points from your case and from earlier on in the rebuttal. Reading more cards does NOT win you the ballot; I value quality over quantity, which means I am focusing on any statistics (if applicable), impacts with warrants (which are undoubtedly the most important issue when it comes to determining my ballot), and author credentials. Impact calculus is also important. Tell me why your impacts matter and why they outweigh.

__**Summary**__ As the name implies, I expect debaters to give me a summary of the round up to this point and why their side is winning the debate. Give me voting issues. Don't just restate your contentions from your case and call them your voters. The point of this speech is to be able to take as much as you can out of what everybody in the round has said thus far and then create voting issues out of that. Make sure you touch on what your opponents have been arguing. Extend impacts and warrants from the rebuttal (your partner brought those up for a reason). Framework on top is okay, but it isn't necessary for me during this speech; by this point I should have a general idea of how you want me to view the round.

__**Final Focus**__ Hammer down why your side ultimately wins the round. Use the voting issues your partner brought up, and make sure you really focus on impact calc. It's almost like a second summary speech, but it's a little bit more intense. You have the final say in the round, and oftentimes that can make or break a ballot. Framework on top isn't necessary for this speech (that's my own opinion, of course; others believe otherwise).

__**Crossfires**__ I don't have anything too critical to say about this. Make sure you stand for the first two crossfires and sit for grand crossfire. Always face me when you're asking or answering questions in the first two crossfires (it's okay if you look at each other during grand crossfire). Try not to interrupt your opponent in the midst of a question or answer. Don't talk over each other. It's automatically presumed that the first speaker will get the first question in each crossfire. Keep your questions and answers as concise as possible in order to not waste time.


 * __Other Things__**
 * Don't try to run counterplans or kritiks. They can be fun and interesting, but PF wasn't made for those.


 * I trust all debaters to be honest about any evidence they read, but I will call for evidence at the end of the round if it sounds fishy or if your opponents make a //big// deal out of it. If I end up doing this, you need to be able to provide the ENTIRE article/source from which the evidence is from (preferably in PDF or paper form; access to the Internet will ONLY be used as a last resort). Please be honest from the get-go and we'll be golden!


 * I will start and stop prep when YOU tell me to. I will ask beforehand if you want to use any prep, and I will verbally notify you at 30 second intervals unless you tell me otherwise. If you ask for evidence immediately after your opponents give a speech, I will not start prep until you get that evidence from them. However, please be timely about getting it; I will start prep if it takes an absurd amount of time.


 * If you're using a laptop for speeches/evidence or a timer on your phone, I recommend putting everything on airplane mode before the round starts.


 * Speaker points will be adjusted accordingly. My comments on the ballot will typically give you an idea as to why you got "X" amount of speaker points. If I sense any rude behavior in round, you will automatically score lower speaker points, even if I feel like you debated extremely well.


 * I will give a verbal RFD if time allows, but I usually don't give one for the sake of keeping the tournament running as close to on time as possible. However, if you have questions after the round ends, don't be afraid to ask them!


 * I don't particularly enjoy it when debaters write/type out their speeches word-for-word (excluding the constructive, of course), but to each their own. I won't dock you if you do, but I won't be impressed with you either. It just doesn't seem like a genuine skill. I often find that debaters who simply write down quick notes of what they want to say end up sounding like stronger debaters, and they usually have great eye contact with the judge.

Lincoln-Douglas:
I don't have a lot to say on this event other than I've watched a few varsity rounds and maybe even judged one or two novice rounds, but other than that, my experience with LD is very minimal. That being said, I expect debaters to clearly explain the arguments that they are making and, of course, weigh impacts against each other. Make sure to speak at roughly a conversational pace so that I can both catch and understand what you're telling me. Most of the stuff I said in the "Other Things" section above can also be applied here.