Armstrong,+Eric

CX Judging Paradigm Eric Armstrong Affiliation: Byron Nelson High School, Trophy Club Texas

This season (2011-2012) is my third year judging debate for Byron Nelson High School in Trophy Club Texas. Speed is acceptable until I say clear and after that it is up to you that you speak clearly; if I can't hear it I can't judge it so at least give me the tag lines clearly. Some lingo is okay, but if you start speaking in lingo sound bites it may make your arguments difficult to follow. Speaking, persuading and effective communications has been my real world profession for over 30 years. I know and understand good versus bad argumentation and base my decisions on logic, reason and judgment. It is difficult to get 30 speaker points from me as it is a perfect score and I have not observed that many perfect speakers. Similarly earning less that 26 speaker points probably means you did something egregious in the round. Make sure you are nice to everyone in the round, and that includes your partner. Organization, professionalism and polish will not result in a deduction of speaker points when I am judging. If you intend to flash your evidence back and forth during the round, make it quick or it will be considered prep time.

In general I lean toward being a policymaker, but on occasion enter the room tabula rasa. Impacts should be based in the real world, as everything does not end in nuclear war or extinction. Avoid a priori arguments that lead to unrealistic outcomes. Stock issues are important to me and cases should have solid solvency and a clear list of realistic harms. Kritiks are discouraged, as I believe the purpose of this learning experience is debate the issues in the topic. Experts in forensics have taken the time to write these topics so you will need to have a great Kritik for me to understand why your team decided to not debate the topic. Theory arguments have their place but they need to be clearly defined step outside the norms of debate for you to win the round on a theory argument or topicality abuse.