DeCamp,+Ryne

I'm currently a freshman in college, majoring in IR and minoring in Chinese. I did debate in high school for four years.

1. I am very much someone who judges by the flow. And I will ONLY judge by what is on my flow. I will not make arguments for either side. If you didn't say it, then it's not evaluated. So if you have an important argument, you'd better make it clear and not just blip over it.

2. Evidence clashing is a great way to up the speaks. Don't just say "card x answers card y" without any explanation. Really attack the warrants and compare the two pieces of evidence. If your evidence is really good, you'll win that point, especially if your opponent's is very weak.

3. Don't make ridiculous arguments. Don't argue anything that is racist, homophobic, etc. You are all smart kids though, so I'm sure you can handle yourselves...

4. Additionally, try not to swear. It's not AS big of a deal as point 3, but it's still not something you should make a habit of. I understand sometimes the words slip out, but you're here to represent your school, and swearing is probably not something your school would want to be known for.

5. If you're going to run a kritik, make sure that you understand it and run it well. And if it's something that is a particularly high-level philosophical questioning, be sure to explain it well. I've seen rounds where that doesn't happen, and it can get very ugly very fast.

6. I will vote on topicality, so long as it is properly run and the definition is reasonable. After that, it's a matter of explaining why it's good or bad and winning from their. But don't just blow through T - if you're going to actually run T, you'd better be sure that I catch all of the voters.

7. Theory varies from issue to issue... Be sure to explain why this is particularly abusive and what not. And same as 6 - be sure I catch the voters.

8. I'd appreciate if you could label what each of your ADV/DA/K's are as you move on to each of them. It lets me know what you're about to say so I can start connecting the dots as you go along.

9. Be sure to tell me WHY your arguments matter. Sometimes people get lost in just having the arguments, but never really hit WHY each one is important. Impact calculus, proper analysis of evidence, and comparison go a long way for you in the rebuttals.

10. Respect your opponents. It'll be better for everyone involved if we all get along and have clean, academic debates. Debate is a game, and a game that we all enjoy at that.