Barone,+Ciara

I debated for four years in Varsity, consistently placed around 5th place. I usually flow the first half of the debate where the arguments are being made, after that I'm mainly listening. Your job as a debater is to persuade me. I'm an extremely logic based person. While it is essential to have pieces of evidence to back up arguments, I find it far more persuasive to have someone stand up and explain the reasoning behind the evidence and explicitly state the impacts instead of merely reading from a card. When I competed throughout high school, my team and I made a point to explain our evidence mostly in our own words instead of reading cards verbatim. That being said, if evidence is not cited, the debaters will not have results favorable to them. Things I like:

-courteous but assertive debaters

-organized presentations (tell me exactly what argument in your opponent's case you are refuting)

-enthusiastic debaters (don't be boring please)

-Counter plans (probably my favorite thing for a Neg CX debater, as long as they're done well)

-debaters that complement each other well (for CX, not LD as you don't have a partner.. it's amazing to see two teammates who work well together)

-debaters who enjoy what they're doing (it's fun watching people who do what they love) Things I don't like:

-assumptions: Do not assume that I know why you offered a certain piece of evidence. You HAVE to actually explain the reasoning behind your arguments. You cannot just stand up and read the evidence and expect me to take it as is. Interpret it. Tell me why I should put any weight at all on your evidence.

-spreading (speaking a fast pace is one thing, forcing as many words as possible into a 7 minute speech is just annoying and not at all persuasive)

-certain kritiks (do NOT make an argument to me that the federal government should not exist and the US should return all land to the Indians... I don't see it as intellectual argumentation)

-when the same argument is repeated over and over... you have to respond to counters, you can't just default to your original argument

-"Judge" "Judge" "Judge" Just present your case, I don't need you to scream "Judge" every other sentence

-blatantly going over your allotted time.. you WILL lose speaker points

-no off-the-clock roadmaps... You can devote 10 seconds of speaking time to tell me that you're going down your opponent's case and then returning to your own, or you can just do your speech. As long as it's organized, I'll be able to follow you Honestly just present your arguments, back them up with evidence, and explain your reasoning. It's a fairly straight forward concept. Don't be rude or snobby, just debate. It's what we're all here to do, I'd assume we all like doing it. I debated all throughout high school, I flow debates on YouTube for fun. I'm a Political Science/Pre-Law major so I understand all about argumentation and persuasive speaking. Have fun with your debate. Looking back, my favorite debates were the ones that were super intense but against genuinely nice people. You don't have to be a jerk to kick butt. I'm happy to answer any questions before a round. I'd rather competitors not stick around after the round. I flow during the debate on my own paper so I have to transfer stuff onto the judging sheet and I don't want to do that in front of the competitors.