Armstrong,+Marian

I have been judging Debate & Speech events for 3 years, however I have never been a competitor so consider me a lay judge.

I will come into your round as a blank slate - I will try hard not to have any preconceived biases regarding the topic, so it is completely up to you to persuade me that your AFF or NEG argument is clearly the intelligent, logical choice. You can best do this by linking your case to your Criterion & Value in a decisive, organized manner. You should be able to consistently link & impact your evidence/arguments throughout the flow. I am not a big fan of Theory or really obscure techniques but I will try my best to be fair and follow what you present. Speed is ok, but do it at your own risk. I will probably be able to follow your words but they may lose effectiveness if I don't have time to digest their connection and impact. If I can't follow your argument, I can't vote for you. I like voting issues, but you have to advocate for something - don't just tell me that your opponent is wrong.

I believe the most successful debaters/speakers learn to modify their arguments/technique to their specific audience (the judge in this case) - that's why you are reading this right now and/or ask a judge for paradigms before a round, right? So, learn to use the information you ask for constructively - this skill will be immeasurable well beyond your Debate rounds.