2012 T. O. H. Karl Invitational Practice Tournament and Workshop
Pacific Lutheran University - Oct 19-20 | Status: Completed
Judge Philosophies
Ally Jung - BC ACADEMY
Josue Anderson - BC ACADEMY
<p>Experience<br /> I’m somewhat new to the Public Forum style (3 years now) however I’ve done my best to appreciate the nuances of the style compared to other styles practiced in Canada that I am more familiar with. I have 5 years of university-level British Parliamentary (worlds style) debate and while that does influence my preferences for persuasion in speaking and intellectualism of arguments, I strongly appreciate PF’s use of frameworks and impact-calculations.</p> <p>Decisions<br /> I do my best to allow the debaters to construct the rationalities for my decisions within the debate, persuasive frameworks that last the debate will influence my decisions although I focus most on whatever the debaters themselves choose to debate about, which areas had the most clash. I find a debate with a shortage of clash from both sides frustrating, while I would tend to reward the team with the most genuine attempts at engagement.</p> <p>I do my best to act as an ‘average person’ when deciding which team has holistically worked harder to be most persuasive. My experience as a coach expresses itself in how I evaluate the ‘effort’ of events that occur within the debate. Rounds of debate should be complex and involve various factors, likewise, I try to be as open minded as possible with elements developed within the actual debate. Unless the round was particularly bad and simplistic, it’s unlikely that a round will ‘boil down to one thing’ though it’s likely that varous elements will interconnect and become linked to specific ideas fought for in the debate.</p> <p>Style and speaker points<br /> I evaluate style holistically and do not consider it a separate element of a debate. The weight of the content is intrinsically valued by me based on the mannor that it is presented. Speaking styles only matter if they affect my ability to percieve content and I do not consider it outside of that realm when evaluating individual speakers. A speaker who uses fancy words and neat hand gestures won’t earn bonus points but it’s likely that I may find their contributions/matter more persuasive, likewise, I won’t punish a debate with crass or unpolished speaking styes (or ESL) but it’s possible that it debilitates my ability to conceptualize the matter presented. As a result of this perception of style, I do not ever give low point wins since I find them paradoxical. Debaters who are more persuasive get higher speaks, debaters who are more persuasive should likewise win the debate since they are more persuasive debaters and the activity should prioritize the rewarding of that holistic trait.</p> <p>Feedback<br /> I prefer giving oral feedback and I’m very happy to give as much of it as debaters want. I strongly encourage debaters to ask me whatever questions they’d like after a round, as I’m less inclined to give lengthy written feedback. My penmanship is laughably unreadable and I try to make up for it by giving dedicated comments.</p> <p>I like to contextualize my comments as much as possible with the actual debate that occurred, so I enjoy disclosing if the tournament allows for it, since it better allows debaters to appreciate the weight of the various items within feedback. </p>
Morgan Munn - BC ACADEMY
<p>Experience: I’ve been judging and coaching public forum for about 2.5 years now, but I come from a Canadian high school and university British Parliamentary debate background, and from that background I’ve come to value analysis and engagement alongside the more public forum-specific aspects of impact and frameworks. (Frameworks are helpful to making many rounds more focused but don’t have a debate about the framework please.) Decisions: In my decision, I appreciate when the debaters have done most of the decision-making for me within the round. This includes making clear, well-analysed and well-impacted arguments and thoroughly engaging (clashing) with each other’s content – use what each other have said to convince me who won. This means thoroughly explaining your arguments and counterarguments, telling me why they are important/significant, and responding to what your opponents have said, respectively. Note that good engagement tends to not be line-for-line refutation and line-for-line reconstruction but rather considering how the different ideas within the round interact with each other. I find rounds that lack engagement to be super frustrating because I don’t want to do the engagement myself by weighing arguments that have never or scarcely interacted against each other. A further note on analysis – I find it disappointing when debaters simply read off pieces of evidence and consider that to be the body of an argument in and of itself. Evidence should be incorporated into your logical explanation of the analysis and it is often useful to explain why that evidence enhances your argument. Style and speaker points: I tend not to evaluate style as separate from the content of the debate because I find that style fits into a more holistic evaluation of the round. Generally, being a clear speaker is the best bet; however that being said, a particularly persuasive speaker is likely to have a style that enhances their content while a speaker that is unclear will reduce the persuasion of their content if its not understandable. For example, I’ll never take off speaker points for having an accent, but if you talk too quickly, too quietly, or too mumbly, for example, then it is likely to reduce your ability to show off your brilliant content and this would therefore reduce your overall persuasiveness and performance. Debaters should try to develop a style that best allows their speaking ability and content to be complimentary. Also – please don’t ‘spread’ or talk really fast unless you are absolutely certain you can be understood by everyone. I’m of the belief that you don’t need to rush in order to win a debate and you should manage your time to talk about the most important stuff in the round. If you talk too fast I probably won’t catch most of what you say and that’s bad. Feedback: I don’t mind giving oral feedback and I will give as much feedback as the debaters ask for as long as there is enough time to do so; I’m also happy to disclose if the tournament allows it and the teams ask.</p>