Judging
Judging Info
As a judge your goal is to be as fair and un-biased as possible. No matter the event, your ballot shouldn't based on their team, race, gender, your opinion on the matter, etc. Rather it should be based on how well they made the argument with their evidence, how well they spoke, and how put together their case was. If you need help understanding how to judge, the National Speech and Debate organization (NSDA) should have helpful information, however, if you can't find any we have a breakdown of each event for you below. Note: Each event has differently timed speeches, and should be provided to you on a judging sheet.
Debate
PF (Public Forum)
Public Forum is a two versus two debate. As like must debate subjects, one team is in Affirmation of the topic and one team is Negation. One team is first speaker and the other team is second speaker. This is decided by a coin flip at the beginning, and if you would like, you can have the students write their names on the board (Along with AFF or NEG and first or second speaker). On each team there is also a first and second speaker who do their own respective speeches (as listed below, with the student speaker number next to it)
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First speech (Student speaker 1): This speech is supposed to lay out their argument for their case and why they agree with it with evidence supporting them.
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First Cross-Ex (Student speaker 1): After both team's first speakers have gone up and done their respective speeches, they have something called cross-ex. Note; CROSS-EX SHOULD NOT COUNT TOWARD YOUR BALLOT! Rather, cross-ex is supposed to be used as a way for the student's to ask eachother questions about the others' case.
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Rebuttals (Student speaker 2): This is the first speech that the second student speaker of each team will do. It should be laying out their arguments on why the other team is wrong, and if they have time, why they are winning.
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Second Cross-Ex (Student speaker 2): This is the same as the first cross-ex but the second student speaker should be up.
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Summary speech (Student speaker 1): This speech is similar to rebuttals, but should cover why the speaker's team is winning, and should be less focused on why the other team is wrong (though once again, if they have time, it is still good to cover).
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Final Focus (Student speaker 2):