here - College of Arts & Sciences - Bethel University

Presentation Preferences: presentations are presentations. if you make arguments about
why your presentation style is best, those get evaluated like anything else. if you don’t, i
won’t hold you to any style (and even if you do, i won’t hold you to a style, merely
evaluate your arguments). i think that a traditional split block is kinda incoherent in
parli debate, but i suppose i could be persuaded a different way. lor is a good time for
impact calculus! I try to automatically exclude new arguments in the rebuttals, though i
would encourage the teams in the room to call a point of order, because it’s the most
predictable way to insure that i catch the new arguments. if there are lots of new
arguments, there is a good chance the other team is way behind, and i will probably catch
on.
Church, Kim
Los RIos Community College
Background of the critic:
I have been teaching communication for 15 years. The last 5 years my focus has been on
competitive speaking. I am the DIrector of Forensics of a full-service conmmunity
college team. Our team competes in parliamentary debate, policy debate, and all
individual events. I have taught argumentation and debate and I coach parliamentary
debate.
Approach of the critic to decision-making (for example, adherence to the trichotomy,
stock-issues, policymaker, tabula rasa, etc.):
As a judge, i am not looking to intervene but instead to determine which side did the
better job debating the resolution at hand. I do not believe in tabula rasa however i do my
best to make decisions based on what happens in the actual round. I prefer to hear cases
that are signposted and well explained. Stock Issues are crucial regardless of the
resoution being fact, value, policy, quassi-policy, metahpor, etc. I actively flow debates
and look to the flow when points of order are called. I am less impressed with jargon and
more impressed with the student's ability to rationalize and justify their debate case in
everyday language so the debate remains accessible to the common listener.
Relative importance of presentation/communication skills to the critic in decision-making
:
I consider presentation skills necessary to persuade the judge. This includes etiquette,
demeanor toward partner and toward opposing team, the way in which students handle
themselves during the debate (particularly when it gets contentious), and overall
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