Paradigm

Katrina Brominguez
Trinity Preparatory School

For the email chain: brominguezk@trinityprep.org



Experience: I competed in PF, Policy, and OO during high school and competed more in college. I am currently the Director of Speech and Debate at Trinity Preparatory School and have run multiple leagues and tournaments across Florida and beyond with over a decade of coaching experience and over 2 decades of competitive practice.

The MOST Important Thing: Speech and Debate should be a safe space for ALL so respect is key. I don't mind aggressive clash debate, but it must remain professional and nonpersonal.

Debate is a gentleman's sport. There should be blood in the water but no bodies on the floor. You need clash and competition, but all tied up in a professional suit and tie.

Lean more flow than flay.

DEBATE Preferences:
I bring a flow pad into the room and you have to prove to me your side will create a better world than your opponent's. I am a flow judge, so be cautious of dropping points and make sure your crystallization is thorough- WEIGH AND CRYSTALLIZE.

Speaker points come through in presentation and communication. Pay attention to hand gestures, body language, and eye contact. You CAN be the better speaker and the worse debater, they are two different scores for a reason.

Cross-examination will not be flowed or scored in judging, points must be brought up again in a speech to make the ballot. Does impact speaking points.

Lean tech over truth but can go either way and understand the virtues of both. In the end, you tell me why I vote, persuasion is the name of the game in debate.

I have yet to be persuaded by a non-topical aff case.

I'm a VERY experienced judge and coach. That said I'm more of a trad judge (I prefer the debate to be on the topic the national vote landed on), but VERY good prog can win me over. The educational impacts of Forensics is persuasive to me. I love a good K, Disad, Ontology argument, but remember, you had weeks to explore these ideas. Explain it WELL if you want me to get it.



PF Specific: Hate when partners interrupt their partner's speeches to an egregious degree (notes or a word or two are fine). It makes the speaker sound incompetent and while technically not a rule violation, teamwork is a scorable aspect of a partner debate, I will evaluate it as a net harm of teamwork.



Dislikes:

My strong preference is that if one debater is a traditional debater that their opponent make an effort to participate in a way that's accessible for that debater. I would much rather judge a full traditional debate than a circuit debater going for shells or kritiks against an opponent who isn't familiar with that style. If you do this, you will be rewarded with higher speaker points. If you don't, I will likely give low point wins to technical victories that exploit the unfamiliarity of traditional debaters to get easy wins. I can be persuaded by a strong argument for inclusion and accessibility here.

Spreading is fine, but don't spread tags or analytics. Quantity does not make up for quality, analysis must be thorough in rebuttal and crystal to make up for it. If you spread, add me to the chain! brominguezk@trinityprep.org

Likes:

Stand during Cross. Look at me, not the opponent.

Love an off-time roadmap. Helps clarify the flow and clean up the organization.

All debate lies in Impacts and Clash. Prove to me why your world is better than the opponents. Weigh it out, paint me a line to my ballot.



Observation:

I know that only debate kids look at Paradigms, but I think it is relevant to address other event preferences too, as I coach and judge anything and everything.

CONGRESS Preferences

HAVE CLASH. If you don't mention other speakers and you aren't the first speech, then I likely won't rank you top 5.

Clash and aggression are two different things. Congress should be performative in the sense that it is excessively professional, it should not be antagonistic.

Winning as a PO is hard, so let me clarify how to score higher in Congress.

Control and lead the room. Run it ON TIME and INCLUSIVELY.

I'm watching your recency, make sure you are correct, and if you make a mistake, address it.

Every hour, between speeches, remind your judge to give you a score as PO. Do it politely and professionally without overly intruding on the round.



SPEECH Preferences

Tell me what time-signals you want. Be specific. And time yourself if possible in addition to that.

Stay in the room if you can (for example if you are not double entered or have already gone), being a good audience member displays character.

There are a lot of hot debates in the coaching world about black book events and the usage of them as reading parodies versus props, and I will always respect the specific league rules over all else, but I am team prop. Use those books guys.

If you are on the floor for longer than 15 seconds total for your entire piece, I'm docking you. A book is an allowed prop, the floor or things like hair or clothes are not. Block it out differently.