Speaker judge

A speaker judge is a judge who decides the outcome of the round primarily based on presentation, rather than the arguments presented; that is, whoever is the smoothest speaker wins. Most speaker judges are community judges, but some parent judges also decide rounds primarily on speaker points.

In reality, many speaker judges are influenced by argumentation; if one team's argumentats is particularly persuasive, the judge will likely perceive them as better speakers. Still, most debaters dislike speaker judges and prefer judges that evaluate their arguments more objectively.