I will fairly listen to and evaluate critiques and have found myself voting on critiques an awful ot this year. I am also more prone than other judges to vote on topicality. I take a fairly strict view of the topic and am willing to enforce that view when teams do a good job of arguing topicality. One thing I should say about Topicality though is that in order for the negative to win, they need to be able to articulate the specific ground they are losing due to the affirmative's interpretation. Other than that speed is fine as long as you're clear and not some mush-mouthed freak.
Evidence is extremely important.
I have noticed a disturbing trend towards people reading short cards with little or no explanation in them. If your cards suck you're in trouble. Also if your cards suck you can pretty much guess your points are going to suck too. Cross examination is very important. X. A good cross -ex will dramatically increase your points, a bad one will hurt them.