Each position of a debater has its peculiar tasks.  The middle speaker must not allow the interest aroused by the first to lag.  If anything, his material and manner must indicate a rise over the opening speech.

He must start at the place where the first speaker stopped and carry on the contention to the place at which it has been agreed he will deliver it to the concluding speaker for his side.  If this connection among all the speeches of one side is quite plain to the audience an impression of unity and coherence will be made upon them.  This will contribute to the effect of cogent reasoning.  They will realize that instead of listening to a group of detached utterances they have been following a chain of reasoning every link of which is closely connected with all that precedes and follows.

The Concluding Affirmative Speaker.  The concluding affirmative speaker must not devote his entire speech to a conclusion by giving an extensive summary or recapitulation.  He must present arguments.  Realizing that this is the last chance for original argument from his side he may be assigned the very strongest argument of all to deliver, for the effect of what he says must last beyond the concluding speech of the negative.  It would likewise be a mistake for him to do nothing more than argue in his concluding speech.  Several persons have intervened since his first colleague outlined their side and announced what they would prove.  It is his duty to show that the affirmative has actually done what it set out to do.  By amplifying and diminishing he may also show how the negative had not carried out its avowed intention of disproving the affirmative’s position and proving conclusively its own.  The concluding speech for the affirmative is an excellent test of a debater’s ability to adapt himself to conditions which may have been entirely unforeseen when the debate began, of his keenness in analyzing the strength of the affirmative and exposing the weakness of the negative, of his power in impressing the arguments of his colleagues as well as his own upon the audience, and of his skill in bringing to a well-rounded, impressive conclusion his side’s part in the debate.

The Concluding Negative Speaker.  The concluding negative speaker must judge whether his immediate predecessor, the concluding affirmative speaker, has been able to gain the verdict of the judges.  If he fears that he has, he must strive to argue that conviction away.  He too must advance proof finally to strengthen the negative side.  He must make his speech answer to his first colleague’s announced scheme, or if some change in the line of development has been necessitated, he must make clear why the first was replaced by the one the debaters have followed.  If the arguments of the negative have proved what it was declared they would, the last speaker should emphasize that fact beyond any question in any one’s mind.  Finally he should save time for a fitting conclusion.  This brings the debate proper to a close.