1. You are a chef’s assistant at Ritz Carlton. While making champagne moon cakes, you used Newater instead of champagne by mistake. Explain to your chef why he should be glad rather than angry
2. You have been entrusted to order 12 months of Time magazine for your Boss’s young children. But you ordered FHM by mistake. Explain to your Boss why he should be grateful to you instead.
3. You are a kidnapper. You have successfully kidnapped a rich tycoon’s daughter. Upon reaching your hideout, you discovered that the woman is not the rich tycoon’s daughter, but his maid. Explain to your partner why he should be glad.
4. You run a popular dating agency. Due to a computer glitch, two men were arranged to meet for a dinner date instead. Explain to these 2 men why they should be glad that they were having dinner with each other rather than with a girl.
5. You have been turned into a frog by a wicked witch. The only way for you to become a human again is for a man to kiss you. Luckily a man walked past. You told him you’d turn into a beautiful princess if he kissed you. And so he rewarded you with a wet kiss. Poof! There you appear before him. Explain to the man why he should be glad it’s you and not a beautiful princess that appeared.
6. You are a world famous plastic surgeon. Many celebrities come to you for procedures. Michael Jackson has engaged you to do a nose job for him. But due to a mix up, you ended up performing a breast augmentation job on Michael Jackson, and a nose job on Paris Hilton. Imagine the both of them are in your office now. Explain to them why the operations were in retrospect good for them.
7. You are the boatman of a sampan. You have been entrusted to ferry 10 illegal immigrant to Singapore. But you ended up in Pulau Tekong instead. Explain to the illegal immigrants, why they should be glad that they are in Pulau Tekong instead.
8. You are a famous surgeon. But due to bad handwriting, you have wrongly amputed a man’s good leg. Explain to the man why this was better for him.

A 5 minute long speech is about 500 words long. That is assuming you speak at the average rate which is 100-175 words per minute. 500 words? Bah. That’s easy. Chicken feed. Child’s play. Most can do it. But what if your speech takes longer? An hour perhaps? Which means you got to memorise 6000 words. Maybe you’re blessed with fantastic memory. But I’m not. Memorising is hard work. I’d prefer not to if I had a choice. So how do you memorise a speech?

The trick is Not to memorise word for word. Memorise the key points. when you’re on stage, articulate those points in your own words there and then. That is how I prepared for my toastmasters speeches.

Why does it work?

Why do you memorise word for word? It is because you are seized by The Fear Of Forgetfulness. You are afraid that your mind will turn blank at the Big Moment. But memorising word for word doesn’t help. It hinders you instead.

When you’re chained by The Word-For-Word, you’ll feel a pressure to deliver the speech in its exact entirety. No margin for error whatsoever. What if you forget? You’ll go into panic because you do not know how to link to the next point. Your speech will be disjointed. Your audience will wonder, “What the hell is he saying?” That is the biggest danger of The Word-For-Word. One mistake and you lose the connection from point to point. When you’re using The Word-For-Word, you are reciting from memory. There is no room for spontaneity. Remember. You are trying to get ideas across in a speech. You are not in a competition to see who can memorise a 500 word essay and deliver it to an audience.

If there is nothing to remember, there is nothing to forget. You’re freeing yourself. Only by freeing yourself, then your emotion and enthusiasm can come across to your audience. This is an example of the Pareto Principle, where the most important 20% is your main points. Another helpful point is to organise your points so that it flows smoothly.

Of course, dont forget to practice! There is no substitute for practice.