How To Bring Home the Bacon

"Public speaking" is among the leading phobias in America. It is also a key to success. What can experts apprehensive about speaking to groups do to lessen this fear, share their knowledge, and advance their careers? A good start would be adopting the S3P3 System from Larry Tracy's book. As a Major he was tapped to make complex presentations and he realized that he needed a repeatable methodology. He then began to develop the S3P3 System, a merging of a strategy common to all presentations-Substance, Structure and Style-with the presentation-specific tactics Planning, Practicing and Presenting. Although his specialty was Latin America, he was often diverted to assignments exploiting his S3P3-driven speaking skills. When assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency as a Latin American analyst, he was picked instead to be Senior Intelligence Briefer to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The White House later assigned him to the State Department to debate controversial policy issues before contentious, even hostile, audiences. Feedback led to President Reagan describing him as "An extraordinarily effective Speaker."