MILITARY BRIEFING

I. DEFINITION AND PURPOSE

The military briefing is a formal version of the informative speech. As such, the primary purpose of the true
briefing is to inform. The best military briefings are concise and factual. They may have anyone of three
specific purposes: - 1 to assure the listener’s understanding of a particular mission, operation or idea, 2 to
enable the listener to follow a specific procedure, or 3 to give the listener information on which to base
decisions.

II. QUALITIES OF A GOOD BRIEFING

Every briefing has three important traits: It is accurate. It is brief. It is clear. These could be considered the
ABC’s of briefing. Accuracy and clarity are important to all good speaking, but brevity separates the
briefing from other important types of informative speeches. The word “brief” suggests conciseness and
directness. This does not mean that a briefing should contain no extra material. In preparing to brief others,
you should first ask yourself, “What does my audience need to know?” The answer to this question is the
key to what to include in a briefing.

III. PLANNING AND ORGANIZING YOUR BRIEFING

When preparing to brief others, you normally study a mass of information. You must choose the really
important facts and organize them carefully. A clear, thoughtful organization of your material will help
your audience to understand better. In organizing the introduction, body and conclusion to the briefing,
keep the overall purpose of the briefing in mind. Use an organizational plan that will best suit your purpose
and inform your audience. A simple topical organization would be suitable. A topical organization is one
which presents each of the major areas of the briefing as a separate, easily identifiable section of the
presentation. These major areas to be presented in the briefing are the topics to be developed and explained.

IV. THE INTRODUCTION OF A MILITARY BRIEFING

In the military briefing, as many times happens, if someone introduces you and your subject, you need only
to give a quick overview of the subject and proceed immediately to the main points. If you are not
introduced, it is adequate to begin by greeting your audience and stating the following: 1 your function and
organization, 2 the type of briefing and security classification (when appropriate), 3 the purpose of your
briefing, 4 the outline of the briefing by summarizing the key points and explaining the structure, 5
approximate timings for your talk, 6 when audience can ask questions, 7 if there are any supporting
documents and when they will be handed out.

V. THE BODY OF A MILITARY BRIEFING

The body of the military briefing is for the presentation of facts and the necessary support for those facts.
Information should be presented as clearly as possible and that is why a topical structure is advisable. You
should divide your briefing into sections each devoted to one key point you want to address. Begin by
stating the key point, which is the most general idea of the section. Then further divide your key point into
sub-points that you elaborate on with the help of supporting data and visual aids. Transition from one key
point to another should be smoothly and clearly. Use connectives to flag your moving from one major idea
to another. Always follow the outline you have announced in the introduction.

VI. THE CONCLUSION OF A MILITARY BRIEFING

This part of a military briefing is normally short summary of the main points. Since briefings are usually
followed by question periods, a good concluding sentence might be: “Gentlemen are there any questions?”
If a question period is not to follow, you might simply say: “Gentlemen, this concludes my briefing,” or
some statement which communicates a sense of closure.

VII. ADDITIONAL MATERIALS.

Because you must be brief, you will have to leave out many details from your talk. This could cause you to
oversimplify a complicated subject. Frequently this tendency to oversimplify is avoided by collecting
support material in a folder of documentation for the audience to refer to after the briefing. Maps, diagrams,
outlines and other materials which may be prepared before the briefing and actually shown during the
briefing can also help you be brief. In fact, their use in military briefings is primarily to help in showing
quickly and clearly what would be difficult and time-consuming to put into words.
VIII. DELIVERING YOU MILITARY BRIEFING
Once you have organized your briefing, once you know what you will say, then you must give
consideration to delivery, that is, how you will say it.

Posture and movement. How you hold yourself when speaking before an audience is one of the ways that
you establish your relationship with your listeners. Too stiff a posture will turn off your audience.
However, if you are too relaxed, your listeners are not likely to take you seriously. In general, you should
stand reasonably relaxed but not slouching. Movement should be kept to a minimum. However, when
emphasizing a point, it can be helpful to take a few steps forward or to one side.

Eye contact. One of the most important nonverbal methods of establishing or creating quick and full
communication with your audience is by eye contact. You build rapport with your audience as you look at
them and you see how they react to your idea as you speak. Your voice is an important tool in emphasizing
key point. The rate of delivery is essential to the comprehensibility of the briefing