Links to Other Web Pages With Guidance About Briefings
- Guidelines for Effective Briefings, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- Responding to Questions Effectively.
- Handling Question and Answer Sessions.
- NASA Research Resources. We have included this link as an aid to our NASA students who may need to have photographs for their briefings.
- Military Speechwriting and Public Speaking.
- Speaking Effectively: A Guide for Air Force Speakers.
- Briefing Guide, U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.
- Written and Oral Communications Guide, Command and Staff College.
- Effective Presentations, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- How To Prepare a Military Briefing.
- How To Do an ROTC Briefing Using PowerPoint.
- Tongue and Quill, Air Force guidance about speaking and writing.
- Foundations of Leadership II, a textbook used by the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program of the U.S. Army.
- Effective Army Briefing. Excerpt from “Foundations of Leadership II.”
- Briefing Techniques, from U.S. Army Field Manual 34-80: Brigade and Battalion Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Operations, appendix B.
- Joint Staff Officers Guide, published by the U.S. Department of Defense. See chapter 3 entitled “Staff Work: Methods and Applications,” Section 3-5, about the military briefing.
- Army Field Manual 101-5: Staff Organization and Operations. See appendix E on briefings. In addition, this publication is very valuable for understanding the role briefings play in military decision making.
- Military Briefings.
- Collection of Sample Army PowerPoint Presentations (some good, some not so good).
- Template for Army Informative Briefings.
- Template for Army Decision-Making Briefing.
- Military Briefings, from “Military Requirements for Chief Petty Officer.”
- Briefings, training materials published by the Tennessee State Guard.
- Does the Military Overuse PowerPoint?
- Army Field Manual 5-0: Operations Process. See appendix A about military decision making and appendix J about briefings.
- Effective Briefing Skills.
- Effective Speaking and Presentations.
- Army Briefing Techniques.
- Army Briefing Techniques, University of Southern Mississippi ROTC Program.
The links on this page are probably biased toward military briefings, but civilian employees of the Federal Government need to keep in mind that the military's practices are good guidance for how to conduct briefings in civilian agencies. More important, Government contractors, especially defense contractors, are well advised to know how the military does things. When they make briefings in the “military way” to the military, contractors are likely to create a more favorable impression.
Those in Business and Industry also make briefings to decision makers within their organization, as well as to those outside. Again, much of the advice provided about briefings in the military are applicable to those situations—especially the advice about the two most distinguishing characteristics of a briefing (as opposed to a mere presentation):
- Using audiovisual aids.
- Fielding questions and handling interruptions from the audience.