DO UNIVERSAL IDEAS FOR STANAG 6001 BRIEFINGS EXIST?

 

I often receive questions about how to invent advantages and disadvantages for STANAG 6001 LEVEL 3 briefings.

Some people even ask about universal ideas they could use in every briefing.

The universal part of the briefing is its structure and format, which is always the same. You can read about it here: HOW TO PREPARE A STANAG 6001 BRIEFING

Although there are some ideas that could possibly be used in a few different types of briefing topics, I don't think there are ideas that could be used in EVERY briefing. This is caused by two reasons. First, there are a few different topic areas that could be identified, which I will write about later on. Second, every advantage and disadvantage needs to be justified with additional arguments, which will depend specifically on a particular topic.

However, there are a few types of advantages and disadvantages that might be fairly universal, but still have to be adapted to every particular topic, especially in terms of argumentation and justification.

The following subject areas of STANAG 6001 level 3 briefings seem to be the most common:

TRANSPORT

SECURITY

MISSIONS

ACCIDENTS

TRAINING

EQUIPMENT

COMPLAINTS

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

EVENTS

CANDIDATES

AND OTHER

Examples of different briefing topics can be found here: BRIEFING TOPICS

For most of those topics, there are some common ideas that could be used as advantages and disadvantages of particular SOLUTIONS.

 

1. PRICE/COST -  something can be cheaper or more expensive;

2. TIME/DURATION - something can take shorter or longer; be faster or slower;

3. SECURITY - something is safer/more dangerous;

4. QUALITY - something is better or worse quality;

5. USEFULNESS/RELEVANCE - something is more or less useful/relevant; 

6. FEASIBILITY - something is easier/more difficult to arrange/organise;

7. CANDIDATES -  experience, health, foreign languages, motivation, performance.

 

However, it is necessary to remember two things: 

First, every advantage and disadvantage must be justified, for example:

PRICE/COST -  something can be cheaper or more expensive; 

JUSTIFICATION: the budget will (not) be exceeded; there will (not) be money left for other needs (investments); tender procedure will (not) be necessary; 

Second, advantages and disadvantages of two solutions described in one briefing must be different, which means that if the advantage of solution 1 is that it is cheaper, the disadvantage of solution 2 cannot be a a higher price. It must be a differnt, new argument, and not the opposite of the advantage of solution 1. More about typical mistakes made in briefings here: 

10 MOST COMMON MISTAKES TO AVOID IN A BRIEFING

 

The above list of ideas is by no means complete and they obviously cannot be totally universal. These are just suggestions in which direction to go while looking for ideas, or they may be a survival kit in case nothing comes to your mind during the exam. 

 

As I have already mentioned, it is the structure of a briefing that is always the same. That is why, it is advisable to practise the structure and expressions used to form it before the exam, so as to use the 15 minutes you have to prepare before the exam to work on your advantages/disadvantages and their justification. You can read about how to plan your briefing here: HOW TO MAKE NOTES

 

Do you have any "universal" advantages or disadvantages that you use in your briefings? Care to share them in the comment below this post?