Writing Briefing Notes for Meetings

The Invisible Art of the Briefing Note

When a prime minister walks into a bilateral meeting with a foreign leader, or a CEO enters negotiations with a regulator, they are almost never operating from memory alone. Behind the scenes, a staff member has prepared a briefing note — a concise document that tells the principal who they are meeting, what the meeting is about, what their objectives should be, and what to say.

Briefing notes are among the most practically important documents in government and organizations, yet they receive surprisingly little attention in policy writing courses. Unlike briefs and memos, which live on paper, briefing notes live in meetings — they shape what gets said, asked, and decided in real time.

Structure of a Briefing Note

The Canadian Privy Council Office format is widely used in Commonwealth countries and is an excellent template:

1. Purpose. One sentence: 'To prepare the Minister for a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor on trade.'

2. Key messages. Three to five bullet points the principal should convey. These are the core talking points, written in the principal's voice: 'We value the Canada-EU trade relationship and are committed to resolving the agricultural tariff dispute by Q3.'

3. Background. Brief context: relationship history, recent developments, relevant data points. This section is for the car ride to the meeting, not for the meeting itself.

4. Counterpart profile. Who the principal is meeting: their priorities, communication style, known positions on the issue, recent public statements. 'Chancellor prefers data-driven arguments and is sensitive to framing that implies German industrial policy is protectionist.'

5. Anticipated questions and recommended responses. The Q&A section. Predict what the counterpart will raise and provide 1-2 sentence responses. This is where the briefing note earns its value — a principal who is never caught off-guard projects confidence and competence.

Crafting Effective Talking Points

Good talking points follow the BLUF structure (Bottom Line Up Front) within each point:

• Lead with the position. 'We support the proposed timeline for emissions reductions.'
• Follow with the reason. 'Our analysis shows it is both economically feasible and consistent with our 2030 targets.'
• Add a pivot if needed. 'However, we need flexibility on the compliance mechanism to account for regional differences.'

Each talking point should be self-contained — the principal may use them in any order or skip some entirely. Never write a talking point that depends on another talking point having been delivered first.

Limit yourself to 3-5 key messages. Research on cognitive load confirms that both speakers and listeners lose track beyond five main points. If you have more than five, you have not prioritized enough. The discipline of selecting three core messages forces strategic clarity that improves the meeting itself.