I will begin with the objective, then cover the timeline and risks.
Unit 07
Presenting information
Briefings, presentations, and clear structure
Open, structure, and close a briefing while explaining technical systems to a non-specialist audience.
SpeakingReadingVocabulary
Frontex focus
EES, ETIAS, and audience-focused explanations
01
Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit
- Use signposting to guide an audience.
- Define technical terms with relative clauses.
- Explain the difference between EES and ETIAS.
02
Briefing model
Technical, but still clear
The trainer opens with one question: what happens before travel, and what happens at the border? She explains that ETIAS concerns pre-travel authorisation for visa-exempt travellers, whereas EES records border events and stay information. A simple timeline helps the audience keep the systems separate.
She closes by correcting a common misconception. ETIAS is not a visa, and an authorisation does not guarantee entry. Border conditions still have to be assessed when the traveller arrives.
Read further: A briefing is a decision tool
First, identify the writer’s main purpose. Then look for evidence, qualifications, and links between paragraphs.
A project team was preparing a presentation about a new reporting tool for colleagues who would use it during busy shifts. The first draft contained detailed diagrams, technical definitions and a history of the development work. Its author knew the system thoroughly and did not want to omit anything important. When two future users reviewed the slides, however, they could not explain what decision the meeting was supposed to produce. They remembered several features but remained unsure which action was expected from them.
The author revised the opening to state the decision before introducing the background. The team needed to choose between a short pilot with one group and an immediate launch across the office. Each later section then addressed a question relevant to that choice: what the tool would change, what support users would need and what remained uncertain. Technical detail was moved to a reference note, where people who needed it could read it without interrupting the main argument.
The revised presentation also used a running example. A colleague receiving an incomplete report could follow the same item through each proposed stage and see where an owner or an update was required. This helped the audience connect unfamiliar terms to recognisable work. Nevertheless, the speaker warned that the example illustrated a normal case. It did not prove that every exception had already been solved, and participants were invited to identify situations that should be included in the pilot.
After the meeting, the team circulated a short summary of the chosen option, the reasons for it and the actions assigned. The full technical note remained available. The presenter had not reduced the complexity of the underlying system; she had selected an order in which the audience could understand it. A successful briefing, the team concluded, did more than display expertise. It gave listeners a route through the evidence and made the next decision easier to discuss.
03
Language focus
Signposting and relative clauses
Signposts show where the briefing is going. Defining relative clauses identify a person, tool, or process without starting a new sentence.
Turning now to the second operational priority...
ETIAS is a system that screens visa-exempt travellers before travel.
Watch this
Do not overload one slide or sentence with every technical detail.
Use the language
Complete the second sentence.
Keep the original meaning. Use each keyword unchanged. Type only the missing words in the blue gap.
- 1Read the original
- 2Fill the blue gap
- 3Check your answer
How to answer · worked example
Original
This is Jo’s laptop.
Use BELONGS
This laptop belongs to Jo.
Only belongs to goes in the gap. The other words are already there.
3 short exercises · not saved · separate from your drill score.
01 of 03Use THAT
Original sentence
The tool records missing information. It helps the next shift.
Same meaning
The tool
helps the next shift.
or press Enter
Your completed sentence
Show hint
A defining relative clause identifies the tool.
Compare with a model answer
Words for the gap that records missing information
The tool that records missing information helps the next shift.
That records missing information links the two ideas without repeating the subject.
02 of 03Use WHEREAS
Original sentence
EES records entry and exit information. ETIAS concerns travel authorisation.
Same meaning
EES records entry and exit information,
travel authorisation.
or press Enter
Your completed sentence
Show hint
Whereas joins a contrast between two clauses.
Compare with a model answer
Words for the gap whereas ETIAS concerns
EES records entry and exit information, whereas ETIAS concerns travel authorisation.
The completed sentence contrasts functions without treating the systems as equivalent.
03 of 03Use HAVING
Original sentence
Marta checked the figures before she began the briefing.
Same meaning
Grammar reminder: Participle clauses
Use having + past participle to show one action was completed before the main action. The subject must perform both actions; otherwise use a full clause.
Example: Having checked the figures, Marta began the briefing.
, Marta began the briefing.
or press Enter
Your completed sentence
Show hint
Marta performs both actions; show checking was completed first.
Compare with a model answer
Words for the gap Having checked the figures
Having checked the figures, Marta began the briefing.
Having checked marks the earlier completed action. Marta is the subject of both checking and beginning.
The checker matches model answers. An unmatched answer may still be valid; compare the completed sentences and explanation.
04
Core lexicon
Professional and operational vocabulary
give essential information and instructions before an activity
The coordinator will brief all teams at 08:00.a phrase that shows the structure or direction of speech
Turning now to is a useful signpost.the most important point the audience should remember
The key takeaway is that authorisation is not a visa.the range of work or information covered
The briefing stays within the team’s operational scope.checks performed before a person begins travel
Pre-travel screening can identify risks earlier.From EPSOHQ Frontex database
Acronym focus
Use for records of entry, exit, refusals, and stay duration.
Use for pre-travel authorisation of visa-exempt travellers.
05
Listening workshop
Prepare. Listen. Respond.
Before you listen
Listen for the decision requested, the trade-off between rooms and the consequence of delay.
- trade-off
- a choice in which gaining one benefit reduces another
- decision group
- the people whose agreement is needed
- written update
- a short record shared with people outside the discussion
Operational briefing
Listen once for the overall message. Replay for details, then explain the speaker’s reasoning. Pause, seek, or slow the recording whenever useful.
Unlimited replays · 01:25
Read transcript
The decision we need today is whether to move the briefing room. The current room has a sound problem, but the alternative holds fewer people. My recommendation is to use the alternative for the decision group and provide a written update to other staff. We need the chair’s agreement by fourteen hundred.
I considered postponing the meeting, but the equipment request must be submitted today if it is to be processed this week. A delay would therefore create a problem for the next deployment. The smaller room is not ideal, yet it allows the people responsible for the decision to hear one another clearly. Other colleagues can send questions in advance and receive the written account afterwards.
In presenting this recommendation, I want to separate the decision from the background information. The decision concerns where the small group should meet today. It does not establish a permanent policy about who may attend future briefings. The written update should include the reason for the temporary arrangement and a named contact for further questions. If the chair rejects the proposal, the alternative is to keep the current room and arrange a tested microphone before the meeting starts. That option depends on technical support being available. Please tell me if any essential participant would be excluded by the smaller room so that we can reconsider the plan before asking for approval.
Original EPSOHQ text. Synthetic narration with macOS Daniel or Samantha voice.
Check your understanding
Drill 14 · Listening comprehension Drill 15 · Listening comprehension Drill 16 · Listening inference Drill 17 · Listening inference
Use what you heard
Give a one-minute briefing with an opening, two signposts and a single final takeaway.
06
Production task
Two-minute systems briefing
Explain EES and ETIAS to a new colleague. Use an opening, two transitions, and one final takeaway.
- Define each system once.
- Use whereas for contrast.
- Correct the idea that ETIAS guarantees entry.
About 120 seconds · 130–230 words
Open evaluated task
Try your own response first. Then compare how the example covers the task, connects ideas, and uses the target language.
Study an example response
Illustrative response, not an assessed script
I will begin with the purpose of each system, then explain their main difference and finish with one point to remember. EES, the Entry/Exit System, is designed to record entry and exit information for the travellers covered by its rules at external borders. It helps replace reliance on passport stamps with an electronic record, but staff still need to follow the applicable checking procedure. Turning now to ETIAS, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System concerns travel authorisation for visa-exempt travellers who fall within its scope. EES concerns border-crossing records, whereas ETIAS concerns authorisation before travel. Moving to the practical implication, an approved travel authorisation is not a guarantee that a person will be admitted at the border. The competent authorities still assess the applicable entry conditions. My final takeaway is to explain the two functions separately and check the current official guidance before advising a traveller about their own situation.
Notice the choices
- The opening states a route through the explanation; Turning now and Moving to provide two transitions.
- Each acronym is expanded once, and whereas contrasts the systems’ purposes.
- The closing distinguishes travel authorisation from admission without making a claim about rollout dates.
Adapt these patterns to your own situation. For speaking, practise aloud and check clarity and pace; a written example cannot demonstrate pronunciation or spontaneous fluency.