Seminars
Seminars are generally employed to orient participants
to, or provide an overview of, authorities, strategies,
plans, policies, procedures, protocols, response resources,
or concepts and ideas. Seminars provide a good starting
point for jurisdictions that are developing or making
major changes to their plans and procedures. They offer
the following attributes:
Low-stress environment employing a number of
instruction techniques such as lectures, multimedia
presentations, panel discussions, case study discussions,
expert testimony, and decision support tools
Informal discussions led by a seminar leader
Lack of time constraints caused by real-time
portrayal of events
Effective with both small and large groups
Workshops
Workshops represent the second tier of exercises in
the HSEEP building block approach. Although similar to
seminars, workshops differ in two important aspects:
participant interaction is increased, and the focus is
on achieving or building a product (such as a plan or
a policy). Workshops provide an ideal forum for:
Collecting or sharing information Obtaining new or different perspectives Testing new ideas, processes, or procedures Training groups in coordinated activities Problem solving of complex issues Obtaining consensus Team building
In conjunction with exercise development, workshops are
most useful in achieving specific aspects of exercise
design such as:
Determining program or exercise objectives Developing exercise scenario and key events listings Determining evaluation elements and standards of performance
A workshop may be used to produce new standard/emergency
operating procedures (SOPs/EOPs), mutual aid agreements,
Multiyear Exercise Plans, and Improvement Plans (IPs).
To be effective, workshops must be highly focused on
a specific issue and the desired outcome or goal must
be clearly defined.
Drills
A drill is a coordinated, supervised activity usually
employed to test a single specific operation or function
in a single agency. Drills are commonly used to provide
training on new equipment, develop or test new policies
or procedures, or practice and maintain current skills.
Typical attributes include:
A
narrow focus, measured against established standards Instant feedback Realistic environment Performance in isolation
Games
A game is a simulation of operations that often involves
two or more teams, usually in a competitive environment,
using rules, data, and procedures designed to depict
an actual or assumed real-life situation. It does not
involve the use of actual resources, and the sequence
of events affects, and is in turn affected by, the decisions
made by the players.
Players are commonly presented with scenarios and asked
to perform a task associated with the scenario episode.
As each episode moves to the next level of detail or
complexity, it takes into account players' earlier
decisions; thus, the decisions made by participants
determine the flow of the game. The goal is to explore
decision-making processes and the consequences of those
decisions. In a game, the same situation can be examined
from various perspectives by changing the variables and
parameters that guide player actions. Large-scale games
can be multijurisdictional and include active participation
from Federal, State, and local governments. Games stress
the importance of planners' and players' understanding
and comprehension of interrelated processes.
With the evolving complexity and sophistication of current
simulations, opportunities to provide enhanced realism
for game participants have increased. Computer-generated
scenarios and simulations can provide a more realistic
and time-sensitive method of introducing situations for
analysis. Planner decisions can be input and models run
to show the effect of decisions made during a game. Distributed
games (available via the Internet) offer many additional
benefits, such as saving participants' time and
travel expenses, offering more frequent training opportunities,
and taking less time away from primary functions. They
also provide a collaborative environment that reflects
realistic occurrences. Games are excellent vehicles for
the following:
Gaining policy or process consensus Conducting "what-if" analyses of existing plans Developing new plans
DHS/ODP conducts ongoing analysis of commercial- and
government-sector models, games, and simulations to identify
those of value for exercise use. Although models, games,
and simulations are not a substitute for full-scale exercises
(FSEs), they are an increasingly more sophisticated and
useful component of exercise programs. DHS/ODP has issued
a list of government and commercially developed models,
games, and simulations that have been evaluated
Table Tops (TTX)
TTXs involve senior staff, elected or appointed officials,
or other key personnel in an informal setting, discussing
simulated situations. This type of exercise is intended
to stimulate discussion of various issues regarding a
hypothetical situation. It can be used to assess plans,
policies, and procedures or to assess types of systems
needed to guide the prevention of, response to, and recovery
from a defined event. TTXs typically are aimed at facilitating
understanding of concepts, identifying of strengths and
shortfalls, and/or achieving a change in attitude. Participants
are encouraged to discuss issues in depth and develop
decisions through slow-paced problem solving rather than
the rapid, spontaneous decision making that occurs under
actual or simulated emergency conditions. In contrast
to the scale and cost of operations-based exercises and
games, TTXs can be a cost-effective tool when used in
conjunction with more complex exercises. The effectiveness
of a TTX is derived from the energetic involvement of
participants and their assessment of recommended revisions
to current policies, procedures, and plans.
TTX methods are divided into two categories: basic and
advanced. In a basic TTX, the scene set by the scenario
materials remains constant. It describes an event or
emergency incident and brings discussion participants
up to the simulated present time. Players apply their
knowledge and skills to a list of problems presented
the leader/moderator, problems are discussed as a group,
and resolution is generally agreed on and summarized
by the leader. In an advanced TTX, play revolves around
delivery of pre-scripted messages to players that alter
the original scenario. The exercise controller (moderator)
usually introduces problems one at a time in the form
of a written message, simulated telephone call, videotape,
or other means. Participants discuss the issues raised
by the problem, using appropriate plans and procedures.
