Seminars

Seminars involve bringing together those with a role or interest in the plan—Federal, State, tribal, local, private-sector, and nongovernmental emergency management and response personnel—to discuss the plan and initial concepts for an annual drill or more indepth comprehensive exercise.

The seminar does not involve an actual exercise of the plan. Instead, it is a meeting that enables each participant to become familiar with the plan and the roles, responsibilities, and procedures of those involved. A seminar can also be used to discuss and describe technical matters with involved, nontechnical personnel.

Workshops

Workshops differ from seminars in two important respects: participant interaction is increased, and the focus is on achieving or building a product (such as a draft plan or policy). Workshops are often used in conjunction with exercise development to determine objectives, develop scenarios, and define evaluation criteria. To be effective, workshops must be highly focused on a specific issue, and the desired outcome or goal must be clearly defined.

Top Tabletop Exercises

The tabletop exercise involves a meeting of Federal, State, tribal, local, private-sector, and nongovernmental emergency management officials and responders in a conference room or training setting. The format is usually informal with minimum stress involved. The exercise begins with the description of a simulated event and proceeds with discussions by the participants to evaluate the plan and response procedures and to resolve concerns regarding coordination and responsibilities.

Tabletop exercise participants are encouraged to discuss issues indepth and develop decisions through slow-paced problem solving, rather than the rapid, spontaneous decisionmaking that occurs under actual or simulated emergency conditions. Tabletop exercises are effective for evaluating group problem-solving, personnel contingencies, group message interpretation, information sharing, interagency coordination, and achievement of specific objectives.

Games

Games are a simulation of operations that often involve two or more teams and use rules, data, and procedures to depict an actual or assumed real-life situation. The goal of a game is to explore decisionmaking processes and the consequences of those decisions. A game differs from the tabletop in that the sequence of events affects, and is in turn affected by, decisions made by players.