Planning and Exercise - Principles of Emergency Management - page 244

Conduct Characteristics
− Presented and guided by a facilitator
− Involves participant discussion led by the facilitator
− Often uses break-out sessions and smaller groups to explore parts of an
issue
Format
− Lecture
− Discussion
− Slide or video presentation
Examples
− Presentation to discuss a topic or problem
− Discussion to obtain input for policies, procedures, and plans
− Build consensus and agreement
− Practice, prepare, and review for more complex exercises
Leadership
A facilitator presents information and guides any discussion during work-
shops. The facilitator should have leadership skills, an understanding of the
relationships between the players, and have the capability to guide the work-
shop players to the goal.
Examples of Workshop Exercises
1. Example Workshop Exercise
Georges Hospital has an emergency operations plan that is very old, needs
to be updated, and does not address new departments and processes at the
hospital. The design team, consisting of the emergency manager and the head
of security, has determined that the goals are to confirm the material in the
plan and define what the roles and responsibilities for each hospital depart-
ment would be during an emergency. The design team identifies specific parts
of the plan that need to be discussed during the workshop and drafts a list of
roles and responsibilities for each of the departments. During the workshop,
the hospital emergency manager takes the role of facilitator and guides the
group through the steps in the plan to confirm whether they are valid or need
changes. The facilitator then presents the drafts of roles and responsibilities
(the steps that the role would have to take during an emergency or disaster) to
confirm that his best guess is correct and whether those departments wish to
add or change the list.
The design team determines that two very brief scenarios of a pandemic out-
break and hazardous materials release (5-6 bullets each) will serve as the
background for the discussion.
The design team discusses how they are going to present the information
to the participants. One choice is to develop an informal handout with the