Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Time
A TTX usually lasts from one hour to three days. Depending on the type and
quantity of material you are going to cover and the level of discussion you
are going to elicit, most comprehensive tabletops run four hours to two days.
The time for each discussion is open-ended and participants are encouraged
to take the time necessary to reach in-depth decisions: without time pressure.
Although the facilitator maintains an awareness of time allocation for each
area of discussion, the group does not have to complete every item in order
for the exercise to be a success.
Preparation
It typically takes anywhere from two weeks to three months to prepare for a
TTX. If you establish an exercise design team, you will need to have an ini-
tial planning conference (IPC) to kick off the effort, and three to four more
design team meetings to revise and finalize the exercise objectives and materi-
als. Ideally, participants will have participated in at least one orientation and
one or more drills on plan specifics.
Examples of Tabletop Exercises
1. Example Plenary Tabletop Exercise
The Concoran Corporation is concerned about business interruption (Fig-
ure 10.3). The emergency manager and head executives have determined that
a tabletop would be a good tool to determine their capacity and capabil-
ity to withstand a major disaster. The emergency/risk manager develops a
design team consisting of executives from key departments including facili-
ties, operations, management, and information technology. During the IPC,
they identify objectives including coordination, communication, continuity
of operations, and information backup and reconstitution. The design team
also determines that the scenario that best captures all the objectives would
be a fire that destroys all or part of the headquarters and adjoining manufac-
turing plant. The exercise design team determines that they will use a prob-
lem statement format and have the seating arranged in a U shape.
F
Figure 10.3
Tabletop exercise: plenary design.
