The Tabletop Exercise
What is a “TTX” and When Should You Conduct One?
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The tabletop exercise (TTX) is one of the most valuable, versatile, and approachable types of exercises available to emergency, disaster, and crisis management professionals. A tabletop exercise offers the chance to simulate an emergency or a disaster event with a relatively low investment in the number of staff required to perform it, the time and effort to develop it, and the funding needed to execute it.
What is a Tabletop Exercise?
According to the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) manual, a tabletop exercise is a “discussion-based exercise in response to a scenario, intended to generate a dialogue of various issues to facilitate a conceptual understanding, identify strengths and areas for improvement, and/or achieve changes in perceptions about plans, policies, and procedures.”
In simpler terms, a tabletop exercise is:
Discussion-based: people are going to talk through the actions they would take in response to a scenario. They are not actually performing those actions.
A facilitated event: a facilitator (or facilitation team) leads the exercise participants through a series of questions or situations that are designed to accomplish the exercise’s goals and objectives.
Participant-centric: exercise participants are highly engaged in the conversation once prompted by the facilitator. A tabletop exercise is not a presentation, seminar, workshop, or any other type of event with one-directional communication from a presenter to the audience (those are training events, not exercises).
When to Develop and Perform a Tabletop Exercise
Tabletop exercises are an effective way to accomplish an organization’s preparedness goals without having to invest a great deal of time, money, or staff. Situations when it makes sense to choose to plan and perform a tabletop exercise include:
Validating a newly developed plan. After completing a planning process, a tabletop exercise is a low-cost way to create awareness about how the new plan will be implemented. Tabletop exercises can ensure that everyone involved in executing a plan knows where to find the plan, how to implement it, and gain an understanding of what other plan participants are doing when the plan is put into action.
Determining if new planning processes are needed. Tabletop exercises can be an effective and efficient way to bring a group of stakeholders together to see if the organization can effectively respond to an incident using their existing plans or, in the event of an emerging risk, without a plan. The outcome of the tabletop exercise can help garner the support and buy-in required to initiate a new planning process by creating a shared perception of the risks the organization faces.
Conducting an exercise for executives. There are times when an organization’s executive team doesn’t have the time to participate in a long-duration exercise. A tabletop exercise can offer an engaging event to keep this group involved in the organization’s readiness, ensure they are aware of their role and responsibilities during a crisis event, and meet the organization’s preparedness goals without demanding too much of their time.
Meeting exercise conduct requirements. If an organization has a requirement to exercise a specific plan on a pre-determined schedule (whether as determined by a regulatory body or in the “Plan Maintenance” section of the plan to be exercised)–and wants to meet that requirement with the least amount of resources necessary–tabletop exercises can be an effective way to do so.
Preparing for a large or complex exercise occurring in the future. If an organization is preparing for a future “functional exercise” or “full-scale exercise,” a tabletop exercise can be used to ensure everyone is familiar with the plan, knows their roles and responsibilities, and has rehearsed their actions prior to participating in a larger (and more challenging) exercise.
What is the “Resource Commitment” in a Tabletop Exercise?
Developing and performing a tabletop exercise often requires fewer resources than what is needed in a drill, functional exercise, or full-scale exercise. Here are some of the minimum resources that an organization should be ready to commit to a tabletop exercise project before it begins:
Exercise planning can be performed by a single person. It is possible for an individual to develop the objectives, the scenario, and the facilitation plan, as well as coordinate the logistics in a low-complexity exercise. If the exercise plan requires approval, then some time will be required from the executive level of the organization to review the documents and provide feedback to the exercise planner.
Exercise execution can be performed by a single person. If the number of exercise participants attending the event only requires a single facilitator (no breakout groups involved) and if the organizational goals for the exercise don’t require an additional exercise evaluator or detailed notes of the event, an experienced individual is capable of performing the event on their own.
Logistics for the event can be relatively limited to a room large enough to accommodate the anticipated attendees and any audio/visual requirements for effective facilitation.
Costs do not have to be involved if the room being used is already available to the organization and if there are no additional food or beverages provided, if printing costs are covered by the organization, and if the decision is made to minimize any other convenience/comfort-related items.
While this list of minimum resources makes a tabletop exercise a low-cost event, these decisions can also negatively influence the perception of exercise participants. If there are a large number of exercise attendees or if the exercise is seeking to build positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders, it might be worth adding additional time, personnel, or funding to ensure the event is successful and a positive experience for all involved. For example, additions such as staff to support the exercise logistics can offer a professional feel to the event. food and beverages can help people stay engaged over the course of the exercise, and having additional facilitators can offer the chance to break a large group into smaller and more intimate breakout sessions to drive engaging discussions.
When deciding what level of resources to commit to a tabletop exercise, organizational leaders and exercise planners should thoughtfully consider the goals and intended outcomes of the event, and then commit the resources needed to succeed.
In Closing
When choosing a tabletop exercise to meet your organization’s preparedness goals, it is important to remember why you are making that decision. That reason, whether it is one of the five reasons listed above as to why an exercise can be effective or for a reason that you develop, is often a simple and straightforward statement about the exercise’s purpose. Before getting too far into establishing SMART goals and objectives for the event, don’t lose sight of why you selected a tabletop exercise in the first place.
Do you have any examples or stories about when a tabletop exercise was, or wasn’t, the right choice for your organization? If so, leave them in the comments below.