A complete guide to preparing for, running, and debriefing a Crisis Simulation exercise.
Before the exercise
Good facilitation starts well before the session. Here's what to sort out in advance.
Set clear objectives. Know what you're testing before you schedule anything. Is it communication between roles? Decision-making speed? Leadership's understanding of a specific threat? Your objectives shape every other choice you make — scenario, exercise type, who's in the room.
Pick a relevant scenario. Use the scenario catalog filters to find something that fits your industry and the threat profile you want to explore. Preview the scenario before the session so you're not seeing it for the first time alongside your participants. See Planning Your Exercise for guidance on choosing a scenario.
Sort the logistics. This means the technology (does the presentation display work? is the conferencing setup tested?), any briefing documents participants need, and the room or virtual setup. Don't leave this until the morning of the exercise.
Define roles. Before the session, make sure everyone knows whether they're a participant, an observer, or a facilitator — and what each role involves. Observers should know they're capturing decisions and reasoning, not joining in the discussion.
Do a practice run. If you're running a presentation exercise with a live group, walk through the scenario yourself first. It's much easier to facilitate something you've already seen.
Plan the debrief now. The debrief is part of the exercise, not an afterthought. Arrange the calendar invite for the debrief at least two weeks before the exercise runs to make sure you get people in the room. Decide in advance whether you're running a hot or cold debrief (more on this below).
During the exercise
Your job as a facilitator is to keep things moving without taking over the decisions. Here's how to do that.
Set ground rules at the start. Spend a few minutes at the beginning on how you expect the session to run — how decisions get made, how disagreements are handled, and how communication works between roles or groups. This isn't bureaucratic; it prevents the exercise from getting derailed by process arguments later.
Stay flexible. Participants won't always go where you expect. That's fine — let the scenario adapt to their decisions rather than steering them back to a pre-planned path. An unexpected direction often reveals more than a smooth run.
Get people unstuck. If the group is hesitating or going in circles, ask a probing question rather than giving them the answer. "What information would you need to make this decision?" or "What's the risk if you wait?" can restart a stalled discussion without removing the challenge.
Manage time. Keep an eye on the clock. Crisis decisions in real life happen under time pressure, and letting an exercise run too long on one inject takes away that realism. The optional inject timer in the single-screen Presentation view helps here.
Make it safe to get things wrong. Participants won't take risks or make bold decisions if they're worried about looking bad. Set the tone early that the exercise is a learning environment, and that a poor decision explained clearly is more useful than a safe decision that nobody interrogates.
Capture decisions and reasoning. Have an observer document not just what decisions were made, but why. The reasoning behind a decision — especially a bad one — is often the most valuable thing to discuss in the debrief.
After the exercise: the debrief
A debrief is a structured discussion about what happened during the exercise, what worked, and what to do differently. It's where most of the learning actually lands.
Hot vs. cold
A hot debrief runs immediately after the exercise, while it's fresh. The advantage is detail — people remember exactly what they were thinking in the moment. A cold debrief runs a few days later, giving participants time to reflect before the conversation. Cold debriefs often produce more honest and considered feedback, and are generally more effective for identifying what to change. You can run both if the exercise is large enough to warrant it.
Debrief preparation
You should have planned this before the exercise started, but here's what good preparation looks like:
- Invite everyone who took part, not just team leads.
- Decide on the structure — will this be one session or multiple? Do you need breakout groups? Think about whether junior staff might hold back in front of senior management and adjust accordingly.
- Assign someone to capture discussion points and actions. Observers from the exercise are well-placed for this.
- Send calendar invites at least two weeks before the exercise so the debrief slot is protected.
A suggested debrief structure
This 55-minute structure works well for most post-exercise debriefs:
- Opening (5 minutes) — welcome participants, set the tone, and state the aim of the session. Remind people this is a safe space for honest conversation.
- Key events (15 minutes) — walk through what actually happened during the exercise. Use the exercise timeline as an anchor. This isn't an assessment yet — it's a shared factual account of the session.
- Assess (25 minutes) — what went well? What didn't? What would you do differently? Were communication and decision-making effective? This is the heart of the debrief. Use open questions and don't rush it.
- Actions (10 minutes) — what concrete steps should come out of this? Assign an owner and a deadline to each action before the session ends. Actions without owners don't get done.
- Close (5 minutes) — summarize the key themes, thank participants for their time, and confirm what happens next.
Follow up
Send a summary email to all participants within a day or two of the debrief. Include the actions, owners, and deadlines from the session. If you want structured feedback on the exercise itself, attach a short feedback form.
The After Action Report in Immersive Crisis Simulations gives you reporting data from the exercise to anchor the follow-up conversation. See Crisis Simulation After Action Report for more.