Exercises must not be seen in isolation but rather as part of a programme of learning and validating plans. Exercises should meet their aims and objectives in the most appropriate manner. Exercises need not necessarily be major undertakings in size, duration or involvement, but good exercises, whatever their format, can take a considerable amount of preparation and follow up assessment. There are basically three types of exercise, although there are variations on the theme of each of them. The three main types are seminar, table top and live exercises.
Seminar exercises .
Seminar exercises are generally low cost activities and are designed to inform participants about the organisation and the procedures which would be used to respond to an incident. Those involved can be either new to the job or established personnel. This type of event will bring staff together in order to inform them of current developments and thinking. These events may take the form of lectures or panel discussions and are primarily designed to focus on one particular aspect of the response. The emphasis of this type of exercise is on problem identification and solution finding rather than decision making.