Designing an Active Shooter Training Exercise

What happens after an active shooter event or other act of violence occurs at a work place? How does the business recover? How does a company manage the impact on its employees, its customers, and its reputation? The truth is, after the police leave, the work – the hard work – really begins.

Designing an exercise that focuses on the impact of an event is quite different and requires a different approach than designing an exercise that focuses on the initial occurrence of the event. Both the design process and the execution on exercise day are different. The goal of this presentation is to review the key design aspects, and then demonstrate the value of conducting an impact exercise to improve a company’s overall readiness and resiliency.

Topics Covered

  • Exercise design team and process.
  • Use of a simulation team.
  • Communication tools and messaging.
  • Human Resources responses to the crisis.

The presentation will describe how you can go about designing this type of exercise, why it is different from other exercises, and how to exercise communications to key stakeholders.

Watch the Replay!


Regina Phelps is an internationally recognized expert in the field of emergency management and continuity planning. Since 1982, she has provided consultation and educational speaking services to clients in four continents. She is founder of Emergency Management & Safety Solutions, a consulting company specializing in incident management, exercise design, and continuity and pandemic planning. Clients include many Fortune 500 companies. Ms. Phelps is a frequent top-rated speaker at well-known conferences such as the Disaster Recovery Journal, CP&M, and the World Conference on Disaster Management. She is frequently sought out for her common sense approach and clear, clean delivery of complex topics.