SummitET Experts to Attend 2024 Joint Civil and DoD CBRN Symposium

SummitET Experts to Attend 2024 Joint Civil and DoD CBRN Symposium

by | Mar 4, 2024 | SummitET News

Summit Exercises and Training LLC (SummitET®) experts are attending the 12th Annual Joint Civil and DoD CBRN Symposium in Washington D.C. March 13 – 14, 2024.

This year’s symposium will convene senior level experts from across the military, federal government, state and local responders, and academia to explore effective CBRN incident detection, protection, and recovery strategies amid a dynamic threat environment. It will also feature a panel that will highlight the utilization of emerging technologies and capabilities to bolster recovery and response in a CBRN-affected, densely populated urban environment.

SummitET subject matter experts can assist in areas of mission support, planning and policy, and crisis communications for CBRN threats and hazards. We specialize in the design, facilitation, and support of federal and state CBRNE and WMD training and exercises that test, validate, and improve incident prevention, preparedness, and response capabilities and address known emerging threats.

SummitET at 2024 Joint Civil & DoD CBRN Symposium

The real-life experience of our team members makes all the difference in the support we offer. Their expert backgrounds include biological threat response, bomb technician, CWMD coordinators and operations, CBRNE hazmat, detection, and sampling, FBI counterterrorism, emergency management, crisis communications, and much more.

Conference attendees can connect with SummitET experts to discuss our CBRNE preparedness solutions for current and emerging threats, including exercises, training, plan development, and war-gaming.

Learn more about our preparedness capabilities

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Meet Our Experts at Our Booth

SummitET partner Chuck Stevens-marrone

Chuck Stevens-Marrone

Chief Projects Officer

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Bridging the Gap Episode 3, Part 1: Improving Exercise Design and Evaluation; the XF Score

Bridging the Gap Episode 3, Part 1: Improving Exercise Design and Evaluation; the XF Score

by | Jan 26, 2024 | Bridging the Gap, Preparedness Blog

SummitET preparedness experts and guest discuss the XF ScoreTM, a rubric for analyzing the effectiveness of tabletop exercises and trainings for crises.

Read more about the XF ScoreTM in the following article:

“Creating a New Standard for Evaluating Tabletop Exercises” by John Duda and Scott Glick

Domestic Preparedness Journal, July 25, 2023 

Tabletop exercise design checklist

Is your organization better prepared today after completing a tabletop exercise or training? How did the experience better position you to face a threat or hazard? If it is difficult to answer these questions, how do you know the exercise was an effective use of time and resources?

In Part 1 of Episode 3 of Bridging the Gap, preparedness experts introduce you to the XF ScoreTM, a rubric for analyzing the effectiveness of tabletop exercises and trainings for crises.

The creators of the XF ScoreTM speak with Pete Gaynor, former DHS Acting Secretary and former FEMA Administrator, about how this new evaluation tool allows for a better outcome than the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program, or HSEEP. Created by FEMA, HSEEP provides a set of principles for evaluating exercise programs. The XF ScoreTM helps to prove whether your agency is more prepared because of the training and allows you to address weaknesses in a revised training plan.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this podcast episode: once you’ve collected data from your training or exercise evaluation, how do you interpret and utilize it to strengthen future plans?

Contributors:

Pete Gaynor

Pete Gaynor

Former DHS Acting Secretary; Former FEMA Administrator

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John Duda, Chief Executive Officer and founding partner at SummitET

John Duda

Co-creator of the XF ScoreTM; Chairman and CEO of SummitET®

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Scott Glick VP and General Counsel

Scott Glick

Co-creator of the XF ScoreTM; Former US DOJ Director, Preparedness & Response
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Adam Montella, Senior Vice President at SummitET

Adam Montella

Senior Vice President of SummitET®

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Bridging the Gap IAEM Series Podcast Episode 11 Preston Wilson and Dam Safety

Bridging the Gap IAEM Series – Episode 11: Preston Wilson and Dam Safety

In this special IAEM Conference Series episode of Bridging the Gap, host Ron Crane with SummitET is joined by Preston Wilson, CEO of Resilience Solutions Consulting. Prior to this role, Preston was the training manager for FEMA’s National Dam Safety Program, where he was responsible for developing and delivering training on emergency management and dam safety nationwide.

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Bridging the Gap podcast, IAEM Series Episode 10: Kansas City Metro Area Emergency Management

Bridging the Gap IAEM Series – Episode 10: Kansas City Metro Area Emergency Management

In this IAEM Conference Series podcast episode of Bridging the Gap, SummitET host Ron Crane sits down with Claire Canaan and Morgan Hunter, emergency managers from the Kansas City metropolitan area. They discuss challenges in the EM field including staffing shortages and communication barriers, and the importance of embracing change and innovation.

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Bridging the Gap podcast graphic, IAEM Conference Series

Bridging the Gap IAEM Series – Episode 9: Kevin Kupietz with Elizabeth City State University

In this IAEM Conference Series podcast episode of Bridging the Gap, SummitET host Ron Crane discusses current challenges and opportunities in Emergency Management education with Elizabeth City State University Professor Kevin Kupietz, PhD.

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SummitET Bridging the Gap podcast graphic

Bridging the Gap IAEM Series – Episode 8: Jeremy Urekew and Garner Environmental

In this IAEM Conference Series episode of SummitET’s podcast Bridging the Gap, Jeremy Urekew with Garner Environmental and Ron Crane of SummitET discuss ideas for improving challenges in the Emergency Management field. Jeremy has a background in emergency management, fire service, hazmat response, and counterterrorism work. With 25 years of experience in the public sector, he moved to the private sector by joining Garner Environmental Services, Inc., a disaster and emergency response company headquartered in Houston, TX.

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Creating a New Standard for Evaluating Tabletop Exercises

Creating a New Standard for Evaluating Tabletop Exercises

by | Jul 7, 2023 | Resources

By John Duda and Scott J. Glick

Even though tabletop exercises (TTXs) have been used for decades, an industry standard has not emerged on how to evaluate their effectiveness. Since 2012, John Duda, CEO of SummitET, has noted the lack of an industry standard for quantitative assessments of TTXs, which prompted him to develop a rubric for analyzing and measuring exercise effectiveness. Based on their extensive exercise experience in both the government and the private sector, Mr. Duda and Scott J. Glick, SummitET’s General Counsel, have refined the rubric and its scoring of various exercise factors into what they call the XF ScoreTM, which they discuss in their article published by the Domestic Preparedness Journal entitled Creating A New Standard for Evaluating Tabletop Exercises.

Access the full article published by DomesticPreparedness.com.

Read the Full Article
Tabletop exercise design checklist

Go to our checklist for organizations to use to ensure that the critical design elements for a successful TTX are considered.

See Checklist
John Duda, Chief Executive Officer and founding partner at SummitET

John Duda

CEO

Expert Feature
Scott Glick VP and General Counsel

Scott Glick

General Counsel

Expert Feature

Resources

News Media Drills and Exercises

News Media Drills and Exercises

By combining all elements of news media into simulation exercises, you can ensure your team stands ready to interact in real-time with the media in the face of a crisis.

Checklist for Designing a Successful Tabletop Exercise

Checklist for Designing a Successful Tabletop Exercise

by | Jun 29, 2023 | Resources

John Duda and Scott J. Glick

The manner in which a tabletop exercise (TTX) is designed will have a profound impact on the success of the TTX. For example, if an organization is seeking to exercise a policy, plan, or procedure during the TTX, it is essential that the policy, plan, or procedure have sufficient details and is ready to be tested. If the organization’s policies, plans, and procedures have not reached that level of development, then the organization should consider using a seminar or workshop to educate participants and fill in the necessary details before conducting the TTX. A TTX should also be designed to ensure that specific “big picture” goals and “SMART” – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound –objectives can be achieved.

Most important, a TTX should be designed and facilitated in ways that consider how adults learn best. Dr. Malcolm Knowles, who is known for his groundbreaking research concerning adult learners, and other scholars who have studied how to effectively engage adults, have emphasized that adults learn differently and are motivated differently. As a result, to maximize the learning that takes place during a TTX: (1) TTX participants should be represented during the planning and involved with how their training is delivered; (2) TTXs should be designed to take into account the impact of experiential learning on adults and draw upon their prior experiences and knowledge; (3) TTX participants should be asked to solve problems from the information that is presented; and (4) TTXs should be designed to have immediate relevance and impact to participants’ jobs.  When TTXs are properly designed and executed, their use meets the principles which underlie adult learning.

Based on the foregoing, we recommend that organizations use the following checklist to ensure that the critical design elements for a successful TTX are considered.

Download the Checklist
  • The exercise design team is small, manageable, experienced, and includes trusted agents from relevant participating organizations.
  • The exercise design team has the necessary resources and support from senior leadership.
  • The policy, plan, or procedure to be evaluated has sufficient details to be tested or exercised.
  • Specific “big picture” goals have been identified (e.g., whether the policies, plans, and procedures have any gaps, and establishing relationships among responding organizations).
  • “SMART” – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound –objectives have been identified.
  • The exercise scenario is tied to the goals and objectives, as well as identified learning outcomes.
  • The exercise scenario is realistic and includes appropriate script and data injects.
  • The exercise scenario is designed to maximize the involvement of all participants.
  • The exercise has been designed and includes facilitation techniques that draw upon the way that adults learn best (e.g., the appropriate use of multi-media).
  • Sufficient time will be allocated for the exercise given the nature of the topics to be discussed, the number of participants, and how the facilitator intends to engage the participants.
  • Exercise participants will be from all the appropriate agencies or organizations based on the exercise scenario and its goals, objectives, and learning outcomes.
  • Exercise participants will be provided with short summaries of key exercise-related information (“one-pagers”) that they can use during the exercise.
  • The exercise has an experienced and skilled facilitator with extensive knowledge about the organization, its mission, the subject matter, and the exercise objectives.
  • Exercise planners have a detailed logistical checklist for the delivery of the exercise (e.g., space and seating requirements, audio and video equipment, microphones to enable all participants to be heard).
  • Technology has been tested in the location of the exercise and is functioning as intended.
  • There are enough skilled and knowledgeable exercise evaluators who can identify key takeaways for use during any immediate “hot wash” and who can record useful data for an after-action report.
John Duda, Chief Executive Officer and founding partner at SummitET

John Duda

CEO

Expert Feature
Scott Glick VP and General Counsel

Scott Glick

General Counsel

Expert Feature

Creating a New Standard for Evaluating Tabletop Exercises

By John Duda and Scott J. Glick

Even though tabletop exercises (TTXs) have been used for decades, an industry standard has not emerged on how to evaluate their effectiveness. Since 2012, John Duda, CEO of SummitET, has noted the lack of an industry standard for quantitative assessments of TTXs, which prompted him to develop a rubric for analyzing and measuring exercise effectiveness. Based on their extensive exercise experience in both the government and the private sector, Mr. Duda and Scott J. Glick, SummitET’s General Counsel, have refined the rubric and its scoring of various exercise factors into what they call the XF ScoreTM, which they discuss in their article published by the Domestic Preparedness Journal entitled Creating A New Standard for Evaluating Tabletop Exercises.

Access the full article published by DomesticPreparedness.com.

Read the Full Article

Resources

News Media Drills and Exercises

News Media Drills and Exercises

By combining all elements of news media into simulation exercises, you can ensure your team stands ready to interact in real-time with the media in the face of a crisis.

FBI Holds Tabletop Exercise on Weapons of Mass Destruction in Helena

FBI Holds Tabletop Exercise on Weapons of Mass Destruction in Helena

by | Mar 5, 2020 | Coverage, SummitET News

The SummitET® team also participated in the planning, coordination and execution of this FBI tabletop on Weapons of Mass Destruction event series in Helena, Montana. Watch the video from the link below.
Watch Video
FBI presentation screen Montana

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