Taught by Michael Messina, a U.S. Army combat veteran and paramedic/EMS supervisor with 20+ years in emergency healthcare · SBA Certified SDVOSB · Connecticut Veteran-Owned Micro Business Certified · SAM.gov Registered · CAGE: 1AFL4
The Problem
Most tabletop exercises are a waste of time.
Here is why.
The problem is not that organizations skip exercises. It is that the ones they run are so generic, so low-pressure, and so disconnected from real operations that nobody learns anything. A bad tabletop is worse than no tabletop because it gives leadership false confidence. See how a real exercise is actually built →
Generic Scenarios
A scenario borrowed from somewhere else with little adaptation to the organization’s plans, systems, or objectives. The conversation stays abstract because the exercise was never built around real decisions.
Weak Facilitation
The facilitator reads a script and accepts the first answer given. Nobody is pushed to name a specific person, a specific process, or a specific gap. The exercise ends and nothing changes.
No After Action Follow Through
The after action report gets written, filed, and never opened again. Nobody owns the corrective actions. Nothing improves. The next exercise surfaces the same gaps.
Hiring a Consultant Every Time
Relying exclusively on outside facilitation can leave the organization without enough internal capability to run smaller exercises, follow-up sessions, or routine plan validation on its own.
Not ready for in-house training yet? See ready-to-run exercise packages from $499 →
What You Walk Away With
What Tabletop Exercise Facilitator Training Gets You. Permanently.
🎓
Certificate of Completion
Forward Security Labs certificate of completion, issued after all four live sessions and the required practical exercise. It documents completion of this FSL program; it is not a FEMA, DHS, academic, licensure, or professional certification.
🗂️
Facilitation Toolkit
Inject format templates, discussion prompt guides, hot wash facilitation cards, after action report template, and improvement plan template. Everything you need to run your first exercise the week after the program ends.
📚
One Year Exercise Library Access
Full access to the Forward Security Labs exercise library for one year. Every package we publish, you can use. Mass casualty, ransomware, BEC, and everything added during your license period.
👥
Cohort Network
Access to a private group with your cohort after the program ends. Ask questions, share exercises, get feedback from peers across healthcare, EMS, government, and security.
✏️
A Completed Exercise
You do not just learn how to build an exercise. You build one during the program and run it with real participants from your organization. You leave with a completed after action report in hand.
📞
30 Day Post-Program Support
Direct access to message us with questions for 30 days after the program ends. If you get stuck on your first solo exercise, you have backup.
The Curriculum
Four sessions. Eight hours. One working exercise.
01
SESSION
Why Exercises Fail and How to Fix That Before You Start
The difference between a real exercise and a check-the-box drill. The HSEEP framework without the bureaucracy. How to build a no-fault learning environment that gets people to actually say what they think. Participants leave with two exercise objectives for their organization and a clear picture of what gap they are going to surface.
02
SESSION
Building a Scenario That Creates Real Tension
How to choose a scenario based on real threat data for your sector. How to write injects that create genuine decision pressure instead of obvious correct answers. How to layer urgency and ambiguity the way real incidents do. Participants write three injects live in session, get direct feedback, and leave with a complete inject timeline for their exercise.
03
SESSION
Running the Room
How to open an exercise so people actually engage. How to ask discussion prompts that pull out real gaps instead of theoretical answers. How to handle the person who dominates, the person who says “we would just call someone,” and the group that wants to solve everything immediately. Participants practice live facilitation with real-time feedback from the instructor and cohort.
04
SESSION
The After Action Is Where the Money Is
How to run a hot wash while the room is still in it. How to translate raw observations into documented findings. How to write an after action report leadership actually reads and an improvement plan with real owners and real deadlines. Participants present their homework exercise findings to the cohort, receive certification, and leave with a completed AAR in hand.
Who This Is For
People who run exercises or need to start.
EMS Chiefs and Officers
Required to run preparedness exercises and want to stop paying someone else to do it every year.
Hospital Safety Officers
Responsible for Joint Commission and CMS exercise requirements and need to build internal facilitation capability.
Security Managers
Running cyber incident, BEC, or business continuity exercises for their organization and want to do it right.
Emergency Coordinators
County and municipal emergency management professionals who need to run exercises for their jurisdiction.
Compliance Officers
Responsible for HIPAA, SOC 2, or business continuity exercises and want to build the skill to run them without outside help.
Consultants
GRC, IT, and risk consultants who want to add professional tabletop facilitation as a billable service for their clients.
Your Instructor
Michael Messina
Founder, Forward Security Labs
U.S. Army combat veteran. Paramedic and EMS supervisor with over 20 years in emergency healthcare. B.S. in Cybersecurity, Cum Laude. SAM.gov registered. SBA Certified SDVOSB.
The program is taught from an operational perspective shaped by emergency-response leadership, then connected to structured exercise-design and evaluation principles. The goal is not to memorize a framework. It is to understand how to build and facilitate a useful exercise. See the exact methodology →
The course focuses on the parts that determine whether an exercise produces usable learning: objectives, scenario pressure, facilitation, decision points, observation, hot wash, and corrective-action follow-through.
The program is taught from an operational perspective shaped by emergency-response leadership, then connected to structured exercise-design and evaluation principles. The goal is not to memorize a framework. It is to understand how to build and facilitate a useful exercise. See the exact methodology →
The course focuses on the parts that determine whether an exercise produces usable learning: objectives, scenario pressure, facilitation, decision points, observation, hot wash, and corrective-action follow-through.
First Cohort
12 seats. First come, first served.
No course platform. Practice with real scenarios.
Four live sessions, direct feedback, a completed working exercise, and a repeatable method for planning and facilitating internal tabletop exercises.
Program Fee
$1,500 per seat
✓4 live virtual sessions, 2 hours each
✓Complete facilitation toolkit
✓One year FSL exercise library access
✓Certificate of completion
✓Cohort network access
✓30 days post-program direct support
Group rates are available for 3 or more seats from the same organization. Joining the waitlist does not create an enrollment, charge, or guaranteed seat. Cohort dates, payment terms, attendance expectations, cancellation/rescheduling terms, and final enrollment are confirmed in writing before payment.
Email us to reserve your seat. Dates confirmed once the cohort fills. Group rates available for 3 or more seats from the same organization.
Founder-led. No sales-team handoff. Waitlist inquiries are answered directly.
Training and Certificate Scope
This is a Forward Security Labs professional-development program. The certificate documents completion of the FSL course and is not a FEMA or DHS certification, license, academic credential, continuing-education award, or guarantee that an exercise will satisfy a specific regulator, accreditor, grant, insurer, or contract requirement. HSEEP references describe exercise methodology. Participants and their organizations remain responsible for adapting exercises to local plans, requirements, hazards, authorities, and participant roles.
Forward Career Labs LLC d/b/a Forward Security Labs · Wolcott, Connecticut ·
ForwardSecurityLabs.com ·
FAQ ·
SBA Certified SDVOSB · Connecticut Veteran-Owned Micro Business Certified · SAM.gov Registered · CAGE: 1AFL4