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Designing an Effective Operations‑Based Exercise
Have you ever struggled to design an effective operations based exercise? Have you wondered what tips and tricks there may be to create a functional MSEL or Actor Script. Do you have good tips to share? Come and join this interactive workshop centered on creating the operational documentation needed to pull off a successful functional or full-scale exercise.
Participants will leave with a shared understanding of the key considerations in developing operations-based exercises and practical tools they can apply to future exercise design tasks.
Objectives:
By the end of this course, participants will have practical skills to:
• Understand standardized definitions of operations exercise terminology and how to translate understanding to front-line staff.
• Lead the development of measurable operations-focused exercise objectives.
o Helping planning teams arrive at clear, realistic, and scoped objectives.
o Addressing common challenges such as scope creep.
o Effectively gather and integrate input from participating departments into meaningful objectives and scope.
• Draft Exercise Evaluation Guides (EEGs) that support meaningful improvement planning.
• Build practical skills in MSEL (Master Scenario Events List) development including:
o Build a coherent, realistic Master Scenario Events List (MSEL) that controls for all the key actions required to complete the objectives of an exercise including simulating a real operational environment where needed.
o Understand the different challenges that a functional exercise brings vs. a full-scale exercise.
o Create injects that support the exercise objectives (and are consistent with the back story) and keep participants engaged.
o Distinguish between high quality and poor MSEL examples
o Identifying what makes a MSEL usable for controllers and SimCell.
o Developing usable Actor scripts
• Strengthen controller and evaluator effectiveness
o Understanding roles, placement, and expectations.
o Improve controller/evaluator training
• Identify common operational exercise pitfalls and solutions
o Using participant experience and shared examples to reinforce learning.
Deb Teske, HcEM-M, CEM®
Principal Emergency Management Coordinator, Mayo Clinic Health System
Jason Mediger, BS, HcEM-B
Emergency Management Coordinator, Mayo Clinic Health System
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:
Deb Teske brings extensive emergency management leadership experience across military, local government, and healthcare settings. She served as a U.S. Naval Officer in both national and international assignments and later as a County Emergency Management Director. She now serves as Principal Emergency Management Coordinator at Mayo Clinic, where she partners with consultants, allied health staff, and multidisciplinary teams to advance emergency preparedness, emergency response, and emergency management initiatives.
Deb is active on the AHEPP Certification and Best Practices Committees and holds both the Healthcare Emergency Management—Mastery (HcEM-M) credential and the IAEM Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) designation. She also serves as an instructor through the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Deb earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the State University of New York at Geneseo in 1982 and a Master of Science in Strategic Planning from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, in 1995.
Jason Mediger serves as an Emergency Management Coordinator with Mayo Clinic Health System, where he supports emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and resilience initiatives across multiple healthcare facilities. He collaborates with healthcare leaders, clinical staff, public safety agencies, and community partners to advance emergency planning, training, exercises, and preparedness efforts.
Jason brings more than 18 years of experience in emergency management, law enforcement, corrections, and public safety. Prior to joining Mayo Clinic Health System, he served as Deputy Director of Emergency Management and Deputy Sheriff with the Nicollet County Sheriff's Office in Minnesota. He holds the Healthcare Emergency Manager Basic (HcEM-B) credential through the Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals (AHEPP) and emergency management certifications through the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Homeland Security and Emergency Management. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Communication and Marketing from Minnesota State University, Mankato.