Let the (Disaster) Games Begin

Now surely you’ve never thought to make a game of disas­ter prepared­ness!? Well … 2010 may be a good time to rethink your approach to improv­ing your business conti­nu­ity readiness.

Games are essen­tial to our human experi­ence and they form a part of every culture.

Defined as struc­tured activ­i­ties under­taken for fun, games are more and more being used as educa­tional tools. By making aspects of educa­tion and work fun through games, atten­tion and reten­tion among partic­i­pants can be greatly enhanced. The defense indus­try has under­stood this for many years — invest­ing heavily in gaming software to enhance soldier training.

Business conti­nu­ity profes­sion­als can now use a new and unique tool to reinvig­o­rate  readi­ness exercises.

Disaster games can provide the missing link — FUN — to address the often overlooked aspect of business conti­nu­ity plans — realis­tic exercises! Through fun but realis­tic scenar­ios, your team’s creativ­ity can be applied to quickly identify gaps in your plans so they can be corrected.

Remember: The purpose of a disas­ter game exercise is NOT to win the game -  but rather to identify weaknesses in your plans and to engage and educate the partic­i­pants so they are prepared for when the real event happens.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN — BEFORE THE DISASTERS DO!

Other disas­ter gaming resources can be found here:

www​.stopdis​as​ters​game​.org
www​.incident​com​man​der​.net
And for your kids can too: www​.fema​.gov/​k​i​d​s​/​g​a​m​es1