crisis testing hero

MEDIA FIRST — CRISIS TESTING & EXERCISES

Test plans. Challenge assumptions. Build confidence.

Media First designs and delivers realistic crisis exercises that help organisations test preparedness, challenge assumptions and strengthen response capability before a real incident occurs.

Talk to us about a crisis simulation exercise

01

Tabletop Exercises

Facilitated discussions that help teams explore scenarios, challenge assumptions and validate plans in a structured environment.

02

One-day Crisis Simulations

Realistic, time-pressured exercises designed to replicate the challenges of a live incident. Participants experience evolving events, stakeholder pressure and complex decision-making in a safe learning environment.

03

24-Hour and Multi-Day Crisis Tests

Multi-hour and multi-day exercises that test decision-making, coordination and communication over extended periods, replicating the pace, uncertainty and complexity of significant incidents.

Media First uses the Conducttr crisis simulation platform to create immersive, realistic and highly engaging crisis exercises.

The platform creates a realistic environment where teams face evolving media scrutiny, stakeholder reactions, social media pressure and operational developments as events unfold.

Combined with experienced facilitators, role players and working journalists operating under strict confidentiality agreements, this creates exercises that closely mirror the pace, uncertainty and complexity of a real crisis.

This allows teams to test not simply whether their plans work, but how effectively they communicate when pressure is highest.

Media and Journalist Handling

Test how media teams respond to realistic enquiries, interviews and scrutiny from experienced working journalists operating under strict confidentiality agreements. Teams are challenged with media calls, deadline-driven enquiries and developing stories that test both processes and judgement.

Spokesperson Performance

Test how effectively spokespeople and media teams communicate through realistic interviews, recorded statements and live questioning. Exercises help leaders and subject matter experts maintain message discipline, explain complex issues and provide reassurance.

Crisis Messaging

Test not only whether crisis messages are approved, but whether they work in the real world. Exercises assess whether communications provide sufficient empathy, action and reassurance for different stakeholder groups.

Stakeholder Communications

Test how employees, customers, regulators, investors and partners react as a crisis develops. Exercises explore whether communications meet different stakeholder expectations at different stages of an incident.

Team Coordination and Decision-Making

Test how information is shared, decisions are made and responsibilities are managed during evolving incidents. Exercises help organisations understand how effectively teams work together under pressure.

SeanRyan1_small

Sean Ryan

Crisis Communications & Strategic Leadership

Sean brings more than 30 years’ experience in senior journalism and communications leadership to crisis testing. He helps organisations put their crisis plans, leadership teams and communications under realistic pressure, using his experience of major breaking stories to challenge how they make decisions and respond to intense scrutiny.
Before joining Media First, Sean held senior editorial roles at The Sunday Times, including Associate Editor and Foreign Editor, leading coverage of major global events, investigations and breaking news. He later spent a decade as Director of Media and Communications at Save the Children, advising senior leaders on reputation, risk and crisis response in challenging environments including Gaza, Ukraine, Haiti, Somalia and Myanmar.
Sean has led or reported on some of the most significant corporate and organisational crises of recent decades, including BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster, Volkswagen’s emissions scandal, Malaysia Airlines MH370 and P&O. He uses that experience to make crisis exercises challenging and credible, testing how teams make decisions, communicate under pressure and maintain stakeholder trust when scrutiny is at its highest.

Elisa Colton

Stakeholder Engagement, Media Insight & Organisational Resilience

Elisa uses nearly 20 years of journalism and communications experience to help organisations test how effectively their people communicate during a fast-moving crisis. Her background in broadcasting, coaching and facilitation allows her to challenge teams on their messaging, stakeholder communication and ability to respond clearly and confidently when information is incomplete and pressure is building.
Elisa began her career in local newspapers before moving into broadcasting. She has worked for the BBC, BBC Radio 5 Live and Al Jazeera English as a political correspondent, radio presenter, producer and reporter. She has covered breaking news, reported live for BBC Breakfast and worked in fast-paced newsrooms where stories can develop rapidly and organisations must respond quickly.
During crisis simulations, Elisa brings that newsroom perspective to life. She understands how journalists pursue developing stories, how audiences respond during uncertainty and where unclear or inconsistent communication can cause problems. She uses this experience to test spokespeople and leadership teams and help organisations identify weaknesses before they are exposed in a real crisis.

paul_cropped_small

Paul Brennan

Senior Journalist Tutor

Paul brings more than 20 years’ experience across print, radio and television to crisis simulations, recreating the questioning, scrutiny and rapidly changing demands organisations can face during a major incident. He has worked across regional and network newsrooms for the BBC, ITV and Five News as a reporter, producer and presenter.
During his journalism career, Paul interviewed everyone from Nobel Prize winners to Big Brother celebrities and covered general elections, floods, major trials and breaking news. His evening magazine programme twice secured an RTS Award for its news coverage. That breadth of reporting experience enables him to probe messages, challenge assumptions and put spokespeople under realistic journalistic pressure.
Paul also has extensive experience in media training and presentation coaching, working with global CEOs, politicians, academics, health and education leaders and international diplomats. His work includes crisis simulations, key message management and studio exercises, giving him a strong understanding of how communication can be tested when an organisation is under pressure.

victoria-s-crop_small

Victoria Smith

Media and Communications Course Director

Victoria brings extensive TV, radio and print journalism experience to crisis testing, helping create the questioning and scrutiny organisations could face when an incident becomes a developing news story. A Sony Award-nominated journalist, she has worked for Euronews, ITN, the BBC and The Associated Press.
As UK correspondent for Euronews TV, Victoria reported on news and politics and interviewed everyone from Prime Ministers to pop stars. As welfare correspondent for BFBS, she made films about life after conflict and was a regular presenter on its flagship programme. Her radio experience includes newsreading for Classic FM, senior production roles on Vanessa Feltz and Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2, and presenting her own series on LBC. She has also written for The Times, The Telegraph and Time Out.
Victoria draws on this varied newsroom experience during crisis exercises to challenge participants with realistic media questioning, test the clarity and credibility of their messages and give spokespeople experience of communicating when scrutiny is intense.

Mike Pearse

Senior Journalist Tutor

Mike uses more than 30 years of reporting and programme-making experience to bring realism and journalistic pressure to crisis exercises. He has reported live from around the world on stories ranging from plane crashes to major political events, and understands first-hand how quickly an incident can develop into a high-profile news story.
One of Mike’s best-known investigations saw him expose airport security weaknesses by smuggling a fake gun onto an aircraft in the aftermath of 9/11. The story made the front page of every national newspaper, led to a Government inquiry and contributed to changes in airport security.
Mike has also produced numerous live programmes and worked on sensitive and controversial corporate communications issues for ITV News, including restructuring and changes to working practices. He uses this experience in crisis testing to think like a journalist, probe for weaknesses, challenge organisational responses and recreate the pressure teams can face when journalists begin asking difficult questions.

Charles Abel

Senior Journalist Tutor

Charles brings the instincts of an experienced news, business and technical journalist to crisis testing. During a 23-year career with Reed Business Information, he led a large editorial team creating award-winning content, including PPA Magazine and AOP Website of the Year awards.
His journalism has covered complex and potentially contentious issues including new technologies and policies, financial matters, corporate restructuring, launches and crisis handling. His determination to get behind a story makes him particularly effective at challenging organisations during a crisis exercise, asking the questions teams may hope will not be asked and probing responses that lack clarity or credibility.
Charles has worked with blue-chip and public-sector organisations across the UK, Europe, Middle East and Far East, helping senior executives handle demanding media encounters and take greater control of their messages. In crisis testing, he uses that experience to put messaging and spokespeople under realistic scrutiny and identify where their response needs strengthening.

Susan Bookbinder

Susan Bookbinder

Senior Journalist Tutor

Susan brings more than 30 years’ experience as a radio and television presenter to crisis simulations, drawing on a career spent reporting on major news and sporting events for broadcasters including the BBC, Sky, Channel 4 News, GMTV and ITN.
Her extensive live broadcasting experience gives her a strong understanding of the pressures spokespeople face when an organisation becomes the focus of media attention. Susan has also chaired corporate and charity events around the world, including government summits, corporate dinners, award ceremonies and product launches, and has presented corporate videos across a wide range of sectors.
During crisis testing, Susan uses her broadcast experience to recreate realistic media encounters and challenge participants to communicate clearly when faced with direct questioning and limited time. Her approach helps spokespeople experience the demands of a high-pressure interview before they have to face one for real.

Chris Maughan

Senior Journalist Tutor

Chris draws on a career spanning print and more than 20 years with ITV to help organisations experience the media pressure that can accompany a developing crisis. A highly experienced reporter, presenter and producer, he began in newspapers, contributing numerous front-page stories to the national press, before moving into television.
Chris became a familiar face on ITV Meridian, presenting Meridian Tonight and Thames Valley Tonight, and also represented ITV Sport at football and rugby world cups. Since leaving ITV in 2009, his writing, presenting and production skills have been used by organisations including Sky, ITV News, leading news agencies and production companies.
Chris uses this broad newsroom experience during crisis exercises to recreate realistic journalist enquiries and interview pressure. He understands what makes a story develop, where journalists will look for answers and how an organisation’s response may be tested, helping teams strengthen their messages and prepare spokespeople for intense scrutiny.

How realistic are your crisis exercises and simulations?

Realism is central to effective crisis testing.

A successful exercise should recreate the uncertainty, pace and complexity of a genuine incident rather than simply walk participants through a theoretical scenario. That's why we design every exercise around your organisation, your risks, your stakeholders, and the challenges you are most likely to face.

Depending on the objectives, exercises can include realistic media scrutiny, stakeholder pressure, social media activity, leadership challenges, regulatory engagement and operational complications. We can incorporate experienced journalists, simulated media interviews, realistic stakeholder interactions and technology-driven exercise platforms to create a more immersive experience.(The sources confirm bespoke, realistic and simulation-based exercises, but do not specifically mention Conducttr or current journalists on this page, so I'd treat those examples as service elements you choose to include rather than cite them as page content.)

Importantly, our exercises are designed to evolve. Decisions made by participants can influence the direction of the scenario, creating a more realistic environment where teams experience the consequences of their actions, communication choices and decision-making processes. This helps organisations understand not just whether plans work, but how people and processes perform when events become increasingly complex and unpredictable.

The objective is to create an experience that feels authentic enough to reveal genuine strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement before a real crisis occurs.

Will a crisis exercise test our plans or our people?

Both.

A well-designed exercise examines how plans, processes, technology, governance and communication arrangements perform under pressure. It also explores how individuals and teams make decisions, share information, prioritise actions and respond to changing circumstances.

The most valuable exercises assess how all of these elements work together rather than testing any single component in isolation.

Can exercises be based on our own risks and scenarios?

Yes.

Every exercise is bespoke and designed around your organisation, industry, risk profile and objectives. Scenarios can be based on existing organisational risks, emerging threats, recent incidents or specific concerns identified during a preparedness review.

This creates a more realistic experience and produces findings that are directly relevant to your organisation.

Do participants need crisis management experience to take part?

No.

Exercises can be designed for experienced crisis teams, senior leadership teams, communications teams or organisations with limited exercising experience.

The level of complexity, pace and challenge is built around the participants, their responsibilities and the objectives of the exercise.

How does crisis testing fit with training and consultancy?

Many organisations combine all three.

Consultancy helps identify weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. Training develops the skills and confidence people need to perform effectively. Testing validates whether plans, processes and people can work effectively together under pressure.

Used together, they provide a more complete approach to crisis preparedness and organisational resilience.

What happens after the exercise?

Every exercise should lead to improvement.

Participants typically receive a structured debrief, observations on what worked well, identification of gaps or vulnerabilities, and prioritised recommendations to strengthen preparedness.

The findings can then inform plan updates, further testing, targeted training, or broader crisis preparedness initiatives.