This new season is tailored around insightful conversations with a diverse lineup of subject matter experts and crisis designers. We discuss their experiences and share best practices in crisis design, so you can enhance your own strategies and methodologies.
If you are passionate about creating remarkable exercises in crisis management, reputational risk, business continuity, risk management, information warfare, or high-fidelity simulations, this is the perfect show for you!
Beyond the Tabletop: Designing Exercises That Stick - A conversation with Ed Vafa
How do you prepare people to make the right decisions when a crisis strikes?
In this episode of Crisis Designer Podcast, we're joined by Ed Vafa, Head of Protective Security and Resilience at Bidvest Noonan, to explore what policing can teach us about crisis preparedness and how to design exercises that genuinely test decision-making under pressure.
Drawing on his experience in policing, counter-terrorism and corporate security, Ed shares how he creates realistic crisis exercises using unexpected phone calls, competing priorities, misinformation and scenarios inspired by real events. We discuss why training needs to become a lasting memory, how AI can bring exercises closer to participants' reality, and why the consequences of their decisions should shape how a scenario unfolds.
Ed also shares lessons from major emergency response exercises, his experience on the TV programme Hunted, and why the real measure of a successful exercise is what an organisation changes afterwards.
30 Oct 2026
Inside the Control Room: Designing Exercises That Feel Real - In conversation with Curtis Harding and Zain Qureshi
What does it take to recreate the pressure, complexity and unpredictability of a live event control room?
In this episode of Crisis Designer, we speak with Curtis Harding, Training Manager, and Zain Qureshi, E-Learning Team Leader at ShowSec, one of the UK's leading event security and crowd management companies.
Curtis and Zain share how they designed and delivered an immersive training exercise in Hong Kong, bringing together participants from across Asia to practise command, control and coordination in a realistic event environment.
We explore how they combined e-learning, face-to-face training and crisis simulation, using evolving weather conditions, radio communications, breaking news and social media to challenge participants' decision-making under pressure.
The conversation also explores the importance of creativity in exercise design, how to balance realism with learning objectives, and why effective training is about more than technology. It's about creating experiences that build confidence and prepare people for the unexpected.
23 Oct 2026
From E-Learning to Immersive Crisis Training - A conversation with Chandrika Ghosh
What makes a crisis exercise feel real? And how do you design training that encourages people to think, act and make decisions rather than simply follow a script?
In this episode of Crisis Designer Podcast, we're joined by Chandrika Ghosh, E-Learning Account Executive at MTI Network, a global crisis response and communications consultancy specialising in the maritime industry.
Chandrika shares her experience moving from traditional e-learning to immersive crisis simulations, exploring how realistic scenarios help teams turn knowledge into action. We discuss why fewer injects can sometimes create better exercises, how to balance structure with improvisation, and the role of storytelling, social media and AI in bringing scenarios to life.
We also explore an often-overlooked element of crisis preparedness: empathy. How can teams practise responding not just to operational challenges, but to the real people affected by a crisis?
A conversation about designing more engaging training, embracing unpredictability and creating experiences that prepare people for the human realities of crisis response.
Who has been a guest on Crisis Designer Weekly Podcast
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Tim Klaassen
Janette Bonar Law
Bartosz Misiuro
Scott Campbell
Marc Avery
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