Build a dark site with pre-approved holding content ready for rapid activation.
Public Relations & Media
Dark Site Preparation and Crisis Simulation Exercises
Build a ready-to-launch dark site and design realistic crisis simulation exercises that test a communication team's plans before a real incident hits.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
A crisis communication plan that has never been tested tends to fail in the same three places: nobody remembers who has authority to approve a statement, the pre-built holding page has not been touched in two years, and the first hour is lost working out how to get a message live at all. This course closes that gap by building the physical preparation and the rehearsal habit together. Participants design a dark site, a pre-built holding page that stays offline until an incident triggers its activation, deciding what content sits ready to publish, how quickly it can go live, and who holds the authority to activate it. The course then moves into simulation design: writing scenario injects that escalate realistically over a compressed timeframe, choosing between a discussion-based tabletop and a full live-action drill, and building in the technical failures and conflicting information that real incidents produce. Participants facilitate a mock exercise for a peer group, playing the roles of spokesperson, approver and media desk under time pressure, then write an after-action report that turns what went wrong into specific changes to the plan, the dark site content and the escalation chain, rather than a list of generic lessons that nobody revisits before the next drill.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Define the activation trigger and approval authority for taking a dark site live.
Design a crisis simulation scenario with realistic, time-pressured escalation.
Write scenario injects that introduce conflicting information and technical failure.
Facilitate a tabletop or live-action exercise across spokesperson, approval and media desk roles.
Evaluate participant performance during a simulation against the written crisis plan.
Write an after-action report that converts exercise findings into specific plan changes.
Who Should Attend
Corporate communication and PR teams responsible for crisis communication plans.
Business continuity and risk managers who coordinate crisis exercises with communications.
Digital and web teams who would build and host a dark site during an incident.
Executives and spokespeople who need practice performing under simulated pressure.
Public affairs and legal teams involved in approving crisis statements.
Agency partners supporting a client's crisis preparedness and drill programme.
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01Building the Dark Site
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Deciding What Belongs on a Dark Site
- Identify the incident types most likely to require an immediate holding statement online.
- Draft holding statement templates for each likely scenario, leaving space for facts to be inserted.
- Decide what static content, such as contact details and safety information, stays permanently ready.
- Agree legal and brand review of dark site content well before any incident occurs.
Session 2Hosting, Activation and Governance
- Choose a hosting and activation approach that lets the dark site go live within minutes, not hours.
- Define who holds authority to trigger activation and how that decision is documented.
- Test the technical activation process outside of a live incident to confirm it works.
- Set a review cycle so dark site content and contact details do not go stale between incidents.
02Designing Realistic Simulation Scenarios
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Choosing Scenario Type and Severity
- Select scenarios that stress-test different parts of the plan, from a data breach to a safety incident.
- Calibrate severity so the exercise is demanding without becoming implausible to participants.
- Decide between a discussion-based tabletop and a live-action drill based on the objective.
- Set clear learning objectives for the exercise before writing a single scenario detail.
Session 2Writing Scenario Injects
- Write a timeline of injects that escalates the scenario in a compressed, realistic timeframe.
- Introduce conflicting or incomplete information that mirrors how real incidents actually unfold.
- Add a technical failure, such as a website outage, that participants must work around live.
- Include a hostile or persistent media inquiry that tests spokesperson composure under pressure.
03Facilitating the Exercise
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Running the Room
- Brief participants on roles, rules of engagement and what is and is not being tested.
- Deliver injects on schedule while observing decision-making without interrupting it.
- Manage a participant who freezes, over-escalates or goes off-script during the exercise.
- Keep time discipline so the exercise reflects the real pressure of a live incident.
Session 2Playing Spokesperson, Approver and Media Desk Roles
- Practise delivering a holding statement live under time pressure during the simulation.
- Play the approval role, testing how quickly sign-off can genuinely be obtained.
- Simulate a media desk fielding multiple simultaneous inquiries with limited confirmed facts.
- Debrief each role immediately after the exercise while decisions are still fresh in memory.
04After-Action Review and Continuous Readiness
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Structuring the After-Action Review
- Facilitate a structured debrief that separates what happened from what should have happened.
- Capture specific failures in timing, approval or content rather than general impressions.
- Compare actual response times against the targets set out in the crisis communication plan.
- Involve every role played in the exercise in the review, not only the senior participants.
Session 2Turning Findings into Plan Changes
- Convert after-action findings into specific edits to the crisis plan, contacts and templates.
- Update dark site content and activation steps based on what the exercise revealed.
- Assign owners and deadlines for every agreed change so fixes do not stall after the debrief.
- Schedule the next exercise and vary its scenario so the plan is tested against new conditions.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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