Crisis simulation: frequently asked questions

A crisis communications simulation is a live exercise in which a communications team handles a realistic crisis as it unfolds. Crisisly recreates the channels the team would use on the day, including email, social media, news, messaging apps, the phone and the organisation's own website, and feeds in journalists, executives, regulators and the public in real time.

A tabletop exercise asks people to talk through what they would do. In a Crisisly simulation they actually do it: they write the holding statement, answer the journalist, brief staff, post on social media and take the call, against the clock. Every decision is logged, so the debrief is based on what the team did rather than what they said they would do.

Exercises are designed for 60, 90 or 120 minutes. Deadlines, consequences and the pace of the scenario scale automatically to the length you choose.

Every journalist, lawyer, regulator, investor and stakeholder responds in character to what the team actually writes. Responses are AI-powered and informed by real-world crisis experience: how reporters chase a story, how regulators write, how boards react. Evasive answers get pushed back on, contradictions are noticed and challenged, and rude or flippant replies have consequences. The facilitator can review, edit or cancel anything before it lands.

Yes. The facilitator sets the organisation's name, logo, email domain, social handle and the real names of key people, and these appear throughout the exercise. Scenarios can also be built around a specific risk.

Ready-made scenarios cover a corporate crisis (a leaked clinical trial safety memo), a private client crisis (a resurfaced offensive photograph of a public figure), a political crisis (a deepfake audio clip before an election) and a government counter-disinformation crisis (a hostile state exploiting a domestic emergency).

No. Participants join from a link in their browser. The facilitator runs the exercise from a separate console.

Yes. Everything updates live for everyone in the room, wherever they are, so the exercise works in person, remote or hybrid.

In-house communications and corporate affairs teams, agencies, private client advisers, political campaigns and government communications teams, along with anyone who trains them.