Ella Donald

Transformation Through Tabletop Exercises

Ella is the Change and Communications Manager for Cybersecurity at The University of Queensland. She combines her diverse background in journalism, tertiary education, media, and learning design in her work in data governance and cyber security. She has worked across a variety of small and large-scale projects in both spaces, additionally writing and delivering regular tabletops to a variety of audiences, running a data literacy program, and improving incident response. She also has developed a self-paced Change Management course for all UQ staff, and previously convened the monthly Change Management Community of Practice.

Join her workshop –

Tabletop exercises are mainly a concept in IT/cyber security, where teams are presented with a hypothetical scenario that is written to test problem solving in operational and incident response.
Goals can vary broadly, from testing playbooks/processes, to identifying technical and knowledge gaps. However, my session will posit that simulation problem solving exercises can also be applied to day-to-day business operations, providing an opportunity to build rapport within teams, as well as identifying strengths and uplift opportunities.

This session will give a quick overview of the concept of a tabletop exercise before running through an example of how it can be applied to change management.

Finally, participants will brainstorm a potential session for their organisation, considering potential scenarios that can be explored.