To Hold a Simulation

1. Question the situation that you are simulating.
   
   • Subject: What are you simulating? What roles do different people play within the situation? What goals do people in the situation have? What rules are they bound by?
   • Purpose: Why are you simulating the situation? Do you wish to reenact events? Explore ideas? Predict outcomes? Model complex systems?
   • Audience: Who will participate in the simulation? Who will view the simulation? What should the group get out of the experience? Should the simulation be somehow recorded and shared to a wider audience?
2. Plan your simulation by completing a planning sheet. (See page 361.)
   
   • Goal and objectives: Write your goal, and then unpack it by answering the 5 W’s and H about it.
   • Tasks, time, team, and tools: Consider the work that needs to go into creating the simulation; the people involved; and the resources, equipment, and information that the group needs.
3. Research your topic and the roles different people will play.
   
   • Topic: Find out as much as you can about the topic.
   • Roles: Determine what roles different simulators will play. (For example, an interview needs an interviewer and an interviewee; a trial needs a judge, a prosecution, a defender, a defendant, witnesses, and a jury.)
   • Rules: Decide how the different people involved will interact. (For example, in a trial, each counsel needs to give an opening statement, present evidence, call and question witnesses, cross-examine witnesses, and give a closing statement.)
4. Create your simulation.
   
   • Assign roles to participants.
   • Ask some participants/observers to document the event in writing, photos, videos, and/or play-by-play commentary.
   • Explain the rules.
5. Improve your experience by reflecting on what happened.
   
   • Reviewwhat happened and how the events made people feel.
     

     Ask participants and observers what they learned.

   • Connectthe simulation to the real world.
     

     Ask “what if” and “what now” questions.

     Document the debriefing with more writing, photos, and/or video.

6. Present the simulation by posting your documents in a format that allows others to share the experience.