A great training exercise evokes emotion. It allows participants to forget, if only for a moment, that they are in a training scenario and immerse themselves in a real-life incident. They experience the pressure, the chaos, and the adrenaline of an actual emergency response. That is when training truly prepares people for the real world.
That’s exactly why realistic simulation is so important. But it’s also why it can be quite challenging. The art lies in drawing people into your story, stimulating their senses, and making them believe.
That requires an understanding of how these processes work in the minds of your trainees. You are working with emotions, and that is precisely where the exercise leader’s responsibility lies.
A realistic exercise engages all the senses
Many people immediately think of fire, smoke, or casualties when it comes to realistic simulation. But truly convincing realism often lies in the small details.
The sound of a casualty becoming distressed. A phone call that goes unanswered. The smell of smoke in a stairwell. The heat of a room. The furnishings of a child’s bedroom.
These are the elements that make a scenario believable.
Our brains process all these stimuli simultaneously. What we see, hear, smell, and feel continuously reinforces each other. That is what creates immersion. And that is what causes people to respond as if the incident were real.
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"This is how you stimulate all the senses for a convincingly realistic staging".
Realism is not about making it bigger, but about making it more believable.
The strongest training exercises are not always the ones with flames bursting from the roof.
In fact, sometimes the greatest impact comes from something small.
A silent casualty. A realistic environment. A familiar smell. An unexpected reaction. Or a detail that resonates with people on a personal level.
These are the signals that make an exercise resonate. That make you feel it. The urgency. The pressure. The emotion. And that is exactly why realistic simulation works.
People learn differently under pressure. Communication changes. Priorities shift. Procedures that seem logical in a classroom suddenly feel very different when stress and time pressure increase.
A good simulation makes that mental workload visible without having to turn it into a spectacle.
This also immediately highlights an important point of attention.
Realism Comes with Responsibility
In realistic training, there is sometimes a temptation to keep pushing further. More chaos. More impact. More emotion.
But it’s not difficult to shock people.
The real challenge lies in finding the right balance. Creating enough immersion for people to truly learn, without the exercise losing sight of its purpose.
Because once a scenario becomes believable, real emotions begin to emerge. Stress responses. Adrenaline. Memories. Microtriggers that unexpectedly resonate with participants.
These are the same microtriggers that occur during a real incident. When we create realistic simulations, our brains make very little distinction between what is real and what is not.
These are the same microtriggers that occur during real incidents. When a simulation feels realistic, the brain makes surprisingly little distinction between what is real and what is simulated.
In a training exercise, we can control what we expose our participants to. Be mindful of that. Realistic simulation comes with a responsibility for the emotional well-being of the participants.
Would you like to learn more about psychological safety, stress responses, and the impact of realistic training? Then be sure to read the white paper Staging is Emoting.
The environment becomes part of the experience
If your participants start to perceive your simulation as real, you can assume that the surrounding environment will too. Your exercise affects more than just the participants.
Local residents, passers-by, or colleagues who are not involved in the exercise often see the same scene as the participants. And if the scenario is realistic enough, they will respond to it as well.
Smoke coming from a building. Casualties screaming for help. Emergency services arriving in large numbers. Sounds of explosions. Casualties with realistic injuries.
For someone who happens to pass by, that is not a training exercise. It is an incident. And for them too, a convincing simulation can have an impact.
A sign saying ‘fire brigade exercise’ is often far from sufficient.
Professional simulation design therefore also means considering the impact on the surrounding environment. Communicating proactively. Informing local residents in advance. And being mindful of sightlines, sound, and context.
Because realism affects everyone who is confronted with it.
Staging is Emoting
An exercise that doesn’t affect anyone is often quickly forgotten.
That is exactly why immersion is such a powerful element in education and training. But with that power comes responsibility
Because the moment people start to believe what they see, hear, and feel, you are no longer just building a scenario. You are directly influencing emotions.
And that is exactly why good simulation design is a profession.
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