Your Plan Looks Good on Paper. A Tabletop Finds Out If It Holds.

A custom tabletop is designed around a scenario that doesn't fit the standard IR or BCDR template — a supply-chain compromise, an insider threat, a combined cyber-and-physical event, an industry-specific threat scenario, or a board-level crisis simulation. We work with you to design the scenario around the risk you most need to test, then facilitate it with the same structure and rigor as our standard exercises.

For most compliance frameworks and cyber insurance policies that require periodic BC/DR or incident response testing, a structured tabletop exercise with documented findings satisfies the requirement. Trava's exercises produce a written report that can serve as evidence of the testing activity. If you have a specific framework requirement, confirm the format with your assessor or insurer before scheduling.

Every exercise closes with a practitioner-led debrief and a written deliverable documenting how the scenario unfolded, where the plans and processes held, where they broke down, and a prioritized set of recommendations. The deliverable is designed to be actionable — a clear to-do list for strengthening your program, ordered by risk and effort.

Most tabletop exercises run two to four hours, depending on scope, scenario complexity, and participant group. Exercises for executive audiences tend to be shorter and more focused on decision-making. Technical response exercises may run longer to work through the full response sequence. Trava scopes the session to the scenario and the audience at the start of the engagement.

It depends on the scenario. An IR tabletop typically involves the security team, IT operations, and legal or communications representatives. A BCDR tabletop typically involves operations, IT, and executive leadership. A custom exercise can be scoped to any group — including an executive or board-level audience focused on crisis decision-making and communication. Trava works with you to define the right participant set for the scenario being tested.

An IR (Incident Response) tabletop tests your organization's ability to detect, contain, and respond to a security incident — a breach, a ransomware attack, a compromised account. A BCDR (Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery) tabletop tests your organization's ability to continue operating and recover when a disruptive event takes critical systems, people, or facilities offline. IR exercises center on the security response; BCDR exercises center on operational resilience and recovery. Both produce findings and recommendations, but they test different plans and different teams.

A tabletop exercise is a structured, discussion-based simulation in which a facilitator presents a realistic scenario — a security incident, a business disruption, or a crisis event — and walks participants through the response decisions it demands. Tabletops do not require live systems or real-time action; they test the plans, processes, and decision authority your organization relies on by working through a scenario in a controlled setting. The value is in the gaps they surface and the preparation they enable before a real event forces the question.