Planning sessions among the participants in the various rooms described below directly impact how the rooms function during the course exercises. These sessions are held the first two evenings during the week of the course.

The policy room (including such personnel as elected officials and key department heads) meets to develop a policy statement that answers questions such as:

• Who declares a state of local emergency?
• What authority does a declaration of emergency give policy makers?
• How will information be communicated to the public?
• Will purchasing regulations be suspended during the disaster?
• What are recovery and mitigation priorities?

The EOC (coordination room) , is the room that manages the resources to combat the disaster. This room uses the policy statement as a foundation for developing a comprehensive emergency management plan. This plan deals with such issues as:

• What resources are available during emergencies?
• How can resources be coordinated to meet local needs during an emergency?
• What kinds of agreements must be made among various resource groups prior to emergencies
• How can this resource management group support long-term recovery and mitigation activities?

The operations room, made up of personnel from law enforcement, the fire service, EMS, public works, volunteer organizations, and utilities, develops standard operating procedures, based on the operations plan. These address such problems as:

• What is the chain of command within individual disciplines?
• How can individual disciplines coordinate to ensure efficient handling of any event during an emergency?
• How should information flow between and within individual organizations and disciplines, this includes how a Joint Information Systems/Joint Information Centers will operate.