Information sharing exercises are rare and hard to put on, but are important to learning about how to improve information sharing in disasters. 

I am passing on this information about an upcoming information sharing exercise. Participation is open to many different organizations in the EM community and I encourage your to sign up and participate as soon as possible. The exercise will take place on May 11, 2016.  

Below are the details that were provided to me:

"In May 2016, the National Information Sharing Consortium (NISC) will conduct CHECKPOINT 16, a virtual tabletop exercise that will allow participants to test, evaluate, and download for daily use various model web applications, tools, and data models for situational awareness and decision support.   Dozens of organizations have signed up to participate in CHECKPOINT 16, with participants coming from state, local, and Federal government, non-profits, private sector companies, and academia.  Participants can choose their level of participation, from being an observer, participating in a limited way using NISC-provided tools, to being a full-play participant integrating CHECKPOINT 16 tools into their own native operating environment throughout the exercise. 

The exercise will take place from 11 am to 4 pm ET on May 11, 2016.  For information on the exercise and to register, you can visit www.checkpoint16.org.  So far the NISC has conducted two training events for the exercise, and these trainings can be viewed on the checkpoint 16 webpage; the next event will take place on April 21."