Setting up the negotiation room

Have you ever arrived at a meeting with a group of people from your company with a customer or supplier and found that you all automatically seat yourself on the opposite side of the table? Often enough this is the default situation, know try this exercise the next time you walk into a meeting, while your colleagues take their usual place at the table, you seat yourself on the side of your customer/supplier, and see what happens! You will be surprised at the change in dynamics and how the meeting unfolds.

In practice the set up of the negotiation room has a dramatic effect on the atmosphere and dynamics of the meeting, as so you need to plan the physical layout to meet your negotiation objectives, a number questions you need to ask yourself as you plan the physical settings are:

Do I want to treat the negotiating party as equals?
What is your negotiation relationship objective, a one time off agreement or a long term relationship?
Is this going to be a short or long meeting?
Iis the meeting planned to build trust or psychologically unravel them?

Write down your answers and then sketch out on a piece of paper the room set up, a number of physical consideration can be

The size and shape of the table
Low or high chairs
Do you want the chairs to be comfortable or maybe not
The temperature of the room
The position of the room in relation to the restrooms!
A closed room with no windows or very lighted, with a great view
The use of smartphones and laptops during the meeting, cutting them off from the outside world?