Physical comfort

Physical conditions of the meeting will also influence how comfortable (and possibly how co-operative) either party may feel and this can be readily transferred to comfort with the deal itself. A variety of tactics may be adopted to win 'unfair' advantage over the opponent. Mostly these only work when they are not too obvious and, by virtue of their exposure, they tend to become decreasingly effective.

Examples are:

• your opponent's chair set at a lower level to yours

• your opponent having to look into the sun (or bright light)

• orchestrating interruptions when the going gets rough

• manipulating the temperature of the meeting room

• choosing a venue for the meeting which has distracting furnishings (e.g. walls decorated in, say, a vivid blue can affect some people and may account for an opponent's willingness to disagree with proposals)

• the rather prominent positioning of a clock which may give discussions a sense of time pressure

How should you deal with these tricks if and when they arise?

In short, the best method is to let your opponent see that you have noticed the tactic and seek his/her approval to remove the influence. This may be achieved by correcting or neutralizing the influence and commenting on it to allow your opponent to understand that you have noticed the use of the tactic!

Agenda

This is a Latin word meaning things to be done. It is a list of the items of business to be dealt with at a meeting. These items are arranged in logical order so that it will not be necessary to take a later item first, which may affect a decision on one of the earlier items. Routine business is always placed first to clear the way for discussion of any special items. When writing an agenda the Secretary must call the meeting, give the place, the date, the time, and give notice of the items to be discussed. Note that any other business is often written as AOB. It is important to remember that items for an agenda should be listed in logical sequence so that it should not be necessary - unless for some special reason - to discuss any item out of order.