Preparing for negotiations from a previous meeting recording: worksheet

Start with a shared account of the previous conversation

Before a follow-up meeting, it is easy to remember the concession you wanted and forget the condition attached to it. “We can do it sooner if the materials are ready” becomes “They promised to do it sooner.” The recording restores the full conditional agreement and gives you an accurate basis for the next conversation.

The preparation worksheet is for your team. It differs from meeting minutes: besides confirmed facts, it contains hypotheses, questions, options and internal decision limits. Label each type of information so colleagues do not mistake an assumption about the other side for an established fact.

Prepare the evidence and options

1. Recover the confirmed points

   Find explicit agreements, refusals, conditions and promises to clarify information. Keep timecodes for disputed passages. Check the current documents. If the terms changed after the meeting, use the latest agreed version alongside the recording.

2. Distinguish position from interest

   A position describes the term a party wants. An interest explains why they want it. “We need an earlier launch” might be tied to an event or an internal review. If they did not give a reason, ask about it without guessing a hidden motive.

3. Define your limits

   Write down what you can approve yourself, what needs colleagues' input and what dependencies constrain the options. Plan what to do if there is no agreement. Avoid making a concession your team cannot deliver just to end the meeting on a positive note.

4. Develop options and questions

   Look for combinations of terms that work for both sides. For each option, show its outcome, dependencies and consequences. Start the next meeting by checking what has changed, then discuss options on a shared factual basis.

Discussing an earlier launch

This is a fictional training example. The names, circumstances and outcomes are included solely to explain the method.

“Earlier” is the position. The interest is being able to demonstrate one use case, which opens the discussion of a limited first phase. That does not mean the client has agreed to any reduced deliverable.

Clarify the use case, demonstration conditions and readiness criterion. The team separately checks whether the phase is feasible. Until then, the option is a discussion proposal, not a new deadline commitment.

Worksheet for the next round of negotiations

Keep confirmed and assumed information in separate columns. It is easier to run the meeting when your team shares the same starting point.

Goal of the next meeting:
Confirmed agreements:
Terms and dependencies:
Open questions:
Parties' positions:
Stated interests:
Hypotheses to check:
Our authority and constraints:
Option A / terms / consequences:
Option B / terms / consequences:
What we do without an agreement:
How we will record the next outcome:

Check that the team is ready

• Conditional statements are preserved in full.
• Other parties' motives are not presented as established facts.
• The team knows who can approve the decisions under discussion.
• Dependencies have been checked for every option.