Peter (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} dolemiteq) wrote,@ 2008-03-03 10:16:00 |
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Victorious... in a way
The mediation competition was a lot of fun. We had two teams entered, and at the end of the two rounds on the first day, Rich (my partner) and I were the clear winners, the only team who won both their rounds, and solid winners in the point ratings as well. The other St. John's team tied for second place, but lost in the tiebreaker criteria. So now we just had to come back and do a third.
After day 1 ended, and they gave us the new fact pattern for day 2, we decided to go out for a little while with one of the Roger Williams teams. The funny part was that Jess and Matt (our other team) had gone against them in the morning, then I randomly started talking to them between rounds, and all six of us ended up eating lunch together. Then we realized they were our opponents in the second round. After we won, they invited us out to a beautiful restaurant/bar overlooking the water. So, as the saying goes "strive mightily, sure, but eat and drink as friends."
We were drunk on victory at that point, and then decided to supplement that by getting drunk on alcohol. We deserved a little celebration before reading the new packet for Sunday. We had a great time, and the other team was really a lot of fun. We got back to the hotel around 9pm, and decided it was time to start working. So Rich and I had about 15 minutes to glance over it, before Matt, Jess and the Roger Williams team showed up with two bottles of liquor and a case of beer...
Now, to the average reader, this may seem like patently irresponsible behavior. And in some ways, it might have been. But I will say this about mediation/negotiations: Preparation has been the least helpful aspect to me. The ability to think on your feet, understand the facts, work off of your opponents, around your opponents and with your opponents is far more important, and Rich and I had done that very well on day one. Plus, the excessive quantity of alcohol was more for the other four than for Rich and I. We weren't stupid about it.
So, we passed around the packet, ordered some pizza's and had 6 heads working together from 3 of the top 4 teams. We had our representation plan finished and printed by Midnight, then got a decent night's sleep.
Round two went spectacularly. Any reservations we might have had about how we prepared were washed away by the adrenaline of face to face negotiations with these two guys from Quinnipiac. We met all our goals, we did it firmly but cooperatively, we each played our roles well and... we lost.
Second place in the entire northeast region was a pretty sweet showing for our first time doing a mediation competition
Besides, if we won, we'd have to go to the national competition in Seattle in April. That would've been fun, but I don't really need any extra work right now.
All in all, it was a great weekend, a successful weekend and a busy weekend. Now I can check one more thing off my list of what is eating up my time this semester.
The mediation competition was a lot of fun. We had two teams entered, and at the end of the two rounds on the first day, Rich (my partner) and I were the clear winners, the only team who won both their rounds, and solid winners in the point ratings as well. The other St. John's team tied for second place, but lost in the tiebreaker criteria. So now we just had to come back and do a third.
After day 1 ended, and they gave us the new fact pattern for day 2, we decided to go out for a little while with one of the Roger Williams teams. The funny part was that Jess and Matt (our other team) had gone against them in the morning, then I randomly started talking to them between rounds, and all six of us ended up eating lunch together. Then we realized they were our opponents in the second round. After we won, they invited us out to a beautiful restaurant/bar overlooking the water. So, as the saying goes "strive mightily, sure, but eat and drink as friends."
We were drunk on victory at that point, and then decided to supplement that by getting drunk on alcohol. We deserved a little celebration before reading the new packet for Sunday. We had a great time, and the other team was really a lot of fun. We got back to the hotel around 9pm, and decided it was time to start working. So Rich and I had about 15 minutes to glance over it, before Matt, Jess and the Roger Williams team showed up with two bottles of liquor and a case of beer...
Now, to the average reader, this may seem like patently irresponsible behavior. And in some ways, it might have been. But I will say this about mediation/negotiations: Preparation has been the least helpful aspect to me. The ability to think on your feet, understand the facts, work off of your opponents, around your opponents and with your opponents is far more important, and Rich and I had done that very well on day one. Plus, the excessive quantity of alcohol was more for the other four than for Rich and I. We weren't stupid about it.
So, we passed around the packet, ordered some pizza's and had 6 heads working together from 3 of the top 4 teams. We had our representation plan finished and printed by Midnight, then got a decent night's sleep.
Round two went spectacularly. Any reservations we might have had about how we prepared were washed away by the adrenaline of face to face negotiations with these two guys from Quinnipiac. We met all our goals, we did it firmly but cooperatively, we each played our roles well and... we lost.
Second place in the entire northeast region was a pretty sweet showing for our first time doing a mediation competition
Besides, if we won, we'd have to go to the national competition in Seattle in April. That would've been fun, but I don't really need any extra work right now.
All in all, it was a great weekend, a successful weekend and a busy weekend. Now I can check one more thing off my list of what is eating up my time this semester.
