Meeting Productivity

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YEREVAN, Armenia – Meetings and negotiations! They occupy a large of part of our time every week. Can they be done more efficiently and how can this happen in the Armenian context? The American University of Armenia (AUA) College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) organized a talk on December 19 where these and other questions relating to conducting productive meetings and negotiations were discussed.

The speakers, Alain Lempereur, member of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, and Arthur Martirosyan, Senior Consultant and Director of the Center for Excellence in Negotiation at the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Bridgeway Group, drew on decades of experience as consultants to scores of international organizations and companies and talked about how to make the most of negotiations and meetings.

As with any negotiation process, there are different kinds of skills, styles, and cultures involved in holding such meetings, according to the speakers. In their talk, they drew on research in these areas and discussed some preliminary work on meeting productivity in the Armenian context. The ultimate goal was to raise awareness and share insights into how to improve meeting productivity, which is a skill that can be learned and promoted through self-awareness, process design, and improved facilitation skills. Meeting productivity is a “soft capital” that competitive companies and societies create for themselves.   

 Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia and affiliated with the University of California. AUA provides a global education in Armenia and the region, offering high-quality, graduate and undergraduate studies, encouraging civic engagement, and promoting public service and democratic values.