Here is the feedback that I got from my first negotiation - we did reach an agreement and my client was happy.

- Good positioning, away from any weak spot
- Good argumentation around any proposal
- Good at getting to know information about the other party without disclosing much about how much I know/information about my client
- Good at distilling information I know about them to weaken their position (other party used a strong line of attack, deliberately lying from the beginning)
- Good at using people's personalities when I directed by arguments / tricks (two people were negotiating with just me...)

- Bad at body language: giving too many clues when I would have trouble refuting an argument
- Spoke for too long (even did not disclose anything) at the start to try to create an atmosphere. Hindered dialogue opening
- Bad at using my emotions (I just never let them through), it could apparently make the whole experience a lot more humane and get me closer to the other party
- Bad at exploring options, and when I run out of logical arguments to defend a position, I lose all flexibility.

In general, our negotiation was a very painful experience since the other side did not disclose interests (in fact masked them, or disguised them) in order to try to justify a much lower position that they would have otherwise taken. This completely threw me off, and we spent precious time arguing about differences that were only virtual.
We were not collaborative enough (the other party came with the idea that they would "screw" me) - which meant that at some point I started to seriously question why we were even talking if the interest in reaching an agreement or even having this discussion was so low.
Lessons learn: DO share your interest (not your position) early in the discussion, bit by bit as an exchange mechanism. Do try to be collaborative and encourage the other party to find a solution. If the other party respond positively, it does not mean that they are giving in or weakening their position. It means that there is room for discussion and negotiation - hence the possibility of reaching an agreement.

We prepare the next negotiation case (every negotiation is preparation and execution). This time it is a team-based negotation. We prepared very well (all options, numbers, strategy, roles, etc...). The negotiation should last for 1.5 hours. We took a good 2 hours to prepare as a group, and another 30 minutes to crunch some numbers individually. Preparation is supposed to pay off - and we have checked all of this against the 7 elements of negotation.

I feel quite over-prepared now!