Caucus with the complainant and the respondent covers Escorting Parties Out of the Room, Starting the Discussion, Exploring Needs, and Generating Options. These lessons will teach mediators techniques for how to move from a party’s concerns into a party’s interests. Then, how to create an agenda of each party’s interests in order to lay a foundation for the work the parties will do when they reconvene together. Many new mediators never learn how to create interest agenda’s and as a result, when the parties reconvene together, their negotiations appear thrown to the winds. Without an interest agenda, process dynamics often revert back to those we expect and want to see in the Joint Discussion. This creates a feeling of helpless in mediators and a sense of frustration for the parties. The skill set taught in this presentation, coupled with the Need Exploration presentation becomes a powerful combination for improving mediator’s ability to empower parties to make informed decisions in their own best interest.