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On April 10, 2026, IÉSEG hosted the 20^th edition of The Negotiation Challenge (TNC) on its La-Défense campus. TNC is annual international event gathering students from all over the world, competing to become world negotiation champions.  

Training the world future greatest negotiators 

This global competition was born twenty years ago out of a simple observation: negotiation is a skill, not an innate talent, not an art reserved for a select few but rather a measurable skill that can be taught, learned and improved through practice. “Back then, we simply thought: if negotiation is a skill then it can be measured. And if it can be measured then it can be compared… so why not make a competition out of it?”  explains Remi SMOLINSKI, Founder of The Negotiation Center and professor of negotiation in Germany, about the creation of the event. “What The Negotiation Challenge does is motivate people around the world to study negotiation, to practice negotiation, and to become better negotiators, and I believe this is exactly what the world needs today.”  

From this conviction grew a unique competition, bringing together dozens of students and judges from all over the world around a shared challenge: negotiating relentlessly over several rounds with the hope of winning the competition. Each year, the event takes place at an institution in a different part of the world.

An intercultural laboratory to train and become top negotiators 

Being effective and well-regarded—that is the full complexity and richness of negotiation. Top performers are those who can combine strong substantive outcomes (such as price, salary, commercial deals, dispute results…) with relational quality, meaning they build solid, lasting relationships with their counterparts. “In short, great negotiators can combine above-average abilities in substantive outcomes with above-average abilities in relational outcomes. That is where we find the true greatest negotiators,” adds Remi SMOLINSKI.  

The competition is open to all backgrounds (law, business, international relations, technical studies…) reflecting how cross-disciplinary negotiation is in the corporate world. The journey begins online with three scored rounds used to rank the competing teams. Only the top 12 teams advance to the grand finale, which takes place over three rounds 

This edition brought together participants from every continent, each carrying their own culture, communication style, and approach to negotiation. Students, professors, coaches, and international judges gathered around the same table, making TNC more than a competition: a true intercultural laboratory.

A team of IÉSEG students in the grand finale 

As a historic partner of TNC, IÉSEG mobilized its professors as early as January to prepare participating student teams: mediation exercises, conflict management, intercultural negotiation strategies… Preparation spans nearly three months, leading up to official registration in February. 

Frieder LEMPP, professor of International Negotiation and Conflict Management, and co-organizer of the TNC 2026: “This is a great opportunity for our students and it’s even a goal for some of them to attend this event at the end of the semester. They can apply in realistic conditions what they’ve learned in negotiation classes. The event creates a very nice atmosphere; everybody is happy and excited to participate. It also fosters connections between people and most importantly between students and professionals.” 

This competition is a strong pedagogical commitment, driven by dedicated faculty and rewarded by a team of three IÉSEG students successfully reaching the grand finale in Paris. “Student participation is on a voluntary basis. Once we knew we were sending teams to TNC, we prepared a group of professors teaching in the Negotiation & Sales major to provide some extra content and exercises to help students prepare for the competition. We are very happy to have this incredible pool of professors at IÉSEG who were there to help them. They saw students almost every week and mentored them before the competition started,” explains Adrian BARRAGAN DIAZ, professor of Negotiation and Head of the International Negotiation and Sales major. 

“We’re used to practicing negotiation in class, but here it’s quite different because it’s a large international competition. The context is serious and we have a real stake: to win. Here, we negotiate with people from many different countries—we’ve negotiated with Indians, Germans, Polish and Dutch participants. For us, it’s a real opportunity to develop our skills in a realistic setting. We will certainly have to negotiate with similar people in our future professional lives, so it’s very good training.”

Margaux HUCHETTE, Vannida BUN, and Barnabé COQUET, the IÉSEG student team.