Talk to the experienced professionals. They speak of moments in a negotiation process where the unexpected or the surprising happened. At times they chalk it up to chance, and other times to the circumstances, and upon very rare occasions to their skill at navigating difficult moments and seeming impasses. 1 These are moments in a conflict when a group's dynamic changes 2 - times when something extraordinary emerges that occupies a nuanced space between a heightened moment of conflict, and the next moment where that conflict has been diffused or exacerbated. 3 But this "something" - the "unexpected" - exists independently of our ability to predict, control, or even describe it. Some call this phenomenon a turning point, 4 which is used to refer to a shift in the action, or what Druckman calls a "departure." 5 Others call it a critical moment 6 and refer to a shift in the meaning of events in a social process. 7 Still others, as Putnam and Holmer, and Leary have noted, describe these critical moments as moments that generate changes in "persons, relationships, social processes and political institutions."