Workshops AEAM is a process where participants with a diversity of skills and expertise are brought together in a workshop or series of workshops to assess a management problem and explore management options. In addition, significant benefits are derived from the process of building the model. The workshops are intended to encourage debate about system response to management actions and to stimulate a creative search for new solutions, rather than build consensus around a single solution. AEAM workshops typically involve the steps outlined below, although they can be tailored to suit the management problem and available budget.
Work is done in both plenary sessions and sub-groups.
While model-building is valuable for focusing discussion, workshops where time or budget constraints preclude computer modelling can still be useful. The development of conceptual models is itself a very worthwhile exercise. To maximize the value of the workshop, objectives and expectations must be clearly understood by all participants, including the modellers and facilitators. AEAM is an iterative process - later steps may lead to reevaluation and reiteration of earlier steps. For example, it may be useful to model the problem at several different spatial scales.