Purpose: To explain why cross-cultural negotiations simulations are an excellent, active, and dramatic means of training employees to be culturally adaptable and literate. Design/methodology/approach: Through a discussion of how drama plays an important role in creating learning that lasts, and by comparing passive, traditional classroom training with active, hands-on, experiential learning. The paper discusses the high value cross-cultural simulations in training employees to be culturally adaptable and literate. Findings: Provides an explanation of how and why the dramatic elements of international business can and should be incorporated into cross-cultural simulations and how those elements can dramatically enhance learning. Research limitations/implications: It is not a detailed step-by-step discussion of how each of the author's simulations has been researched and written. It does, however, discuss the overall role that drama plays in creating and designing simulations that work well. Practical implications: In creating educational material for the workplace and the classroom, these methods of adding drama to training materials, such as simulations, should enable trainers to realize that opportunities for creating learning that lasts are abundant and easily available. Originality/value: This paper addresses a unique way of making simulations provide experiential context to training events.