The choice of activities to practice in a seminar or offsite meeting is plethoric. Off-site events between employees are an opportunity to develop team spirit but also to discover each other in a different way and then work together differently. Here are some ideas for off-site activities to do during a seminar or meeting day, for original moments of sharing outside the company.

Team sports: integrating teamwork in a different way

The benefits of sport at an individual level are well documented. And in a collective spirit, within a seminar, sports activities always have many benefits. The first being, of course, the strengthening of team cohesion. Indeed, by choosing to offer your employees a sports team building, you will allow them to create links different from those experienced in the company, by experiencing friendly moments of sharing and support. By offering an activity accessible to all, whatever their level of personal sport, these seminar activities will help develop mutual aid, but also the spirit of solidarity and the understanding of management issues. Team sports allow teams to bond, to learn how to reduce stress and to become more efficient for the realization of future projects.

We can then propose different activities with sports coaches around afairly conventional sports activities It is also possible to organize collective sports activities around orienteering courses, treasure hunts or “Olympiads” in Koh Lanta mode, for example, for even more teamwork.

On the side of the more original team sportsIn France, why not try baseball, such as Flag Football or Flag Rugby (where tackling is replaced by ripping off strips of fabric attached to the players’ belts), Kinball (where you have to catch a giant ball with any part of your body before it hits the ground), Tchoukball (which mixes handball, volleyball and pelota) or Bumball (where the ball is caught with the scratches placed on the players’ shirts).

And among the more “innovative” sports, you can opt for paintball, lasergame or lasertag to develop the cohesion of the employees, who will have to “fight” in team.

Wine creation, cocktails, beer brewing, blind taste test: gastronomy at the heart of seminars and off-site incentive meetings

Because gastronomy is a popular activity for most people, offering it as part of a seminar or off-site meeting allows you to combine team discovery and gustatory pleasures. On a more “traditional” level, the activities related to gastronomy allow the discovery of ancestral know-how and land.

One can thus propose forgotten gastronomic activities, to rediscover distant or unknown traditions which will introduce, in addition, a note of history in the proposed sharing: discovery of the secrets of manufacture and maturing of a local cheese, learning to taste Armagnac, the oldest brandy of France…

Among the activities around alcohol (to be consumed in moderation), it is possible to create your own wine, with several people, participate in a cocktail workshop or visit a local brewery, and then create your own company beer.

In terms of original cooking workshops, why not combine CSR and gastronomy. With a zero waste / anti waste challenge. But also 100% organic and vegetal cooking. Or even a gathering of edible plants, followed by a cooking class to learn how to use them.

And if your employees are really fans of cooking, you can organize a “cooking battle ” where several brigades compete. Or a taste blind test, which will put everyone’s taste buds in competition.

Themed spaces and immersive places: for a seminar with a 100% change of scenery

For an even greater change of scenery, an entire seminar can be organized around a single theme or a single location. These immersive seminar activities allow participants to immerse themselves in a culture. As well as a tradition or a profession in order to understand all its facets.

While it can be very enjoyable to travel to immerse yourself in a country. For example in Morocco, in the desert, for a Lawrence of Arabia seminar. Or to Venice for a few days to learn about the history of this extraordinary city. France is full of magical places to organize seminars with unusual activities.

Ideas for immersive locations and original activities for thematic seminars:

• Une régate corporative sur le Bassin d’Arcachon et de l’accrobranche dans la forêt des landes
• Un séjour au sein d’un domaine viticole dans le Lubéron. Ou le Bordelais, la Bourgogne (avec découverte de tout le processus de création du vin, dégustations, assemblage de sa propre cuvée…)
• Un trip en kayak au sein des gorges du Tarn
• Un bivouac, le temps d’un week-end, au sein d’une forêt française
• Un Team Building sein d’une ferme pour découvrir l’agriculture raisonnée 
• Un séjour dans un refuge à la montagne avec rafting, via ferrata, randonnée, parapente… 

Opposite Sex Day: 100% inclusive seminar and off-site activities

What better way to put yourself in the other person’s shoes than to change gender for a seminar? To help your employees better understand the gender gap, why not offer inclusive activities where roles change.

For example, there are escape games. Often built to raise awareness of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Role-playing games can also be set up where men and women switch places. But also borrowing clothes from the other, adopting his manners and learning his trade and his role by his side, while “copying” him.

Escape game, life-size Cluedo, Murder party: classic activities for seminars and off-site meetings

Apart from its obvious collaborative side, theEscape Game has many other assets. It allows to reinforce and improve the communication between the collaborators. But also to push them to express themselves freely, thus allowing to discover the personalities of each one. Or to support some in their decision making, to free themselves from stress by practicing a fun activity. But also to develop his creativity and initiative.
Other alternatives are also available for off-site seminars and meetings. Around everything that is “investigation”, we can organize a game of cluedo. Or in a castle or a big house for example. But also a murder party, which allows to mix role playing, police investigation scenario and improvisation theater.