Scoping Your Team Building Online: A Guide to Preparing Well

A successful team building event is largely decided before the day itself. When objectives are vague, the list of participants keeps changing until the last minute or logistics are left to the end, even the best game loses some of its impact. Conversely, clear scoping makes everything else almost seamless: the route is designed for the right audience, the teams are balanced and the day runs smoothly.

This article is aimed at HR managers, office managers, event agencies and DMCs. It sets out the questions to ask yourself before launching a project with TeamLab by QuestRides, and explains how online scoping helps you answer them in the right order, leading to a proposal that fits your situation.

1. Start from the objectives, not the game

The usual reflex is to choose an activity and then ask it to deliver an objective. It is better to do it the other way round. What do you want your teams to experience together: getting to know each other after new colleagues have joined, rediscovering cohesion after a busy period, opening a seminar on a collective note, or simply enjoying a genuinely shared moment?

Write down two or three intentions, no more. They will then guide every choice: the format, the pace, the way teams are put together, and the place given to the closing ceremony.

Plan the debrief from the outset

If you would like to extend the experience with a discussion session, say so at the scoping stage. TeamLab keeps an event log and a timeline of the game, which serve as a basis for the debrief: you can look back at the key moments, the team's choices and the twists along the way. However, the tool produces no individual scores, no psychological profiles and no ranking of individuals. The debrief focuses on the collective, and that is precisely what makes it easy to lead with confidence.

2. Know your participants

The second point to scope is the people who will actually be playing. Beyond their number, think about what sets them apart: different departments, different sites, different languages, and whether or not they are used to smartphone games.

• Team composition: TeamLab lets you create and compose teams, give them a name, and assign a captain and roles suited to the size of the group. Mixing departments is a common choice, but it is up to you to decide based on your objectives.
• Languages: the game is played on mobile, with no paper map, in French, English, Arabic and Darija on the participant side. For an international group, this is reassuring.
• Registration: it is done remotely, before the event, and then a briefing and a road book prepare everyone for the day.

Privacy that is simple to explain

Participants register with a first name, with no email address or phone number. As for location, only one position is shared per team, from the team lead phone. There is never any individual tracking. These are two useful points to relay internally if some colleagues have questions about how the system works.

3. Choose the format and the level of control

TeamLab turns a treasure hunt, a trail game or an orienteering race into a guided collective experience. The engine is the same; the route, however, is designed for each format and together with you. Your choice depends on the atmosphere you are after: investigation and discovery for a treasure hunt, a sequence of stages for a trail game, navigational independence for an orienteering race.

What the organiser sees and can do

During the game, the control room displays team progress in real time, how long it has been since a team's position last changed, and which teams are paused or offline. Six interventions are possible: reserve stage, timed surprise mission, freeze, slowdown, pause and resume. Before each intervention, the control room announces its target, its effect and its duration, and none is applied while a team is on the move.

As an option, talismans between teams (Givre, Sablier, Mirage, Égide) add a strategic dimension. Stages are validated by photo, automatically, which lightens the refereeing workload.

On the organising team side, five staff roles are provided for, including safety and observer. You can also run the game yourself, without a technician. So ask yourself the question at the scoping stage: who on your side will be in charge on the day?

4. Think about everything surrounding the game

A team building event is not just the stages of the route. Transfers, meals, the ceremony and, where relevant, the full stay are all part of the experience, and they affect the schedule as much as the budget. That is why the scoping addresses them explicitly, alongside the objectives, participants and format.

• Transfers: how will your participants get to the starting point, and how will they leave the finish?
• Meals: before, after, or built into the programme?
• Closing ceremony: trophies, awards and the jury prize-giving take place at a dedicated venue, never at the hunt's finish location. This gives people time to settle in and creates a real separation between the game and the celebration.
• Full stay: if the team building event is part of a multi-day seminar, it is easier to fit it in with the rest of the programme from the start.

Where the event takes place

TeamLab was designed in Marrakech, where it is available today. For Agadir, the rollout is in preparation. Elsewhere, an adaptation is needed, with a local partner, a reconnaissance visit and validation of the terrain. If your seminar is being held outside Marrakech, mention it from the first conversation.

5. Discuss the budget and the role of agencies and DMCs

The budget is the last section of the online scoping, but not the last thing to keep in mind. It is discussed alongside everything else: a format, a number of participants, transfers, meals and a ceremony form a whole. There is no fixed price list; the proposal you receive is a tailored quote, built from what you have provided. The more precise your answers, the closer the proposal is to your needs.

For agencies and DMCs

TeamLab fits into the seminars you build for your clients. Depending on the access granted, the client can even be independent on their own quest. In practical terms, you stay in control of the whole programme, and the game becomes a coherent building block. You will find the details on the TeamLab page dedicated to agencies. If you work with a hotel, the TeamLab page for hotels completes the picture.

Conclusion: clear scoping, a simpler day

Defining your objectives, knowing your participants, choosing a format and a level of control, anticipating logistics and discussing the budget at the same time: that is the essence of successful scoping. Each step avoids an unpleasant surprise on the day and helps you get a proposal that truly suits your team.

Ready to move forward? Fill in the online scoping form to receive a tailored proposal, or first discover TeamLab, team building by QuestRides.