A2A – Biodiversity, Citizen Science and Team Building in Arenzano
When biodiversity becomes a team effort.
For A2A’s Communications team, we designed a two-day retreat in Arenzano, built around the theme chosen for the offsite: biodiversity.
The goal was to go beyond traditional training and turn a complex topic into something to understand, observe and experience firsthand.
So we started from A2A’s business, went out into the local area to monitor its flora and fauna, and concluded by transforming what we normally consider waste into a tool for conveying a shared message.
Who, how many and where
- 100 participants
- Two days of training, outdoor activities and teamwork
- Arenzano, among the park and the Ligurian landscape
Objectives
Here are the challenges we set ourselves:
Mission #1
Explore the topic of biodiversity in connection with the company’s reality, making the training concrete, participatory and relevant to people.
Mission #2
Bring the team into the local environment, strengthen team spirit and experience practical tools and actions for monitoring and protecting nature.
Where the magic happened
In Arenzano, where a significant part of the offsite moved from the hotel rooms directly outdoors.
The park first became a laboratory for observing local biodiversity and then a playground for team activities.
Because talking about nature is useful. Going outside and seeing it up close definitely changes your perspective.
The Adventure in a Nutshell
Two days to move from knowledge to action.
- Biodiversity and business: during the first day, we customized the training through team games built around A2A’s business model and specific facilities. Participants explored interactively how different types of facilities can interact with biodiversity and ecosystems.
- Bioblitz in the park: theory learned, shoes tied. The team headed into Arenzano’s park to observe and identify the species found in the area.
- Citizen scientists for a day: during the Bioblitz, participants learned how to use iNaturalist, a citizen science tool through which flora and fauna observations contribute to an open database also used by the scientific community.
- Orienteering + Clean Up: the second day began with a team orienteering challenge, enhanced by a special task dedicated to waste collection.
- Trash Art: each team transformed waste into an artwork capable of addressing current issues such as plastic pollution while also expressing a message representative of their team.
A team that learned not only to observe the local environment, but also to actively contribute to monitoring it.
Two days in which training, collaboration and outdoor activities continuously reinforced one another.
Waste that, from being an environmental problem, was transformed into artworks and messages to share.
Take training outside the room
We transform topics such as biodiversity, sustainability and environmental impact into experiences to be lived together, combining training, outdoor activities, citizen science and team dynamics.
