# Seminar design: building the journey before the event > Seminar design means planning a group’s journey minute by minute: objectives, sessions, instructions, roles, spaces, materials and outputs. It is the work that comes before facilitation, and it largely decides what the seminar will produce. URL: https://www.getflowdesign.com/en/design-de-seminaire Updated : 2026-11-05 ## When to call us - You have a clear objective but no agenda yet. - Your events agency handles the venue and tech, and the substance is missing. - Your annual seminar has gone stale and needs rethinking. - You facilitate yourself and want a solid plan with materials ready to use. - Several topics have to fit into one day without each getting only a glance. ## What is seminar design? It is the architecture of a group event. We start from what the group has to produce and work backwards: which sessions, in what order, with which instructions, in which room layout, with which role for each person. Design also covers the experience: pace, set design, music, meals. Nothing about its success is left to chance. ## What are the steps to design a seminar? Pin down the intent with the sponsor, turn it into outputs, write a first draft of the run of show, have it challenged, then detail it to the minute. Then come the materials, written instructions, roles and logistics. We keep revising the plan until the day before, and sometimes during the seminar itself. - Scoping: intent, participants, constraints - A first draft of the plan, written to be challenged - The detailed run of show: timings, layout, roles, tools - Materials, instructions and set design - A rehearsal with the facilitation team ## How do you build a seminar agenda? In four movements: open, explore, decide, celebrate. You open to set a shared frame and build trust, explore to widen the options, decide to converge, and celebrate to make it stick. Each session has a length, a written instruction, a layout and an output. A common thread ties it all together and gives it meaning. ## Why does set design matter in a seminar? Because the space tells the group how to work. Tables in clusters invite people to produce, a circle of chairs invites them to listen, empty walls invite them to put work up. A seminar’s energy is shaped in these details: light, sound, the rhythm of breaks. We turn a functional venue into a place that inspires. ## Can we hire you for the design only? Yes. We then deliver a detailed run of show, the instructions, the materials and a briefing note for whoever will facilitate. We can also brief your internal facilitators or your agency before the day. Full support or à la carte: you choose what you hand over to us. ## Client story (anonymised) [An annual transformation seminar, on the dancefloor](https://www.getflowdesign.com/en/cas-clients/seminaire-annuel-transformation) : An international group takes stock of its transformation programme every year. That year, it had to celebrate how far it had come and connect subsidiaries spread far apart. We kept to a single metaphor, dancing, from the welcome desk to the coffee-corner signs. ## Frequently asked questions ### How long does it take to design a seminar? A few weeks for a one-day session, two to three months for a multi-day seminar or one with several hundred people. Most of the time goes into scoping and back-and-forth on the plan. ### How are you different from an events agency? An agency handles the venue, travel, tech and welcome. We design what happens in the room and what the group produces. We are happy to work with your agency: each to their own trade, one shared plan. ### How much does seminar design cost? It depends on the length of the seminar, the size of the group and what you ask us to do beyond design. We send a quote after a scoping conversation. ### What exactly do we receive? A detailed run of show (timings, sessions, instructions, roles, room layouts), the working materials and, if you wish, the set design and participant documents: badges, team lists, signs. ### Can you take over a seminar that is already designed? Yes. We read your plan, point out what is likely to jam and suggest changes. An outside review a few weeks before the date is often enough to make the day safe. --- Source: Flow Design, https://www.getflowdesign.com Contact: victoire@getflowdesign.com, marie-violaine@getflowdesign.com, +33 6 72 15 94 77. Request a quote: https://www.getflowdesign.com/en/nous-contacter. Draft a run of show online: https://www.getflowdesign.com/en/concevoir-mon-seminaire.