# Learning expedition: meaning, cost, length and planning - URL : https://www.inexpeditions.com/en/learning-expedition - Language : English - Publisher : in:Expeditions SAS, 8 rue Lacépède, 75005 Paris, bonjour@inexpeditions.com > A learning expedition is a 1 to 8 day study trip to meet the people who are ahead on a subject. Cost, length, steps and destinations. ## Learning expedition: what it is, what it costs, how to plan one A learning expedition is a study trip of one or more days in which a team meets, on the ground, the companies, researchers and entrepreneurs who are ahead on a given subject. Its purpose is to bring back ideas the team can apply in its own organisation and to decide together what comes next. ### What is a learning expedition? A learning expedition is a group study trip. The team travels for a few days, visits sites and meets people who have already worked through its question: a chief executive who changed how the company is governed, a researcher, the founder of a community venue. Each meeting is prepared in advance, and the group takes time to draw out what it will use back home. In French it is also called an expédition apprenante or a voyage d'étude. The short form LEX is common. The term comes from education. Outward Bound, the school Kurt Hahn and Lawrence Holt founded in Wales in 1941, inspired the Expeditionary Learning network of schools in the United States, funded in 1992 and opened in 1993. Its learning expeditions are four to nine week studies of a single theme, with fieldwork. Today the term also covers company study trips. The idea rests on experiential learning. Psychologist David Kolb described it in 1984 as a four-stage cycle: live a situation, observe it, draw an idea from it, try it out. Otto Scharmer of MIT and the Presencing Institute turned it into a practice for leaders, sensing journeys, which take participants out of their routine to see their organisation through the eyes of other stakeholders. in:Expeditions has organised learning expeditions since 2015: more than 100 so far, for more than 250 clients, including companies, institutions and schools. Its journalists choose the meetings from a map of 2,500 impact initiatives. ### What does a learning expedition do for a company? A company runs a learning expedition when it has to decide on a subject it knows little about: a new business model, a different governance, the ecological transition of its trade, a new way of working. Seeing how others went about it, with their figures and their mistakes, saves time. For an executive committee, it helps build a shared strategic vision, design actions and anticipate possible futures. For a CSR or innovation team, it connects the business to the major transitions. For HR, it trains and brings people together at once: the group learns side by side, away from the office. One example: in the Basque Country, a leadership team thinking about how value is shared meets MONDRAGON, a group of industrial cooperatives where more than 71,000 people work under the rule of one member, one vote. ### How much does a learning expedition cost? In the in:Expeditions catalogue, a learning expedition costs from €700 to €4,000 per person, excluding VAT, for a group of at least 10 people. The lowest starting price is Paris (€700, 1 to 3 days), the highest is Geneva (€4,000, 1 to 4 days). For 10 people in Paris, the budget therefore starts at €7,000 excluding VAT. The price depends on the destination, the number of days and the number of participants. Each destination page shows its starting price, and the quote is calculated on your programme. The budget is made up of these items: - Design: itinerary, choice of meetings, programming workshops with your team, learning objectives, scouting on site, participant handbook and programme guide. - Coordination beforehand: choosing and checking suppliers, participants' special requests. - Facilitation on site: running the programme, introducing the delegation, hosting the meetings, then gathering feedback after the trip. - Eco-labelled accommodation and organic, sustainable meals, with the carbon footprint calculated and offset. - Local transport: minibus and public transport. Return train tickets are optional. - Speakers and rooms: speakers' fees and hire of working rooms. - Handling advance payments to hotels, restaurants and carriers, and budget tracking. - Editorial options on request: a pocket magazine before departure, summary sheets for each visit, a podcast, a summary video. ### How long does a learning expedition last? A learning expedition lasts from 1 to 8 days. One day is enough in Paris or Marseille. Allow 2 to 4 days for Amsterdam, Berlin, Freiburg or Lisbon, 3 to 5 days for Copenhagen, Oslo or the Basque Country, 4 to 6 days for Helsinki or Istanbul, and 4 to 8 days for Dakar. The length follows the distance and the scope of the subject. A nearby destination reached by train suits a short format. A broad subject, such as Basque cooperative industry, needs several days of meetings. Over three days, the rhythm often looks like this. Day 1: travel, kick-off lunch, first immersion, dinner with an expert. Day 2: workshop, project visits, lunch with a local organisation, time for reflection in the evening. Day 3: field visit, final lunch, closing session where each person says what they are taking away, departure. ### Learning expedition, offsite, team building: what are the differences? All three formats bring a team together away from the office. What sets them apart is their purpose. A learning expedition takes the group out to learn from other organisations. An offsite brings the team together to work on its own issues. Team building strengthens relationships through a shared activity. The formats are often combined: visits and meetings during the day, work among participants in the evening. ### How is a learning expedition prepared? At in:Expeditions, preparation follows six steps, in this order. 1. The brief. A 15 to 45 minute interview with an in:Expeditions journalist sets out your constraints, expectations and learning objectives: who is going, for what purpose, for how many days. 2. The destinations. in:Expeditions recommends 2 to 4 destinations, chosen from a constantly updated map of 2,500 initiatives. 3. The programme. Two programming workshops with your team settle the meetings, the visits and the thread of the trip. A logistics coordinator and a designer scout the ground. 4. The participant handbook. Each participant receives a handbook on the local culture, the projects visited, logistics and local landmarks, with a page for each place and each person met. 5. On site. Journalists and expedition leaders introduce the delegation, open each subject, facilitate discussion and share their analysis at the end of each day. 6. The return. Participants' feedback is collected and assessed. A return workshop with the project team compares the outcome with the original objectives and keeps the ideas to put into practice. ### Where to go? The in:Expeditions catalogue lists 21 destinations in France and abroad, many of them reachable by train. Five examples, from the lowest starting price to the highest: - [Paris: new places, new links](https://www.inexpeditions.com/en/learningexpedition/paris)Community venues and temporary urbanism, from Cultivate's urban farm on the rooftops of the 18th arrondissement to the Gaîté Lyrique, in 1 to 3 days, from €700 per person excluding VAT. - [Côte des Légendes: a low-tech laboratory](https://www.inexpeditions.com/en/learningexpedition/bretagne)In Brittany, from the endowment fund set up by sailors Roland Jourdain and Sophie Vercelletto in Concarneau to My Human Kit's Humanlab near Rennes, in 1 to 4 days, from €850 per person excluding VAT. - [Freiburg: the solar city](https://www.inexpeditions.com/en/learningexpedition/fribourg)Three hours from Paris by direct TGV, a city aiming for climate neutrality by 2035, with the Vauban district, Rolf Disch's energy-positive houses and Fraunhofer ISE, in 2 to 4 days, from €1,800 per person excluding VAT. - [Basque Country: industry as a cooperative](https://www.inexpeditions.com/en/learningexpedition/pays-basque)MONDRAGON and its cooperatives run on the rule of one member, one vote, then the reinvention of Bilbao, in 3 to 5 days, from €2,200 per person excluding VAT. - [Geneva: radical neutralities](https://www.inexpeditions.com/en/learningexpedition/geneve)Governance and the long term, from the HEAD design school to Panatere, the watchmaking supplier that recycles metal offcuts from the Jura, in 1 to 4 days, from €4,000 per person excluding VAT. ### Plan it yourself or get support To plan it yourself, Agent A\lex, the in:Expeditions AI agent, opens in Claude, ChatGPT, Le Chat or Gemini and builds the objectives, the day-by-day programme, the meetings, low-carbon logistics and the budget with you, using the in:Expeditions method. To hand it over, send your brief (destination, dates, number of participants, objectives) and an in:Expeditions journalist will offer you a 15 to 45 minute interview. [Design it with Agent A\lex](https://www.inexpeditions.com/en/alex)[Send your brief](https://www.inexpeditions.com/en/contact?source=pilier) ### Questions #### How many people do you need for a learning expedition? Prices in the in:Expeditions catalogue apply to groups of at least 10 people. The programme then adapts to the size of the group: the Freitag workshop in Zurich, for example, hosts groups of 10 to 25. #### Can you run a learning expedition in France? Yes. The catalogue includes Paris, Marseille and the Côte des Légendes in Brittany. In Paris or Marseille, a single day is enough. #### Who do you meet on a learning expedition? Business leaders, entrepreneurs, researchers, foundations and local authorities who have already made progress on the group's subject. in:Expeditions chooses them from a map of 2,500 impact initiatives and prepares each meeting. #### Learning expedition, study trip, learning journey: are they the same thing? Broadly, yes. All three describe a trip where a group learns from organisations on the ground. Learning expedition is the term French-speaking companies use, often shortened to LEX. #### Who leads a learning expedition on site? At in:Expeditions, journalists and expedition leaders. They introduce the group to each host, open the subjects, facilitate discussion and share their analysis at the end of each day. #### What do you bring back from a learning expedition? A participant handbook with a page for each place and each person met, the group's notes and, after the return workshop, a list of ideas to put into practice. On request: summary sheets for each visit, a podcast or a video. --- Source : https://www.inexpeditions.com/en/learning-expedition · in:Expeditions, learning expeditions and impact retreats since 2015.