Try this for office work: a simulated commando attack in pouring rain, where landmines burst to spray chocolates and guns fire pellets filled with coloured water; customised stress-busting sessions with inputs on alternative medicine and lifestyle shift; a hearty game of five-a-side soccer or carefree jiving to DJ beats.

Corporate conferencing is no longer confined to closed-door seminars or air-conditioned audio-visuals. It?s all about natural settings, action adventure or pure chill out; team-building exercises and strategic management sessions, brainstorming by the lake or a dietetics discourse on the starlit lawns.

The starting point of the spend could range from Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,000 per person, per day, but companies aren?t cribbing. For, outbound sites are in, as business is bound with brotherhood, using elements like adventure sports and ayurveda, meditation modes and funky food. All to achieve better motivation and greater output.

?Earlier, the companies were looking for just conferencing and banqueting facilities. Now, it?s a quest for a definitive value-addition for the staff,? observes Anita Datta, manager, corporate relationship, Vedic Village. The Rajarhat back-to-nature property, a lifestyle venture of the Sanjeevani Group, has been one of the preferred destinations for blue-chips ever since it unfurled its vast village spread this January. Merging wellness with conferencing and offering the sprawl for a clutch of outbound programmes, Vedic has bungee-vaulted the conferencing credo on its Burma Bridges. If Seagram downed the six-day rigorous military drill in the thick of monsoon, IBM has lined up a daylong training programme designed as a treasure hunt, with clues strewn all over.

?Almost 75 per cent of our walk-ins would comprise the corporate crowd, and many of them prefer outdoor sports, the discotheque or a poolside barbecue dinner once they are through with the seminars,? says Animita Mallick, head, sales & marketing, Ffort Radisson. The Raichak resort is frequented by the likes of Hindustan Lever, Gillette and Asian Paints. Many among the top brass prefer the rejuvenating packages at Serena Spa on campus.

Team-building exercises are the key, be it an extended sojourn like the Strategic Human Resource Leadership Programme currently on at Vedic or day-outs at Ibiza. ?From training workshops to dealers? meets, orientation drills to product launches, companies these days look for a comprehensive package,? adds Sushil Mohta of Ibiza, playing host to L&T, Essab India, TCS and more at his Diamond Harbour Road address.

?They also come for posture correction and diet direction, tips on healthy living and early signals of Alzheimer?s and Parkinson?s. The corporate bosses in town are now in sync with the significance of wellness, equating it with productivity and performance,? feels M.J. Robertson, CEO, Vedic Village.