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Planning the Ultimate Retreat - The Basics


For most of you that don't know, I am an administrative assistant to the director of the department I work in. Prior to that I was the office coordinator for the same department and for multiple managers. I have had to many a time put together retreats. Sometimes this is with a lot of time to plan and some last minute. Has each retreat gone smoothly? The majority have gone smoothly; however, there have been small mistakes here or there... which can cause some major anxiety. This post is to help you in planning a retreat - to give you the basics. Later on I may add more posts to dive deeper into each category.

PS - these are NOT affiliate links - I don't have any affiliates yet. Most of these links are real life websites I use and items I use as well.

So here we go!

Step 1 - Working With Your Boss Ahead of Time

Working with your boss ahead of time to get the retreats on the calendar is key. In the past we have had a set time frame of our retreats (i.e. quarterly, or every other month). About August of each year I write out a list of all the meetings I schedule and I bold the retreats. I send this list to my boss asking if everything is good to go. Unless she says so otherwise, then I usually just start planning the retreats/meetings per the original schedule.

I ask my boss these questions:

1. Which retreats do you want onsite and/or offsite?

2. Who needs to attend these retreats?

After this I schedule them on everyone's calendar and reserve the locations.

About a month or two prior to the retreats, I set a meeting with my boss (and usually our operations manager) to plan the retreat. This last retreat I planned was more so last minute, especially with us getting a new director so we weren't able to meet as far out.

In this meeting we discuss the following topics:

1. If there are any necessary guest presenters

2. The activities we want to do

3. What supplies we need so I can get a staples order in

4. A few places for lunch so the rest of the group can vote

5. Create an agenda

After this I send out an email and use Survey Monkey to send out a survey/voting sheet for the lunch places we want to eat.

After this is done, I then make a timeline for what needs to be done.

Step 2 - Your Timeline

No worries, this section has some subheadings because it can get a little grueling.

Here is a basic timeline that I use:

No worries, here is where we dissect it a little:

Supplies You May Want to Order:

At retreats you may need to order a Flip Chart for planning sessions. Retreats are supposed to be for bonding and brainstorming sessions. For example, in the last retreat we had with our old director, they were working on Tilt 365 to improve manager performance. In this latest retreat with our new director, we did not end up using one. We used good old fashioned One Note and communication! Along with these flip charts, you may want to consider ordering Flip Chart Markers. They don't bleed through like other markers do.

Some other items you may want to consider are ordering paper plates, utensils, etc. for your luncheon; however, most places provide that. You may need notebooks, pens, markers, etc. based on what activities you plan on doing for the retreat.

Ordering Lunch:

Most times when ordering lunch for any work affair, we think of our standard sandwich places. In a lot of instances, everyone is sick of the norm! Think out side the box! You may even want to take everyone to the restaurant as part of your retreat.

Here are some places that do catering/larger orders for retreats that you never thought of! When I have ordered from these places, we also just call ahead or go online with our orders and I pick up, we don't always do catering. I will link you to them (if there is a link):

Chinese Food

Thai Food

Indian Food

Mexican Food

See what is around your area, I bet you can do call ahead or online ordering! You are not stuck to the standard "Lunch Box" meal!

Confirming the Room Reservation:

This is simple, just call ahead or double check that your room is reserved!

The Activity:

This one is can either be stressful, or really fun for you! If you work with different personalities and abilities as I do, then finding an activity everyone can agree on can be difficult. Sometimes you as the retreat planner need to come up with a few good ideas and do a voting sheet on them. For our last retreat we went to Color Me Mine. It was a toss up between that and a museum. The trick with our activities in my company is that they have to be team building.

So how did we do this? Well first things first - I made everyone draw a name and they had to paint something for that individual. Some of the individuals that I work with picked the item for the other to paint, who I picked had no choice! We then got to see each other doing something that is outside of our comfort zone. At Color Me Mine you paint a figurine then you wait a week and it comes back looking gorgeous! Here are some pics:

If you need ideas on planning the retreat, follow this link for some team building activities.

Agendas and Confirming with Guests

Sometimes you don't always have to have an agenda, but it is nice to create a bullet point list of what you want accomplished at the retreat. With our old director, we had allotted time slots for everything. At this last retreat, just a general list of items for discussion was needed. I did put in the time frames for our activity and our lunch coming in so that we could be prepared. Send this out to all attendees.

You want to shoot a friendly email to your guests that are coming in for a presentation (you should also send them a separate calendar appointment with this information in it as well). This email should include:

Dear ___

We look forward to you coming to our retreat at ___ on the _____ in the location of blank___

Here are some instructions:

Location

Directions

Instructions if there is security or how to get in

If you feel that you can no longer make it, please reply back with regrets/questions only.

Sincerely,

Your Name

Contact Information

AND FINALLY....

Do not hesitate to ask for help! If you are all alone in this, then you should be able to call on someone either attending or not to help with anything like picking up the delivery, bringing in the supplies, etc.

In my last retreat I was participating so I could not meet the delivery guy with our lunch, I had to ask my peer to assist me. They also had to order for me as we had an individual out of town and could not place his order for food until the day of.

If your retreat planning is last minute, then do not worry! Make it simple, fun, and most important, DON'T STRESS OUT! This is hard to do! Coming from someone who is a bit of a perfectionist. Planning is not everyone's forte; however, there is someone that can help you out!

If you want more ideas/help for your next retreat, drop me a line!


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