Step-by-Step Guide to Planning a Retreat

It warms our hearts and fills our souls to know that our work, running camp and retreat centers, is a societal plus, a contribution to the beneficial connection between humans and nature, and leaves us feeling grateful and fulfilled with the work we do. 

This is why we created a Step-by-Step Guide to Planning a Retreat for people who haven’t led a retreat before. We want as many people as possible to be inspired and plan a gathering. This guide is for the person who has a passion and special interest and would like to share it with others by creating a retreat.

If you are a seasoned retreat leader, you may want to share some of your tips with us by leaving a comment below. For the newbies, welcome, get your feet wet, and dive in, let us help you create an offering you have always dreamed about. 

We hope that this guide will inspire you to take the lead and create a retreat in your area. We host small and large groups all the time – providing hospitality, meal service, and group lodging is what we do. We aspire to connect you with others who have similar interests to gather at one of our beautiful natural settings, so we may play host and be inspired ourselves, as the magic of your meaningful activities takes place. This guide presents an overview of steps that will help you to create a retreat, often the steps aren’t sequential, but we need to move back and forth between the steps as we gather insights and information.

Do you remember a teacher saying, “If you have a question, ask it, because chances are if you have a question, others do too?” The same rule applies here, if you have a specific interest or hobby, others do too. Gathering with those who have a passion for a shared interest is one of the many pleasures of life. Here are just a few ideas and examples to inspire you of groups who offer programs at one of our many sites: 

Church Retreats | Board of Directors Retreats | Nonprofit Organizational Retreats 

Sport Camp for Kids or Adults  | Art and Craft Weekends | Meditation Groups

Orchestra Retreats | Team Building Events | University College Clubs

Government Training (i.e. US Forest Service) | Choir Retreats

Poetry Workshop | Writing Workshop | Spiritual Retreats

Scouts | Special Needs Camps | Leadership Training

Quilting Groups | Music Camps | Book Clubs 

Family Reunions | High School Retreats 

“If you build it, they will come.” says the ethereal voice that motivates Kevin Costner to build a baseball field in his cornfield in the movie Field of Dreams.

What will you build interest in? What dream will help you get the ball rolling to engage with a core group to gauge interest? What will you create that people in your community care about?

Once you have gathered interest you can start to piece together all the details it takes to get a committed group to participate and gather. 

Without further ado, here is the guide to help you take steps to create your dream retreat. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our reservations team at 800-678-5102 or email us at reservations@uccr.org 

Step-by-Step Guide to Planning a Retreat 

Step 1: Find your passion

Decide what you are passionate about and what you want to share with others. If you are interested in a subject, likely, others are too. Most important is your enthusiasm for your offering. Perhaps you want to teach an art class, lead a meditation group, or teach travelers gearing up for 2022 about the history of your favorite country. Whatever you feel excited about, this is your topic. Once you've shared your topic of interest, gauge how many people would take the next step from interest to a preliminary commitment. 

Step 2: Name, price, description

Keep it simple, the fewer words the better, what attention-grabbing title would appeal to your fellow gatherers? Maybe the title needs a tagline to give it more clarity. Once you have a title for your event, start working on the overall description and include activities to let your customers know what they can expect to gain from attending a retreat with you. Begin collecting information on cost, considering things like supplies, lodging, meals, etc.

Start answering these questions: 

• How many people do you want to join? 

• What should you charge? 
  Once you work with the next step, you’ll have a more realistic idea of the cost of lodging and meals. 

• Choose a time for your retreat. 

Step 3: Select a location for your retreat

Contact UCCR’s friendly reservations staff to inquire about facilities near you that would meet your needs. Do you need food service, meeting space, or lodging? While working with our reservations staff to collect information we recommend you tour a site or two and meet our on-site staff to answer even more questions. When you tour you might be even more inspired once you see all the meeting and gathering areas which will help you when you get to the curriculum phase of planning. 

Step 4: Choose your dates

Once you know where you want to hold your retreat, we can hold dates for you on our calendar as you go about gaining sign-ups for your event. Typically, there is a minimum number of people you will need to guarantee a hold on dates at one of our facilities. At most of our sites, we charge per person, so your final price depends on how many guests you have, that way you are not overpaying for lodging and meals you will not need.  

Step 5: Sharing your retreat

Continue sharing your enthusiasm for your retreat with others. Try creating a free Facebook Event and post it to your timeline, tag friends, and ask friends to do the same. If you are not on social media, ask someone who is to help you. Consider calling local organizations that have similar interests to let them know what you are up to and remember, excitement is contagious, let it bubble over. 

For example, if you want to teach a two-day beginning Spanish language workshop, visit international markets near you and post flyers or tag them on social media. Set a goal to call 5 people a day to talk about your event, post flyers, network, network, network! Get the word out through friends and family and any other connection you have that might be interested in your retreat.  

Make sure to give yourself at least five months before your event to have plenty of time to promote and register people. If you need help marketing your event, feel free to email our marketing director, Laura, she would be happy to supply you with ideas.  

Step 6: Create Curriculum 

Sometimes this step comes before promotion, but sometimes you can start working on the exact curriculum for your retreat as you are promoting. You already know what you want to teach, now you fill in the exact agenda with activities, goals, and timelines. Be sure to include break time and rest time during your event, as well as time to walk or move around so your participants are not sitting in chairs all day long. Generally, if you are new to organizing a retreat and writing a curriculum, give yourself more time than you think. Students want to have time to enjoy a topic, and not feel rushed to get through it. Googling this topic will offer lots of help and insightful information. In addition, there is a helpful curriculum-building tool and example: 

Topic: How to Make Salsa 
Goal: Each student makes their salsa. 
Timeline: 1 hour (20 minutes demo & 40 minutes students cooking on their own with instructor help) 
Supplies: Tomatoes, onions, cilantro, tomato sauce, lemon, garlic, salt, bowl, chopping board, knife, spoon, chips, napkins 

Step 7: Create To Do Lists.

As you near your starting date, stay on track by creating daily and weekly to-do lists. Make sure to track all that needs to be done so you are not left with any surprises. Here are some things to make sure you address: 

• Payment 

• Registration 

• Contact information

• Directions and arrival times

• Daily timeline and agendas

• What supplies to pack and bring 

• Coordinate meal service & get special diets 

• Send info to participants: welcome letter, list of things to bring (bedding, supplies, water bottle, journal), directions to the site, and description of lodging. 

There you have it, enough to get you started planning your retreat. We look forward to helping you when you get to step three to find the right location and discuss meal service options and all the details to make your retreat a success.