EO Forum Retreat Planning

Planning A  Stellar EO Forum Retreat

Congrats!  You’ve just been chosen to plan your forum retreat. And while planning an EO retreat can be exciting and fun, for some EOers it might seem like a daunting time sink or a challenge to a personal skill set.But let me assure you,  even though forum and event planning takes vision, creativity, planning and execution – EO’ers possess these skills. Think of it like a new product launch or a marketing initiative for your company– Understand the objective, Create a plan, Develop a timeline and Execute, Execute, Execute.

Here are  simple but effective steps to help you create your seamless forum retreat experience.  These steps will help you begin, manage and simplify the forum planning process. As you get started, remember, each retreat experience is different, and you will need to engage your forum upfront in helping you identify a few key criteria – begin with the end in mind.

Check the Pulse

Goals: What is the goal of your retreat, what does your forum want to accomplish?   These are the two most important questions you will need to answer as they are the drivers for all aspects of planning.

You also need to ask if the retreat’s purpose is to reinvigorate the forum? Or do members want a fun vacation with forum mates sprinkled with dynamic learning opportunities.

For example, one year a forum may go on an inexpensive retreat in a member’s vacation home, have it facilitated and focus on professional development or forum health. The balance of their time and money is spent on learning vs. playing.  The next year, they want a fun-filled experiential retreat in another country with once in a lifetime activities and limited meeting time.  Their ratio of work to play is reversed and their money and time goes into the social activities.

Tip: Balance is key, whether the retreat is more learning based or experiential, there still needs to be balance. Follow the 33-33-33 rule. 33% of time doing fun, adventure activities that take advantage of your location. 33% of time dedicated to forum – updates, planning, presentations and/or facilitated exercises or discussion. The final 33% spent on unscheduled time with your forum – cooking dinner, to relax with your forum.

Budget: Once the purpose is defined understanding the forum’s budget is critical.  It’s usually “lowest common denominator” that helps determine the budget.  A forum member whose resources are limited helps the group agree upon the budget.  The budget defines the where and the how long.

Timing:  EO forum retreats are mandatory attendance so finding a date that will work for all is critical and takes advance planning. The new EO year starts each July, planning out the meetings and retreat often begins with the new forum moderator.  However, for many forums that have been together for years, planning can start at anytime of the year, usually 4-6 months out. The majority of forums block out 3 days/ 2nights for their retreat, others may go longer -a day or overnight is considered  an EO mini-retreat! Questions that need to be answered: How long should the retreat be? What time of year? How far do you want to go? Do you want to fly or drive?

Tip: Book early and off season to get better deals on flights and hotels.

Taking the pulse of the forum, their needs, goals, budget and timing will determine how the retreat rolls out.

It’s All About Location

Location:  Historically, the location can make or break a great forum retreat experience. It’s worth spending time on this.   Your forum may offer suggestions of where they would like to go.  However the information you have gathered from them regarding goals, work vs. play ratio, timing and budget play a role – warm weather vs. cold, expensive vs. less expensive, fly vs. drive, spring vs. fall, facilitate learning vs. experiential learning will help you narrow the options.

Determining the “best” location requires research: Ask other EO’ers about their best experiences,
look at your forum’s wish list,  review your own bucket list,  and reach out to professional planners.

An  EOforum in the central/south of the US recently contacted us. In our initial assessment with them, they discussed a location that was within 4 hours of flying distance, warm weather, ability to rent a private villa for 8, and a budget of $3000 per person.  That included the west coast of the US, East and West coasts of Mexico, the Caribbean islands, Bermuda and much more.  Clearly, the options were endless.  With a bit more questioning and refinement of requirements, we determined that a key factor was the location be new for all members – a place none of them had visited before.  Ultimately we narrowed the options and they decided on Costa Rica.

As professional retreat planners focused on EO and YPO retreats, we have curated retreat options and streamlined the process by aggregating 30+ locations globally of unique experiences that can be customized to meet a forum’s needs. We add new locations often based on the experiences of members and unique, special access opportunities. You can check these out at www.globalcorporateretreats.com.

Tip: Leverage local EO Resources. Contact the local EO Chapter and see how you can connect with them, challenge them to an activity (plan a competition), use their vetted event venues.

Using your resources to find a great location is well worth the time and effort. It can make or break the retreat.

The Devil is in the Details

Execution: Once you have your location, the fun begins!  Create a day by day agenda for the retreat and what you hope to accomplish on each of the days.  This will help you plan the overall flow, identify the unique activities, and start planning the details.

It’s important to understand timing, distances between activities, transportation options,facilitator needs and any physical restrictions of members.  Seamless execution is the goal and that is dependent on getting the details correct.

We recently worked with a forum on an exclusive “foodie trail” experience in the Hudson Valley of New York. Since the forum members were all driving separately from different locations, we had them meet at their hotel, hop into an exclusive limo and tour and taste the region for several days. This kept members on schedule, allowing them to taste the spirits, wine, and food, as well as experience the retreat sans worries.

Each stop on the trail was a unique activity  with special access that included meeting with the founder/owner of the business, getting a behind the scenes tour, eating specially prepared farm to table  food, learning to fly-fish , target shoot and work with a facilitator for a half day forum tune up. The sequence and timing of activities combined with value-added experiences created a memorable  once-in-a-lifetime forum retreat.

Tip: Include time each day for forum members to check in with their business and family. Members will be more engaged and present if they have a chance to check in during breaks.

Dot your I’s, cross your T’s and think about contingencies to insure a great forum retreat experience.   
You can learn more about planning and executing your forum retreat at www.globalcorporateretreats.com.

Caryn has worked as a Learning Event Consultant to EO Boston for over 10 years and now works with EO NYC as well. She has helped plan both forum and chapter retreats for many EO’ers worldwide.

Caryn S. Saitz
President, Global Corporate, Forum and Chapter Retreats
csaitz@globaleventsandretreats.com
www.globalcorporateretreats.com
617.905.5691