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Archive for Retreat and Event Planning

Your Beach-Themed Decor

Posted by Debby on August 29, 2012

Our latest women’s event targeted women who serve together which we called “Side by Side”. An illustration of three girls walking arm in arm down a sandy beach was the visual inspiration for a beach theme, and it was a great illustration of serving the Lord together.

Decorations are a great way to re-inforce your theme. For this beach-themed event, we used sandcastles, shells and lots of sand. You could also use beach chairs, flip flops, colorful beach towels, buckets–anything “beachy” will do! Use the decor near the podium, at registration tables, as center pieces, etc. This theme is very easy on the budget, too, as we have many of those items at home.

Posted in: Decorations, Retreat and Event Planning

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Making a Sandcastle

Posted by Debby on August 27, 2012

Here is a cute idea for your beach-themed event–a sandcastle!

At our recent beach-themed event, we decorated with sandcastles and shells. They came out so very cute and realistic looking! The base of the larger sand castle is a bucket that children use in their sandbox. They are often made of brightly-colored plastic, and very low cost. Because of the bright colors, begin by painting with a primer. This will keep the bright color of the bucket from showing through. The smaller “towers” of the sandcastles are made of clay pots and inexpensive planters. These don’t need to be primed.

Use a spray adhesive made for plastic (such as 3M Super 77 Adhesive, found at stores like Home Depot). After you spray a portion of the bucket, roll in play sand, making sure to apply pressure as you push it into the sand pile. Spray another section and repeat until the bucket is covered. For a thicker finish, repeat the process after the bucket dries completely.

These will need to be handled with care, from set-up to removal. You don’t want the sand to come off, exposing the bucket and making a mess.

Make several and place on a small pile of sand. Decorate with shells.

Posted in: Decorations, Retreat and Event Planning

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Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

Posted by Debby on July 18, 2012

I want to encourage you to save all of your planning materials from year to year. Keep your notes, charts, schedules and all other planning materials. You will be surprised how often you can reuse these by making a few changes. For instance, as you begin planning a new event, pull up your previous planning calendar on your computer and update it for your current event, and then rename the file. This way you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you plan a women’s event. Keeping notes about what “worked” and what “didn’t work” is also a great idea. Having a debriefing meeting as soon as possible after your event will help you remember to write down some of these “hits” and “misses” so that you can be constantly fine-tuning and improving your event.

Posted in: Retreat and Event Planning

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First Decisions

Posted by Debby on July 11, 2012

Planning an event a year in advance is not too soon, especially when speaker and venue availability are issues.

When planning for an event, of course the first thing to do is pray, making sure that the Lord is leading you. The event location, date and speaker are the first decisions to be made, and all of these, of course, have to coincide! It may happen that one of those three is non-negotiable–perhaps only one date works for your group, or you have made a firm determination of the speaker you want. Then you adjust accordingly. The location and speaker both need to be available on the date selected. Or, if the date and location are firm, then you may need to find a speaker who is available on the particular date needed. As much as possible, your speaker should have the final word on the date that works best for her, so that may require flexibility with the date and location.

When those first decisions are made, then the fun begins!

Posted in: Retreat and Event Planning, Starting Points in Retreat Planning

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The Enemy Lurks

Posted by Debby on July 5, 2012

Don’t labor under the misunderstanding that as we escape everyday life to “retreat” that we are also escaping the enemy. In fact, you may encounter an enemy who is mad that his efforts to spoil your retreat were not successful. Expect to deal with the enemy’s shenanigans!

Want to hear some examples from our retreats?

Of course, there are always equipment glitches that come up – the microphone doesn’t work, delaying a session; the recording does not record; the powerpoint doesn’t work; the electricity goes out–we’ve had all of those at one time or another;
Traffic and/or weather issues to and from the retreat venue;
Climate control in the venue;
We have had two or three fire alarms late at night–what are the odds of that happening?
In busy venues, where your meeting room is next to another, there is always the danger of noisy and distracting neighbors, or complaints about your music/noise. Often, our meeting room seems to be located near the hotel kitchen, where the hotel staff and the clanging of dishes can be a major distraction;
One year (and this was classic) the hotel wine cabinet was located in our meeting room. Because of a wedding going on the same evening, hotel personnel were going in and out of our room all evening retrieving liquor bottles!

You can’t plan for it, but you can EXPECT the enemy to bring conflicts and complications to your retreat. Make it a matter of prayer throughout your retreat planning.

Posted in: Lessons Learned, Realities of Ministry, Retreat and Event Planning

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