Making Assignments

We are in the planning stages of our 2017 retreat.  Most of the major decisions are made.  The location has been reserved, and we are working out final details with the guest speaker and worship leader.  Those are the “biggies,” and the culmination of much prayer and seeking the Lord.  Up to this point, our women’s ministry team has been praying, but those decisions were mostly made by the retreat coordinator and leader.  We will now involve the remainder of our women’s ministry team as we put the plan into motion, and we need everyone to pitch in.  The best way we have found to coordinate that is to make “assignments.”  We have nine women on the team, and the majority have been on the team and have worked together on the last ten retreats.  So, being aware of their gifts and strengths, we do our best to make assignments to best utilize those gifts. For instance, we try to take advantage of those women who have a talent in decorating, or a gift of administration, a gift of hospitality, even good computer skills.  These are some of the areas that we assign:

• Theme, Schedule, Workshops
• Promotion (flyers, mailings, projection slides, online, website, etc.)
• Registration (including rooming list)
• Graphic, booklet and nametags
• Writing quiet time study and skit
• Schedule and workshops
• Remembrance gift
• Decorations
• Sound, projections and recording
• Venue and catering communiction
• Greeters
• Book table (including ordering books, finding reviewers)
• Communion (supplies and servantsz0
• Hospitality table at the retreat
• Greeters at the retreat/Guest speaker care
• Person to be in charge of prayer (before and during retreat)

Make a Timeline

A timeline, or retreat planning calendar, is basically a schedule of what needs to be done by when in the planning of an event.  It is wise to plan 9 to 12 months ahead of time.  For a smaller event, 3 to 6 months may be sufficient.  A longer timeline is helpful for smaller groups where individuals carry a bigger load.  Planning a year in advance is not too soon, especially when speaker and venue availability is an issue.

It is a little like being pregnant!  You have a 9-month deadline and have a list of things that need to be done before the date arrives.  Based on that “due date,” you plan accordingly, and you know how much time you have before the “big day” arrives.  There are things you can do almost immediately and things that will have to wait until just prior to the event.

When making your event timeline, begin with any cut-off dates that you have with the venue where the event will take place.  Hotels, as well as other venues tell you the final date when they need to receive your list of attendees, which helps them plan for rooms and meals.  These deadlines help you know how much time you have to plan and when to start and end registration.  For example, if the hotel rooming list is due on November 1 for our November 12 retreat, I know that I need to schedule registration to end before that day and give myself time to make room adjustments.  I also need to determine how many weeks our women will have to sign up, and coordinate church and bulletin announcements.  So, in the above scenario, where the rooming list is due on Nov. 1, registration would begin in mid-September and end at the end of October, when final payment would be due.

• Nov. 12  RETREAT
• Nov. 1  Hotel requires rooming list
• Oct. 25  End retreat registration
• Sept.15  Begin retreat registration

This is the core of your retreat planning calendar.  Other due dates and related events can be added to this as you go, helping to keep your planning on schedule.

Wisdom in Scheduling Your Retreat

We learned the hard way that before booking your speaker for your retreat on a certain date, you should have done at least some preliminary checking for availability.  If there is a big event in your city, it could be that hotels are already booked or expecting to be booked to capacity, even when you are planning ahead.  Don’t assume that since you are planning nine months ahead of time that you are ahead of the game.  Others plan ahead too.  And as always, prices are higher when the demand is higher!

Consider our experience. 

It is not that hard to find a block of hotel rooms to book for our retreat.  But Dallas has a few big events that max out our hotel capacity.  And even if the hotels aren’t completely booked, the roads can be a mess in certain directions due to the event.  One of those event is Dallas is the Byron Nelson Golf Tournament.  While we no longer have spring women’s retreats, if we did, we would be sure to work around that busy weekend.