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Publicity – With a Face

Posted by Debby on August 12, 2014

It is an issue we all face: How do we publicize our events? How do we get the word out?

Often, publicity for our women’s events is fairly impersonal. We use print media–announcements in the bulletin, posters around the church and in the women’s bathroom. Possibly you have used a radio ad to publicize a big event. Plus, now there is social media: events can be posted on the church website, posted on FaceBook, and probably even tweeted if you know how to do that.

However, I think the most effective form of publicity has a personal touch: a personal invite, a hand-written card, an announcement made by one of the women during a church service, class or event–where a face can be associated with the event. And what if we decorated a table with all the pertinent information available, PLUS a person at the table to answer questions and personally invite women who walk by?

Posted in: Lessons Learned, News & Information, Retreat and Event Planning, Starting Points in Retreat Planning

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Responsibilities of a Retreat Coordinator

Posted by Debby on July 22, 2014

The position we call “retreat coordinator” may or may not be filled by the ministry leader. In our case, our pastor’s wife is the ministry leader. But she is called upon for many other needs, and it would be very hard for her to coordinate the retreat both in the planning stages and at the retreat. That is why we have a retreat coordinator. She reports to the ministry leader, but does the organization and supervision involved in planning a retreat. It is important to have this position filled by a strong leader.

The best way to really see what the retreat coordinator does is to look at one of our flow charts. She is like the hub of the retreat, and other leaders are in charge of various aspects of the retreat. But everything is overseen by the coordinator.

The coordinator is involved in the retreat from the beginning – determining the who, when, where and what of the retreat. As retreat planning begins, depending on what is most important to you, you book the speaker and date of the retreat, OR you book the venue on a certain date and then find the speaker who can work with you on your chosen date. The retreat coordinator communicates with the speaker throughout the planning stages and works with the venue so that a contract can be signed. Once you have the date, a speaker and a venue, then the fun begins. If your speaker has not already suggested a theme, one of the preliminary planning activities is determining the retreat theme.

Once the basics have been confirmed, the coordinator works with a leadership team who will report back to her and/or she will hold their hand as they go through the process of planning the retreat. The leadership team is given responsibility to oversee the various ingredients of the retreat: registration, greeting, printed material, prayer team, skit, workshops, etc. In small churches like ours, the members of the leadership team often takes on more than one of these responsibilities. But the need for one person to coordinate remains.

Posted in: Developing Leadership, Lessons Learned, News & Information, Realities of Ministry, Retreat and Event Planning, Starting Points in Retreat Planning

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Three Biggest Decisions in Retreat Planning

Posted by Debby on June 17, 2014

If you are considering a retreat this year, you may be getting a bit of a late start. There are three critical decisions that I feel need to have been made by now, unless you have a very unusual situation–or you are very lucky. Normally, we have found that a minimum of two of these three decisions should be made even a year in advance of your overnight event.

Location – retreat centers and hotels are normally booked up to a year or two in advance. Normally we try to schedule our hotel one year in advance.
Date – you may be limited by the availability of your chosen location or the availability of your speaker. If the two don’t work together you’ll have to decide which is more important to you: the date you want or the speaker you want (read more about this decision here).
Speaker – a popular speaker may have limited dates of availability.

In our case, we are preparing for a late November retreat. Our priority this year was to get the retreat location that we wanted and had used last year. We found that they were booked into 2016, with very few favorable dates in 2014 available. So we booked the location and date in December of 2013 and took a risk.

Our decision about a speaker was then limited to someone who could come on that date. We have just finalized our speaker(s). In June, (nearly six month prior to retreat date) we will officially begin planning as a group-assigning responsibilities, determining schedule, and the many other components of retreat planning.

Tags: date, location, retreat centre, retreat planning, speaker

Posted in: Lessons Learned, Location, Location, Location, News & Information, Retreat and Event Planning, Starting Points in Retreat Planning

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Risky Business

Posted by Debby on March 4, 2014

This year, we’re taking a risk.

We wanted to hold our retreat at a popular local retreat center. However, it was fully booked for every weekend in the fall…EXCEPT the weekend prior to Thanksgiving. So we had a decision to make–take a chance and schedule our retreat on a weekend very close to a holiday, or go through the process of trying to find another location for a more convenient weekend? After much prayer, we decided to risk it. Will our women be able to take time out for a retreat just prior to the busy holiday season? Will they be willing to spend the money at that time of year? Or will it actually be easier for them to get away, since other activities are gearing down for the holidays?

We’ll find out in November and let you know. Have you ever scheduled a retreat that close to the holidays? What was your experience?

Posted in: News & Information, Retreat and Event Planning, Starting Points in Retreat Planning

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What’s For Dinner?

Posted by Debby on November 12, 2013

Depending on your venue, you may be called upon to make and approve a menu for the retreat. Of course, there are retreat centers that just feed everyone the same thing, cafeteria style. But if you are going to a hotel setting, you will be called up for menu selection. Normally, a hotel will give you some menus to choose from that are in your price range.

Considerations:

Be sure you have some form of protein available for every meal, otherwise your ladies will fizzle out before the next meal. This is normally not an issue, unless you are looking at a continental breakfast. But we try not to skimp on breakfast, and make sure eggs are available.
I hate to say it, but some form of chicken is normally the safest choice to make.
Be sure your registration form clearly states which meals will be included and paid for with their registration; often, when we are arriving Friday night, we do NOT include Friday dinner in the cost of the retreat. Make it clear that women must eat that meal on their own.
Hotels will work with you on special dietary needs, but special diets must specified on your registration form, so that you can inform the hotel well in advance.

Posted in: News & Information, Retreat and Event Planning, Starting Points in Retreat Planning

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