Last updated: 23 September, 2024

<aside> 💡 Sections 1. What are retreats? 2. Heuristics to keep in mind 3. How to run a retreat 3.1 Initial preparation 3.2 Before retreat 3.3 Just before retreat 3.4 During retreat 3.5 After retreat 4. Where to get funding 5. Community Health 6. Templates 7. Further reading

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1. What are retreats?

Retreats bring community members together for two or more days, typically outside  the city, to engage in EA activities together. The minimum viable product for a retreat is gathering EAs in the same location and ensuring that they have food - a lot of the value lies in this; providing a space for EAs to connect, share ideas and inspire each other. These events are organized by university, city, and national EA groups.

• University EA Group Retreats (Uni Retreats): Smaller (15-25 attendees), generally open for everyone in the uni group, but sometimes with selective applications.
• City & National EA Group Retreats (National Retreats): Larger (25-50+ attendees), with formal applications and often more experienced participants.

The retreat formats vary:

• Unconferences: Informal, flexible, participant-driven event where attendees suggest and lead sessions based on their interests, giving them opportunity to develop skills like public speaking. These typically require less time for organizers to run.
• Objective-focused Retreats: These retreats’ follows a common thread to achieve a goal. One example is a retreat for recent EA intro-fellowship graduates to help them make progress on their career plan.
• Casual Retreats: Designed for attendees to have fun and deepen connections with fellow group members, outside the normal context of the group.

Some retreats invite external speakers which can have a significant impact, especially if they are in high impact positions, local role models or former members with successful EA-aligned careers.

2. Heuristics to keep in mind

Here are some heuristics for best practices we have come across from talking with retreat organizers and attendees. This is not an exclusive list:

1. Venue and food: Below are some things to keep in mind when deciding venue and between catered and home-cooked food.
   • Optimize for coziness: The venue’s cost matters less than the atmosphere. Prioritize coziness over top-quality: consider simple touches to make a cheaper venue feel homely (e.g. light some candles).
   • Cooking together: ****Attendees usually enjoy the atmosphere that comes from cooking together, but ensure everyone contributes to prevent feelings of “free-riding”.
   • Optics of luxury in EA: If the only available venue is expensive or seems luxurious, consider informing the attendees of your choice. A common concern among attendees is whether the funding of the retreat could be used to create more impact.
2. Content: These are some content-heuristics we would be excited to see more organizers focus on.
   • Intention-setting: Set clear, meaningful intentions for the retreat and share with the attendees, to create a space aligned to your goals. For example, if the retreat's purpose is to foster community, an intention might be to build deeper relationships by being open, welcoming new members, to get the attendees to reflect on how the community can be improved.
   • Deeper connections: Prioritize activities that encourage authentic connections. Include a mix of scheduled and unscheduled social events with activities that promote meaningful conversations or shared experiences (e.g. ice-breakers, physical activities or collaborative games).
   • Actionable outputs: Having content like workshops with clear, tangible outcomes can motivate attendees and can prompt them to reflect on the role of EA in their life. **One example is a career-planning workshop with defined ‘next steps’ to follow up on after the retreat.
3. During retreat: Below are some aspects to keep in mind for being an organizer during the retreat.
   • “Good enough”: It is generally more important to enjoy the event as an organizer than to stress over every logistical detail.
   • Inclusion and good vibes:

Focus on creating a good atmosphere in the group and focus your energy towards ensuring that no one feels alone during the retreat.

3. How to run a retreat

For a simple overview of suggested tasks to be done, see this template. Under follows the most essential points with some further descriptions and advice.