When to start planning your event
When planning an event, there are 2 essential pieces of the planning puzzle that inform the creation timeline:
Your Vendors
Your Guests
Once you identify the timelines of your vendors & your guests, you can determine how much time you truly need to plan your event.
There are more pieces to the planning puzzle, but these interconnecting, time-based pieces are the most important.
Your Vendors
Your vendors are the folks who help you make the event happen, including the venue & the on-the-ground guides. All of your calendars need to align for a successful event.
Identifying your vendors’ milestones & other essential dates, directly impacts your creation timeline.
Your venue: Most retreat centers are booked a year in advance.
I've helped Heather Craig, founder of Booty Luv® Fitness, with numerous retreats at the fabulous Mar de Jade. They are SO fabulous that groups return year after year. At the end of our retreat (while we were still there!) we were able to secure our dates for the following year.
Tip: Retreat centers often have email lists just for retreat leaders to announce openings & availability - reach out to them & get added to their list.
Don't know where you want to host your retreat? Email me!
I've got a massive list of venues & can point you in the right direction for a space that aligns with your retreat intention.
Sunset from the group gathering space at Mar de Jade is breathtaking.
Your Guides: Excursions need to be booked in advance.
For my client Alix Northup’s retreat in Peru this past spring, our on-the-ground guide had to purchase Machu Picchu entry tickets 5 months in advance AND we needed a copy of every retreat participant's passport in order to purchase the tickets.
This meant the retreat needed to be fully booked at least 6 months before the retreat.
Alix Northup at Machu Picchu.
Your Guests
When you think about the people who will attend your event, ask yourself:
Do my guests need to save up some money, or have a registration payment plan?
Do my guests need to schedule time off & coordinate childcare?
Do my guests need to be at home for the beginning of the school year or during certain holidays?
Essentially: Do your event guests have complete control over their schedules & can they leave at a moment's notice?
If not: How much time do my event guests need between inviting them to the event & the event happening?
How much time do your event guests need before they gather live together?
Bonus Puzzle Piece: YOU
Don’t forget to consider the time YOU need.
Even when you collaborate with a comprehensive event manager like me, who offers full-scope planning, there are still things that you need to do:
Develop your intention for the event
Nurture the relationships with your guests
Prepare your life, including scheduling pet sitting, childcare, time away from your work/biz/clients, etc
Carve out time before to prep AND time after to integrate
Hosting an in-person event requires a LOT of energy.
You can prevent burnout when you make sure you have enough time before & after your event.
We need your transformative events AND we need you nourished to keep going.
Caverly Morgan & Suniti Dernovsek are happy because I created a realistic timeline for their 2018 retreat.
Dreaming up an event is exciting AND it's easy to forget about all of the boring logistics.
I’m here to lovingly remind you about the time-based puzzle pieces that need to fit into place so you can have the successful event of your dreams - without the pressure of a crunched timeline.
PS: I don't think logistics are boring. I'm thankful they are boring for other people, cause it means I get to keep doing what I love!
