This seems very promising—thank you for taking this on for the community!
I would personally find it helpful if you could elaborate a bit on what you mean by a “retreat” here, and give a few examples of types of events that would or wouldn’t fall within your remit. In my experience there are several quite different types of event that are sometimes called “retreats”, so it would be helpful to get more information on which of these you are excited about running, and why.
Hi Will, thank you for your question. I’ll leave my answer here and also put it on the website for future clarification.
By retreat, I mean a gathering of people with a common interest or goal, all sharing space over the course of a weekend or a week. This could be as small as 5 or as large as 50, although I believe between 15 and 30 is the sweet spot. Any more than 30 and it feels like a party, plus you most likely don’t get to know everyone there.
Types of events I’m most excited about: a non-exhaustive list
Cause-area specific retreats
goal orient retreats ( as in, we’re all going to get together and work really hard for x amount of says to make headway on this problem)
deep learning weeks (where people get together and read a whole textbook, or learn something hard together that they would have put off otherwise)
community-building retreats with a clear goal in mind
Coworking retreats
bonding retreats for orgs
workshop-type retreats for new EAs
HEA retreats targeted at getting people more involved and connected
Things that people call retreats that I’m less excited about:
Large summer camps (we just don’t have the capacity for this right now)
retreats with more than 50 people- might as well make it a mini-conference or split it into two retreats
Retreats that don’t have a clear path to impact.
I’m mostly pointing at things that make retreats worse than actually retreats I’m less excited about. However, I think as we produce more retreats I’ll be able to give a more firm answer to this question.
For anyone else reading this, If the type of retreat you’re excited about isn’t on this list, please still apply for a consultation. I’d be happy to chat.
This seems very promising—thank you for taking this on for the community!
I would personally find it helpful if you could elaborate a bit on what you mean by a “retreat” here, and give a few examples of types of events that would or wouldn’t fall within your remit. In my experience there are several quite different types of event that are sometimes called “retreats”, so it would be helpful to get more information on which of these you are excited about running, and why.
Hi Will, thank you for your question. I’ll leave my answer here and also put it on the website for future clarification.
By retreat, I mean a gathering of people with a common interest or goal, all sharing space over the course of a weekend or a week. This could be as small as 5 or as large as 50, although I believe between 15 and 30 is the sweet spot. Any more than 30 and it feels like a party, plus you most likely don’t get to know everyone there.
Types of events I’m most excited about: a non-exhaustive list
Cause-area specific retreats
goal orient retreats ( as in, we’re all going to get together and work really hard for x amount of says to make headway on this problem)
deep learning weeks (where people get together and read a whole textbook, or learn something hard together that they would have put off otherwise)
community-building retreats with a clear goal in mind
Coworking retreats
bonding retreats for orgs
workshop-type retreats for new EAs
HEA retreats targeted at getting people more involved and connected
Things that people call retreats that I’m less excited about:
Large summer camps (we just don’t have the capacity for this right now)
retreats with more than 50 people- might as well make it a mini-conference or split it into two retreats
Retreats that don’t have a clear path to impact.
I’m mostly pointing at things that make retreats worse than actually retreats I’m less excited about. However, I think as we produce more retreats I’ll be able to give a more firm answer to this question.
For anyone else reading this, If the type of retreat you’re excited about isn’t on this list, please still apply for a consultation. I’d be happy to chat.