Also should note that we had a bit of a head start: I had organized the DC retreat one month earlier so had some recent experience, we had lots of excited EAs already so we didn’t even try to get professional EAs and we decided casual hangouts were probably very high-value, and the organizing team basically had workshops ready to go. We also had it at a retreat center that provided food (though not snacks). If any of these were different it would have taken much longer to plan.
Got it, I’m surprised by how little time it took to organize HEA’s spring retreat. What programming was involved?
Also should note that we had a bit of a head start: I had organized the DC retreat one month earlier so had some recent experience, we had lots of excited EAs already so we didn’t even try to get professional EAs and we decided casual hangouts were probably very high-value, and the organizing team basically had workshops ready to go. We also had it at a retreat center that provided food (though not snacks). If any of these were different it would have taken much longer to plan.
It was very much an 80-20′d thing due to organizer capacity. The schedule was something like:
Friday evening arrivals + informal hangouts + board games (e.g. Pandemic)
Saturday morning: opening session, hikes/informal hangouts
Saturday afternoon: three sessions, each with multiple options:
1-on-1 walks, Updating Session, AI policy workshop
1-on-1 walks, Concept Swap, forecasting workshop
1-on-1 walks, AI policy workshop
Saturday evening: Hamming Circles, informal hangouts feat. hot tub and fire pit
Sunday morning: walks/hangouts
Sunday afternoon: career reflection, closing session, departure