Executive summary: This reflective write-up by EA Spain organizers describes how their first national retreat successfully built cross-city cohesion and sparked collaborations, while also identifying lessons for future retreats, including balancing social connection with impact-focused programming and strengthening follow-up structures.
Key points:
EA Spain has historically been fragmented, with limited activity outside Madrid and Barcelona; the retreat aimed to create a shared national identity and stronger cross-city collaboration.
The organizing team adopted an “unconference” format guided by principles of connection, collaboration, and actionable commitments, drawing 22 participants and funded by CEA.
The retreat achieved strong social outcomes (average rating 8.6/10, 100% made at least one “new connection”), catalyzed collaborations like a mentorship program and a national book club, and built enthusiasm for future gatherings.
Popular formats included speed-friending, shared cooking, unstructured social time, and grounding check-ins; organizers highlight these as replicable practices for other community builders.
Key improvement areas include adding more impact-focused sessions, providing stronger central vision-setting, structuring unconference contributions more deliberately, and ensuring clearer post-retreat pathways.
Future plans include a 2026 national summit, cross-cause gatherings, stronger Madrid–Barcelona collaboration, and ongoing communication channels across the Spanish EA ecosystem.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: This reflective write-up by EA Spain organizers describes how their first national retreat successfully built cross-city cohesion and sparked collaborations, while also identifying lessons for future retreats, including balancing social connection with impact-focused programming and strengthening follow-up structures.
Key points:
EA Spain has historically been fragmented, with limited activity outside Madrid and Barcelona; the retreat aimed to create a shared national identity and stronger cross-city collaboration.
The organizing team adopted an “unconference” format guided by principles of connection, collaboration, and actionable commitments, drawing 22 participants and funded by CEA.
The retreat achieved strong social outcomes (average rating 8.6/10, 100% made at least one “new connection”), catalyzed collaborations like a mentorship program and a national book club, and built enthusiasm for future gatherings.
Popular formats included speed-friending, shared cooking, unstructured social time, and grounding check-ins; organizers highlight these as replicable practices for other community builders.
Key improvement areas include adding more impact-focused sessions, providing stronger central vision-setting, structuring unconference contributions more deliberately, and ensuring clearer post-retreat pathways.
Future plans include a 2026 national summit, cross-cause gatherings, stronger Madrid–Barcelona collaboration, and ongoing communication channels across the Spanish EA ecosystem.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.