Plan, Facilitate, and Follow-up on a Retreat
In order to set your PHR student chapter up for success this year, consider having a Student Retreat to kick off the year. There are three main facets to making it happen: the planning, the facilitating, and the follow-up.
Planning Retreat Activities
The chapter leadership team should meet to plan the events of the retreat. Keep in mind that the goals of the retreat are to set goals for the year (and start to talk about how they will be accomplished), establish second-tier managers, and get everyone excited for the upcoming year!
Before the Meeting:
Think About a Location
First, decide whether you want to have a half-day retreat, one-day retreat, or the ambitious overnight retreat, because the location will vary depending on which you would like. Overnight retreats, while more costly, tend to be father away from campus and therefore have two great effects: the group tends to be more focused and get more excited about the upcoming year. For one-day retreats, locations on campus can be a good option. For overnight retreats, try local summer camp sites that rent out during the year, or someone's house.
Think About a Date
Generally, there are two times that make sense during the year to have a retreat – before the first volunteer meeting (with just a core group of returning members) and after the first action (when new members are already involved). The first would take place in late August or early September and the second most likely sometime in October, depending on when your first action takes place. The reason why a retreat should not replace a first volunteer meeting is that it can be very overwhelming to new members to have make decisions for an organization they just joined, and you don't want to scare potential members away. Assess whether your chapter would benefit more from a core group planning early or from lots of new member input in October.
During the Meeting:
Follow General Meeting Facilitation Tips
See the "Facilitate a Meeting Guide" which can be applied to retreats as well as weekly meetings. In general, try to be concise, engaging, and stay on schedule as much as possible.
Take Minutes
Have one leadership member take minutes for each activity (and if there are poster boards or other materials left over from the activity, make sure they are saved) while others facilitate. This will be very important for the follow-up.
Here are a few ideas for activities:
- Try starting with an ice breaker, particularly if you are incorporating new members into the group
- Split up into small groups and assign each a different campaign, issue, or chapter goal (ie. coalition building or membership recruitment). If you are a very small group as is, stay together and have different time slots set for the different topics you want to cover. Have each group write a list of possible actions for the upcoming year on poster board about their Campaign. Be sure to keep in mind annual National Actions like World AIDS Day, AIDS Week of Action and planned National Actions like the "Standard Operating Procedure" film screening. (check with Danielle or Pete for more information) When each group has finished, have everyone go around the room and put a check mark near their favorite 3 action ideas on each poster board.
- Have everyone write down one fundraising idea on a small piece of paper. Write them all up on the board and discuss which ones would be most effective. Once you have narrowed it down a little, see if there is any interest in heading one of the fundraisers for the year. If possible, try to tentatively set ideal dates (or decide on months) when each of the events/ fundraisers to take place.
- For returning members, remind them to keep in mind what lessons were learned via the past year's evaluation & reflection.
- This retreat could also be a great opportunity to give the attendees a basic training. Consider using some of our guides or the PHR intro or Steps of Advocacy pwpts.
- § Ask for goal ideas for the chapter or specific campaigns, ie. event attendance, funds raised, letters signed, or new member recruited. It is always good to have quantitative goals so that you can look back on them at the end of the year and evaluate.
Basically, just be creative! Think about what you want your chapter to accomplish in the next year, and how to best get the entire chapter involved in the planning. Remember to have some time left for socializing and group bonding, because the more your chapter bonds as a group the more involved members will be, and the more fun you will have! Finally, use chapter toolbox resources to help facilitate this process.
Flexibility and Member Collaboration
Keep in mind that you do not want to overwhelm new (or returning) members, so it is important not to try to plan everything and assign leadership positions for everything throughout the year in one sitting. Allow for member mobility during the year, and make sure there are opportunities for members to "grow" within the organization. Perhaps a retreat session could be a brainstorm with returning members about how to get future people involved and excited about PHR. In addition, try to incorporate each member's individual talents and passions because that way the chapter will be operating at its full potential and all members will feel involved.
After the Meeting, Follow-up:
This is crucial. If there is no follow-up by the leadership team, the retreat will have been ineffective. Just as the leadership team met before the retreat to plan it, you will need to meet again after the retreat to turn the chapter's ideas into reality. The leadership team should choose actions, fundraisers, and other events to do throughout the year, based on the group's consensus, and create a calendar for each so that everything will get done in a timely, agreed-upon manner. When you are finished, add your scheduled events to the PHR calendar of national activities so that other chapters can stay informed on what you are up to and possibly participate in your actions. In addition, remember that you can always post on the blog to let everyone know what's going on at your chapter. PHR national staff is also available for any questions and requests for support.
And you can always plan a second retreat later in the year—to renew, review, re-energize, to support new leadership transitions in the spring, or for other purposes. This may help reinvigorate your chapter and allow for knowledge transfer and leadership building, which are key to nurturing successful movement on campus.
Ideas for Retreat Sessions and Activities
- Three goals for the year
- FIve new action ideas
- Three ways to reach new members
- Four fundraisers - and who will be in charge of each
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