Event Planning Timeline: The best time to start planning

Planning

Jan 30

Planning

Event Planning Timeline: The best time to start planning

Nikki Herzog · 1/31/2024

Imagine this, you’ve been tasked with project planning a retreat for your team. And your manager wants your input on how much time you think it would take to pull something like this off.

Maybe even suggesting a deadline, can we make this happen for next month!? And while you aren’t quite sure how long it would take, you know you’ll need more time than that!

And of course you don’t want your retreat to feel like it came together haphazardly because your limited planning time went to the logistics of getting your colleagues into one place, leaving you with little thought to enhance the experience with those magic details!

Your team is depending on YOU!

Because when you give yourself enough time it means…

√ More time to be thoughtful with programming = Enhanced ROI
√ Less stress = less mistakes from you as the planner
√ Saves money; time for budgeting and intentional vendor finds

So, what does a Retreat Project Timeline look like?

When planning a retreat under 100 guests, we recommend giving yourself 3 months to plan.

The first month focusing on hotel research/outreach and going to contract, the second month focusing on activities and restaurants, and the final month, buttoning up your programming at your meetings + activities for ultimate bonding and collaboration.

Your Order of Operations

Regardless of retreat size, this is how your planning will flow:

Hotel: Start with the hotel, contracts and solidifying hotel rooms. If you have optional dates, ensure your entire team is on board to gather on those dates.
Activities: As you are tying up loose ends with your hotel contract, begin reaching out to vendors for activities and restaurants. This might be the time that you help your colleagues get their flights or empower them to book on their own.
Programming: Then as the structure of the retreat takes shape, begin filling in the dots with what you want to happen with the programming within those activities and spaces.

The most time consuming part of any retreat plan is getting responses from vendors in a time frame that fits with your project plan. So start those conversations immediately, your timeline may not be their timeline, unfortunately!

How to Think about Time

Whether you are in it with a full blown retreat project or want to get ahead of ways to think about your project time, here are some general rules.

General Rules of Retreat Planning Time:

Saves Time

Collaborating with your colleagues; don’t go at it solo!
Utilizing your connections to vendors or hotels in order to find the right place or be connected to established sources.
Already knowing the location that you want to travel to and/or the exact dates.
Colleagues booking their own flights
Less days at the retreat = less activity planning for each day
Utilizing turn key package. Example: hiring a gaming company to run a trivia activity vs. you trying to create a custom trivia game from scratch.

Time Heavy

Not knowing where you want to go and when. This creates back and forth between you, your managers and your colleagues.
Multiple decision makers. The more decisions that have to be made spread out across many people that need to give their input, will create a longer time lapse of decisiveness on your team.
Traveling to a coveted location during a busy time period; sporting events, parades, conferences etc.
The larger your guest list, the more time you will want to give yourself to plan.
Designing empty venues spaces by bringing in furniture and fixtures on your own.
Deep itinerary planning work for high production offsites. This includes keynotes, speakers, agenda, breakout groups, entertainment etc.

Next Steps

As event experts, we understand the struggle that comes with our relationship to time. Time is your friend when you allow just enough of it.

Not sure you can dedicate the time to planning your retreat? We have a dedicated Events Team, ready to stand in and help you plan the retreat of your company’s dreams. Connect with us here.