Promotion for the Retreat
For this retreat, most of the promotion was made from personal connections. My brother created a PDF as displayed below that I was able to send to people I told about and were curious about it. We posted it on our facebooks and a facebook group for the Moishe House Community ( a network of Jews in the 20s and 30s all over the world).
Flyer for retreat
Choosing the Location
Some criteria I look for when I am setting up a retreat:
1) A location with access to Nature
2) A big enough location to host at least 20 people
3) The place is practicing permaculture
4) Access to a kitchen
5) Amendments that are nourishing to participants (fireplace, hot-tub)
I chose to host the event at Pine Haven Resort, CO.
Pros:
1) The location has a 20-minute trail that gets to a viewpoint of Rocky Mountain National Park
2) There is a large lodge with both indoor and outdoor space for us to do programming
3) We can rent another cabin for extra sleeping
4) There is a kitchen for us to cook
5) The site is fairly priced
6) The hosts are super friendly and excited about the group
7) We have access to a fire-place
Cons:
1) There is no association with permaculture and the owners do not have that type of consciousness (This was a big hesitation for me but the site had so many of the other qualities I was looking for-- I decided the retreat can actually bring some of this consciousness there)
Application Form
Interested participants filled out an application form. On the Form, they were asked for:
1) Name
2) Birthdate
3) Where do they live?
4) email address
5) Tell us a little about yourself.
6) Why are you interested in this retreat?
7) Any food allergies, medical issues we should be aware of?
8) Anything you want to offer during the retreat?
9) Any other comments?
(In hindsight, I would ask for a phone number.) There was a potential for a snowstorm in Estes Park, CO during the retreat and I wanted to call participants beforehand but could only email them unless I was friends with them prior to the retreat.)
Keeping Track of Participants
To keep track of Participants applying, I created an application using Google Forms and kept on checking on it to see the status of those applying. I also created a Google Spreadsheet to keep track of payments/work trade. I find that this combination is a good way to keep track of participants.