We've planned a lot of retreats. This is the thinking that goes into the early stages, turned into prompts you can run yourself. Every stage of planning is covered, strategy through to post-retreat follow-up, sorted by use case, each with the tool and a tip. Steal what's useful.

Prompts for every stage of planning, sorted by use case:

• Strategy & goals: define why the retreat exists before anything else
• Budget & logistics: modelling, RFPs, vendor selection
• Venue & travel: shortlists, scoring, travel coordination
• Agenda design: sessions, briefs, speakers, breakouts
• Activities: team challenges, excursions, brainstorms
• Catering & dietary: menu planning, dietary roll-ups, beverages
• Comms & invites: save-the-dates, invites, FAQs, welcome packets
• Pre-work: surveys, pre-reads, icebreakers
• On-site ops: run of show, RACI, crisis playbook, Slack setup
• Post-retreat: recaps, surveys, commitments tracking
• Branding & creative: theming, identity, welcome gifts