Your retreat theme (or topic, or promise) is the basis for your entire retreat strategy, so nailing it down early on is essential.
In today's blog post and video, I share my 5 favorite ways of finding a theme that feels exciting for you, appeals to your ideal clients, delivers big value to the attendees, and sets you up for a successful and profitable retreat.
Keep reading, or watch the video!
#1 People
Before you can decide on a theme, it's helpful to know WHO the retreat is for. Who do you love to work with, and who would be PERFECT for your retreat?
Once you have that in mind, now ask yourself: “what do they need and want?” Think about what their pain points and problems could be. Once you know those, you can design a retreat that provides some sort of solution, AKA: your retreat PROMISE.
For example, when I used to host the Women's Success Summit, I chose themes that would resonate with women entrepreneurs, and one of the most successful themes I event chose was: “It's Time To Shine!” which perfectly captured the essence of what these women were looking for: permission to dream and express themselves more boldly than ever before.
# 2 Purpose
What kind of contribution do you want to leave people with? What is the HIGHER level reason for wanting to do this retreat? How does it fit into your industry, your community, or something greater than just you, or your attendees?
A retreat is a great way to make a massive impact on people, consider the ripple effect of that impact out in the broader world. By incorporating your purpose into your retreat theme, it becomes more inspiring – both to you and to your participants.
For example, one of my WSS themes was: “Show Me The Money,” which I chose because I knew that if our attendees were able to make more money, then their families, communities and our whole planet would benefit.
#3 Passion
Whether your passion is fitness, food, business, or lifestyle, you have the opportunity to share what you LOVE and that provides a very solid foundation for a retreat theme. When you love it, when you have EMBODIED it, it's much easier to convey it, and for others to receive it.
And when you are truly passionate about something, it's also much easier to promote, market, and sell it.
#4 Plan
The plan is your bigger vision. Make sure your retreat theme fits into the bigger picture of your business or your life, that there's somewhere for this to GO.
I generally wouldn't recommend building an entire retreat around something you're passionate about, but don't have any strategic plans to continue. You want to have something for these participants to move into from the retreat (the Big Back End offer, coming up next). So choose a theme that aligns with that longer-term vision.
#5 Pitch
Your Pitch is the offering you make at the retreat, for what comes after your retreat, AKA: the “Big Back End”. If you've watched any of my videos about how to have a retreat business, then you may be sick of hearing me talk about this.
The Big Back End is that ongoing program that your retreat participants sign up for after the event. This program creates a revenue stream that lasts long after your retreat and kicks off a long-term client relationship. In my personal opinion, it is not worthwhile to invest the time and energy into creating a retreat without a Big Back End.
So during your retreat, part of your theme should support leading into the Big Back End. For example, my retreat theme is Business Breakthrough, and during the retreat, I make the distinction between BREAKTHROUGH and MASTERY — which is where the long-lasting transformation happens, in the Big Back End.
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Those are the 5 things to consider and look at in deciding your retreat theme, and, of course, you can combine these ideas too, which actually is probably the best possible retreat theme. One that appeals to your people, aligns with your purpose, fuels your passion, serves your plan, and supports your pitch.
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If you love the idea of leading retreats and creating a whole entire business around uplifting and transforming people through small events, then let's connect!
Visit superstaractivator.com/ go and set up a time to talk to see if and how I can support you in growing your retreat-driven lifestyle business.
P.S. I am announcing something BIG very soon! If you are a former Women's Success Summit fan, this is especially – but not only – for you. Stay tuned and look out for my special invitation next week 😉
See you soon!!!
Michelle