Retreat Planning Template: A 12-Week Checklist From Idea to Follow-Up

Most retreat planning advice is a list of things to remember. This is a list of things to do, in the order they have to happen, with the deadline each one actually has. Twelve weeks is the shortest runway that works for a multi-day retreat with a venue deposit; if you have longer, stretch the front half.

Copy it, put your dates against it, and cross things off.

12 weeks out: decide and commit

• Decide who it is for and what changes for them. One sentence. Everything below follows from it.
• Pick dates and hold the venue. Most venues want a deposit to hold dates. Before you pay it, ask: capacity, room mix (private, twin, shared), what is included in the per-person rate, the cancellation terms, and the kitchen's allergy handling.
• Price it. Fixed costs, per-person costs, your time, then margin and the early-bird math. Do not guess; how to price a wellness retreat has the working example.
• Set the money rules. Deposit amount, balance due date (six weeks out is the standard), refund terms, early-bird deadline, scholarship seats if any. Write them once and use the same wording everywhere.
• Confirm co-facilitators. Dates, fee, what they lead, travel.

10 weeks out: open registration

• Build the retreat page. Dates, place, who it is for, the daily shape, what is included, prices per room type, the deposit and balance terms in plain words, and one Register button.
• Attach the registration form. Contact, emergency contact, food, rooming preferences, travel, health, waiver, marketing consent. The full list is in the retreat registration form template.
• Set capacity and the waitlist. Sold out should mean sold out, and a cancellation should offer the seat to the next person without you doing anything.
• Send the first email to your list. The people who already know you fill the first third of the room. Give them the early-bird price and a reason to decide this week.
• Test the whole path yourself. Register, pay a deposit, read every email that arrives, cancel, and check the refund. Then delete the test.

8 weeks out: fill the room

• Post the retreat where your people are. Two posts a week is enough if each one says something different: the place, the practice, a past guest, the food, the daily rhythm.
• Write the follow-up sequence. Three emails to anyone who visited the page or asked a question and did not register: what a day looks like, who it is for and who it is not for, and the early-bird deadline.
• Answer questions in one place. Every question you get twice goes on the retreat page.
• Watch the numbers weekly. Registrations, deposits in, balance pending, seats left. If the room is under half full at six weeks, that is the moment to decide about a second early-bird window or a smaller venue, not two weeks out.

6 weeks out: balances and logistics

• Balance due. The reminder goes out a week before the date, and again on the day. Late balances get one personal message, then the seat goes to the waitlist.
• Book the shuttle and the extras. Airport transfers, any excursion, massage or bodywork slots, printed materials.
• Confirm the kitchen count. Dietary requirements and allergies per person, from the registration answers, sent to the venue in their format.
• Assign rooms, first pass. Use the rooming preferences from the form. Expect to redo a third of it.
• Send the pre-retreat guide. Address, arrival window, what to bring, what is provided, the daily rhythm, who to contact on the day.

4 weeks out: know your guests

• Read every intake answer. Health notes, access needs, what each person is hoping for, what they are nervous about. This is the facilitators' briefing; read it together.
• Chase missing forms. Anyone who paid but has not completed the intake gets one reminder with the link.
• Confirm travel details. Ask everyone once: has anything changed? Update the shuttle list.
• Open the guest portal. Schedule, address, packing list, documents, and a place for guests to introduce themselves if you want that.

2 weeks out: lock it down

• Final rooming list to the venue, with the dietary list attached.
• Final headcount for meals, transfers and materials.
• Reminders scheduled. A week before, the day before, and the morning of, each one short and in your voice.
• Print the door list. Or make sure it opens on your phone: name, room, arrival, dietary, emergency contact.
• Pay the balances you owe. Venue, facilitators, transport. Get every receipt into the books now, not in January.

The week of: run the day

• Check people in as they arrive. From the list, on your phone. Late arrivals and walk-ins go on the same list.
• Record anything paid on site. Balances, add-ons, a bodywork slot; every one lands on the guest's record and in the books that day.
• Keep a running note of what to change next time. You will not remember in three weeks.

The week after: close the loop

• Thank-you email within three days, with the recording, the photos (only for people who consented), the reading list, whatever you promised.
• Ask for a testimonial while the feeling is fresh, and ask permission to use it.
• Offer the next thing. A follow-up circle, a 1:1 package, next year's dates. The people who just came are the audience for it.
• Close the books. Every registration and add-on is income, every venue, food, travel and facilitator payment is an expense. What the retreat actually made, after your time, decides whether you run it again and at what price.

Colibri helps you organize your income and expenses. It is not a tax preparer, accountant, or a substitute for professional tax advice.

Where this runs in one place

Every line above that says "list" or "reminder" or "portal" is a thing ColibriOS does from the registration itself: capacity and waitlist, deposit and balance schedule, the intake answers on each guest's record, rooming and the rooming list, the guest portal, scheduled reminders, door check-in, and income and expenses in the books as they happen. The retreat side is on retreat booking software and retreat management software; the host's whole year is on the retreats page.

Start a 30-day free trial, put your dates against this list, and run the next one from one screen.