How To Host A Retreat Event. Organize, Hold Space, Develop

This is just what you've been looking for, the comprehensive how-to guide to begin holding your own special community gatherings. Your special gifts and training are valuable and ready to be shared, but where should you begin?

Join Christine Kotlowski and Peter Jones in this recording from a live here on Insight Timer. Both are teachers with experience hosting successful events.

Transcript

So we're starting with step one, Discover and design phase. Can you keep going? So, You know, Truly like, Why do you want to do it? What are your reasons? Write down one, Two, And three, What is your own outcome? What do you foresee the event bringing to you? And then also what would it bring to anyone in attendance? So it's, Uh, You know, The meaning behind it all. And that's what we do is, You know, We, We need to find the meeting and then it's narrowing down your, Your target market. So are you wanting to focus on youth or teens or elderly females or, Or men and then what age group, You know, For me, I tend to, Cause I'm quite a bit older than you, Peter, But my target audience typically is women, 35 to 60. But it's important to keep audience in mind because that tailors your content, That helps you with your delivery and the way you might say certain things, And I always think that whatever comes natural for you is, Is best. Yes. And I'll add in a note here, Just like you mentioned to start off with, To just start. So if you just, The idea of like what your content is or who your market is, Like what, What value you're bringing, If any of those stump you and you're like, Well, My target audience is everybody, Then that's okay. Like you can just start and, And explore it. And as you host your first thing, Then you're going to find, Okay, I, That wasn't as valuable as I thought it was going to be. It seemed to be appeal, Like as you express it, Then you're going to discover. And that's, This whole thing is discovering, You're going to discover who it really is applicable to. And maybe it is. Everybody, Or maybe it is women in the second half of their like adulthood or it's children and teens, Whatever it is. So yeah, Just highlighting. It's hard to discover. Right. You naturally find your voice because the jumping in, You know, I was just saying, Jump off the clip, Set the date, Give yourself time, You know, Three, Four months or whatever it might be, Set the date, Make, Put the wheels in motion. And all of that will, If you have the outline, It will, It will fall into place. And, Um, It's good to, I think, Really focus on a narrow market, But know that if you, If I'm speaking to a woman that's 40 years old, I'm also working with her who she may have children, She may be married, She may have elderly parents. And so part of the mindset training that you explore during a workshop, Not only benefits you, It benefits your family and friends. If it's a broad market and it's everybody, Then you just have that strong message and you reach more people than, You know, Than just that one person. Perfect. Now, Another thing here is a good place that you might want to start is consider to contributing to somebody else's event. Do you know somebody who already is doing this? Uh, Cause you know, This might be a, You know, Too big for you for, For where you're at to just jump into, You know, I'm going to host a hundred person event. Maybe you explore this by somebody that, You know, Does, Um, A sound bath or does yoga, And so you ask them, Hey, Could I present this little bit, This thing about women, This thing about, Um, You know, Resiliency through, Uh, The passing of life, Whatever it is, Then you're adding that and you get your experiences. You also are networking. And so people are getting exposed to you, Building up that eventual like your market of people that you bring to your future events. I think that's a great point. Sometimes we can get overwhelmed. You feel a little anxious, Then a negative, Like, Who am I? I'm, I'm going to run a workshop or retreat. You know, The judgment might come in here when you take action. Maybe it's, You're a part of something that for 10 minutes, Or maybe you're assisting, But whenever you take action, You build confidence. You, You realize I can do this. So I'm glad you brought that, That to the forefront. I did work with two other women. We call ourselves the queen bees and we are very different and very different people, But because we are so different, We have different strength and, Uh, We feed off of each other and our personalities where one person, Um, Leads off, The other person can pick up. So collaborating with other people, Just like you and I, You know, We never met each other face to face. And now our thoughts and hopefully, Um, Help, Help others that want to work with other people. Yes. I want to mention that one of the steps in step one is a retreat promise. And what I mean by that is putting yourself in the chair of who will attend the event and what would their desired outcome be? So thinking about conveying a message of your participant wants to understand something or realize something or learn something. So stating that out, Maybe it's a workshop on learning how to journal or learning how to meditate or learning how to cook. So thinking about that at the beginning will help with the success of the event. By the end of the workshop, I want to understand more about my true essence and my, You know, The journey of building my self-esteem and my confidence, Or I just want to realize, Uh, Broader communication or how to communicate in a loving way that doesn't put up blocks and, And walls between yourself or the participants. So it's a retreat promise. And then you hold that promise to yourself because that keeps you true to your content and your delivery. It's almost like, Uh, There's a problem, Your workshop retreat is the solution. So whenever the problem is or the, The, The, The problem and the promise, You, You are going to create your content to solve the problem, Which becomes the promise. That's perfect. Now, And along, As we go through these points, I, I'm going to relate it to one of the events that I've hosted. So to give you the, These real examples of what each step along the way, What you might do. So in this case, I hosted an event that was a weekend retreat for friends. And in this case, The goal was, Or the promise was community and journeying together, Elevating each other. So that's, That was all that it was about is getting closer together, Having a more tightly knit community of friends and helping each other, Inspiring one another in whatever that journey was, But centered around meditation and that personal growth of meditation. And with that event, You had many subsections, You had breakout sessions and time where maybe it was a small group discussion or ice breaking activities. Sharing the content and the outline of your event, Or I can use one of my events as well, As we discuss the day or two day program. So we can share, We can share both examples. Oh, I love that. Our one of my events was called straighten your crown and it was a full one day, 9am to 4pm and it was just filled with a lot of, A lot of icebreakers and small group discussion and Q and A's and whiteboard interaction. It was brainstorming, But then we also had the tunnel of love, Which I, I would love to share with whoever's on here. That was, That was one of my most recent retreats. And then I have one coming up, Which is a three hour in two weeks, And it is all about relationships for the month of February, Valentine's day and communicating. And so it's all on relationships. And then you have a note here about bringing in the content that you've already created and utilizing that for your event. So talk through that a little bit. If you've written a book, If you've already recorded meditations, If you've written an outlined a course, How can you incorporate those into this event that you're offering so that you're utilizing the work that you work smarter, Not harder, As you put it. I have to remind myself of that all the time, Work smarter, Not harder, Because I can overthink things, Right? Analytical mind, Whoever's listening, Whatever you've crafted, Whatever you have created, Whether you've written poems or you have a journal, Or you've written a book, Or you have created a step-by-step process to garden, Whatever it might be. If you have courses, If you are an Insight Timer teacher, You have meditations. I just believe in we are who we are. And if we share ourselves wholly with people, Then all of our work that we've created, We can utilize that to have it be within the content of the event. And there's usually a theme that will go through that, Right? So like I take my book, Well, That's loss of life, But it's also loss of myself, Because I have been known to lose myself. And when you lose someone through the loss of life, You can lose yourself. My book, Loss of life, But also loss of self. My meditations, Getting to know who I am and owning my own voice, Building confidence and self-esteem and all of that. And then my coursework, It's how you move, How you think, And how you eat. So I just think all of that is wellbeing, You know, The art of wellbeing and taking care of ourselves, Whatever you've done, Whatever connections you have with your own personal work, Whatever it might be, Try to connect it so you can share a multitude of your work and integrate it together. Perfect. Just keeping track of where we're at, We just covered step one, The design discovery phase where you find your why, What you're, You're offering, And then you make a promise of what you are going to accomplish at Rose comments. Yes, This is great. Just tuned in today. I've offered art meditation, Painting workshops at a local studio full afternoons, But would love to offer longer retreat, Have really helpful ideas for transforming obstacles, New path, How to get location to make it appealing, Affordable, And workout. I'm an international creativity teacher in Juniper, Florida. So talking about location. Now this segues perfectly into step number two to decide and commit where we're finding out where, When, You know, Exactly Rose, What is your location? And how do you know if the location is right for your event? Yeah. So yes, Step two, Decide and commit. So where will it be located and when, You know, The location, I think we can overthink the location. That can be a hindrance to us sometimes because we think, Oh, It has to be a exotic location, Beachfront somewhere, Or, Or it has to be a five-star hotel. The memory of the event, The experience that people will have during the event far outweighs the location. It's again, Going back to people, Helping people and running the program. It sounds like she has already just a wonderful, Wonderful offering. Yep. Set a budget, Right? Do I look for a gym that might be free? Is there a community center that may be free that I could utilize there? Event rooms. Is there a park? Is there a backyard? Is there someone's home? It, We don't have to go into this cause that will hold us back. If, If we think we have to spend, You know, A lot of money in order to get it off, Off the ground. And people are willing to help other people. If you have a friend or a family member or business associate, They may have a location that they could suggest to you by opening our mouths and just asking for help, A lot of problems are solved. The location is important, But it's not an end all to be all. I think also when you, When you decided to have your event, You want to look at peak times where people maybe aren't vacationing or they are more apt to participate, Maybe it's more of a down time and stay away from holidays and also consider your own schedule. What, When you commit to it, You are able to fill it in. Yes. That's a very important. The when and the where and the steam, Uh, Thinking about titling your event is also quite important because so you are thinking about these dates and thinking about your content. A place that I love to start is with the title. Cause you take your promise of what you're offering, What you hope people are going to get out of it. And then I start with that. This is an appealing title that makes that promise. So going to the example that I'm coming back to, The title of that event was loves us, And then we put the location that we were going to be after bringing ever everybody to this beautiful desert location called desert color. So it was love fest desert color that helped to set expectations. It was about connecting. It was about elevating love. Then the budget, Your purpose. If you are trying to generate money, Then budget is going to be really important for that. Cause if you book a place for $200 for the entire event, But you only bring in $200, Then you have not accomplished your goal of generating money or income. Now, There are many more goals that you might be trying to accomplish. There's more value than just receiving monetary value. I forget where we talk about this, Christine, Maybe it's down in the fees. So we'll get to that in step three. Yeah. Hold that in your back pocket, Deciding what value you're getting out of it is going to come in the next step. But for now, I love that parks and homes, And maybe, You know, Somebody who has a beautiful downstairs that they might be willing to let you use. We've also had events at a bed and breakfast in someone's home at a wellness center that don't let that be like, Oh, I don't have a location. I don't want to have people at my own home because I'm not, You know, It's not what I want it to be. There's a lot of, You have to think outside the box and then moving on to the title and the theme. Who, What, Where, When, Why those elements answering catchy title, But then in the description, What will someone get out of the event and what are their benefits and who will be facilitating the event myself with Jennifer and Connie and Peter. So it's just in sharing, You know, The decide and commit step two is so vital. My friend and I talked for almost three years about starting a podcast. It was tiring, Kept, Oh, Well, Are we going to do it? I'm going to do it. Finally, A year ago in February, I said, Michelle, We are going to say, This is the date and we are going to start it. So we said, Okay, March 1st of 2023 is our first day of our podcast. And we jumped full in. We didn't let fear derail us. We just said, We're going to do it. And we've had 48 episodes ever since then. But really we took three years and talking about it and talking about it. And so once we titled it, We took a long time to title it. And then we wrote the description of it and it fell into place. That's perfect. And you didn't necessarily have a solid plan of exactly what the content was going to be, I imagine, But you made the commitment and then that put, Helped put pressure on you that, You know, You knew and other people knew it's coming out at this time. And so that, That'll help to motivate you to, To, To pull together. Absolutely. The biggest mistake that people will make is that they start from the end and they work backwards. Like, Okay, I have to have a, A game, Have my scripts. I have to have, You know, All the details and all the box check. It's just, You, You can't, You can't start from the end result. You just have to decide, Commit, Say this is when it's going to happen and then sell it and then it appears. Perfect. And that brings me to another point too, Of why I like to start with the title because you are, You're thinking about the marketability and how you're fulfilling your promise in the title. Cause if you, If you have all of your course, All of the content for the retreat put together, And then you, You say, Okay, How do I describe this in a short paragraph? And then from that short paragraph, How do I name it? You might think I want to describe this content accurately. And if you're doing that, Then you, You're going to end up with something that maybe people aren't interested in that maybe is not helpful to other people or is, Or it's just not, Not marketable, If that makes sense. So then you might have to change it up and say, Okay, Actually, Instead of, You know, Uh, Creating lines on paper or, You know, The technical skills for drawing Rose, Whatever your, Your title is, Then you, You switch it to that, Uh, Ro romantic painting together evening or whatever it is. That's like, I can fulfill that. It is, It's appealing. People want to, To go to something like that. And, And then you, That is a part of your content, But you are, You're seeming it. That's that theming. And so you don't have to modify all that much, But you're just putting that beautiful presentation on it. That that's a really good point and allowing yourself to be flexible and know that you had kind of just got to let go of the perfection. So we scheduled an event. We had, We scheduled it three months in advance. It was called night of love and compassion. We got the date, We committed to it. It was night of love and compassion. And we had a destruction. Well, That's to talk about the really, You know, What do we want to do within this three hours? We realize this is a night of building meaningful relationships. So we still have the event. We just modified and changed the title to a, Well, The title's kind of still that, But it's the focus more is meaningful relationships, But if we went to have said, Hey, We're going to, We're going to put this on the calendar. We are going to commit to it. It wouldn't have really developed and moved and morphed into what it is. And it's going to be a thing that being flexible, I think is giving the ability to, To change. Yes. Now thinking about the date as well. So you, We mentioned that maybe want to look at the school calendar when our family's going to be out of town. What is a common night where people are have something busy? Like if you are doing something, An event that has to do with elevating your spirituality or your religious connection to God, You might avoid that conflicting time where people are going to be in church. You might avoid doing it over the top of a holiday, But seeming along with holidays is really powerful. So if it is this connection to God, Then having it be a week before Christmas or a month before Christmas, Because you know, That Christmas month is so stressful for, For families. So maybe going a little earlier at the end of November or even early November is a good time for something that is Christmasy themed, But isn't conflicting with that time. Right. I think if you are enhancing what already is happening or what traditions already are, But you are adding to the holiday or the time of year, People will want to attend because they're already in that mindset or, You know, Celebrating Jesus's birth or celebrating. I just ran a 5k and it's spring and now I can get out and commit to my workouts. And you're hosting a kickoff workshop on this is the year, You know, That 5k from a couch to a 5k. So it's just kind of common sense thinking of, Okay, When is the most opportune time that this would make sense and make it work for you instead of against you? Yeah. And some other things to think about are moon cycles, New moon, Full moon, Solstices, Summer solstice, Winter solstice, And coming up in March, We've got like the equinox, Spring equinox, Fall equinox. Those are wonderful times to bring in that seeming that adds energy and excitement to your event. And then we have one more thing here in this planning, Like deciding and committing is if you have content to offer, But you just have a terrifying fear of speaking in front of people or something like that, That doesn't have to prevent you from hosting an event you might collaborate and facilitate along with somebody. And so you've done some, A bit of collaborating and, And play off other people, Right, Christine? Yes. Yes, For sure. I have to chuckle to myself right now. Right before going live, My laptop sounded like it was taking orbit and, Uh, Going to blow up. And now I'm on, Now I'm on live with you and my daughter is trying to FaceTime me. Oh, I was wondering, Your video froze for a second. I was wondering what was going on. And, Uh, My brain was thinking, Oh, Well, She's in Colorado right now. And she misses her mom because she's in college. So, Oh, Sorry about that. I got sidetracked. Okay. Um, So yeah, That's co-facilitating. If you have content to offer, But, You know, You have a fear either, Um, Of speaking or, Or some other thing, Yes, Knowing that you don't have to be the one that's the public face, You can collaborate with somebody and, And just, You are presenting this that you find valuable, But you bring in other people to help you. So I'm glad you brought me back to the topic. So, Um, I have worked with two other women, A young woman who was 20 years younger than me. And that is about 15 years older than me. So we have so many different perspectives and we would host, And I'm really glad you brought in all those examples. We would hold, Uh, Social Saturdays one, One once per month and transcend Thursdays. And so we would idle and the description and then each think about what that meant to us, Whether it's, Um, You know, Uh, Purification or, Um, Spirituality, Whatever the topic might be. So it was really interesting to have three generations of thoughts because we could talk so much more in depth, Um, With that, With that. Um, So yeah, We, We, We're not, We're human and we're not perfect. And when you open yourself up to just talking with other people, You learn and grow together. So, You know, It's just, Um, The content, Which I'm excited to get to and share that and, And move on to the step three, Which is promote and enroll. Um, But yeah, It's just, Um, It's again, Letting go of fear, Opening yourself up to different age, Ages of people, Different backgrounds and exploring. Perfect. And, And I want to like, Um, You know, Bring it to that example that I've, I'm following along with that, Uh, Love's Fest, Desert Color, When that was totally terrifying, The idea to me to host an event, But what made it, Uh, Approachable was that I wasn't going to be providing any of the content, Um, Me and my wife, We provided a location and that was kind of our contribution. And then everybody that was attending was contributing something beautiful to the experience. So we had somebody that was providing a sound bath. Uh, We had somebody providing, Um, Some connection time with, Um, And she just had an offering, It's hard to describe, But it was, It was one of the most powerful parts of the whole thing, But it was something that she had to let organically come about and it was, It was just this beautiful, Like, I don't know, Our higher selves growing together. Um, It was really cool. And then we had some people helping provide food and nourishment during the event, Some, Some people helping provide the, Um, The meditation, Um, Breath work and just overall guidance to the entire thing. So that was this big collaboration of, Of bringing everybody's skills together. Yeah. Rames has a comment. Um, Go ahead and then, And then I'll switch to that. I just wanted to share, Um, Being able to delegate and, And, And utilize other people's talents and skills and, And allowing other people to share. I think it's a beautiful thing. It, So much can, Um, You know, Come out of that experience then. Absolutely. Absolutely. Rose says, Uh, Yes, Retired art teacher. So no fear. Perfect. And so there are several other options. Uh, Also gave roses in relaxation class. Great for February. Beautiful. Self-love. And that was a shorter, Uh, Afternoon and still money need room to paint and would be great to stay overnight to really absorb and finish. It gets expensive. I have fear of asking for money or pricing high to cover all supplies. Then not getting enough participants, Uh, Have also shared at wellness center. But no Rose, I love it. You are like, You've read our plan and you're asking each question along our path. So it was perfect. Let me finish this. Um, It gets expensive. I have fear of asking for money or pricing high to cover all supplies. Then not getting enough participants. I've also shared at wellness center, But a longer time is needed for new path. It's so helpful to change your mindset. Perfect. Rose, Thanks for guiding us into step number three, Promote and enroll. Yes. Promote and enroll. Perfect segue. Happening, Uh, Magically. So part of what she mentioned is, You know, The charge for event and we can get hung up on, Um, Overthinking this stuff. I think it has to be comfortable for you and what you, What you feel comfortable with. There's always, There's also that like perceived value. So if it's free $10, $29. 99 or $49. 99, Maybe that will imply that there isn't as much value with the program or with the offering, You don't want to overprice and, And, Uh, Price yourself out of the market where you don't have any attendees, But you need to sit down with your budget and say, Okay, What are my priorities? The overhead costs, How much will the food, Um, Uh, Costs, The refreshments, Your time is valuable and it's, Your time is worth it. You spend a lot of, Um, Time committing to your own dedication to the event, Creating the content, Marketing the con or marketing the event. And in the beginning, When you start doing a small group workshops or retreats, You won't make a lot of money. You know, It, It's almost a, It's an investment in yourself and also in building your business. But once you do a CU, You have a template to work from, And then you recreate the same event. But it won't be the same event because it just becomes more beautiful because you've already done it. And so you have the experience, Wisdom, And, And, Um, The knowledge to that you've already done, Right. I think the, The promote and enroll and also the marketing part of it can be overwhelming for people that, You know, Maybe they have never promoted, Like put together, Drafted an email to say, Here's a fantastic event. This is why I know you will love it. And this is what you'll benefit from, You know, Those key points that you want to include in marketing. I mean, If you're not a marketing major and you, You have different backgrounds, Exactly. That's really scary. So before we talk about pricing an event, Should we talk about how to promote it? I was thinking maybe we should start with that, The amount of time, Because the very first note is when you, When you plan it out, You need to have plenty of time to promote it. So how long would you say that that, That promotion period should be? So I think personally, As a marketing major, I would say, I think personally, I would like to have a minimum of like three months, Time enough so that you can get your flyer put together, You have email written out and any social media pictures and graphics that, You know, That you will be posting regularly on social media. Time to let, Certain key people you're in, The influencers in your life know about the event. So then when you have your marketing put together, They can help promote it. Word of mouth is free and it is the best because if I say, Pete, There is this workshop going on this Saturday, And I just think you and your wife would love it because they are going to talk about this, This, This, And this. You trust me as your friend and you will say, Well, How do I sign up? So word of mouth is the best. So timeframe, If you start marketing your event too early, People will, They won't even respond because they think that is two months away, That's six weeks, I don't even know what I'm doing, You know, Next week, So I think four weeks is a good time to say, To start lasting the event and know that your signups are going to trickle in, Unless we want to get to it, Unless you have like an early bird discount, But you're going to trickle in and the majority of your enrollees will happen the week of the event, In my experience. Now, Someone else may have a wholly different experience. That's perfect. Yes. So boiling that down, You recommend that three months out, Plan your event to give yourself plenty of time to have your marketing material, Reach out to people, Get it on their periphery that it's coming up, But to not expect people to start signing up within that, That last month, That's when to start really promoting it, That's when people are, Are solidifying their month's plan. And now we'll move into, So how do you market and promote? Taking action again, I always design a beautiful flyer titled of the event, All the information someone needs, Right? So title, Your description, Who is going to be facilitating the event, Date, Location, What's provided, What may be, If there's take home materials, Handouts, Workbooks, All the benefits that you're going to be offering, Meditations, A beautiful soft bath, You're going to be able to create a beautiful, I'm not an artsy person, Glass creation. Yeah. Like blown, Blown glass or whatever. That was it, You know, Blown glass. Um, So you want to include all of those elements, What to expect and don't be afraid to ask people and share. So start sharing with coworkers and your friends and your family and on what it is. So you have your flyer, Which also can be saved as a JPEG, Which will be put onto social media, Put together an email, Which has very similar descriptions and information along with the picture of PDF attached to it, Send it to all your kind and don't be afraid to say, How would you, You know, If this looks interesting to you, Please share it with your friends and family. Not always who we know, But who they know, Our circle of influence. Have a website, Put it on your website, Put it on all of your social media platforms, Whether that's Facebook, Instagram, You can make a TikTok about your events, I think it's always good to put in there, You know, Sign up by this date, If you're going to offer a discount or deadline, But cut off time to the register is such and such a date. You could also say space is limited. You always want to ask for what you want. So you ask for the offer. You stop saying sign up today, Sign up now, Or you can also say this is going to be a very phenomenal experience. So bring a friend or bring, You know, Your spouse or parent or daughter. And I put on my notes, Never make assumptions. So even with this event coming up in two weeks, I sent an email to many, Many, Many, Many contacts. And I sent to or sent it to a handful of people and I thought they will never sign up. And sure enough, The one I thought she will never sign up, She signed up. So we don't make assumptions. Don't don't answer the question for other people. Kind of build the fear of missing out with your events. This is a one time thing. I may never offer this again. I'm going to put so much into this along with. I'm working with John and Patty, And this is the location and it's just going to be a magical, Wonderful, Special time shared together. So build the feeling. Live it yourself. Know that. Believe in it. Know that your passion is going to be top 100 percent during then. And that that emotion is what sells the event. Choice doesn't even have to matter. It's how you feel about. Your commitment level and your feeling, Because emotions are contagious. If you have a high vibration when you walk into the room, When someone senses, Wow, She's really doing this or that other, It's contagious. Other people, They don't want me. So. And I love that what you said, You know, This is an event not to be missed. We might like want to little it or shrink it down, Even if it is you have greater plans in the future. And this is just where you're starting off. It's still a beautiful, Powerful offering or else you wouldn't be offering it. Right. And so embrace that. And it's not going to help the event to say. This is it's simple. It's OK if you don't miss it or it's OK if you miss it. I'm going to have another one again real soon. So if you can't make it, Don't worry about it. Like that all says, OK, So I don't need to pay attention to this. It's not something worth going to. When in actuality, You're putting a lot of time and effort into this. And it is a beautiful offering or else you wouldn't be doing it. And so let people know that like this is the event to go to, Even if you have plans in the future to make it bigger and better. You you build you to deliver the exclusivity of it. And the life changing experiencing experience that it can be, Whether it's a one hour or a three hour, And truly you cannot make the decision for someone else, The impact that you can have on that person. They have to make that decision. And what I have logged is we did a one day retreat last fall and we you don't know people's backgrounds, What they're suffering through and what their pain is. We had a woman, So many different stories, A woman that was going through a horrific divorce, A woman that was estranged from her adult child, Someone that had lost a child. The tears that these people shocked me and we allowed the feelings and the healing to happen. And by the end of the day, There were smiles, There was relief, There was confidence, There was like, OK, I'm not alone. I can get through this because now I have tools and a toolkit and I have support because. We'll get to that as we follow up with our people that whether it's five people or 15 or 50 people, You follow up with them because you care and part of a community and that that is empowering. The money part of it, The ask where it's so uncomfortable for a lot of people to put a price or a fee and and feeling confident in putting something together, Believing in yourself, Having the confidence and then saying this is what I'm charging for this event and having confidence in in whatever that amount is. You know, This is a worldwide conversation we're having. So socioeconomic and just where you live will determine to some degree your fee and has to be. I think just don't go cheap, Don't undervalue yourself, Believe in your worth and the time investment and your offering. And and just decide on whatever that amount is and have confidence with it. Don't be afraid to ask. People will people will pay. It's not it's not really the price. When we're changing lives, When we're changing our own life, When we. Are are transforming and growing, That's priceless. We do not know the value of that, How our lives can improve, Our relationships can improve, Our parenting skills, Our our our marriages, Our friendships, All of that. So setting this up, As we've talked about the title, The description, How you're going to market it, How are you know what that fee is going to be? I just think that can be overwhelming to a lot of people and and there is just so much value. So leaving believing in yourself and just just saying that this is the price, This is the investment, The fee is whatever it is. That's so beautiful. One one way that you put that to me as we discussed this and prepared this was don't base your price off of what you feel comfortable asking your friends and family. Base it off of that, The person that you're going to help the most, The true value of your content. Because you might think, Oh, It's just it it feels I can't imagine that that I could make my mom pay five hundred dollars for this. I can't imagine that I would have my my best friend pay a thousand dollars for this event. But all of that out of your mind, You know, It is about. The value that you're offering, Which is, You know, You need to acknowledge that you're offering something beautiful, Something really profound, And it's OK to be compensated for that, But you're you also don't need to be paid in money. That's not the only value you can receive by hosting an event. So let's talk just a little bit about that. If you host a free event, You are still getting value. But what are some some values that you could receive by hosting a free event? Well, I think starting out, If you've never had an event, I think offering a smaller version of what you want to ultimately create is 100 percent fine and a great way to start. If you are offering something free, There are so many intangible benefits from your own growth, You're building your own confidence, Your content will will expand. Other people are having the opportunity to hear you, See you, You know, It's you're owning your own voice and whatever other offerings that you have, You can offer, You could provide those to your attendees. Maybe it's a take home worksheet, Maybe it's a workbook that you've created. Everything that you have in your arsenal of creativity you bring to that event, You might get followers or someone would be interested. And there's a total offshoot of another event that that morphs into something else just because you started it. With this, With I just have a comment I don't want to forget, You can also say pay, Pay what you are comfortable with or taking a donation. We've had events where it's by donation only and people have actually paid more than what we would have. What as a if we were going to charge for the event by donating, Oh, You could start out, Start out with donation or or free. And then it's just by trial and error, Like ask yourself, OK, If I was going to a three hour workshop or retreat, You know, What is fair? What would I pay to hear this content or learn about this? And start your your out with what you feel comfortable with. That's a that's a great note about, You know, What would I pay for this? If you are doing event like Rose, You talked about doing these painting events and discovering what the pricing is, You might go to some other painting events near you. Or if you are doing yoga or sound baths, Go to a few local events and get a feel for what people expect to pay for these events. And if you are like, Well, That's not going to cut it for me. I need to charge more because, You know, I've got to pay off all these crystal sound bowls or whatever it is. Then how are you going to provide a little more value than what everybody else is is providing so that everybody going to it knows that they're getting much more value back than that seemingly higher price tag? That's a really good point. It's a great point. So a few other things that I think you mentioned is is some value that you might get is proving it's a proof of concept. This actually is really valuable, Like and people have expressed that they really enjoyed that event. Now you can go on and and really create that bigger event. This is something that I've been doing with my telekinesis is I want to teach here on Inside Timer first and and prove what I had experienced in my own life, Get people to experience it as well and see if that was truly providing value in their lives. And now I'm able to take that and beginning to hold in-person live events for this manifestation muscle telekinesis practice. So that was part of why I started doing spree events here at Inside Timer. Yes, And it's, You know, Think of it as a journey. What an exciting step by step. It's hard to know where everything will lead. But if you look at it as just a journey of self-discovery and improvement, Meeting other people and sharing your life and offering things at the beginning and see see where the connections are and and allow allow the expansion. Yes. Now, There there is another element here of healing, Too. If you are doing offerings of healing, Say you do Reiki or sound baths or anything that heals, There's sometimes a stigma about charging money for for healing. And, You know, For some people, This comes from, Well, Jesus would never have charged money to heal people as he walks through the streets. And therefore, Since I am doing a similar work that I should never charge money for it. Now, You need to search inside yourself if that is really true or if that is resistance that you are putting up. And if it is resistance, Then it's work that you need to do to let go and grow beyond that. But if that is really true. That you should not be charging money for that. Trust that because you're going to be paid far greater than you ever would if you sacrifice that value that you have, Ignore it and start charging money for something that you know that you shouldn't be charging money for. Because if you are. Doing it for free, For free, Never for free, You are getting so much, You're getting karma, You're getting that goodwill with God, With your community. And so it will be paid back to you. Don't you worry about that at all? One hundred percent, We can impose those self-limiting beliefs, You know, For ourselves and feel like we, You know, We shouldn't charge. But I think you are one hundred percent right when you say what feels comfortable to me and and then going with that. Yeah, There. Now, Monica adds a great point. She says good points. I have also found offering events free makes it less of a priority for people to attend. And I want to build off of this because, You know, You are providing value. And so it is OK if you. Make it a costly event, Not only is that good for you, That is really good for the other person because they are putting up money and that that makes it significant to them. They're going to value that event and and it's going to change their lives much more if they put it up. You know, If they put up the fee, They they say, I take this seriously. I'm willing to put a thousand dollars into this. That's it's great. It's it's not about you. It's benefiting the experience for the attendees. It's yeah, It's beautiful. Absolutely. And it's beautiful because they make their commitment level goes from zero to 100. Yes, Someone to attend an event, They are going to show up with the right intentions, A pen and paper with an open mindset, With the eagerness to learn and the passion to implement what you are teaching them or whatever the experience is that they will want to live beyond the the experience into the days and weeks beyond. Now, We all know you attend events and, You know, You're super excited and committed and then it all short. So then the follow up and the re-engagement has to happen to pull bringing them back into their event and and if someone pays for something, It is on their calendar. And in turn, As the facilitator and the coordinator. I will guarantee you if I say, OK, Just I'm just show up, I'm I'm going to do this retreat about self-esteem, Confidence, We're going to talk about all your fears and we're going to do a tunnel of love and these are all of our little experiences. It's going to be fabulous, But just show up. It's free. What result, How how invested am I going to be in creating the content and following through? If you know that I have one to ten or a hundred people that are are spending X amount doesn't even matter if it's ten dollars to me. I'm very much committed. But if it's five hundred dollars or I'm getting paid to speak at an event, My commitment level to deliver is skyrocketing and and I will want to be on point. Absolutely. Yes, It's cool. And we should let everyone know because I'm on my phone and I'm shake my phone's shaky because my laptop. Having difficulties today, Let me know if anyone else has any questions regarding our content. So now coming back to another point here is we have a note about packaging and this idea that you might you can enhance your offering by packaging some some of your content together. It might be more than just this event. Do you have a course that you can also marry with this? If you you know, Me and Christine are working on a marriage course together. And so if we in the future ever host a marriage retreat, Then we can add on to that. This six, This eight week course that it's like this retreat is the kickoff event, But we've priced it together. You're you're not only buying a retreat, You're buying this course and they build off of each other. It's this really awesome foundation. And then you continue to change your life with whatever that that course is. If you've recorded meditations, Then your follow up to your event might just be here's a here's one of my free meditations or here's a thank you gift of this meditation that I've recorded. Thank you so much for coming to the retreat. I hope that if I do something in the future that you'll you'll be there and benefit from it again. I'm really glad you brought that up because that was one of our points. And I totally overlooked that. It is it is proving like now that jumpstart kits or launch packages, People want the value added. So if it is a retreat and you have a course or you have some meditations included as the value added the list that that people receive by enrolling into the workshop, We had an event. It was more of like a wellness open house. And so I had to sign up because the people that attended, I said, I'm going to just write a follow up meditation message about the feelings that people shared with us during this open house. And and so that was a way to collect their emails. And then I wrote a meditation. It's just, You know, 15 minute message. But that was a way to follow up. So then the emotions that they experienced at the event, They could, You know, They were brought back up when they listened to the message. Great. Now, We went over some of this, But I think it would be valuable to just reiterate a couple of these marketing things that you could do because you you presented a couple of really awesome things that I had never considered before that, You know, This idea of influencers, We might think of like social media influencers or something like that. But in your community, There are all sorts of influencers like Christine. You would be an amazing influencer for somebody to tap into because you have your network of friends and you you have such a buoyant personality to share the word. But other influencers in that you could tap into is if you if you know somebody like this. Some other people in your community that do sound baths or yoga or whatever it is that's related to your thing, Tell them and see if you can share that either in their space or with their community, Because most likely they're going to be thrilled. Another thing that you mentioned was to on every city loves to have events. They love for people to know, Hey, This is an exciting city. People are doing stuff. There's stuff to do here. And so there's probably a message board. The city would love to put your event into their newsletter and promote it for you. So, You know, Part of that planning out three months in advance is so that you can go do some of these things. But what are some other other things that you found that might not be obvious at first? And I do want to make just another note that sometimes if we are on social media, We might think that social media is a potential marketing platform that your posts are are are promotion and that can be the case. And that can be the case. But a social media website, Like if you are on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter or X, That that's primarily a content generation. If you're on there posting, You are a content creator and people are consuming it rather than being informed or signing events to take part in. It can be useful, But if you don't have a lot of followers, It's not going to be super helpful if that's the only thing that you're doing is sharing it on social media. Right. I mean, With that, Just take the time in your own community to make a list of all companies, Businesses, Chiropractors, Doctors. Clergy, Ministers, Different, All the different all the different things that you can reach out to ask for posting a flyer or asking them to share your your information. It's not who you know, It's who other people know. And getting the word out is vital. Getting the word out is vital and in going to your own community, Your city's Facebook page that lists everything and just doing anything you can to get the word out and asking for sharing. Perfect. Should we move on to let's prepare and plan the outline. Let's do it. So I'm going to jump into this and. Let you just. And add as you as you feel the need of actually implementation is where I'm just where I'm kind of going with this. So I just think a combination of make it natural, Make it who you are. Don't overthink your content, Trust yourself, Lead with your own intuition and the knowing of your experience thus far, Knowing that you are going to learn and grow from this day forward, But in this moment, Trust yourself to know your content, Share yourself authentically with where you are, Are at right now and find your think about your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey, Your own personal journey question so how do you include icebreakers or options for community building for people who are solo or are introverts so this is kind of that the nitty-gritty implementation have you come across this christina so um there's a couple different activities you could do um if you don't want if you have someone that's more introverted or um shy or whatever um i've done things that like i put together a fearless box and instead of anyone verbalizing things with whatever they want to say within a group i um have a box it's called fearless box and people will write down a fear that they have it could be writing down this fear on this piece of paper and then they put it in the box and then anonymously later in the in the event during the event we will just share everyone's fears not call anyone out but you want everyone to feel included with no judgment and that that kind of an exercise isn't where everyone is standing up and giving each other massages on their back and it's intrusive and you know like all that um the other one the other really cool experience that um is helpful or that i love it's called tunnel of love and maybe our people that are on have heard of it but we had participants standing two lines and one person would walk down the middle of of the tunnel of two lines of people and you didn't have to say anything to that person that was walking down the line but whatever came to your thought like they have a pretty smile or they seem very genuine or um whatever came to you you would just step in whisper that into their ear and then step back and then one by one everyone would go through this tunnel of love we had tears it was very moving and you could participate or not so i think if you have event or activities where it's a choice i think that's helpful um i've also done an essence exercise where at the end of a gathering we shared okay peter throughout today i feel your essence is you're courageous you're bold but you're really kind and sweet and a really good listener then we write those things down and then we follow up with an email so the participant i hope people understand this so the participant can read that following like wow these were the things that portrayed the essence of who i am now don't have to is that all the you the presenter write down those things and send those out or is that an activity of you focus on each individual everybody writes down something that they receive like an impression that they had you can do it either or you can do it verbal like people just going uh saying things about you the essence of peter is this to me and stuff and then you have uh someone write it down that you can draft it in an email and send it um or if you don't want if people if you have a more quiet group you can just had have had pieces of paper and they can write down what their thoughts are of you no matter if you speak it or you think it or you write it down you know it's all the energy that we're sharing and that love and and feeling within the group is magnified i think or you know other things if you want to have fun you can just you can have a dream board and you can just pretend like you are seven years old and you are dreaming again getting people back into the state of childlike wonder is really effective and um writing writing those down on um a whiteboard is good i also like this interactive idea and you can call it anything but pass the problem so i have a challenge maybe um maybe i uh a small problem i need to lose 10 pounds that is my pass the problem so i pass that on to the next person for a solution an idea for me commit to doing yoga three times a week start logging your nutrition so the the group itself can help solve the problem for one person does that make sense yeah so you have 15 participants you have your one problem and then you get 15 possible solutions and those could add upon each other they could play off each other they could be totally different ways to solve that problem that's beautiful that's a really fun like interaction thing i love that you love you know people helping people solving the problem um i don't have any set examples but i did just jot down um you know having an intention setting a piece building resilience um talk for maybe 20 minutes um goal setting um you know depending it's just it's so fun because depending on what we each want to create um you can do scavenger hunts you can do mystery uh murder mysteries with an event you can teach you know you can just teach so much you can teach how to meditate how to journal how to the basics of communication the idea of how do you share love and compassion words or physical hugs holding a hand you know touch any other question helpful to to keep in mind your theme that uh you know you might try to keep your activities in line with your theme building toward that you know fulfilling the promise that you've made at the beginning but also you can have these little twists these unexpected things to just shake up the energy a little bit you know you mentioned that earlier that as you're going throughout the day you need to be aware of the energy of your audience if they are receptive if everybody is like you know nodding off because you forgot to put a break in there acknowledge that and it's okay to to in the moment of now this is kind of getting to the implementation the next phase that you already went through part us but um you know you can change it up and say all right now we're going to take a break or we're going to do this little energizing activity together yeah have an outline of what you would like the experience to be but be flexible and be able to bend and change up as as needed and call a 15-minute break have a stretching experience right after lunch and be able to switch it up perfect so yeah step five is that implementation and you've already gone through some of these things i did plan out the number of knowledge modules that you're going to have um what what breaks you try to plan these things but be a little bit flexible um and then how you're going to start it uh you know create your container is it a prayer is it smudging is it you know just a moment of quietness you come in and every you are silent and just standing still at the front of the thing you can create just a beautiful little silent way to start it um and then tell us how to follow up because following up is is a key aspect yeah so after the what at the end or at some point towards the end of your um workshop or retreat hand out a survey ask them to leave the paper before they leave and and ask pointed questions you want to definitely you'll have their name and email but whatever feedback you want to receive ratings are fine you know one to ten or one to five but you really want a little bit um what was the quality of your delivery the quality of your content how was the pace of your event did you need to add more refreshments did you did you need to have more worksheets to provide or handouts of any sort and then follow up with an email send a written thank you note personalize make you need to stand out as you are different from all the rest of the people that are want to have events so a personal thank you note is great um send an email and maybe it's five points to recap from what the workshop was about remind them and then also you're creating that next event so you have a problem you solve the problem with the event that you just had and which leads to the next event what is that next title going to be the theme what problem what what retreat promise are you are you going to um provide too many people don't this is worldwide in any industry too many people drop the ball on following up and that is a key point to that next sale or that next event for the attendance because you've shared with them one hour three hours a full day or two days um a lot of ideas a lot of your your own thoughts the group's thoughts and you don't want to leave people hanging they matter they invested their time and money into attending your event and so follow up and follow through with them it's it's really building it's really building a lifelong you know relationship and what other work you have you want them to support the other other work that you do provide wonderful this has been super fun christine um we've got about uh 10 minutes left um and so if anybody here listening please send your questions if you are you know like rose was exploring some some things that she needed some specific solutions on let us know what uh you know we're here for you to bounce ideas off of and because i can't see i don't know how many people are on but as a follow-up for you and i peter we were going to give a gift the uh a free pdf download of my calendar my quarterly calendar which i can run and get it which is a it would be a great tool for our listeners to um use to develop their first event or accomplish whatever goal they want to accomplish whether that's creating an event or you know maybe it's learning learning a new something new or exercise or nutrition or whatever it might be yeah and you showed this to me earlier and it is fantastic it's such a beautiful offering for you to offer and a great follow-up to this if you are thinking about hosting your event to plan it out and have this awesome tool so it is a a digital pdf yes i if i have our anyone's email i would email them the pdf they can download it they can read it or they can print it on their own i would be more than happy to share that it is sold on amazon but for anyone that's been listening today i would love to give them a thank you for taking the time to listen to you and i and send that job i would just need email so it's it's it's not listed anywhere so yeah we're gonna need your email the way to do that you can't put emails into the comments here um but send myself or christine a direct message here on insight timer then you can share um your email in that so that's gonna you know you can follow me once you're following either of us then you can on our profile page there's this option um what is it looks like this dot dot dot okay so here i am on christine kutlowski's profile now right above donate here is these three dots you click on that and then you have the option down here to message the teacher this is what you're going to do now i can send christine my email address and so i'll do that and send it to her and this is how you'll receive then christine is going to send out this awesome um resource for planning and developing you your your event really cool uh monica says thank you so much for your time this was very valuable uh you also both demonstrated how co-facilitating works oh thanks so much monica love it yes it's been so fun to collaborate with you christine been great so here's a copy of your book that will be free and i would love to send it to anyone just send me a message and thank you all for listening and peter this has been great super great now yes you know play off of what what we said earlier about pricing um you can receive this as a free gift but you can practice that exercise of increasing its value to you if you would like by sending a donation and me and christine will split this um or you can indicate to me if this is in payment almost for that that book and so by offering that energetic exchange of money you're going to increase how much you value this thing and so if this event was valuable to you you know i almost never uh mention this on here but you are always welcome to donate and it does increase your experience you know you're going to elevate this and hold on to this information much more by making that energetic exchange of of providing a donation or a payment yes thanks for asking and sacha says can you share the full name of christine please so i can find her on insight timer yeah i'll type that into the chat real quick and making sure i have it again kotlowski k-o-t-l-o-w-s-k-i perfect got it well it's been a joy and um we hope everyone that has been on got several really good tips and tricks to be able to implement their your event their event and and move forward yeah um in this last few minutes if you are planning an event like what i would love for you to share what are you working on are you you know rose mentioned she's working on an art centered event um so satya me are you guys working on something monica jenny it would be so fun to hear what you guys are are working on offering that would be great we could brainstorm a few ideas for their event sacha says i'm thinking of a cacao circle love me some cacao yes love it and and it's beautiful that's it's it's so that's a really nice thing to center around and you can theme that's a really good one to theme it with we've got the um spring equinox coming up and so that and that's you know a month and a half away that might be a good event for you to think about such a is uh the spring equinox cacao ceremony me says i'd love to offer a women's circle for community and i'll i'll open that you know my comments on well i'll just really quickly that women's circle is what i love to do and our soulful saturday so i'm just going to give a quick outline of what the event was it was an hour and a half we met one saturday a month we had a title of the event the soulful saturday the description of it we would open with a song that was tied into the title of or the theme of the workshop and then we would have an opening message you can do a prayer or just a really nice welcome then we had each person say their name and either share three things about themselves or why they why they were even there that was wonderful because they would say like i'm just really in a bad place or i'm going through a divorce or whatever then you get an idea of what your the group is is experiencing emotionally then i would talk about the meaning of the title like what it meant to me and i would break into two or three different small groups ask a question for um for them to ponder in a small group then they would come back they would share their own thoughts and then we would end with a meditation and it was always just we would have q a lot of open discussion it wasn't all me it was all of us together trying to discuss whatever the title was so i would be more than happy to if you send me a message i could send you 12 different themes for a women's circle that's super cool yeah um and sacha asks can we re-watch these this event these tips somewhere so i i have recorded it i have the audio recorded and we also have the video recorded from our our video interaction um i think that it would be fun to post this as a track as a podcast here on insight timer um and maybe one or both of us can do that um so yeah something like that should be available in a week or two okay i'll i'll collaborate with christine continue this collaboration that's right that's right and we are at two hours we have 100 meditators here on with us thank you guys so much for tuning in wonderful that's i have butterflies you know it when we share ideas and thoughts and just energy amongst one another and we want the best for others and you bring that into any event that you do you cannot help but have success and fulfillment so i'm really pleased that um everyone here enjoyed their time yes well we have to schedule our next one peter perfect okay thank you christine thank you satya me kat rose monica jenny thank you guys so much for being here i did we get some hearts we got quite a bit of hearts okay i'll be able to tell yeah yeah lots and lots of hearts flying up right now it's really really awesome to see um one thing just did just come up to me that is this host event thing that might happen if you have a really successful event that sometimes that's a bit of a high and to just be aware of that and do what you need to do to not crash afterwards because you know with these big highs doing a successful event feeling so accomplished if if you can channel that energy into planning the next event know that you're not done and there's you can go oh that was awesome now i'm gonna go do all this stuff to get the next event going um i think that i never arrive and i i think it's good to celebrate it's good to reflect and think about what went really well build upon that also consider what maybe you know the snafus and the things that that didn't work as well learn from that give yourself again what we talked about give yourself ample time set your next event learn from and and and just keep moving forward and growing and evolving and helping all those you know other people do do the same and if you flub up and you say something or it doesn't go over well give yourself grace and love and compassion and don't beat yourself up and just say next move on next then it's it's not about giving up it's about keeping going pressing forward and learning and growing as we i just did with this live with you peter feel the way yeah yeah if you have a flub up and break your audio it's okay right right thanks me for that that comment said uh what you just said peter is so so good director of movies just said that uh that same line uh so true perfect all right goodbye for now all right thank you i'm just going to read your bio here on insight timer so she is a teacher on that timer for the last three years she's been teaching she has meditation tracks walking meditations creating space for change oh lots of beautiful offerings celebrating you what the heart knows some of the things that you deal with is grief and loss in your profile you have christine katlowski is a multi-faceted personality recognized as an entrepreneur author speaker meditation teacher and podcast creator of friends up front through her coaching christine enables individuals to discover their true identity articulate their unique voice and empower empowers them with the tools to accomplish their personal goals she has authored books like my mom's gone now what and the art of well-being and is the founder of rise up coaching her optimistic personality resilience to overcome challenges and the wisdom she shares are her greatest attributes while she remains profoundly passionate about living in the present moment a little bit about myself my name is peter or pete i've been teaching here on insight timer for the last five months so a newbie what i am teaching is all about manifestation and what i call the manifestation muscle and how we can use this really unique practice called the pinwheel or telekinesis practice to see your manifestations right in front of your eyes and by doing that you can activate principles of biofeedback so training neural networks to get better at at manifestation to refine that skill to build it up like a muscle so that eventually you have this ability for effortless subconscious manifestation and the result of that that i've experienced in my own life is this beautiful effortless flow of synchronicities and and that is a pure flex of the manifestation muscle is a synchronicity showing up in your life just a little little bit of what i get into is when you have a synchronicity what that is is you've cultivated a desire you've set that you've expressed that desire however subtly you know it's usually a playful thought hmm that would be nice if that happened if my friend called whatever simple thing it is and then you completely let it go and there's no unnatural longing or desire there's no sense of separation or lack of that thing it shows up in your life because there's absolutely no resistance to it that's that pure flex of the manifestation muscle but you know that it was a manifestation because you love it and you you acknowledge it as good and it it goes back to that that tiny little moment where you expressed that beautiful desire before letting it go and then allowing for the synchronicity to show them and on sundays i get together with other teachers on insight timer and i do these these shared lives um when i call sacred sunday connection where i share my beautiful knowledge and experiences and collaborate with somebody amazing like christine katlowski and today we're talking all about hosting a retreat or an event taking that that sacred knowledge that's benefited your life and offering that beautifully to benefit other people oh wow 1. 3 000 hearts and i'm in that room talking to myself goodbye