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How To Stage A Mastermind Retreat

This article is more than 5 years old.

Copeland Productions

When Karen Jacobsen moved to America from Australia in 2000 with the dream of being a singer and songwriter, she never envisioned herself as the leader of mastermind retreats.

Today her piano playing and powerful vocals have taken her to stages and screens across the world, on nine albums and as a national anthem singer in multiple major sports stadiums in the United States and Australia.

Unexpectedly, it is her speaking voice that has garnered global attention, ending up in over a billion GPS, smartphones, elevators, cruise ships and software applications worldwide and as the original Australian voice of Apple’s Siri. This led to wide media coverage, including being a clue in The New York Times crossword puzzle and Harry Connick Jr calling her “hypnotic” on his talk show.

In addition to speaking professionally and finding time to author two books, she leads mastermind retreats.

Her upcoming March 1-3, 2019 mastermind experience in the New York area is for a maximum of eight women only, who may be looking for strategies to feel good daily, have a sense of control, to be clear on priorities and have their quality of life skyrocket. She is also doing a June 21-23 mastermind retreat in Queensland, Australia (details at karenjacobsen.com).

“This is a transformational weekend and participants get to create their dream and make it real,” says Jacobsen. “In our digitally distracted, over scheduled, undernourished, sleep deprived version of modern life, many people are craving connection.”

Large conferences and learning experiences are commonplace, but one of the trends in professional development is the small group retreat.

“Not only does each person receive more personalized attention, the mastermind retreat environment lends itself to powerful brainstorming and results from a collective conversation,” says Jacobsen.

Jacobsen shared her top ten tips for those who want to create their own mastermind retreat:

  1. “Decide how many attendees would be your dream number.”
  2. “Choose a location; will this be local, or a destination?”
  3. “Identify your preferred venue. When considering the style for my own retreats, I was drawn to locating a large luxury home I could rent so all attendees would be in close quarters for the duration of the weekend. I decided registration would include all accommodation and meals, with attendees dining together with a private chef catering in house. Others prefer a hotel or conference facility.”
  4. “Determine the length of the event. Will it be a weekend, three days, or longer?”
  5. “Develop the curriculum based on outcomes. Is this a business retreat, personal retreat, or does it incorporate aspects of both? Be able to clearly articulate the benefits of being with you for your retreat.”
  6. “Budget your fixed expenses and create pricing.”
  7. “Make decisions and tweak as you go. If you want to lead a retreat, book the date and get the word out. Human beings tend to be excellent at unnecessarily complicating, so keep your structure simple for the first event.”
  8. “Craft a catchy name for your mastermind retreat.”
  9. “Share your retreat information with your network through social, email and in person. Be excited about the opportunity this format provides.”
  10. “Prepare every detail in advance so you can be fully present as you lead your participants through this experience.”

Jacobsen has one bonus piece of advice. “Ask for feedback and testimonials at the end of the event. These will be invaluable as you schedule your future events.”