We can usually tell within two lines whether an enquiry comes from someone who has run a retreat before.
The experienced ones send eight specific things. The first-timers send enthusiasm, a rough month, and a question about price. Both are welcome, but the first gets a real proposal in a day and the second turns into four rounds of email before anyone knows anything.
This is the list, and why each item changes the answer.
The eight things
Dates, with your flexibility stated. Not “sometime in March”. If you can move by a week, say so, because availability and cost both move with it. If you cannot, say that too, and we will tell you straight away whether it works.
Group size, with a realistic floor. Not the number you hope for. The number below which you would cancel. Every venue conversation is different once we know that, because it tells us what risk you are carrying.
The shape of the day. Not a full schedule, just the rhythm: how many sessions, how long, indoors or out, morning or evening. This is the item that first-timers skip and it is the one that most often decides whether a venue actually works for the format. A camp can offer a beautiful sunrise practice space and have nowhere usable for a two-hour seated session at three in the afternoon.
Dietary requirements you already know. Not all of them, you will not have them yet. But if you know you have four vegans and a coeliac, say so now rather than three weeks out.
Mobility considerations. Anyone in the group you are planning around. This changes routing, tent allocation and which excursions we suggest, and it is far easier to solve in advance than on arrival.
Whether the retreat is dry. This goes into the briefing before anything is ordered. There is a real difference between a venue that declines alcohol and one where none is present, and you only get the second if you say so early.
Your connectivity requirement. Be honest about it. Some formats need none. Teacher trainings need some. A venue selling total disconnection is selling something certain retreats cannot use, and it is better to find that out now.
Equipment volume. Yoga props, sound bowls, filming kit, art materials, workshop supplies. This determines whether the vehicle convoy needs an extra car. A practitioner arriving with fourteen sound bowls and no warning is a thing that has actually happened.
Two more, if they apply
Do you need a private room for one-to-one sessions? Asked for constantly, easy to arrange with notice, awkward to improvise.
Is this your first retreat? Say so. It is not a weakness and it changes the quality of what we can tell you. A venue that has hosted a hundred groups knows what usually goes wrong at twelve people over five nights, and most will tell you if asked. Hiding it means you get a proposal designed for someone with a track record you do not have yet.
What you should ask us in return
The exchange runs both ways, and a venue that cannot answer these has probably not hosted your format.
Where exactly does the group sit for the longest session of the day, and is that space private from staff movement? How many quiet places exist outside the tents for people to be alone? What happens on a day when the weather stops the outdoor plan? What is the distance to the nearest hospital, and what vehicle is on site? Who is our single point of contact, and how fast do they answer?
If the answers are vague, that is information.
Why this speeds everything up
With the eight things, a proposal takes us a day. Without them, it takes four emails, and each round loses momentum you need for selling.
More importantly, the eight things let us tell you honestly when we are the wrong venue. Every experienced facilitator we work with has been told at some point that a format would not work here, and several have said afterwards that it was the reason they came back with a different one.
To start
Send the list. Incomplete is fine, and say which parts are still moving.
Related: the economics of hosting at a whole-camp venue, deposits and cancellation terms, and moving a group of twelve to twenty.
