I started thinking about the extreme cost of workshops and conferences when I read Jacqueline’s Missing Out on Spirituality. It seems a worthy topic to explore. Many of us hope to expand our lives in some fashion with an enriching workshop, retreat, or conference, but they are often very expensive.

This past weekend I was in Chico with a group of women that I met originally at Squaw, which is a writing conference in the Sierras. We met to workshop new poems over the course of three days. We congregated in one woman’s home on a lake, cooked for ourselves, and cleaned for ourselves. It cost me a plane ticket (which I feel guilty about) and $40 for food, and, most importantly, provided a community of like-minded supportive people. We did this on our own, sort of taking the authority to do so into our own hands.

I mention authority, because I think we tend to place far too much value on it for workshops, retreats, and conferences, as if the only way to learn meditation is from the Dalai Lama and not our neighbor Joe who has meditated for twenty years or we can workshop poetry only with Mary Oliver and not with our own quite well published poet-friends. We get caught in thinking we have to operate within the bounds of a conventional experience when that may not suit our needs. (Enter bar camp for unconventional thinking about conferences and authority.) Please note that there is nothing wrong with a conventional experience, but it often leaves lots of people out due to cost and logistical issues. Furthermore, I sense that many of us are starved for community, so it seems a shame that we may be missing out. There is no reason you can’t create a small workshop or retreat on your own. We did it in LRY/YRUU. We can do it now too.

I suggest you consider the following elements:

• What is our purpose (e.g., to learn meditation, to build a community, to write new work)? 
• Where can we best meet our purpose (e.g., campground, vacation rental, conference center, someone’s home)?
• How can we best structure our time (e.g., an opening prayer, workshops or silence, and closing ceremony of sorts)?
• What sorts of spaces are available (e.g., private rooms, public spaces, outdoors)?
• What do we want to do about food and sleeping arrangements (e.g., bring food, cook for ourselves, have it catered, sleep in sleeping bags, bring mattresses, etc.)?
• Who will lead? And when? And what are the expectations for leadership?

Most of us who have done a bit of event planning (e.g., your own wedding, parents’ anniversary brunch, parties for others) understand some of the logistical and cost issues, and I think there are good ways to keep these to a minimum with small intimate gatherings at home and outdoors rather than large meetings at corporate facilities. 

Resources

Making a Retreat

Start Your Own Writers Workshop