Summer Retreat Ideas to Spark Your Chapter's Creativity

As many of our collegiate chapters gear up to return to campus, we know that many of you have your sisterhood retreats planned. Whether you are conducting fall formal recruitment, or holding your retreat to reconnect with sisters, here are 5 ideas for sparking creativity during your Delta Zeta retreat.

1.       Get outside. Not only does playing outside produce more creative and playful children—it works especially well with adults. Get your members out of the chapter house and see the effect a change in physical environment has on mental output.

2.       Stimulate All of Their Senses. We’ve all heard it – people learn and relate in different ways. Make sure your retreat agenda includes a good balance of presentation and learning methods. Use videos and music, pair sisters up to discuss a topic, build something out of blocks, the point is to do something outside the normal presentation method.

3.       Show Them the Castle. When Walt Disney was building Disneyland, he instructed the construction team to build the castle first so the team could share in the vision of the project, even amidst the muck and chaos of construction. Likewise, be sure to kick off your retreat by sharing your mission and vision.

4.       Bring in An Outside Facilitator. Your exec board might know exactly what your chapter needs to do to achieve your goals, but your members will most likely listen and internalize the information more coming from an outside source. This is the best time to ask a campus advisor, professor, residence hall director, or the like to come be a guest speaker and deliver the message you want your chapter to hear.

5.       TISP. Finally, make each member feel Trusted, Important, Special, and Pleased. "When you're hosting a party, make sure everyone at the party feels like they were the most important guest."