THRIVE MOMS RETREAT host handbook drawing closer to the heart of God in community with one another THRIVEMOMS.COM/LOCAL
table of CONTENTS Welcome Letter How to Get Started Spreading the Word Social Media Prompts Planning the Details Partnering with Your Church Hosting in Your Home The Day of the Event Event Day Checklist Streaming the Live Event Childcare How to Reach Out for Help
Hello RETREAT HOSTS! Welcome to the Thrive Moms Retreat Host Handbook! I am so excited you have decided to host the moms in your community for our Retreat! This handbook will hopefully provide direction, give you ideas and let you know how to reach out if you need help! Our goal is for you to feel equipped and empowered to minister to the moms God has put in your life. Our retreats are a virtual online format and broadcast live the day of the event. Each retreat is recorded and we have past retreats also available if you would ever like to host a group viewing of those. On the day of retreat, women all over the world will be gathering to watch together. Some may meet in a group or be alone at home folding laundry. Your group may be any size but even if it s just you and a friend we want to help you get the most out of retreat as possible! Hosting a retreat can look many different ways. It can be as simple as a group of friends hanging out in your living room huddled around the laptop with coffee. It could be 50 women watching together at your church over breakfast! Whatever your event looks like, is up to you. Consider your time, energy and resources when planning your event and decide what will work best for you and your community. No matter what you plan, we will support you all the way! If you have further questions or need help and guidance please don t hesitate to reach out! I am so thankful for you and your willingness to minister with us in your local community! Ali Pedersen Thrive Moms Community Manager community@thrivemoms.com
How to get started You might be thinking Okay, I filled out the form and signed up Now what?! SPREADING THE WORD First and foremost, you want to spread the word about your event. Attendees are the most important part of your get together! You can refer to the list of social media prompts I ve included or write your own. Be sure to post right away and share about speakes, theme and details as we lead up to the event to get moms excited to join you. Images are also very important for creating interest. You can feel free to use images from the Thrive Moms social media pages or email me and I can send you the current retreat graphics. You can also use the provided postcard invitations and flyers to share with people out in your community or at church. Recruit your friends and fellow Thrive Moms to hand out invites as well! Send them the cards and flyers to print themselves or give them a stack to distribute. The half page flyers are perfect for bulletin boards at church or other local mom hangouts! If you are a Thrive Local leader, of course announce retreat to your group and encourage them to invite their friends!
Social Media Prompts Please feel free to use the prompts below to promote your local retreat. You can also use any retreat graphics and images from the Thrive Moms social media pages. If you would like us to send you the current retreat graphics, shoot an email to community@thrivemoms.com. 1. Hey guys! If you haven t seen yet, we announced the Thrive Moms Retreat today! The theme is (fill in the info) and we have some AMAZING speakers, including (fill in the info)! We will have more info to come but for now you can check out thrivemoms.com/retreat. 2. Have you heard?! The Thrive Moms Retreat has been scheduled and the speakers have been anounced. Click the link to find out everything you need to know and start planning now! (link to thrivemoms.com/retreat) This event is 100% FREE and 100% online, so you don t have to worry about babysitters or finances to join in with our community! 3. Mom Friends! I am hosting a local get together so we can all watch the Thrive Moms Retreat together live with thousands of other moms all over the world! Come be encouraged and refreshed with me! The retreat will be held at (location on date at time). Let me know if you plan to attend or if you would like to help out! 4. Hey moms! Thrive Moms is putting on an ONLINE retreat this Saturday! It is free and all you have to do is log on! If you aren t able to tune in live, you will be able to access the video recording after the event. #thrivemomsretreat 5. Tomorrow! If you aren t able to join us for the Thrive Moms Retreat head on over to thrivemomslive.com and join live! The team will be live interacting with you during the retreat tomorrow, I m so excited about how God will use this to bless moms in a BIG way! #thrivemomsretreat
Planning the Details Once you have spread the word about your upcoming event, its time to start planning what you want your local retreat to look like. Some things to consider are whether you want to provide food, if you want to have music, and providing the printable resources to your attendees. One of the big things to consider is cost. If you want to plan a large event but aren t prepared to take on the cost yourself, because it can get expensive, you can think about asking your church for help or asking for participation from a few of your friends. You don t need to spend any money to throw a great retreat but if you have big ideas you may find you need to spend some money. Some moms may be willing to bring a dish to share or print some resources at home to help cut costs. Don t feel like you have to do everything yourself. You can even make a planning team to break up the responsibilities. PARTNERING WITH YOUR CHURCH Some hosts find it easier to host at their church. If your church leadership is on board it can make things a bit easier for you. They may be able to provide the venue, possible childcare, funding, and sharing about the event in church announcements. Not all churches will be able to provide this kind of support, but it doesn t hurt to ask. Get in touch with either a pastor or administrator at your church and share with them a little about what Thrive Moms is about. You can even send them a link to view past retreats to get a better idea of what the event will look like. Make sure you ask as far in advance as possible to be able to secure the date if you want to host the event there. HOSTING IN YOUR HOME Hosting in your home is a good option if you are expecting a small group. It makes for a comfortable and intimate setting that is always nice. One thing to consider is whether you are comfortable with moms you don t know attending in your home. You will need to decide if the event will be open to friends of friends, etc. We do hope you can be open to inviting moms you may not already know into your group.
The Day of the Event Be sure to allow yourself plenty of time to get set up. You don t want to be five minutes away from starting and still trying to connect your computer to the TV! You don t want to be stressed out and frantic right before Retreat starts. Keep it simple and allow yourself plenty of time to prepare. Retreat is for you to enjoy too! Consider having a few ladies come early to help you set up and get ready. Remember this is a community event so allow others to be in community with you! If ladies are bringing food or something else to contribute ask them to show up a little early. Retreat starts at 11:00am CST, but that is when the live feed starts. Have ladies arrive between 10-10:30am CST so everyone can get a cup of coffee and settle in before the stream starts. I like to have worship music playing during this time to make people feel more comfortable and give a little ambiance. The actual live feed will last around three hours, but be sure you let people know it will be more like four hours total. This allows for time to get settled in at the beginning and a little chat time after. There will be a couple of short intermissions to provide a little bathroom and coffee break. There will be a short time of worship with our Director of Ministries, Nathalie Hope. During this time you can encourage people to reflect, pray or sing along in worship. The best way to do this is to lead by example, but of course this is up to you and your comfort level. After the live stream has wrapped up take a look around, there may be a mom who is feeling particularly emotional and in need of prayer. These kinds of events can affect everyone a little differently and as a host it is great if you can make yourself available to talk and pray with moms. Maybe chat with a few friends of yours you think would be willing and able to pray with people in case the need arises.
Event Day Checklist 1. Decorations (of course optional) ex: flowers, succulents, printables, dishes and utensils if needed, candles, etc 2. TV 3. Laptop or Computer 4. Cables 5. Your Bible and Retreat Magazine 6. Food and Drinks (also optional) ex: simple finger food, breakfast pastries, fruit, quiche or deviled eggs, coffee and tea, cookies or treats 7. Goodies you may want to hand out 8. Pens 9. Printed Note Taking Packets 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.
HOW TO STREAM THE LIVE EVENT The event is streamed online at thrivemomslive.com and you can watch directly on your computer or laptop. If you have a larger group you may want to consider connecting to your TV. If you have a smart TV or Apple TV already set up you can use these devices to mirror the video directly to your television. If you do not have a streaming device already you will need to purchase a cable to allow you to do so manually. For Mac users you will most likely need a thunderbolt or mini display port to HDMI cable. It really depends on what computer and TV you have. You can try searching online How to connect my type of computer to my TV. If you are a Mac user you can go down to your local Apple store, if you have one, and they can help you find what you need. The same should be true of a Best Buy or other electronics store. Just be sure you know what type of computer and tv you have or at least what ports are on each, before going in. If you don t know which ports you have, take a picture of the plugs on the back of you TV and computer to take with you. I promise this all sounds more complicated than it is! Once you have what you need be sure to test drive your set up about a week ahead of time, to be sure you can make adjustments if needed. If you are hosting at your church, talk with the technical director of your church to have them help stream the video to the screens or tvs you will be watching on. Make sure you connect ahead of time with this person to work out audio and video. CHILDCARE Depending where you host your event this maybe look different. I have found in the past that there are always a few people who are unable to attend unless they have somewhere for their children to go. The last thing we want is for this to keep anyone from attending. If you are hosting in your home consider having a babysitter or older child entertain the younger kids in the backyard or playroom. You can ask a friend to volunteer to do childcare or ask the moms who bring children to donate a small amount to help cover childcare fees. It also makes things easier if you are able to supply coloring pages or an art project to keep them busy. If you are hosting at church you may be able to find volunteers to help with childcare. Try asking around. You may be surprised who is willing to donate their time. I like to be sure and offer up a cup of coffee and some breakfast snacks as a thank you for their help! Childcare is by no means a requirement, just a nice option for some moms if you are able to provide it.
PRINTABLE RESOURCES With each Retreat we will provide different and new printable resources! These are so much fun! We will provide a printable notes page for moms who did not purchas a retreat magazine to use during the live event. We will also have little decorations or goodies you can hand out, such as bookmarks or art prints. These resources will be emailed out to you a few weeks prior to Retreat. If you did not sign up to host on the Thrive Moms website, we will not know to send you your resources, so be sure you are signed up! WHERE TO REACH OUT FOR HELP If you are finding you still have questions or specific situation you need help with please do not hesitate to reach out for help. We are available to you via email at community@thrivemoms.com. If you reach out on social media we cannot guarantee we will see your question so be sure to email us so we can get back to you! We want to do our best to help make your event a huge success! We love you and can t wait to see you at Retreat!