---

You’ve got great students and your teaching works. And you’d love to offer a live or virtual retreat to create deeper change in your clients, work meaningfully with a smaller group, and build your brand and your teaching practice. But how do you price it, and who’s going to pay that much? How soon should you start marketing? Is your list big enough? And once onsite, what about the gluten-free vegans and the guy who thought he signed up for something else?

When retreats go well, you’ve cultivated superfans, gotten great testimonials, and developed relationships that contribute to your business success—and your income—long into the future.

But memorable, profitable retreats need the logistical skills of a stage manager, the patience of a saint, and the confident direction of a ringmaster. You need a step-by-step strategy to test your concept, find your true audience, and build your own confidence as a not-at-all-cheesy salesperson.

Allison K Williams leads sold-out retreats in gorgeous locations around the world, including Tuscany, France, Morocco and onboard the ocean liner Queen Mary 2. She’s managed her own live and virtual retreats and partnered with leading host organizations including UpTrek and Madeline Island School for the Arts.

In this live training, you’ll learn how to sell every spot long before that hotel deposit is due—and the planning and budgeting that let you take home a well-deserved five-figure profit.

By clearly defining your concept, structure, and most powerful selling points, you’ll understand whether to go live or virtual, how many days to run, what to charge—and how to attract the guests who will benefit most from an experience that matters.

This session runs for four hours total (that includes a 30-minute break midway) with plenty of time for questions. You’ll also take home budget and planning sheets to develop and refine your own retreats.

What our time together will look like (Eastern Time):

• 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Presentation by Allison
• 1:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.: Lunch break
• 2:00 p.m to 3:30 p.m.: Presentation by Allison
• 3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Additional Q&A time and/or breakout room networking

This workshop will cover:

• Your Three A’s: Attitude, Anecdote, Authority; and how they create your retreat mood, marketing and ideal clientele
• Features vs Benefits—what’s in it for THEM? How identifying their problem sells more seats than pretty pictures
• Fair pricing—and fair profits
• Waitlist strategy to fill the guest list before even building the website.
• The vital budget line almost everyone forgets (you’re in trouble without this!)
• Making the most of your credentials—even if you don’t have many!
• Creating a webpage that converts (and the four elements your site MUST have)
• Timelines for marketing and planning (and how to fill last-minute cancellations)
• The “magic question” to get great testimonials you can USE
• Working with partner organizations & co-teachers (How much $$$ should you ask for? How much should you pay?)
• How to carefully support dietary and other special needs
• Strategies for handling difficult guests
• Transcendence: the secret sauce of great retreats means making every participant feel special—and like they got their money’s worth
• Hard numbers of Allison’s most- and least-profitable retreats, and how to use those successes and avoid the flops in your own retreats.
• Using AI for marketing without losing your voice
• Evaluating your competition to build your own plans

Who should take this class

• Teachers with a following and/or an idea for a larger event who need a solid plan
• Coaches and editors who’d like to work beyond one-on-one and reach the next level
• Retreat leaders whose events aren’t selling out—or selling at all
• Retreat leaders who’d like to expand from local to international, or one-off webinars to a longer program
• Self-help and business/personal development authors & speakers who want to provide a powerful, focused experience for their core audience
• Writers, artists, yogis and collectives planning a “friend” retreat who want everyone to still be friends afterward

Note: While Allison leads writing-focused retreats, we’re looking at concept, planning, marketing and structure rather than daily content or teaching methods. This webinar will be appropriate for those who wish to center their events on writing, yoga, mind/body/spirit, visual/performing arts, business development or self-improvement.

Who should not take this class

• We will NOT cover digital course delivery systems (like Kajabi) or on-demand technology. However, the marketing, audience and budgeting information can be applied to planning live/virtual courses, and we will talk about effective Zoom teaching and payment systems.

What you’ll receive

Supplemental materials all students receive

• Budget planning sheet for your retreat
• Marketing and planning timelines for your retreat
• Sample food preferences and medical info forms to copy/change as you like
• Sample terms & conditions for protecting yourself and your business from liability and cancellation issues
• Sample contract to use for hiring additional teachers

How do I attend the live class?

This class uses Zoom webinar technology (see system requirements). You will join through your Internet-connected computer or mobile device. When you register, you will receive information via email on how to join the class. If you don’t receive it within 1 hour of registering, please contact us.

• When: Saturday, March 21, 2026
• Time: 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Eastern / 9:00 a.m. Pacific (there will be a 30-minute break)
• Registration fee: $299

The webinar is broadcasted via the internet with live audio delivered through your computer or mobile device speakers. The visual presentation is displayed directly from the presenter’s computer to your computer screen. The Q&A is managed through a chat-style submission system with questions read and answered by the presenter for the entire class to hear.

Closed captions are provided during the live class. We use Zoom’s automated closed caption service, which is about 80%+ accurate. We use ElevenLabs to generate a lightly transcript, provided with the recording.

Refund policy

If you need to cancel your enrollment before class begins, we’ll refund your registration cost, minus a non-refundable $25 processing fee. Why? Because we must pay 3% in payment processing fees even when payments are refunded.

Testimonials from students and retreat attendees

Event Attendance & Anti-Harassment Policy

We strive to provide an environment where all present—whether attendee, presenter, or staff—can feel supported. In order to ensure a welcoming event, here is what we expect from all who participate.

• That the presenter and the presenter’s work be treated with respect by attendees and that all attendees treat each other with respect and a generosity of spirit.
• That attendees will refrain from harassment of any sort including (but not limited to) comments or questions of a racist, homophobic, sexist/sexual, or threatening nature. This includes actions that disrupt or interfere with anyone’s ability to participate. Offenders will be disconnected from the live event.