Plan meals and refreshments well in advance. Consider your resources and decide if it would be better to arrange catered meals or to do your own cooking. For one-day retreats, you may wish to ask participants to bring their own bag lunches. The host can provide coffee, milk, soft drinks and perhaps dessert. When considering this essential aspect of retreat planning, remember that you are trying to reach the widest number of potential participants.
Personal contact goes a long way.
Also, be sure that any printed publicity is appealing. A sloppy poster or flyer means a sloppy retreat, just as an unenthusiastic personal invitation will produce an unenthusiastic response. Plan to publicize the retreat well in advance. Project your expenses. Establish an estimated budget.