DIY Writing Retreat Toolkit: Going Digital

What if we can't meet in person?

If scheduling, travel logistics, or other circumstances will prevent hosting a face-to-face retreat, don't fret: online retreats can be every bit as valuable. Below, we'll walk through adjustments you can make to the guidance provided so far in this guide to host your retreat digitally instead of in person.

Meeting logistics

Rather than booking a physical room, you'll need to create an online meeting everyone can join at the designated time. Follow this guidance to schedule a Teams meeting via Outlook calendar, or choose a different virtual meeting platform.

• It's easiest to send out one meeting link to cover the duration of the retreat, though you will still follow an itinerary comprised of clear sessions (e.g. 'Welcome and Goal Setting,' then 'Writing Session 1,' and so on). 
• Encourage everyone to test the link in advance to avoid IT hiccups on the day of the retreat. Establish a backup communication method (such as an email or messaging group) just in case anyone gets dropped from the call.

Itinerary adjustments

At the start and end of each writing session, ensure that the goal setting and reflection aspects still involve sharing with others. If your digital retreat is large, you can use breakout rooms to split the participants into smaller groups for these activities.

Set up a Whiteboard for everyone to share session goals as digital post-its. Move the goals between 'Planned,' 'In Progress,' and 'Finished' columns to celebrate progress throughout the day.

 Alternately, you can use the below goal tracker created by the Academic Skills team to share and update mini-goals throughout your retreat.

For a digital retreat, your group contract should articulate expectations around camera use. Should everyone agree to come on camera and mic when sharing goals and reflections? Probably! But what about during the actual writing/working time? This is down to preference!

• Staying off camera while writing will feel more comfortable for some groups.
• For other groups, staying on camera might serve as a 'body doubling' strategy to improve everyone's sense of accountability.
• Mixing and matching could be a fair compromise: those who want to stay on camera, do, and those who don't...don't!

Wellbeing and community at a distance

Though some of the suggestions on the previous page won't directly translate to a digital retreat, most can be adapted to work at a distance.

• Walking bingo: Use an online 'bingo card generator' to customise bingo cards for participants' wellbeing walks. Fill the squares with different dog breeds, birds, food cuisines, car models, etc.—get creative! When everyone returns to the call, share results to see who managed to spot the most bingo items during their walks. You can also format this as a list-based photo scavenger hunt.
• Breathing exercises: Sneak in five-minute breathing exercises as a means to de-stress and, assuming the exercises are narrated, give everyone's eyes a screen break.
• Screenshare yoga/stretching: If anyone in the group is happy to lead a little yoga or stretching session, great! Let them come on camera and lead. If not, one person can screenshare an online video for everyone to follow along with in real time.
• Digital quizzes and games: The options here are plentiful, with everything available from timed trivia to drawing games to digital escape rooms with interesting stories and themes. These are a good way to have some fun and relax during a longer wellbeing break or to celebrate the end of the retreat.

As you can see, there are many ways to feel 'together' in community despite being in different places. When planning out these wellbeing and community options for your digital retreat, just remember to build in time for people to eat, move, and take screen breaks as you would with an in-person retreat.

Whether your retreat will be in-person or online, if you have any remaining questions, you can head to our FAQs next for quick answers!