Planning Your First Successful Retreat
with Amber Karnes
Watch the recording of this live, 3-hour class designed for anyone who is feeling intimidated to host their first retreat
Have you always dreamed of hosting a retreat but feel overwhelmed by the details? Watch this live workshop with Amber Karnes that will uncomplicate the retreat planning process. We’ll cover all the essentials — from creating a plan and finding the right venue to managing logistics like food, schedule, and marketing. Amber brings 25+ years of event planning experience, plus practical advice and real-life stories that will help you begin to create your first unforgettable retreat.
Have you always dreamed of hosting your own retreat?
Hi there. My name is Amber Karnes. I’ve been throwing events since I was a teenager — juried craft markets, professional trainings, hardcore punk shows, parties, and everything in between. But by far, my favorite type of events to host are multi-day retreats.
As the creator of Body Positive Yoga, I have hosted over a dozen sold-out wellness retreats over the past 10 years. Along the way, I’ve heard from many fellow yoga teachers and wellness providers who want to host their own retreats. They all say similar things:
I’ve always dreamed of hosting my own retreat but it seems so intimidating.
I started looking for a venue, but then I got stuck. There are too many logistics to figure out.
Social media doesn’t work like it used to. How will I do marketing?
I have amazing ideas for a retreat but the whole thing scares me. What if no one signs up?
It’s true, planning a retreat involves a lot of moving parts. But at its core, planning a retreat is just like planning any event!
I bet you already know how to do most of this!
I love demystifying the process of retreat planning and building confidence in folks who want to throw retreats.
Have you ever planned a dinner party, a family holiday gathering, a class, or a workshop? If so, you already know how to plan an event. These skills can transfer to planning a retreat, which is just a more complex event than you’re used to.
If you are skilled at facilitating or teaching groups of people, congratulations! You are already good at the hardest part of hosting these events. The rest of the process just requires a little time and planning. With my support, I’m confident you can absolutely do this.
Get the essential information you need to book your first successful retreat.
This is a recorded live, 3-hour workshop about how to plan a retreat from creating a compelling plan and choosing a venue to tackling logistics and marketing.
You’ll leave the workshop with:
- A high-level view of everything involved with planning and throwing a retreat: finding a venue, making a schedule, marketing the retreat, collecting feedback afterward, and more
- What parts of the retreat process you feel confident to handle yourself versus the ones you want to outsource
- Plus, if you join the co-working sessions, you’ll have a supportive group of peers (including me!) who are working on their retreats right alongside you. Now is the perfect time to start if you want to host an event in Summer or Fall 2025.
What will you learn at the workshop?
- Before you start: the good and bad reasons to throw a retreat
- Pros and cons of collaborating vs. doing it all yourself
- Deciding on a theme and your objectives for the retreat
- How to pick the right venue and date
- Essential logistics to consider including catering, photography, accessibility, and more
- A simple and effective way to budget and calculate ticket prices. (Plus you’ll get a copy of my budget spreadsheet, ready for you to plug in your numbers.)
- What type of marketing actually works, with tips on creating flyers, sales pages, emails, and promotional events
- Plus plenty of time for live Q&A that will answer your most pressing questions
Who is this for?
- Anyone who is dreaming of hosting a retreat or a multi-day event, but feeling intimidated to get started. Yoga teachers and other wellness providers are especially welcome.
- This class is perfect for self-employed folks of any kind, including solo business owners, freelancers, artists, writers, educators, and community builders
What They’re Saying // Testimonials
One of Amber’s standout qualities is her talent for honing ideas and transforming them into effective communication strategies. Her keen insights and thoughtful approach allowed me to refine concepts and present them in the most compelling manner possible. Specifically her feedback helped refine a slide deck so we could get our story across to major investors. Amber’s strategic mindset and attention to detail elevated the overall quality of our work, ensuring that every aspect was well thought out.
Working with Amber was an absolute pleasure. Not only is she professional, but her infectious enthusiasm, unique perspectives and positive energy made the entire experience enjoyable and rewarding. She effortlessly creates a collaborative and supportive environment, fostering creativity and innovation.
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Amber. Amber has a potent combination of in-depth knowledge of what meaningful content is AND how to impact fully share it with the world and cultivate community. Her internal communication style when working with her is as skillful as her external marketing skills. She is clear, concise, and honestly warm and relatable. She meets you where you are at whether you are working on a project, or she is guiding you the yoga mat. I cannot recommend Amber and her many talents enough.
I’m still in the process of figuring out what my new business looks like. I am rolling out some new work which includes stuff like these marketing clinics, Pivot: a peer mentorship retreat for solo business owners who are reinventing their work, a marketing game show, retreat consulting work, and more.
About Your Host
Hey, I’m Amber Karnes (she/her). I’m a community builder, educator, and artist.
I am a curious, multi-passionate person and a connector. Over the past 25 years I have built communities and thrown events around yoga, art, craft, graphic design, food justice, the hardcore punk music scene, bikelife, entrepreneurship, and more. I went to school for graphic design and for 10 years, I worked in design and marketing roles in corporate, nonprofits, and as a freelancer.
The past 14 years I’ve been building community (and a business) in the yoga industry. I am the founder of Body Positive Yoga, which is both a teaching method and a community built around body liberation and accessibility. Among other learning experiences, I have sold out over a dozen wellness retreats over the past 10 years. Retreats are absolutely my favorite way to work. Before March 2020, I was traveling full-time, leading workshops, retreats, and teacher trainings.
Then the pandemic happened and changed everything about my work (and the whole yoga industry). I stopped traveling and have been spending the last 4 years helping the yoga industry get online during the pandemic. Now I support other solo business owners through 1:1 business coaching and marketing strategy.
I’m still in the process of figuring out what my new business looks like. I am rolling out some new work which includes stuff like these marketing clinics, Pivot: a peer mentorship retreat for solo business owners who are reinventing their work, a marketing game show, retreat consulting work, and more.
Self-employed folks, listen: inventing your job is hard. But doing it alone feels impossible.
Learning in community is just better. Here’s what I know: it’s hard to go it alone. There’s no blueprint for this stuff.
Your business (or community or art or teaching) is unique. It’s one-of-one. But that means most of the standard advice that applies to small businesses probably won’t apply to you.
As solo business owners, we are all building the airplane while we’re flying it. And unless we intentionally create a community support system for ourselves, it feels totally scary and isolating to be in the middle of it all.
It’s easy to just buy another coaching program or online course and hope it’ll solve the fear and trepidation that you (or I) feel. Maybe you wonder if some other expert can give you a magical plan that will quiet your anxious thoughts. Maybe you just want the permission to do what you suspect is the right thing to do, but who do you ask?
I get it, because I want the same thing. My goal with these online clinics is to provide a space for learning in community and peer mentorship. You’ll be there with other business owners who share your frustrations, challenges, and insecurities. You’ll see possibilities for yourself reflected in the other folks’ stories and experiences and then take home your own insights to apply to your unique business.
What They’re Saying // Testimonials
“Amber is a very effective teacher. She’s incredibly bright in a non threatening kind of way. I like the way she asks follow up questions. I like that she isn’t afraid to politicize the body or take a public stand against white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and other systems of oppression.”
Working with Amber was fantastic! She was easy to talk to, really understood my challenges, and offered smart, sensible advice for moving forward. If you’re a yoga teacher struggling with your next offering or how to market yourself, I highly recommend working with her. You’ll be glad you did!
Amber Karnes is a skilled teacher, listener, and a powerful facilitator of change. Amber is organized and synthesizes information in a way that supports groups in moving into a space of deeper learning and connection.
Being in a community of intelligent, authentic and like minded, yet diverse women is exceptionally empowering. To know there are others out there that you can identify with, learn from, and share community with is so impactful and can be carried with you in everyday life wherever you go.
Get The Recording
3 hour live class, hosted by Amber Karnes
$60 USD
What To Expect
This was a livestreamed online event via Zoom. You are purchasing a recording of the event. You’ll receive an email after you make payment with a link to the video recording and slides. You can stream or download the video.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I get a copy of the slides?
Yes, the link to download slides is on the same page as the recording.
If I'm not a business owner or yoga teacher, can I still attend?
Yes! This workshop was created for anyone who is dreaming of hosting a retreat, but feels intimidated to get started. Whether you are a business owner or just someone who wants to book a multi-day event for a few friends, you are more than welcome!
Who is this workshop for?
This workshop is for anyone who is dreaming of hosting a retreat or a multi-day event who is feeling intimidated to get started. Yoga teachers and other wellness providers are especially welcome.
This class is perfect for self-employed folks of any kind, including solo business owners, freelancers, artists, writers, educators, and community builders.
What will I learn at the workshop?
- Before you start: the good and bad reasons to throw a retreat
- Pros and cons of collaborating vs. doing it all yourself
- Deciding on a theme and your objectives for the retreat
- How to pick the right venue and date
- Essential logistics to consider including catering, photography, accessibility, and more
- A simple and effective way to budget and calculate ticket prices. (Plus you’ll get a copy of my budget spreadsheet, ready for you to plug in your numbers.)
- What type of marketing actually works, with tips on creating flyers, sales pages, emails, and promotional events
- Plus plenty of time for live Q&A that will answer your most pressing questions
Can I hire you to consult with me 1:1 about my retreat?
Yes! I’d love to work with you 1:1. You can learn more about the services I offer and book a free discovery call here.
Can I hire you to help run my retreat in-person?
Anyone who books me for retreat consultation services also has the option to hire me for in-person support. I’d love to bring the ultimate big sister, camp counselor adventure vibes to your retreat. Get in touch!
