Officer retreat is typically an outdoor, overnight camping event that runs about 24 hours from departure to return to Austin. The goal of retreat is to provide a fun, socially-oriented event for new and returning officers to bond, learn names, and generally get acquainted. This event is mandatory for officers, barring very good excuses. Two weeks in advance:- Reserve enough campsites for around 40 people at Inks Lake State Park (or somewhere else).
- Tell officers exactly when and where event will be, what it's usually like, explain that it is mandatory, and ask them to keep their calendars free.
- Email officers with the same info.
- Come up with a bad-weather backup plan. Either reserve a room on campus and make it a LAN-party-ish thing (with plenty of other non-gaming activities), or rent a clubhouse and do something fun there...
Week of:**Buy more tent stakes from Academy. Checklist: Cooking
- spatulas
- silicone/plastic/wood for nonstick pans (need to buy)
- metal
- stoves (2)
- cooking surface for stoves (like, pans or something)
- grill scraper and dishwasher soap, sponge
Food- skewers for marshmallows (buy longer ones maybe)
- marshmallows
- chocolate
- graham crackers
- burgers
- hot dogs
- veggie burgers
- soda
- water (big jugs and cups, a lot of people left mostly full bottles because they forgot which was theirs and got a new one)
- fruit (bananas, apples, etc)
- muffins/not-greasy breakfast food
- condiments
- cheese
- lettuce
- egg
- utensils
- plates
- paper towels
- drinks + ice in one cooler
- meat in other cooler
Camping - tents
- Six total! (4 big, 2 small)
- Don't forget stakes (are they in the bag?)
- Tent toppers (in separate bin)
- lanterns
- trash bags
- propane
- bug spray
- lighter fluid
- lighters (2 - may need to buy one)
- sport equipment
- first aid kit
- firewood + starter log (parks usually sell wood if needed)
- mallet
- walkie talkies (buy some or have people bring)
Definitely Buy - lantern batteries
- lantern pilot light bags
- sharpies
- masking tape
- mosquito spray
- (single burner propane thing, not through ACM)
- dish soap
Meeting before retreat:- Arrange rides (see below)
- Pass out paper checklists of what officers should bring, what they shouldn't bring, plus basic info.
- Ask people to bring chairs (like the kind that fold up)
- Describe officer retreat thoroughly so people know what they're getting into.
- Show pictures from past retreats.
- Show a map of where we're going.
- Pass out forms
Arranging RidesProvide a sign-up sheet at the meeting prior to retreat. Make sure all drivers, riders, and time slots are clearly associated so everyone knows when to leave. Make it seem like leaving later is a last-resort, not a normal option, else everyone will try to leave later. Aim to get most people out by 3pm, because most time slots end up getting pushed back by half an hour at least.
Day of:One or two people should go down to the park early in the day (arrive around 1pm) to claim specific campsites. At Inks Lake, the cluster including site 321 turned out to be a pretty good choice at a past retreat. Typical order of business:- Tent Setup
- Open Game Time (during daylight) - let people throw around frisbees, footballs, etc while everyone else arrives.
- Dinner - grilling burgers, making s'mores, etc. Aim to start at 7.
- Fire-building (check for burn ban first) - wood and fire-starters can be purchased from the park store
- Clean up exposed food before other activities start, else animals will have at it...
- After 10pm, try to find an isolated place far away from other campsites to do activities, else we'll get noise complaints.
- The Name Game is a staple. It takes forever, but its O(n^2) complexity is paid back by the fact that people actually tend to learn a lot of names from it. Consider creating an O(n) variation of the game in the future that still encourages everyone to be ready to recite any given person's name.
- Tug-o-War
- Other stuff (easily interchangable):
- Two Truths and a Lie
- Telephone (two teams, no repeating, most accurate wins. If tie, first to finish wins.)
- Game (whose name I can't remember) where you act out words/phrases while others guess. Two teams, two lists, first to complete their list wins.
- Clean up as much as possible before sleep, else animals will get into anything and everything that is accessible.
- Sleep (encourage everyone to be quiet once they get into tents--sound carries very easily)
- Breakfast
- Take down tents once any condensation has dried off. Consider having a group of people shake down tents to speed this up.
- This can actually be fun if we use the larger tents to loft random things up into the air...not a bad team-building activity.
Postmortem:
- Spring 2011
- Entrance fee not known until we had left (needs to be researched)
- members to fill out forms to be reimbursed
- Plan item bringing better (i.e. don't have a full car if you're bringing something as big as the cooler)
- 32 people there
- Pictures on Picasa
- Verbal reminder to bring ACM shirts
- ~$185 for food and drinks
- ~$40 for propane, cups, etc.
- Bottled water vs jugs
- used 1 of 2 jugs bought, lots of cups left over
- bottled water generally all used up but many bottles not completely finished
- about the same price either way
- Clean out tent not in bag
- Bring broom next time to clean tents
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