2. Get Quiet, Live Loud
Living Full Cheetah…
The overarching theme for our retreat was Get Quiet, Live Loud. We wanted to
introduce this idea to our ambassadors, how do you get quiet in your life, get
present to your authentic self, so you can truly live loud. I felt very inspired post
conference by Seth Godin, and the idea of living “full cheetah” and we tied in this
theme throughout the weekend. Our goal was that every ambassador felt more
connected to themselves, to each other and to lululemon.
With this vision in mind, we built out our retreat with activities and content to bring
this to life. Every activity and content session tied into how we get quiet or how we
live loud. From blindfold yoga, mediation hikes, and quieting our inner critic, to
finding our purpose, setting goals, and discovering our legacy, the collective left
inspired, connected and ready to live “full cheetah” style!
Details:
Location: Altitude 261, Mullumbimby, NSW
Date: November 7-9, 2015
Who: 13 ambassadors plus our retreat dream team, Trevor and Nikki Ralston
4. Team Regulators
• Rachel Mitchell (project lead and
budget controller)
• Caitlin Kuipersmith (Ideator, lead look
and feel)
• Sef (lead-activites, mr. connections)
• Jordana Demos (activities ideator)
• Jacinta Conza (graphic design guru)
• Kate Flynn (savior #1, the level head)
• Jessica Waghorn (savior #2, the FUN,
the heart)
• Michael Bryne (event photographer)
• Trevor Holland (Content master)
• Nikki Ralston (yogi, fun police, magic
maker)
5. Partnerships
Key Partners
• Altitude 261 – Rod and Josh
• The Farm – Bess the yogi – Farm tour
• Julian Waghorn – the Meat man
• YouFoodz – in house meals
• Andy Dub – resident lulu dj
• Xcede – Charter bus
• Three Blue Ducks – Beautiful dinner location
• AMPM – Sweat sesh and all around amazing dudes!
6. Winning!
Where We Won The Weekend
• Fulfilling on our vision and watching it come to life
• The finer details – look and feel, location, food,
experiences.
• Food and drink – delish and nourishing and
catered to everyone’s dietary needs.
• The team we built based on strengths and the
connection we created as a group.
• The content was inspiring, timely and relevant to
our vision
• The Farm tour and hearing how they brought their
community vision to life
• Going local and negotiating with vendors to work
within budget restrictions
• Deep connection between ambassadors and the
team, and ambassadors to each other.
• Burning our inner critic in the fire – powerful and
lasting.
• Experiences- sweating out of their comfort zone
• Came in under budget!
• Guest ambassador Nikki from NZ, who brought the
magical edge to each experience.
7. • Location- Ambassadors and Team stay in same location will allow for more
connection time between team and ambassadors
• More team members – team could have been bigger to allow for more helping
hands and more connection
• Less is more – allow for more time for experiences and content sessions
• All In or All Out! Enrollment of the SM’s in how they set up their ambassadors for
the entire experience – clearing their schedules and being able to be present and
engaged for the total experience.
• Pre-retreat communication to ambassadors.
• Budget was tight to provide the premium experience that our brand stands for –
without Sef’s YouFoodz connections we would have gone over budget or had to
cut out key aspects of weekend
• Location too close to home, allowed for ambassadors to come and go too easily
• More clear communication for last minute team members- felt unclear to their
roles
• More clear communication to Kate and Jaimee around expectations of their roles
for weekend – felt unclear to roles of weekend
What We Learned
8. For next year…
• Weekly Team Calls – everyone feels
set up at all times
• Pre- set up convos with SM’s to
ensure they knew clearly how to
engage and set up their
ambassadors.
• Request for more frequent coaching
and support from community team.
• Setting the team up in the way we
did – creating a vision for who we
wanted and then putting that out to
the SM’s lead to us having our dream
team.
• Smarter choice of dates- ambassador
request for winter retreat.
• All In or All Out!
• Bring in Guest Speakers (brand,
business)
9. The Leadership Journey
Key leadership learnings were:
• Start earlier – you can never be too organised or
prepared
• When to ask for support and from who
• More meetings among team to feel connected and
ideate
• Coaching and partnering ambassadors on their
leadership journeys
• Creating a vision and bringing it to life.
• Agility is Key – reading the energy and making
decisions on the needs of the group
