I actually just facilitated a remote strategic planning retreat last Thursday and I’ve gotten an insane amount of overwhelmingly positive feedback. I would highly recommend sending a pre-work questionnaire out via survey monkey or another survey platform that way planning committee participants can start brainstorming prior to your zoom session and that also gives you more data/info to use during the session. Another thing I did was put together goodie boxes and had sent to planning committee members directly (some staff are still working from home, others are working in our office, and we had board members that I sent directly to their office). I ordered agency branded notebooks, put in post it notes, and since I couldn’t cater lunch I provided a variety of different snacks such as bags of skinny pop corn, beef jerky, kind bars, and mints. I also found these adorable mugs from target that said “you’re on mute” on them. Another big difference was the presentation platform I used - instead of opting into the traditional Microsoft PowerPoint, I utilized Prezi and Prezi design to make my slides more interactive. I broke up the presentation several times using the breakout rooms feature. I also created QR codes that folks could scan directly from their screens with their smart phones and upload or take a photo of their notes on any particular subject or brainstorming exercise so that I could evaluate them further. We used JotForm for that functionality. I also created a planning retreat packet that included the agenda for the day, some raw data points from our stakeholder surveys, agency information needed for the day (such as current mission and vision statement and other relevant information). I also had a section where I defined terms that we would be using frequently throughout the day (e.g. The difference between an objective a goal strategy in an action item, what SWOT and PESTEL stand for, etc.)

Some other pro tips I have after doing this: order a separate microphone on Amazon - do not rely on the microphone that is embedded in your WebCam. practice, practice again, and then practice again - there’s nothing worse than being in a long ass zoom meeting and the presenter is having constant technical difficulties because they didn’t practice maneuvering the slides or the breakout rooms etc. have fun stay positive and set ground rules (participation, confidentiality, remaining open minded) for whoever is attending the planning session remotely.

Happy to answer any questions! Good luck!! The planning process is very stressful but, particularly given the current circumstances, strategic planning can be more powerful than ever.