Original Query from A. Ann Tai, Learning in Retirement, Ann Arbor, MI
My board and Curriculum Comm. are planning a strategic planning retreat up north this Fall.
Do you have any resources on topics, program for such an event? Any do's and don'ts?
I also foresee this as a leadership development event for new recruits.

From Gloria Burke, ELDERVISION, Lourdes College, Sylvania OH
Agnes - Where up North? How far North? (I'm about 50 miles from Ann Arbor.) When? Only resource I can think of right now is a member of my organization who helps with finances and is on target with our membership needs. Also I've been coordinator of the Eldervision program here at Lourdes College since 1993. I'm interested so please keep me in mind.

From Ronald J. Manheimer, NC Center for Creative Retirement, Asheville
As to planning retreats, the NC Center for Creative Retirement held a daylong planning event in January of this year to explore "Your Vision of 2012," a long range look ahead. There is a background paper plus some documents that emerged from the session on our website (www.unca.edu/ncccr) under Vision of 2012 (left tool bar near the bottom). We looked at demographics and trends related to retirement and workforce demands to think about future cohorts as well as how to keep current members satisfied and involved. Some of this was triggered by our moving into a new building with vastly increased space for classes and activities, and by a concurrent reorganization of staff roles and roles of volunteer leaders. We recognize that each program's situation is different but there may be some ideas that could be extracted from this material and adapted.

From James Frasier, Senior College, Eckerd College, FL
We are in the midst of a strategic planning process for both ASPEC and Senior College here at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. A couple of suggestions to help put some focus on your task.
Our planning team is keeping to the following outline:
1.Review of Eckerd College and Senior College Mission and Vision. Naturally we want to be in concert with the College Mission statement and keep the SC mission up to date.
2. How have we been performing? Data on enrollment, membership, etc. have been reviewed, particularly for the past year where the data is more reliable. One of our volunteers created a registration database using MS Access and we can now print out lots of reliable info.
3. We completed a SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This is very helpful and will give direction for a following step.
4. Environmental Scan: a review of literature, articles, reports, what other LLIs are doing, what's up with the competition; the economy; community development; community demographics, etc. looking for trends, ideas and information that may have an impact on our LLI.
5.Here's where the SWOT comes in: Identification of Goals, Objectives for each goal, and strategies for each objective, including who will do what, by when and an estimated cost if any.
6. Creation of a marketing plan.
7. Identification of benchmarks or measures to determine effectiveness of the plan
We have involved a small planning team of 6 members plus staff and have been reviewing the process along the way with the Advisory Council. We also held a 4-hour workshop with all of the Advisory Council members and worked on strategies for each goal and its related objectives.

Here are some quotes from a presentation given at the Southeast Regional LLI Conference held at Eckerd College in April by our President, Dr. Donald Eastman:
1. A strategic plan is an agenda of actions aimed at increasing the understanding, effectiveness and/or financial health of an organization.
2.Two key questions to address in the Plan: What changes are needed, and how are they linked to the basic values of the institution? How do we pay for them?
3.Strategic planning requires the combination of building on internal strengths and responding to external conditions or opportunities.
4.What strategic planning is not:
Balancing the budget - Managing well - Identifying fundamental values - Developing a mission
All of these points must be well in hand before you can create a strategic plan.
5. What strategic planning should do:
Form a common understanding of:
Environment – Challenges – Opportunities - Economics.
6. Planning and Action
Don't wait to act.
Strategic initiatives without a financial plan will fail.
Planning is more important than the plan.
Strategic planning requires a lot of effort and planning by the person(s) facilitating the process. The total effort should involve all stakeholders.
Well, Ann, those are a few thoughts. Don't be daunted - go forth and do good work! Onward and Upward is our slogan in Senior College!!! Good luck. If we can help in way down the road let me know.
P.S. The Dean of our Division will submit our plan along with plans for other programs in our department to the President by July 1. After a review and updating process they will be submitted to the Eckerd College Board of Trustees in the Fall.