Are you making the most out of your retreats? In today’s episode, I’m sharing my tips for capturing the behind the scenes moments at your next retreat, plus my advice for creating even more opportunities out of these events.
On Quianna Marie Weekly, we’re chatting about business growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating wins of all sizes through the lens of a photographer at heart. Sprinkled throughout stories and interviews with past clients, photographers and other business owners this podcast is designed to help you step into your purpose and to truly create a life you’re proud of, a life worth photographing and sharing.
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Review The Show Notes:
Preparing For Your Next Retreat (4:19)
During The Retreat (7:02)
When It’s Your Turn To Speak (13:43)
A Mindset Trick (16:50)
Mentioned In This Episode:
Easy B-Roll Ideas For Business Owners: quiannamarie.com/broll
I just stepped off the plane and walked down the rickety stairs sort of feeling like a sweaty celebrity or a politician getting off of a small plane on the tarmac. I could see my carry on beyond a long line of slow walkers, praying nobody picks it up before I can grab it. We landed in a small town airport, eager and excited to attend a retreat I have the honor of speaking at.
I make my way through the tiny airport and hop in a rideshare with another speaker that I just friend requested about three weeks ago. She seemed legit, friendly, and someone I can trust to share an Uber with. We went from Facebook friends to long lost besties as we chatted nonstop about our travel day.
Mutual friends we know through the Rising Tide Society back in the day. As well as email marketing hacks, funnels, social media trends and luckily made a stop at a local coffee shop to grab delicious overpriced avocado toast. Why does avocado toast always taste better out of state in a cute trendy coffee shop?
I don’t know, I don’t get it, but it’s always more delicious. Anyway, back to today’s topic. As we welcome 2025 and our calendar quickly goes from empty dates in our planners to suddenly getting filled quickly with workshops, speaking events, conferences, and retreats and tons of work opportunities, I’m eager to share a ton of behind the scene tips for capturing content and b roll at your next retreat.
I have seen way too many speakers, coaches, and educators go above and beyond for their presentations and their slides and the impact they’re contributing to these events and retreats to simply let everything sizzle out once they check in for their flight and head home. Over the last 20 years, I’ve invested probably over 100, 000, I’m not even joking, in retreats Workshops and educational conferences and over the last couple of years, I’ve had the honor of stepping on stages to share more about B roll content generation and creating genuine real life connections that translate well online.
I feel pretty qualified to share more about this topic. As I’ve seen it from all perspectives, all different angles coming in as an attendee, a host. I’ve hosted quite a few events in the past, and I’ve been having so much fun capturing all the B roll for that as well. And then also being a speaker. So I’ve seen it right as a speaker and educator, I couldn’t let this year kick off without sharing some tips and tricks to maximize your exposure and increase brand awareness around your offers and the gift of your presence at these events.
Trust me, if you’re spending time, energy, and your hard earned dollars stressing out about outfits, perfecting your slides, and preparing for your next retreat, This is the episode you’re gonna want to save as a favorite and circle back to before your next retreat. Whether you’re a speaker or planning on attending your next retreat, this episode will be packed with value for you.
I’ll be breaking down everything to record before, during, and after your next retreat. Plus, I promise these strategies will be easy. The hardest part is simply remembering to pull out your phone to capture it. You, my love, are making an impact. You have a voice that needs to be heard, lessons to share, and the work you’re doing needs to be captured and amplified online.
If you’ve been asked to be a speaker at an upcoming retreat, and maybe even you’re hopeful to step on future stages again, make sure to stick around to figure out these secrets to go from pitching hosts to getting inquiries to speak. Like we’re going to have all these inquiries coming to you. Instead of you feeling like you have to go out and chase the next best opportunity, ready to get this content party started.
Let’s go. Welcome to Quianna Marie Weekly, a podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins big or small by dancing in the kitchen, photographers who are excited to serve their clients. And friends who are ready to chase really, really big dreams. You can find all of the resources mentioned in this episode at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast Join me as I share weekly motivation, chat about growing pains, finding genuine connections. And celebrating your wins through the lens of a photographer at heart. Come join me for a dance party. Ready? Let’s go.
Let’s get started with the basics here as you prepare for your next retreat. I think it’s so important to share your excitement and all of the prep leading up to everything. And when I say everything, I mean, everything. Take us behind the scenes of getting accepted to speak at this next event. Sometimes the host will keep a wrap on announcing the speakers until a certain date.
So please be mindful and respectful of that. Don’t just start blasting things online. A lot of times hosts will say, now that you’ve been accepted, please wait until a certain date when all of the speakers can be announced. Right? So let’s be mindful of that. But once you get the green light to share, I highly encourage you to share the excitement and celebrate this awesome opportunity.
I suggest hopping on live or creating a handful of stories to announce the big news. Reach out to the host and other speakers and ask to collaborate for a handful of live videos or even fun social media takeovers to share more about the retreat. Create some hints about the topic you’ll be speaking on and prove that you’re the expert by sharing hot takes or trends around that topic.
Take us shopping with you, or create polls for outfit ideas. Everything from the shoes you’re planning to wear, the jewelry options, or even hairstyles. I’m not even kidding, I’ve done stories on should I wear my hair curly or straight, up or down, or should I wear these reading glasses so I look a little bit smarter, right?
Like, I mean, so cheesy, but trust me, I’m sure this all sounds kind of silly as you prepare for it, But it really does build hype and engagement for your event before it all happens. I would even take it a step further and poll my audience for topics they would love to hear more about or something they think I would be qualified to speak on stage about.
Clearly, my speaking topic may have already been declared with the offer to speak, but we can absolutely boost engagement and gamify our speaking opportunity to create even more curiosity. Plus, many hosts will offer affiliate codes to the speakers to help fill seats or sell tickets. Creating extra content around the things you’re already doing will absolutely create more touch points and help land with your followers and friends.
As the days are getting closer, I also encourage you to jump in those Facebook groups or community boards for the event. Get to know the other speakers, educators, vendors, and attendees. Let’s just put ourselves out there and not just do those little introductions that oftentimes hosts will request. But engage with others, right, like say hello, comment on them, you know, make comments about their profile pictures, about their business, reach out and ask questions.
The more familiar you can get with these profile pictures, the easier and more organic it would feel to grow friendships quickly once you meet in person. Once the retreat is here, I suggest creating travel vlogs, aka record videos and grab quick photo snaps of your travels. Share packing your bags and maybe even some cute videos of your pets wondering what the heck is going on with your suitcase Cuz we all know I know for me, for example, and my suitcase is pulled out.
Faith is looking at me like, oh mom What’s happening? She doesn’t like my suitcase, right? Cuz they know they’re so smart But that is something that is so incredibly relatable. And as I continue, I’m gonna go on a tangent really fast here The reason why I said make sure to include your pets and maybe your suitcases as you’re preparing to travel is not all of our followers, not all of our family and friends can relate to the fact that we are going to this retreat.
This may be completely out of their wheelhouse, they may not be interested at all at attending this retreat, it’s definitely not in their You know, in their business, that’s not a part of their goals or anything like that, but they can relate to the fact that you’re traveling and your pets aren’t happy about it.
Right. Do you see what I’m doing here? What I’m doing is I’m creating engagement. I’m helping you develop and really strengthen those skills to become a personal brand. So as you continue to grow and pivot and just express your different Desires, your family, your friends, your followers are going to follow along, right?
So I don’t want to get off track there, but this is why I inserted, make sure to add the cute little videos of your pets, right? Share any extra steps you’re taking for prepping meals for your family, creating a watering schedule for your plants, or really just sharing any extra behind the scenes moments of packing and prepping for your retreat.
Are you practicing in the mirror? Call me old school, but I still do that. I love, I just love overpreparing for things. I have gotten to a point in some of my talks and in some of like some of the situations I get the opportunity to speak where I really do let it come in. Like I feel like I have these downloads, I have these thoughts.
Especially after getting to know the group, sometimes after that first cocktail hour or that welcome night, things may change based on the attendees and how the conversations were going, I may literally completely change my talk, right? And that’s something that I want you to have the green light to do too.
But I’m super old school. I, you know, I used to teach preschool. I’ve been doing this for a long time and I just, I love looking at myself in the mirror. I love even recording myself and rewatching it. Call me crazy, but I’m just extra. I want to give my best. Nothing drives me more crazy when I invest in going to retreats, going to Educational conferences and people will just stand on stage and say, so how can I help you come at me?
And I’m just like you did not prepare anything I’m sorry, if that’s the Monica Geller in me coming out, but I don’t want to be in that position. Some people totally rock it Some people that is their gift is to kind of be thrown at like thrown to the wolves and they just come out swinging and they give such great educational tips and it’s an alignment for that event.
But for me, I like to be prepared. So getting back to the story here on capturing B roll and behind the scenes, if you’re practicing in front of the mirror or you’re recording yourself, record it and share it. Share the fact that you are passionate, even if it feels cringe, even if it feels awkward or it feels like who’s going to actually want to see this and no one know people care and they’re nosy and they want to see and once again, it proves that you care that you have pride in what you’re doing, right?
Are you fine tuning your slides? I know this may seem a little overboard, but you’re really creating a huge bank of content to play with while you’re waiting at the gate. If you’re, you know, ready to hop on that plane. If you’re like me, you get there a little bit early, sitting in the Uber and really just enduring a long travel day.
This is going to be an easy way to generate a ton of content to just plug and play with. Now that you’re on your way, I suggest a beautiful balance of being really present at the retreat. Capture the location upon arrival, share a quick MTV crib style b roll video, and then relax and be fully present with the host, educators, and attendees.
Make time for selfies with new friends and focus on soaking up as much as you can from this experience.
Hey cutie, if all of this is sounding incredible and you’re wishing it was written down as a checklist, make sure to head to QuiannaMarie.com/broll to grab the guide so you can easily check off these ideas as you go. Okay, back to the long list of ideas.
As you’re being really intentional during this retreat, listening and learning, I love to maximize the in between moments at the retreat for b roll clips. For example, sharing the coffee bar and how the host included your favorite dairy free creamer, the delicious snacks, hyperlapse moments of workshopping and brainstorming time, mingling with everyone and taking quick 5 7 videos of fireside chats, morning walks and late night couch conversations.
Think about capturing these tiny moments that feel quick and fleeting, but actually make everyone wish they were joining you too. As each speaker or educator commands the room for their presentation, I suggest grabbing a couple pics and short videos of both the audience and them speaking. Right? So I challenge you to get the whole picture there.
Not just a couple of shots of them speaking, maybe they have the laptop in front of them or they’re in front of a slideshow situation, but really get a whole pan of the whole room. Think of getting the whole experience and not just them straight on. These once again are quick and stealth. So you don’t take away from their presentation, right?
Like this is supposed to be like, you’re invisible taking this, right? You don’t want to be super extra. You don’t want to take away from their time. Now that you have a nice bundle of videos and photos from the in between moments and the educational pieces of the retreat, I highly encourage you to create a little recap and these videos could be of each day or a vibe of the retreat.
So for example, creating a short montage of day one and day two, those can be two completely different videos or a slideshow of speaker introductions. A quick reel about your biggest takeaway from each speaker. That concept alone could be an entire reel for each speaker or a handful of favorites in one carousel.
Do you see how just having the content captured can yield endless social media ideas? Literally, with the content captured from this one retreat, you can fuel as many posts as you possibly can. It’s also important to pack a tripod for when it’s your time to speak as well. I suggest recording your speech on video, literally just hitting record, so you can hear the sound, even if it’s not perfect, if you have a mic to mic yourself up, that would be like, even more amazing.
Typically, a lot of retreats will have a hired videographer, so it feels really swanky and fancy. But, like, I have experience in the past, I know not all hosts do this, but sometimes you don’t see that footage for a long time, right? Sometimes you don’t even get the raw footage. Being an advocate for your own marketing and not putting it in anybody else’s hands, I highly encourage you to have that tripod to record your own speech.
And here’s the thing. Thank you. Getting that video, whether you take it back and you extract the audio for other video clips, or maybe the audio is actually crappy because you are at a distance, just taking that and zooming in for little clips or maybe even fast forwarding it for a real, there’s so much value in getting video of you actually doing that, right?
And as most of us are in this creative space, I know that the attendees, the other hosts and other educators, anybody in the room would be happy to record it for you. We just have to remember to ask. So this is your green light to ask. And literally, I would ask everybody in the beginning of my speech and just say, Hey, if you feel inclined to share, please grab a couple of BTS videos, post it, tag me.
I would be so happy to reshare it. Also, if you don’t feel comfortable resharing it right now, no problem, just airdrop it to me or text it to me, please, because I would really appreciate it, right? The hardest part is making the ask. And you know, because you are such an advocate of capturing behind the scenes for everybody else that when it’s your turn, it sucks.
I know, but sometimes we have to be advocates for ourselves, right? We have to ask. This ensures that you’re also getting recorded and proving your value as a speaker with proof and evidence that you really are on stage. Or leading a breakout session. Those are all so incredible opportunities. And we don’t want that to just happen without being recorded.
This is my heart behind B roll. You’re putting in the work, sharing your expertise, proving your value and boosting brand awareness, simply recording the work you’re already doing. Remember that friend that I mentioned in the beginning of the episode? She took a different approach at that specific retreat and kept her phone in her laptop bag the entire time.
She was friendly, outgoing, and memorable for everyone attending. Everyone loved her. Her talk was incredible and we learned a ton from her during the retreat. Of course, I have a couple selfies of us together and grabbed a handful of BTS while she took the stage and of course I shared with her. However, she hasn’t been asked to speak for future speaking events.
Currently, her business is booming, but she isn’t aligning herself as a speaker to continue pitching or getting asked to speak on stages. Can you see how prioritizing behind the scenes in b roll can help you not only maximize your next retreat? But also magnetize your personal brand for future opportunities.
Another mindset trick that I love to share as a reminder to help actually remember to take B roll at your next event is to think about capturing B roll for a business bestie that couldn’t be there live. What types of photos or videos are you recording to share with her to showcase all of the details Everyone attending new friends, yummy foods, and fun adventures.
Share it like you want to tell her and showcase every little detail. Make sure to head to kianamarie. com slash b roll for more education, free guides and more info about bloom with b roll, the mini course for behind the scenes basics for business owners. I am so excited for you to attend your next retreat and I want to see you thrive.
I don’t want to just hear you talk about it on your stories. I want to see it in action. Take us with you and have that content available to reshare, boost and amplify your efforts. When I say that I want to see you, I mean, I want to see you. I want to know you. I want to be your friend. I want to encourage you.
When we are prioritizing B roll and behind the scenes, it literally is a fast path. Like if we were in Disneyland, it is the fast path to building those relationships, to creating more genuine friendships and connections, and aligning yourself as an authority. So if we are putting all this hard work into the offers, we’re creating the client experiences that we’re creating, whether it is in person or online, this is the time for you to shine.
2025 is all about showing up and shining in real life. So your content is truly organic and genuine. I’m thrilled to have you tune into the podcast and I look forward to supporting you crush your content all of 2025 and I cannot wait to see you totally kill it at your next retreat. Trust me, you have everything you need to be successful right in the palm of your hand.
Please, please, please stop scrolling for inspiration. Your intuition is already telling you what to do. Just listen and do it. Okay, that’s a little bit of a sassy big sister in me coming out right now. But if you found this episode helpful, please leave a 5 star review and share with a friend. I read every single review and I’m always so thankful for your support and encouragement.
You’re making an impact, my love. Let’s make it go deeper and wider with more content that radiates in person and online. I’m cheering for you always. Keep on dancing, baby. Okay. Love you. Bye. That’s a wrap on another episode of Quianna Marie Weekly. Thank you so much for your listenership and support. You can find the resources and show notes for this episode and more at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast
I’d be honored if you’d show your support by leaving a review and rating on your favorite podcast app until next time, keep on dancing.
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