There are three groups of things to plan for the retreat:
1) Plenary Talks and Sessions
- Keynote
- Alumni
- General interest. Some ideas (not comprehensive):
- Business/Start-ups
- Policy
- Sundries (e.g. Fletcher’s White House, Terry’s book deal)
- Sketches
- Poster Session
- Closing/Awards Session
2) Break-out Sessions
- This is an important component of the retreat. It is meant to do two things:
- Provide a forum for researchers in a particular subfield to talk about (new) research among themselves
- (in a separate session from the one above) Provide a bridge between at least two subfields, where interdisciplinary/collaborative research is discussed. After all, this is the point of having a BioEngineering department, as opposed to separate imaging, tissue engineering, systems biology, etc. departments
3) Free time and Party
- Give people a few different options. Some ideas:
- Hiking
- Wine-tasting
- Scavenger hunt was very successful
- For the party, secure alcohol and music (i.e. speakers)
Here is an example schedule from 2013:
2013 Schedule