RRR – It’s about you learning, you teaching, you growing. And you building strong relationships.
What about having fun? Yes, sure!

One secret of success of Toastmasters public speaking clubs is the friendly atmosphere that is naturally created by the inspiring, open-minded members – like yourself! – combined with the fearless and effortless learning environment. It’s not surprising that those wonderful people tend to meet, party and even travel together – and build strong friendships.

At Rhineland Rhetoric Retreat, we’ll take this even one step further: We’re gathering for a whole long weekend. Just like at a District Conference, but many more workshops and more time to chat and make new friends.

Rhineland Rhetoric Retreat – a weekend with great workshops and seminars – and lots of fun!

Check out this year’s agenda!
Check-in starts on Thursday at 16:00h – with moving into the room, networking, cooking – and dining.

Same, same – but different: Same people, same spirit – but more freedom, more fun, more learning, more practising. And all of that for a lot less money.

Feedback from past RRRs – click to open

People loved it. Eight times. And bugged Dirk over and over to do another one. So get prepared for a long weekend of fun and exitement, to meeting old and making new friends!

We secured the same location that hosted us last two times – Zentrum Frieden (Peace center – what a lovely name) in Solingen – the city world famous for knifes and blades… ;).

Registration is open! Register here.

What’s happening at Rhineland Rhetoric Retreat? €€€€€?

  • workshops, seminars, educational sessions, each 45 to 90 minutes in length, in German or English, mostly on communication topics throughout the weekend. And you can be part of the programme!
  • 3 overnight stays at a cosy venue. We will have the whole place for ourselves!
  • food and drinks incl. beer + very decent wine (Dirk achieved quite a reputation for his selection of wines…) throughout the weekend.
  • From 180€ for the whole weekend including a bed for 3 nights.
  • 130€ for the whole weekend without overnight stays.
  • Contact us for other scenarios.

Packages offered

You are booking one bed only, and will share the room with another person. You may name a person to share the room with, or chose a roommate upon arrival. There are no single rooms.

room type bed type bath-

room

number of rooms available avail. beds total price per person
Double 2 * single private 8 16 4-day: 250€
3-day:
190€
Double bunk beds /Stockbetten shared 12 24 4-day: 210€
3-day:
165€
3 bed room single shared 3 9 4-day: 200€
3-day:
175€
4 – 8 bed dorm or mattress on the floor bunk beds / Stockbetten shared 1 ?? 4-day:
180€
3-day:
135€
full package no bed included sleep @home
or @hotel
’sleepless package‘ quite some 4-day:
130€
3-day:
100€

Registration is open! Register here.

The venue

Outside view

Zentrum Frieden, Solingen, Germany. 30 kms east of Düsseldorf, 38 kms northeast of Cologne. A former monastery. The courtyard was turned into a hall that can be split into three conference rooms (1/2, 1/4, 1/4); there’s a big stage with a microphone system. We’ll have Flipcharts and data projectors in both conference rooms. And we will be able to use the chapel and the library.

Kitchen – foodporn creation site

 

Double room with private bath

Double room bunk bed shared bath

Dorm with shared bath

Several smaller meeting rooms. Two dining rooms, a nice garden and terrace. And a very well equipped kitchen in which we will prepare our own food.

Getting there

Zentrum Frieden, Wupperstraße 120, 42651 Solingen. Plenty of free parking space available on the premises and outside. We will be happy to help organize car-pooling (‚Mitfahrgelegenheit‘) or ask someone to pick you up at a train or bus stop in Solingen. Public transportation connections exist. Contact Dirk for tipps on schedule and ticketing for train/public transportation as well as flights. Closest airports: Düsseldorf (DUS), Dortmund (DTM), Cologne (CGN), Weeze-Niederrhein (NRN).
Need a bed for extra nights before/after the RRR? Ask us!

We will hold your reservation for three work days for you to pay. A booking is only final once we have received your payment. You will receive an invoice.

Bank account owner: Dirk Löffelbein

IBAN: DE98 1203 0000 0016 3902 05

DKB – Deutsche Kredit Bank, Berlin    BIC: BYLADEM 1001

Your involvement

The Agenda at Rhineland Rhetoric Retreat is … what you make of it! Are you interested in running a seminar or workshop? Then contact us as soon as possible – and we’ll figure out if it fits into the programme.

Helping in general We’re expecting a little help from you – maybe one hour in total over the course of the weekend.

– cooking / preparing breakfast / doing the dishes

– setting up / tidying up the meeting and dining rooms

Helping on Sunday afternoon:

– cleaning up the kitchen / wiping the tabletops

– brooming or vacuuming the public area floors + taking the garbage out.

That’s all. A piece of cake!

Food in particular We will cook our own food. Which is both fun and delicious. Please let us know upfront if you have special dietary requirements!

The Programme

Click here to see the agenda for this year!

  • Speaker’s lab with European TM Champion Peter Zinn: “Eureka!” is a lie. Discoveries and breakthroughs don’t go Eureka. They go “That’s funny.” A scientific lab is just a place to purposefully goof around. There is no good or bad, just experiments and results. Results you learn from. Results that help you improve. Welcome to the speaker’s lab. What do you want to experiment with? It’s up to you. Find out how it is to (not) write your speech, to interact, to play a hostile room, to do someone else’s speech, how you do without, or with excessive body language. Etc. We will create our experiments in small groups, get immediate feedback and then experiment again. There’s no good, there’s no bad, there is just trial and restults. There will be two labs over two days. People who want to experiment with preparation should follow both. People who don’t can follow both.
    Peter is a Keynote Speaker, Coach and Trainer in Utrecht, Nederland.
  • Die Story Matrix – Geschichten spannend erzählen – mit Kai-Jürgen Lietz: Kai-Jürgen vermittelt Dir eine einfache Methode, wie Du als Redner genau das richtige Maß an Detail und das richtige Maß an Erzählgeschwindigkeit für Deine persönlichen Geschichten findest. Welche Geschichte passt zu Deiner Rede? Wie bereitest Du Deine Geschichte für den großen Vortrag vor? Und wie prä­sentierst Du sie so, dass Dein Publikum ge­bannt Deiner Erzählung folgt und für einen Moment alles andere vergisst?
    Kai-Jürgen
    ist Redner, Autor und Entscheidungsexperte aus Bad Homburg.
  • How to build productive cross-functional teams – with Mithun Mridha: When do intercultural “soft” skills matter more than field matter expertise? Find out how to use matrix team structures to your advantage. Achieve project effectiveness consistently though reinforced levels of change readiness. Interactive workshop (60 min) with Q&A.
    Mithun is a Project Portfolio Manager, Intercultural Enthusiast and Leadership Speaker based in Paris. He helps Senior Executives to foster strategic alignment, improve project performance and develop future leaders. He has successfully served multinationals and is also a visiting faculty on International Business and Project Management at several business schools – Paris Dauphine, ESSCA Angers, EM Normandie and Freie Universität Berlin.
  • Powerpoint Karaoke: present to slides you have never seen before – in German and English.
  • Tall tale contest – Lügen und Legenden Wettbewerb: Tell us a really wild story – in German or English. You have 3 to 5 ½ minutes – and it should all be a big lie or at least really exaggerated. We had so much fun with this in the past. You better start preparing your speech now!!!
  • Yoga with Maija Löffelbein before breakfast in the mornings.
    Maija is a Yoga teacher, massage & reiki therapist from Riga, Latvia, living in Düsseldorf.
  • Mind Your Mind (Mindfulness session) with Maija Löffelbein & John Holway: „Life is what happens to you while you‘re busy making other plans“ – John Lennon
    Let‘s take time to loosen up and relax, take a refuge in ourselves. Thus, we open up the access to our ultimate potential.
    This session will not add anything to your mind content but might deepen the understanding of who you are.
  • Massage workshop with Maija Löffelbein (English / German): Following Maija’s guidance, we will give eachother a nice shoulder and neck massage.
  • Getting to know each other & Branding workshop – Dirk (English) How you are perceived. How can you change it. We’ll make this a full weekend process with the first part on Thursday evening – and the second part on Sunday afternoon.
  • Eine Geschäftsidee pitchen – mit Dirk (German)
    Vor welchem Publikum? Warum Du und Dein Team? Welches Problem löst Du? Value Proposition, MVP, Testen, Demo, Referenzkunden, Geschäftsmodell, ZDF, Status Quo, Markt, Einführungsstrategie, wo kann der Investor helfen? Kenne Deine Schwächen, unvergesslicher Abschluss, Fettnäpfchen-Navi.
  • When you are the Master of Ceremonies: Running an event from stage – with Dirk
    In this workshop you will learn what it takes to set the right atmosphere for your event, how to introduce and welcome guests to the stage, how to thank and how to present awards and gifts.
    We will also discuss proper preparation of the event and what to do  when things do not work out as planned.
  • Moving, mesmerising and memorable – with John
    Would you like to “wow” your audience, touching their hearts & minds in a lasting way? Would you like to spice up your speech and even blow them away? Are you ready to share your miracle? Then come and join me JOHN W HOLWAY for an hour of learning, loving and laughing together.  John was born in Bristol, England and has been a voluntary Exile in Hamburg for over 30 years. Formerly he worked as a Commercial Attache for the British Consulate-General for 20 years. He is still happily married with two grown sons and was the winner of the Table Topics District finals in 2012 and 2013, speaking on giving birth and the pathway to happiness. He is a self-employed professional trainer and a student of A Course in Miracles, helping clients to find & share their inner light: www.british-network.de
  • Fast Track to your success – with Güliz
    Join this joyful 2 hour journey to clarify your goals with absolute precision and learn how to turn your fantasy into the practical reality.
    The exercises we make in this workshop will lead you to discover and bring out your deepest desires and we will formulate them into your personal and professional goals in a goal card to help you get what you want. You will also learn about Paradigms and their power over your current results. You will discover how paradigms guide every move you make, how to identify your paradigms and most importantly how to make a paradigm shift. This workshop is based on the teachings of Bob Proctor, who is widely regarded as one of the living masters of human potential and growth.
    Are you ready to uncover your infinite potential?

Games with a purpose – evening programme

Optional:

Maija will offer Relaxation massages and Reiki. Contact her directly for an appointment and cost.

Food & drinks

People with food allergies, please speak up now!

Breakfast:
Bread rolls, selection of bread, jam, Nutella, honey, selection of cheese, sausages, eggs / porridge (volunteers, please!), muesli, yoghurt, milk, wide selection of teas, filter coffee.

Our selection of drinks:
Water with or without gas, soft drinks, apple & orange juice, filter coffee, wide selection of teas, different kinds of beer & wine.
And …
Sweets, cake, snacks, peanuts.

Organizing team & responsibilities

Terms and conditions

Your reservation is transferrable to another person under the same terms and conditions; you must provide us with the replacement’s contact details upfront and collect the fee from your replacement yourself. Transfer Charge is 20€ per booking.

Cancellation

In case you need to cancel your attendance …. prior to arrival from a package with overnight stay we will refund from a ’sleepless package‘ without overnight stay we will refund
up to 35 days 100% 100%
up to 2 weeks 75% 75%
up to 1 week 50% 50%
up to 3 days 0% 25%

The event will definitely take place!

Bookings with three overnight stays have priority over one or two night bookings. Always. But we’re pretty sure that we’ll have a mattress on the floor for you.

Registration is open! Register here.

Information on Solingen

Check this website

Factory Outlet Shopping

In case you’re interested: you might be able to shop for knifes, cutlery directly from the manufacturer. There is also a Haribo sweets outlet (that also sold Lindt Chocolates when I was there last time) and an outlet of Krups /Moulinex / Rowenta /Tefal.

The Haribo Outlet is on the way from the highway to the venue.

What to bring – and what to prepare

People with food allergies, please speak up now!

Address: Zentrum Frieden, Wupperstraße 120, 42651 Solingen

What to bring Individual toiletry, pyjama, house shoes / sneakers, your Yoga mat, pullover or jacket (you never know). Pen & note paper.
Your laptop, maybe. A USB-Drive, if you want a video recording of your workshop.

What’s there Bedding sheets, towels, toilet paper, data projectors with VGA input, one flipchart easel & Paper, moveable pinboards. Several camcorders with external microphones.

You better start preparing your tall tale speech now – bereite jetzt schon Deine Rede für den Lügen und Legenden Wettbewerb vor!
In  German and/or English. You have 3 to 5 ½ minutes – and it should all be a big lie or at least really exaggerated. Find the judging criteria here.