Renaissance Weekend
Common Questions
- What are the Confidentiality and & Intellectual Property policies?
- What are Renaissance Weekends all about?
- Who attends? How did you get my name?
- Can someone attend in my stead?
- Can I attend more than one Weekend each year?
- When should I register?
- Who are the founders and hosts? How were Renaissance Weekends established?
- Who are some of the people who have provided Renaissance Weekends' content and established its reputation?
- Can I (or my family members) bring guests?
- Can/Should college-age and teenage sons and daughters and young children attend?
- Which Weekend should I attend?
- What are the themes of specific Weekends? What is the program? Who are the speakers?
- How do I register? If I did not receive an invitation, how may I be considered?
- How do I prepare for a Renaissance Weekend? What should I pack?
- Can you help with travel arrangements?
- When should we arrive and depart?
- If I am on the Wait List for my preferred Weekend, what should I do? If I must cancel, may I get a refund?
- Can you help me make plans for vacationing or sight-seeing before, after or during the Weekend?
- Are any of the costs relating to attending a Renaissance Weekend tax-deductible?
- How do I contact the Renaissance Weekend team?
What are the Confidentiality and & Intellectual Property policies?
To uphold Renaissance Weekends®' distinctive format and spirit of candor, participants are required to honor longstanding policies.
- Private retreats, exclusively for invitees. All participants, including invitees' guests, must be approved by the Renaissance Institute® through advance registration and wear official nametags designating proper registration. Online, social networking or other media reference to, or posting photographs of, participants must be approved by such individuals and/or the hosts.
- Programs, strictly "off-the-record." Media-available descriptions of the Weekends and their discussion themes must be general and unattributed. Individuals' presentations or comments should not be referenced in public media (including blogs and social networking sites) without such persons' prior approval. Programs may not be recorded; only staff photography is allowed during sessions; and photographing participants is permissible only if intended for personal use.
- Commerciality, frowned upon. Solicitations during Weekends and commercial uses of Lists of Participants are prohibited. But participants' sharing of contact details is encouraged; and business cards may be discreetly exchanged.
- Unauthorized uses. Intellectual property protection has been secured, and is strictly enforced, regarding traditional Renaissance Weekend® terms, program content and materials (including, but not limited to, "Renaissance Weekend(s)®," "Renaissance Institute®," "Renaissance Academy®," "Camp Renaissance®"), and use thereof must be specifically authorized by the Renaissance Institute®.
All participants are expected to respect Renaissance Weekends®' tradition of the candid and welcome exchange of diverse opinions, safeguards for privacy, confidentiality, and non-commerciality, and family ethos. Comments, behavior, or public references which could compromise the character of Renaissance Weekends® are unacceptable.
What are Renaissance Weekends all about?
Learn more information about Renaissance Weekend, it's history, founders, and past participants.
Who attends? How did you get my name?
For Illustrative list of past participants, click here.
If you have received the invitation, a Renaissance Weekend past participant has nominated you to attend. Nominations are based on your professional experience, personal profiles and likely contributions to the program's breadth and depth.
Participation is by invitation only. A very limited number of others expressing interest may be included, based on their potential contribution to the expertise, depth, breadth, and diversity of perspectives at each Weekend. For consideration, please note the Invitation Criteria.
To review the composition of that Advisory Board, click here.
Can someone attend in my stead?
Because Renaissance Weekends are private gatherings and participants are selected personally and not on the basis of their position, attendance is by invitation only, and invitations are not transferable.
Can I attend more than one Weekend each year?
Invitees who register for a Renaissance Weekend and have attended another in the past twelve months will be placed on the Wait List and admitted on a space-available basis. Every effort will be made to make that possible.
When should I register?
You may register for any upcoming Renaissance Weekend, throughout the year. The program for each Renaissance Weekend is created directly from the registered participants' completed profile information. As a result, and to ensure that you are adequately included in the Weekend's program based on your interests, hobbies and expertise, we ask that you register at your earliest convenience.
Please note, to ensure appropriate program assignments, the Registration Fee for those adult participants registering 31 days before the start of each Weekend, or earlier, is $100 less than that for later registrants.
Who are the founders and hosts? How were Renaissance Weekends established?
To learn about Phil and Linda Lader, click here.
For Renaissance Weekends’ history, click here.
Who are some of the people who have provided Renaissance Weekends' content and established its reputation?
To note the 25th Anniversary Advisory Board, click here.
For the list of Illustrative Past Participants, click here.
Can I (or my family members) bring guests?
Each invitee may bring his or her spouse (or a guest) and immediate family. Sons and daughters may each bring a guest, but additional guests must be authorized by the Renaissance Weekend staff. The costs of such guests’ participation remain the responsibility of the invited participant unless such additional guests are approved and register separately.
Some designated Weekends, e.g. July 4th and other occasional holidays, however, are open to each participant's extended family, and the invited guest will be responsible for the costs of such group's participation.
Can/Should college-age and teenage sons and daughters and young children attend?
They are most welcome. For children under age 3, we recommend you bring a babysitter/au pair/nanny to maximize your enjoyment of the Weekend. Babies, unless they disrupt meetings, are also welcome.
CHILDREN
Camp Renaissance is an action-packed program tailored for children ages 3-12. Typical children’s programs include hands-on experiments, indoor and outdoor games, nature walks, musical performances, story-telling and arts & crafts projects. These activities are organized by the Camp Renaissance Counselors, with involvement from adult Renaissance participants whose experiences are of interest to young people. The children’s program runs concurrently with the adult program, and thus does not provide full-time child care. Camp-related costs are included in the children’s Registration Fees for the Weekend.
Younger Children: There is no organized program or child care provided for children under the age of three. However, younger children are welcome at Camp Renaissance programs when accompanied by a parent or other responsible adult. Participants should make arrangements for babysitters at least three weeks prior to arrival at the Weekend (lists are available from the hotel Concierge). To maximize enjoyment of the full program for the entire family, families with young children are encouraged to bring a baby-sitter or “au pair.” While there is no Registration Fee for such individuals, they are charged for one Child’s Meals Fee ($320). It is understood that they are attending solely for child care and that, if practical, they will assist periodically with Camp Renaissance. Baby-sitters and “au pairs” are free to attend programs and panel discussions designed specifically for Camp Renaissance participants.
TEENS & COLLEGE STUDENTS
Young people are welcome at all functions. Most teens and college students participate in the regularly-scheduled activities. In addition, they often have designated gathering places and their own activities and discussions. Teens and college students are usually placed on panels reflective of their interests, according to the information provided on the PARTICIPANT PROFILES, which accompanied your invitation.
The final agenda (available at Registration) will note programs especially for teens, other panels designed with teens in mind, and details for additional teen gatherings.
College students have traditionally integrated themselves into the adult program while also creating a strong bond during a few programs planned specifically for them.
Parents are expected to oversee their children’s and teens’ comings and goings throughout the Weekend. Renaissance Institute and Renaissance Weekend staff can assume no liability regarding children or teens.
College students traditionally integrate themselves into full program while also creating a strong bond during sessions planned specifically for them.
Which Weekend should I attend?
Most participants base their decision on date, location or size of the Weekend, as the programs are similar and each gathering’s participants are equally distinguished.
The New Year’s Weekend is traditionally the largest, somewhat a reunion of past participants, and has dawn-to-late evening programs. The other Weekends are smaller in size, making them easier for newcomers to navigate, and leave most afternoons free for recreation and sight-seeing.
To learn more about the currently planned locations, click here.
What are the themes of specific Weekends? What is the program? Who are the speakers?
Every Renaissance Weekend addresses a broad range of public policy and personal subjects, including current events and central issues of the times. Each gathering includes many nationally distinguished authorities in diverse fields, and their contributions are supplemented by remarks from highly informed fellow participants.
The Weekends are comprised of hundreds of lectures, small seminars, focused panel sessions, large free-for-all discussions, skill-related workshops, and half-day Academies. A half-dozen to 20 simultaneous programs throughout each day, with several plenary sessions, permit each participant to tailor-make a personal schedule. Lively discussion is encouraged, and the tone is decidedly relaxed. All may come-and-go as they like.
Some have likened Renaissance Weekends to “mini-universities” or reunions of an extended family of highly accomplished individuals. Programs always include specific sessions on business, finance and investments, international affairs, government and politics, medicine, science and technology, religion and philosophy, energy and the environment, literature and the arts, non-profits, philanthropy and NGOs, journalism, media and entertainment, health and fitness, computers and the Internet, psychology, travel and recreation, and family legacies and concerns. Music and laughter punctuate serious discussions.
Each Renaissance program, designed to highlight the unique competencies of individual participants, is organized about two weeks before the Weekend, and a Tentative Program – with several “assignments” for each participant – is e-mailed to them at that time. The final Program is only available at Registration.
To review an illustrative Program, click here.
How do I register? If I did not receive an invitation, how may I be considered?
For Registration procedures, click here.
Participation is by invitation only. A very limited number of others expressing interest may be included, based on their potential contribution to the expertise, depth, breadth, and diversity of perspectives at each Weekend. For consideration, please note the Invitation Criteria.
Inquiries and requests for consideration should be sent to the Renaissance Weekend team.
How do I prepare for a Renaissance Weekend? What should I pack?
Don’t worry, first appearances notwithstanding, the Weekends are very informal.
“Business casual” (and, as appropriate for some resort settings, even more casual than that standard) is the appropriate attire, with coats-and-ties for men at dinner. Check weather sources to determine what to bring.
After receiving the Tentative Program and your assignments about 10 days before the Weekend, (1) review the Program and highlight the sessions which most interest you, and (2) note your assignments and give some thought to your remarks. Invariably, the subject-matter you will be asked to address relate specifically to your expertise. Except for the lectures, nobody is expected to devote much time to preparation; and prepared, written statements are frowned upon.
Panelists offer brief and extemporaneous reflections in the area of their expertise or on topics of general interest. (1-3 minutes max!) No one expects to hear the last word on the subject, and “grandstanding” or stealing time from fellow Panelists are serious Renaissance Weekend offenses! Panel discussions are designed to provide the beginnings of conversations that continue throughout the Weekend and between Renaissance Weekends.
Resources give comments and insights in Academies, Free-for-alls and Forums. Unlike Panelists, Resources participate as audience members.
Free-for-Alls are specifically designed to be . . . free-for-all! These large, open-forum discussions provide an informal opportunity for everyone to contribute. The Moderator keeps order and makes sure the discussion stays on topic.
Seminar Presenters give longer, more focused and in-depth remarks in the areas of their expertise, and they allow extensive time for questions and answers.
Lunch and Dinner Leaders are simply asked to "host" a table discussion for that meal.
Questioners kick off discussions with short, relevant questions of one (not all) panelist in a way that fosters interchange among the Panelists and maximizes participation from the audience. (No speechmaking!)
To review an Illustrative Program, click here.
To learn more about the facilities and location of your Weekend, and to determine your transportation needs, click here.
Can you help with travel arrangements?
To determine whether you want to rent a car, learn more about your Weekend’s site by clicking here.
When should we arrive and depart?
We recommend that you come to the Weekend a day early to enjoy the resort and its vicinity. For mountain locales, advance arrival is especially recommended to allow time to adjust to altitude differences. Special rates are arranged with host sites for several days before and after each Renaissance Weekend and may be secured by request on Renaissance Weekend’s Lodging Reservation Form.
Registration regularly begins at 2:00 p.m. for our New Year's Weekend and at 4:00 p.m. for all other Weekends, on the first day of the Weekend, a 6:00 p.m. reception is typically held, and the dinner and evening program usually start at 7:00 p.m. The final day’s program usually includes only a few morning programs and concludes by noon with an informal panel that is often one of the most memorable.
If I am on the Wait List for my preferred Weekend, what should I do? If I must cancel, may I get a refund?
We will make every effort to accommodate Wait-listed registrants' first preference and will let the lead participant know, as soon as possible, if a place opens.
For refund policies, click here.
Can you help me make plans for vacationing or sight-seeing before, after or during the Weekend?
Special rates are arranged with host sites for several days before and after each Renaissance Weekend and may be secured by request on Renaissance Weekend’s Lodging Reservation Form.
Detailed information about such vacationing, sight-seeing, and adventure outings is available on the site details for each individual Weekend. You may sign up for such activities, wine-tastings, tennis round-robins and other activities at Registration (often with discounted rates for Renaissance participants) or with the respective host site’s concierge.
Are any of the costs relating to attending a Renaissance Weekend tax-deductible?
Please consult your tax adviser. Past participants have been advised that, in their circumstances, payments are qualified business expenses, but may not be claimed as charitable deductions from income.
How do I contact the Renaissance Weekend team?
The Renaissance Institute has found it most efficient for inquiries to be communicated by e-mail (info@RenWkd.org) or fax (843-577-2250).
Please feel free to contact the team.