The problem
A retreat weekend needs an information pack: travel, rooms, timetable, food, what to bring, payment and cancellation. Pulling it together from the venue's PDF, the booking page and your own notes takes about 4 hours, and details change before it goes out. A studio running one retreat or workshop weekend a month spends about 4 hours a month on packs.
What the AI does
Gemini works inside Google Docs. Open a new Doc, click Ask Gemini, add the venue's information and your timetable from Google Drive as sources, and ask for a pack under the headings you want. Google says Gemini in Docs can reference other Drive files to write or refine content. You edit the draft, paste in your own cancellation terms, and when the timetable changes you ask it to update that section. On a business account it needs Google Workspace Business Standard (about $16£12€14A$23C$23 per user a month).
A worked example
A yoga and Pilates studio in Brighton runs one retreat or workshop weekend a month. The owner keeps the venue's PDF, the timetable and the last pack in one Drive folder and builds each new pack in Docs with Gemini.
Before
About 4 hours per pack, one a month
After
About 1.5 hours per pack, mostly checking and editing
What it's worth
About $100£75€89A$144C$141 a month in time saved, against about $16£12€14A$23C$23 for Workspace Business Standard. Each pack drops from about 4 hours to 1.5, and 2.5 hours at an assumed $40£30€36A$58C$56 an hour is $100£75€89A$144C$141.
How to set it up
- Use Google Workspace Business Standard (€13.60, about $16£12€14A$23C$23 per user a month on a one-year commitment); Business Starter doesn't include Gemini in Docs.
- Put the venue's information, your timetable and the last pack in one Drive folder.
- Open a new Google Doc, click Ask Gemini at the top right, add those files as sources and ask: 'Write an information pack with these headings: Getting there, Rooms, Timetable, Food, What to bring, Payment and cancellation.'
- Check every time, price and address against the sources, and paste your own cancellation terms in word for word.
- When something changes, ask Gemini to update just that section, then share the Doc as view-only or send it as a PDF.
What goes wrong
- It writes from the files you give it. If the venue's PDF is out of date, so is the pack; confirm times and prices with the venue.
- Cancellation and refund terms are contract wording. Use your own, not Gemini's rewording of them.
- Keep participants' health information out of the Doc; it belongs in your booking or forms system.
- On a personal Google account, Gemini in Docs needs Google AI Pro ($25.26£18.99€22.60A$36.46C$35.70 a month), on consumer terms.