No, and this is the question we're asked most. Every woman arrives not knowing the others — that's part of why it works. Nobody is carrying a history into the room, and the welcome dinner on Thursday exists precisely so that by Friday morning you're not sitting with strangers.

Yes. Your own private room at The Westin for the duration, included in your investment. There is no shared accommodation and no expectation that you'll be sociable every waking hour — four days is long enough that you'll want an hour to yourself, and you'll have somewhere to take it.

We begin with dinner on Thursday 8 October, so arrive during the day on the Thursday. We finish after breakfast on Sunday 11 October, so book your flight home from the Sunday afternoon onwards. Airport transfers at both ends are included.

No. Apply first, have the conversation, and book once your place is confirmed. Applications close 5pm Monday 14 September, which leaves a little over three weeks to arrange travel — tight, but very doable.

We'll tell you honestly and quickly, and we'll tell you why. Usually it isn't about you at all — it's about timing, or about the balance of the room. If we think you'd be right for a future retreat we'll say so and keep you close.

That's fine, and it's worth saying: applying is not agreeing. The conversation costs you twenty minutes and no money changes hands. Most women find it much easier to have the conversation at home once they've had the one with us.

Not at all. Three monthly payments of $2,167, and it makes no difference to your application. What we would say is that the plan should be a cash-flow preference rather than a stretch — four days spent doing arithmetic isn't four days well spent.

Tell us on your application or on the call. The degustation lunch, the dinners and the hotel can all accommodate most requirements comfortably, but we need to know in advance rather than on the night.

No. There's no strategy, no funnel, no business plan. This is the thinking underneath the results — self image, belief, and the ceiling you keep arriving at and not passing. Women almost always leave with things that change their business, but that's a consequence rather than the agenda.

Realistically, no, and we'd ask you not to try. It's four days. Set the out-of-office, tell your team, and be in the room. The women who get the most out of it are the ones who genuinely left.

There's a post-retreat Zoom session with both of us, so what shifted in Melbourne doesn't evaporate in the first fortnight home. There's also a preparation Zoom before you travel, so you arrive ready rather than warming up on the Friday.