Group Preparation Timeline

STEP 1.  6 MONTHS TO 1 ½ YEARS BEFORE EXPEDITION

Determine Your Group:
• Determine approximate size of your group.
• Decide on your group’s age range.
• Narrow down a possible time frame (trips generally run from 10 -15 days 12 months a year)

STEP 2.  6 MONTHS TO 1 YEAR BEFORE EXPEDITION

Determine Location Of Expedition
• Use information from step one to help guide you.
• Consider your group’s ministerial focus (if any) IE. Africa, the Amazon, or Asia.
• A comprehensive Expedition Orientation will be sent to you once this step is completed. Along with Overland staff, this will guide you through the preparation process, from inoculations and visas, to suggested research and mandatory reading.

STEP 3.  6 MONTHS TO 1 YEAR BEFORE EXPEDITION

Present The Expedition To Your Group. This is when you begin to recruit/build your team.  Now that you have decided to take part in this expedition you need to get your team behind you. 
• Start this process as soon as possible as it can take some time (communicate the deadline for the application at this time)
• Make expectations and deadlines clear from the start.
• Target a group at least double the size you actually plan to deploy.
• We will provide you with additional materials to aid you in the process.

STEP 4. 5 – 6 MONTHS BEFORE EXPEDITION

Finalize Your Team. You will select your own team.  We will not apply our normal application process to your individual members (i.e. interviews) but will leave it up to your discretion to build your own team.  If we have a concern based on the information provided us about an individual member, we will discuss our concerns with you which could lead to a member’s dismissal. 
• Feel free to use our application as a tool to determine your team.  Set the application deadline at least two weeks prior to submitting your final names to us. 
• Once you determine your team make sure to reiterate to individuals the importance of meeting the deposit deadline and the next group meeting you are conducting.
• When mailing us your team’s applications, be sure to include your own.

STEP 5.  3 WEEKS AFTER YOU HAVE FINALIZED YOUR TEAM

Payment Schedule Begins. The schedule varies depending on the expedition you choose but is based on three payments and a deposit of $200 per person (which goes towards the cost of the trip).
• A $200 deposit is due from each member (one check should be written to us from your church/ministry).
• Applications should be mailed to us at the same time.
• Consider ideas for group fundraising activities.
• Plan activities for the group to spend time together preparing as a team.
• Develop and practice some dramas that you’d like to do when in the villages.

Note:  This timeline gives a date-range of feasibility in completing the necessary steps to make a group expedition possible.  Keep in mind that the sooner you start the process the more options you will have in regards to locations, the more money you will save (the earlier airline tickets can be purchased the cheaper they are), and the more time you will have to build the size and strength of your team.