The Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce's annual Board of Directors retreat was Sept. 29 and 30 at the Hilton Palm Springs Hilton Resort. More than 30 board members, city officials and staff attended the strategic planning conference. The gathering studies the program of work from the current year and looks forward 36 months to establish a vision for the chamber going forward. Discussion time was spent on the status of the current program of work and deciding which programs in progress needed to be continued in the upcoming year. A SWOT analysis was conducted, which involves looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the organization. The attendees were divided into four groups and asked to complete the SWOT exercise. Later, the groups convened and discussed their responses to the categories. From the discussion, a new plan for the upcoming 36 months was created.