7:30 – 9:30 a.m.

Conversation Cafés

Participants not only set the agenda but also provide the insights and advice! Write your question(s) on the white board outside the café area before the sessions start–you’ll be surprised at how many of your peers will have the same questions–and then initiate a conversation, join one or just listen in and soak up the information. You might not consider yourself an “expert” on a topic, but you’ll quickly discover that your experiences and those of your peers from across the country and around the world will provide some of the most practical insights and advice you’ve ever heard.

Gadgets and Gizmos
James Spellos, Meeting U, Bayside, NY

The wild world of tech innovation has finally reached deathcare. How is your firm taking advantage of it to better serve modern families and operate more profitably? (2 CE hours)

It IS Easy Being Green
James Olson, Lippert-Olson Funeral Home, Sheboygan, WI

Share and discover what funeral homes are doing now to better serve eco-conscious families and Mother Earth. (2 CE hours)

Educating Today’s Families on the True Meaning and Value of Funeral Service
H. Joseph Joachim IV, FuneralOne, St. Clair, MI
Lajos Szabo, Schoedinger Funeral & Cremation Services, Columbus, OH
Bill McQueen, Anderson-McQueen Funeral Home, St. Petersburg, FL

In today’s times, we must focus on giving client families what they want and need rather than what many funeral directors think their families want. Explore some of the latest breakthrough solutions available to the profession. This presentation will address the profession’s biggest challenge – educating families on the true meaning and value of funeral service. (2 CE hours)

Finding Hope Again After Loss
Dr. Heidi Horsley, the Open to Hope Foundation, New York, NY
Dr. Gloria Horsley, the Open to Hope Foundation, San Francisco, CA

Losing a family member is a devastating experience, turning one’s world upside down. In this workshop, mother and daughter will share how the guests on their weekly Internet radio show, “Healing the Grieving Heart,” heard by more than half a million people a year, have gone on to find peace and hope after loss. They will also discuss the clinical research on the topic of resilience and share their personal story of love, loss and healing after the death of their son and brother, Scott. (2 CE hours)

Will Your Funeral Home Make You a Millionaire?
Bruce Bratton, IQbrew LLC, Maple Grove, MN

Owning your own funeral home used to be the way to secure a great income and comfortable retirement. But new forms of competition and end-of-life choices, including cremation, have cut income and contributed to falling funeral home values. Bratton shows how to restore financial health and wealth to your funeral business. (2 CE hours)

10:45-11:45 a.m.

OSHA 101 Overview
Richard Best, Stericycle Inc., Williamsville, NY

Assess what you need to do to bring your funeral home into compliance with OSHA regulations. This presentation will present an overview of requirements for bloodborne pathogens, hazard communication, formaldehyde, and safety and health. Questions relating to these and other OSHA areas (respiratory protection, aerosol transmissible diseases, etc.) will be answered. This workshop can save you hours and days of research trying to determine just what OSHA requires. (1 CE hour)

The Future of Plastination in the Funeral Industry
Steven Labrash, Preproomplace.com, Honolulu, HI

Plastination is a process of preserving the body by converting the water-based tissues of the deceased to silicone-based tissues. A plastinated body will never dehydrate or decompose and is true long-term preservation. Plastination will open up possibilities for funeral service never possible before. Plastination can make the idea of having a viewing several years after death become a reality. (1 CE hour)

Top 10 Things Every Family Should Know
Linda Darby-Sempsrott, Trigard, Danville, IL

Find out the in-your-face facts that every funeral professional should discuss with the families he or she serves. Do families you serve know that a grave liner has holes in the bottom to allow for drainage? Do they know that if you scatter cremated remains, that it is possibile that someday a subdivision may be built on top of them? Are we telling people the whole story? If we do not inform people of the facts, they may make a decision they can never take back. Learn how to disucss these very important yet sensitive topics. (1 CE hour)

Your Pet Memorialization Business – How to Service Pet Parents and Profit
Tom Flynn, Pet Service Advisors, Hermitage, PA
Coleen Ellis, Two Hearts Pet Loss Center, Greenwood, IN
Roberta Knauf, Hillcrest Memorial Park, Hermitage, PA

Creating a successful and profitable pet memorialization business is a dilemma that continues to baffle many. Some people think that servicing this business has to be done the “way it’s always been done.” Come and hear from the professionals who have shaken up the industry with pet funeral home models that will allow you to more closely mirror your existing business and will give you the “secrets to success” in making a  profit. (1 CE hour)