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ICFA Annual Convention & Exposition
March 30 - April 2, 2005
Las Vegas Hilton
Program Chair: Paul Elvig
Convention Program
Convention Speakers
Convention Sponsors
Candidates for Board of Directors
Download the Registration Form
Download the Hotel Reservation Form
Exhibitors: Check out the Exhibitor Prospectus
Welcome to the friendliest, most informative Convention in the cemetery and funeral service profession! International Cemetery and Funeral Association members are known for being progressive, business-minded and extremely willing to share.
The 2005 Convention & Exposition will focus on the changes occurring in our profession, with an eye toward identifying the skills, qualities and product offerings needed to succeed in the future. We hope you will join us in Las Vegas for this exciting and forward-looking event!
Funeral Directors: The ICFA Convention & Exposition has been approved
by the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice for
19 continuing education credits!
Here's what past attendees are saying about the ICFA's Annual Convention & Exposition:
"Being a 'first-timer,' it was evident that many members of this association went out of their way to make me feel welcome and not shut out. I was very appreciative of this. It's not the same in other organizations!"
"It was my first time here and I would definitely come back."
"I enjoyed lunch with the suppliers in the exhibit hall. It allowed for more interaction with the suppliers and convention attendees plus lunch."
"This is my first time and I'm walking away with the impression that the ICFA is moving in the right direction!"
"Best convention ever -- my first. I have been to NFDA, this is 100% better."
"The whole atmosphere was upbeat. Thanks!"
Conference Program Schedule
Wednesday, March 30
5:30 - 6 p.m.
First Timers' Reception
Welcome to your first ICFA Convention & Exposition! Please join your fellow "first timers" and the ICFA leadership for a special reception in the Expo hall. You'll learn about opportunities to participate in the ICFA and have a chance to meet new friends as you start off your Convention week.
6 - 8 p.m.
Grand Opening Reception
More than 200 supplier booths ... free food and drink ... entertainment. What more can you ask of an exhibit hall? Join us for the ICFA Expo Grand Opening and find out why this is everyone's odds-on favorite for the Best Supplier Exposition in the Business!
As an added attraction, this year's Expo will host a 100-square-foot display by the National Museum of Funeral History. From 19th century mourning apparel, to documents on historically significant funerals and burials, to unusual caskets and coaches, the museum serves as a repository for thousands of artifacts from the annals of the profession's history. Be sure to stop by and check it out.
Thursday, March 31
7:30 - 8:45 a.m.
ICFA Annual Business Meeting
Twelve candidates, eight seats. You decide who will be elected to the ICFA Board of Directors. Make an informed decision by reviewing the candidates for Board of Directors. Don't miss this opportunity to vote for tomorrow's ICFA leaders and to hear reports from today's leadership on the current activities and status of the association.
8:45 - 9:00 a.m.
Welcome and Awards Presentation
Funeral Service Museum Hall of Fame Award.
9 - 10 a.m.
General Session: The Future of Cemeteries and Funeral Service
In a multimedia performance worthy of its Hollywood origins, this entertaining general session will take you on a tour of one company's vision for the future of the cemetery and funeral service profession. Tyler Cassity and his team at Forever Cemeteries have been described by the press as "true pioneers" who are "transforming the traditional cemetery business into a high-tech venture."
Live funeral Web casts. Video tribute theaters. Professionally produced video biographies. Annual documentaries of school kids. Video messages from our troops overseas. Highly personalized funeral and burial services. Cemeteries dedicated to "natural burials." Tribute holograms. (Well, OK, that last one is still on the drawing board!) Forever Cemeteries' success cannot be denied, and not just among the stargazers who patronize the company's Hollywood location, but among its customers in some of the most traditional, history-devoted communities of the Midwest.
In an interview with Time magazine, Tyler said: "The people who come to us define who we are. For us to define for them how they can remember someone, well, we're just not going to do that." How do today's families define our services? How will they define them in the future? Join this cemeterian-turned-celebrity for a compelling look at tomorrow's trends.
10 a.m. - 12 noon
General Session: The Futility of Fighting Evolution
Change is inevitable in the cemetery and funeral service profession, as in every business. In this session, retailing guru Doug Gober will share his research on the characteristics that allow some businesses to cope with change more effectively than others.
Doug will examine those companies that have survived and even thrived against the backdrop of changing consumer behavior, and will reveal the common threads that successful cemetery and funeral service companies share with these organizations. Specifically, he'll explore the key retailing elements of information, control, value and selection, as well as the role of the media and its power to shape consumer perceptions.
12 - 3 p.m.
Lunch at the Expo
You've got three full hours to continue touring the Expo hall ... and you'll need it! This year's ICFA Expo is our largest ever, with more than 200 booths offering all of the latest products and services you need to improve your business operations, increase efficiency and better serve families. From memorials and monuments, to caskets and cremation containers, to flags and fountains ... you name it, you'll find it here.
Just ask any expert in our profession where to go for information on building your business, and they'll tell you: Talk to the suppliers! Cemetery and funeral service vendors are at the leading edge of the trends affecting your company, and they've got the expertise and the resources to help you stay on top of those trends. Visit every booth and learn all you can about the choices available to you!
3 - 4 p.m.
General Session: "The Tomorrow Show"
Join hosts Christine Hentges and Nicole Wiedeman for this lively talk show discussing the topic, "It's Not Just Lady Luck!"
You'll meet four extraordinary women who are making a difference in our industry. Men and women alike will want to find out what these leaders have to say about the struggles they've faced to get where they are today as well as the type of impact they plan to make in the future. This session is not just about the challenges women face in business, it's about what they do to meet those challenges and succeed!
Guests include:
- Nancy Lohman: Thinking Like the COO. As part owner and operator of eight Florida cemeteries and funeral homes, Nancy will reveal her keys to executive decision making and strategic thinking, including advice they don't give you in business school.
- Kelly Dwyer: Unique Business Strategies. Michigan Memorial Park Vice President and Public Relations Director Kelly Dwyer will examine a case study from her location: the introduction of the "Harley Hearse" and how this departure from tradition has given their business a competitive edge.
- Gwen Mooney: Turbo Time Management -- Getting Things Done! As director of advanced planning for the Jon Deitloff Funeral Centre in Cincinnati, Ohio, Gwen will take a look at some of the tools and techniques needed to manage your time on the job and at home, to achieve a balanced, healthy, productive life.
- Nancy Hansen: Women as Professionals. From how to dress, to how to speak, to how to best present themselves, women face some unique questions in a professional setting. Nancy Hansen, vice president of finance and chief financial officer for Evergreen-Washelli Memorial Park and Funeral Home in Seattle, Washington, will explore the challenge for women of gaining acceptance from co-workers and clients as equals to their male counterparts, without losing the strengths of their femininity.
In addition, all six women will discuss topics such as the role of mentoring in professional development and their visions for the future of the profession. The show will wrap up with an audience Q&A.
4 - 5 p.m.
General Session: Are You Tuned In?
Todd Van Beck, well known as one of the most quality-oriented funeral directors in the profession, has read just about every book out there on management, service and achieving results. But guess what? He's found that the vast majority of them don't work! Not even for him!
"I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get all these great concepts to work," Todd says, "and then I realized what the problem was: These books are all predicated on the customer wanting your product. But customers don't want what cemeteries and funeral homes are selling."
One notable exception to the rule is the work of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Todd has been teaching Deming's theories for several years at ICFA University, and now he is going to share some of the most critical concepts at this Convention keynote session.
You'll learn how to define, attain and measure quality within your company, and you'll receive concrete programs for turning these concepts into reality. What's more, you'll walk away with handouts packed with a variety of out-of-the-box ideas you can put to use immediately -- creative ways to "wow" the families you serve and create strong customer loyalty.
5 - 6:30 p.m.
Reception with Suppliers
Join the International Memorialization Supply Association and all of our 2005 exhibitors for an informal reception before heading out to a night on the town in Vegas. As always, all of our Expo hours include continuous free food and beverage service throughout!
Friday, April 1
7:30 - 8:45 a.m.
Prayer Breakfast
If Americans Lost Their Faith Tomorrow—Would Your Business Suffer? (ticket required)
9 - 11 a.m.
General Session: 25 FAQ's About Death Care Marketing
In his more than 20 years of working with the funeral service profession, Glenn Gould has fielded lots of questions from cemetery and funeral home owners and managers looking for a competitive advantage in their market.
In this two-hour keynote presentation, Glenn will distill those questions into 25 FAQ's addressing the most common concerns and challenges facing the profession today. Among the topics he'll explore:
- Consumer attitudes toward personalization, cremation, preneed and cemetery products
- Naming a funeral home, either start-up or acquisition
- Local ownership as a factor in funeral home selection
- How to start a discount operation and how to compete with discount operators
- Public relations as a promotional strategy
- Building new facilities vs. expanding existing facilities
- What consumers are willing to pay for funeral services
- Developing marketing strategies
- And more!
10 a.m.
Spouse/Guest Program: Backstage at Jubilee!
(spouse/guest registration or ticket required)
Of all the spectacles in this city of spectacles, Jubilee! is perhaps the most spectacular. For 23 years, Jubilee! has enthralled audiences with its million-dollar sets (including an exact replica of the Titanic that sinks into 5,000 gallons of flowing water each night), its $50,000 Bob Mackie showgirl costumes and its fabulous dancers, consistently rated as the "Best Showgirls" by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
In this exclusive tour, you'll go behind the scenes to see how the cast and crew bring this extravaganza to life. You'll be greeted by one of the show's lovely dancers and escorted onto the largest stage in Las Vegas for a firsthand look at the lighting, sound and stage elevators. Next, you'll descend three stories to check out the special effects mechanisms, followed by a makeup and costume demo that transforms a merely beautiful woman into a glittering Vegas showgirl.
Includes lunch and bus transportation. Please note: The tour does not offer handicap access. Participants must be 13 years and older.
11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Brunch at the Expo
This is your last chance to visit every booth and collect those vendor business cards. Make the most of this brunch as you get your last look at the thousands of products and services on display throughout the hall!
2- 2:50 p.m.
Breakout Session A: Funeral Home At-Need Payment Policies
Payment policies at many funeral homes have historically been extremely loose and all over the board. This session is a must for funeral directors who like to actually get paid for their services. (And you cemeterians might want to drop in as well. How many times have you extended credit to funeral homes for grave openings, only to end up with an uncomfortable C.O.D. situation to keep delinquent outstanding accounts from ballooning larger?)
In this practical, "how to" breakout session, Ernie Heffner will use role-play demonstrations to explore:
- How to be paid at time of arrangements
- Proper presentation of a consistent payment policy
- Training for arrangers
- How to respond to questions and challenges
- How to offer 11 methods of payment, all of which ensure payment in full before all services are rendered
- How a prudent at-need payment policy benefits your prearrangement program
- Why all of this is good for both the provider and the consumer
NOTICE: Do not attend this session if:
- You have zero receivables and zero bad debt
- Your desire to be benevolent is greater than your courage to be fiscally prudent
- You like to risk being charged with discrimination in the extension of credit to consumers
- You perceive getting paid to be boring, not sexy and of no interest
Breakout Session B: Smitty and Fife, Live!
You've read their column in International Cemetery & Funeral Management magazine ... now come watch them, live and in person! It's the Smitty & Fife Show!
Yes, together on one stage, America's favorite cemetery maintenance advice columnists, Tom Smith and Tom Pfeifer will share their combined 40+ years of experience in a never-before-seen presentation that is sure to take your grounds maintenance and operations programs to new heights of efficiency, effectiveness and success!
You'll get dozens of solutions to your toughest maintenance and operational challenges. Come prepared to ask questions!
Breakout Session C: Using the 93 Percent Rule to Boost Sales
Communication experts reveal that 7 percent of any interaction you have with people is verbal -- meaning the words you actually say -- while the other 93 percent is made up of your body language, voice, intonation, syntax and facial expressions.
Does your preneed sales presentation capitalize on only the 7 percent, or does it take advantage of the other 93 percent of your communication cycle? In this innovative seminar, John Bolton will break down the key components for giving an actual presentation and will show you how to use the 93 percent rule to ensure a more effective sales presentation.
3 - 3:50 p.m.
Breakout Session A: Media: Friend or Foe?
Consumers today are smarter than ever, with more places to turn to get the information they need. Are you creating an effective message for these consumers? Are you using all of the tools in your communications toolbox to market yourself in your community?
One important outlet for reaching your market is the press. Unless we in funeral service use the media to tell our story, the marketplace will do it for us, and probably in a negative way.
In this session, Joe Weigel will share practical tips on how to proactively work with the media in your community. You'll learn what public relations can and cannot do for your company, and you'll learn how to effectively develop an action plan for improving media relations in your community.
Breakout Session B: Death of a Salesman
(Or How to Close the Gender Gap)
Recent studies have shown that many women possess more sales aptitude than men. Come discover why members of the so-called "weaker sex" may be some of your strongest closers. Sales Manager Sandra Colleton will take a look at what makes a preneed salesperson successful, regardless of gender. Then she'll explore ways to identify those desirable characteristics during the recruiting process so you can make effective hiring decisions, thereby avoiding the losers, lunatics and loose cannons altogether!
Next, once you've identified a "keeper," how do you turn your budding superstar into a long-term productive employee? What responsibilities do you have for mentoring, support and flexibility, and why is this especially important if you want to retain loyal, successful and highly motivated saleswomen?
Finally, Sandi will examine the latest research demonstrating how and why the marketplace is being transformed by women, both as consumers and as sales agents. Those of you who understand and embrace this transformation will become the leaders in our profession and will have a healthy bottom line to show for it.
Breakout Session C: Deterring Employee Fraud
At the 2004 ICFA Convention, Bob Garvey drew high marks for his session on identifying employee fraud. This year, he will build on that topic with a discussion of effective fraud deterrence programs for cemeteries and funeral homes.
In addition, Bob will analyze typical employee fraud schemes and offer proven ways to combat them, specifically:
- fraudulent disbursements
- payroll and commission scams
- unrecorded sales schemes
- receivables skimming
Note: In preparation for his session, Bob is conducting a survey on Employee Fraud Prevention. To participate in this survey, click here.
4 - 4:50 p.m.
Breakout Session A: Setting Up and Controlling Your Sales Program From the Owner's or Manager's Perspective
Everywhere you turn, our profession is offering education for sales counselors and sales managers. Recruiting, prospecting, appointment setting, closing ... you name it, we've got a training program for it.
But what about guidance for you, the cemetery or funeral home owner and manager? What are your responsibilities to your sales operations? What skills and knowledge do you need to establish a sales program, manage it and ensure its success? Come see and hear from Ken Varner about how one of the country's most successful programs is managed -- not from the sales manager's perspective, but from the CEO's perspective.
Breakout Session B: Is Your Crystal Ball On the Fritz?
10 Tips to Solve the Hiring Puzzle
Today's sophisticated job candidate is better trained and coached for the job search than ever. In the past decade, an entire industry has emerged to provide coaching services and products that make people "experts" on the receiving end of a job interview. The traditional interviewing and selection processes simply don't work.
In this session, hiring consultant Michael Gravelle offers practical training for directors and managers who have to fill any position, from a receptionist to a sales person to a supervisor. It provides proven methods to get in-depth, objective information about candidates, including:
- how to avoid common hiring pitfalls
- which questions to ask, and which to stay away from
- when to go with your "gut" and when not to
- effective use of tools such as employment testing and work samples
Breakout Session C: Sales Success: A Return to the Basics
Join sales coaching and motivation expert Joseph Stith for a "back to the basics" lesson on how to succeed at cemetery and funeral service sales. Joseph's hard hitting, high-energy presentation was a big hit at the ICFA's 2003 Sales Management & Management Conference, and in this presentation, he will expand on specific behavioral technologies that can boost your sales the first day you return to the office. You'll learn why conventional motivation tactics are severely limited and what you must do to create lasting motivation you can maintain.
Packed with information you can sink your teeth into, this session will help you drive home the results you need month after month. The "basics" are anything but boring when you understand how to find meaning and passion in this wonderful business of serving people.
Saturday, April 2
9 - 10 a.m.
General Session: Succeeding in Today's Dynamic Economy
The conventional wisdom in the cemetery and funeral service profession is that your services are rapidly becoming commodities. Further, because of consolidation, labor shortages, intense competition from outside the profession and increasingly sophisticated buyers, prices will be driven down and profit margins mercilessly squeezed.
Well, like so much "conventional wisdom," these views are more "conventional" than actual "wisdom."
Consider this story from The Tom Peters Seminar:
Author Harvey Mackay tells about a cab ride from Manhattan out to La Guardia Airport: First, this driver gave me a paper that said, "Hi, my name is Walter. I'm your driver. I'm going to get you there safely, on time, in a courteous fashion." A mission statement from a cab driver! Then he holds up a New York Times and a USA Today and asks would I like them? So I took them. We haven't even moved yet. He then offers a nice little fruit basket with snack foods. Next he asks, "Would you prefer hard rock or classical music?" He has four channels. (This cab driver makes an above-average amount per year in tips.)
There is no such thing as a commodity. Anything can be differentiated in the marketplace. Certainly, the inherently personalized services of your profession are no exception. As the economic value base shifts from a service economy to an experience -- and ultimately, a transformation -- economy, the opportunities for you to create unique, personal experiences for the families you serve are limited only by the constraints of your imagination.
If you are a cemeterian, funeral director or supplier who wants to create inherently personalized and transformational experiences for your customers, you will want to join us for this groundbreaking keynote presentation as consultant Daniel Morris examines:
- how to differentiate your products and services from those of the competition and how doing this can help you avoid being defined by "standard pricing"
- the Progression of Economic Value and how to use that concept to determine what you are offering, and what that means to your customer and to your bottom line
- why commodities simply do not exist, and how you can therefore price your products and services based on the value and the experience provided to the customer
10 - 10:45 a.m.
Legal & Legislative Update: 'Circling the Wagons'
Is the cemetery and funeral service profession under attack from a variety of directions? Are renewed efforts to establish the federal regulation of funeral homes, cemeteries and related businesses in the wings? What is the ICFA doing to safeguard your interests in the changing regulatory climate? Decide for yourself as the members of the Government and Legal Affairs Committee provide you with the latest news on federal laws, rules and court decisions that can affect your business operations.
10:45 - 11:45 a.m.
10 Steps to Working with Your State Regulators
Steve Sklar will share his insights into the relationship between state regulators and the businesses they regulate, including a 10-step program showing how licensees and their state associations can utilize their state regulatory agencies to help with sales, consumer complaints, dispute mediation, community public relations, media inquiries and related issues that can enhance or harm your business' bottom line.
12 - 1:15 p.m.
2nd Annual State Association Leadership Roundtable
This unique event brings together from the four corners of the nation many state association officers and executives (as well as aspiring leaders!) to discuss issues of mutual concern. Attendees set the agenda and network by reviewing the subjects that matter to them. Our state regulators network all the time, and so should we!
1:45 - 4:45 p.m.
Educational Tours Of Palm Mortuaries, Cemeteries & Crematories
Join us for this guided tour, hosted by ICFA President Pat Downey, CCE, and Palm Mortuaries, Cemeteries & Crematories. You'll get a firsthand look at Palm's cemetery and funeral operations, including a discussion of Palm's innovative public relations and marketing programs.
7 - 11 p.m.
Closing Reception and Dinner: Hanging with the Rat Pack!
We'll head back in time to the days when the impeccably cool Dino, Frank and Sammie stood at the helm of the Las Vegas entertainment scene. Break out that old fedora and prepare for a night of glitter, glitz and glamour.
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