2025 Agenda

Customer service is crucial in the funeral industry, as families are dealing with intense emotions. Your appearance, demeanor, and body language all impact their comfort and trust. It’s no longer enough to offer good service – aim for superhero-level service. Learn how to create superhero service. Learn how to create a service-driven culture that will elevate your business like no other strategy!  

If you’re tired of generic marketing strategies, this workshop is for you. It goes beyond basic tactics to delve into the psychology of grief, loss, and remembrance in the digital age. You’ll learn how to shift from traditional, somber marketing to content that celebrates life and honors legacies. We’ll also cover how to connect with younger audiences by meeting their expectations for transparency, authenticity, and online engagement. This interactive, hands-on workshop includes activities and real-world examples to help you apply what you learn. Plus, we’ll explore emerging trends and technologies shaping the future of the funeral profession, ensuring you stay ahead of the curve. Participants will leave with actionable tools to create a digital presence that truly reflects the heart and soul of their business, connecting with families on a deeper level. 

Embarking on your first solo embalming can be daunting. This workshop guides apprentices through key challenges like fluid selection, dilution, and injection site choices. Leveraging the experience of seasoned embalmers, it bridges the gap between apprentices and preceptors, offering actionable insights and strategies for effective knowledge transfer. By the end, apprentices will gain confidence and a deeper understanding of their first solo embalming, while fostering a supportive learning environment and strengthening the mentor-apprentice relationship

Funeral service professionals are facing a rapidly changing consumer landscape, with the next generation opting for non-traditional memorial services. Families are moving away from traditional practices and seeking specialized celebration of life event planners to create personalized memorial experiences. In this session, you’ll gain insight from a memorial event planner (and apprentice Funeral Director) on what today’s consumers truly want and how you can incorporate these fresh ideas into your future service offerings.

Direct cremation is on the rise in many Western countries, now making up a significant portion of services. As funeral professionals, we play a crucial role in educating families about the value of ritual and ceremony. But how do we convey this during an arrangement conference? Before selecting ‘Direct Cremation,’ we must understand the family’s reasons and gently guide them through their decision-making. It’s not about pushing unnecessary services, but about compassionately exploring options and offering ideas. In this session, we’ll discuss real-life scenarios and strategies for supporting families in making informed, meaningful choices. 

Imagine transforming every interaction with your funeral home into an unforgettable moment of care and excellence. This session will show you how. Designed for funeral home professionals, it focuses on mapping every family touchpoint – from the first phone call to aftercare. Each interaction shapes the family’s impression and demands more than good intentions; it requires careful planning, consistency, and a commitment to excellence. Drawing from world-class service brands like The Ritz-Carlton and Mayo Clinic, you’ll learn to apply their customer experience strategies to your funeral home, creating memorable experiences that resonate for years. By implementing a customer journey framework, you’ll craft an intentional experience that leaves families feeling truly cared for and supported. 

In a world where texting often replaces talking, creating meaningful, personal connections with customers is more important than ever. The problem isn’t poor customer service, but a lack of timely engagement. In this session, Mary Delia Allen, a 20-year hospitality veteran and author, explains why the first few seconds of customer interaction are key to building long-lasting loyalty. By examining successful brands like Wal-Mart, Chick-fil-A, and The Four Seasons, she’ll share actionable strategies to transform your customer relationships and drive business growth. Learn how to reframe your approach to customer service, ensuring initial interactions lead to long-term satisfaction and success. 

This comprehensive course is designed to provide advanced knowledge and practical skills in embalming techniques and airbrush cosmetics. Through a combination of theoretical instruction, hands-on demonstrations, and interactive discussions, participants will gain a deep understanding of the latest embalming tips and airbrush cosmetics used in the prep room. 

As the Department of Defense refocuses its efforts on Large Scale Combat Operations, DoD mortuary affairs operations are reviewing policy guidance, plans and support structures to ensure mortuary affairs capabilities are in place to support the warfighter.  Learn how the Department of Defense is addressing mortuary affairs issues associated with Large Scale Combat Operations, how the Office of Army Cemeteries is meeting its challenge to provide interment space into the future and how we honor current and past members of the Military Departments.

Death care workers have a wealth of knowledge to share, but what can we still learn to elevate the profession? This session explores two aspects of death education: educating the public and ourselves. One focus is on reaching high school-aged teens, ensuring that death and death studies become part of their learning experience. The other examines the intersection of academic research, popular non-fiction, and cross-disciplinary collaboration to advance death studies research, shaping both how the industry is viewed and how we view ourselves.  

For many families, deciding what to do with cremated remains is a challenge. Grieving families often don’t know their options, and funeral professionals face difficulty in educating them. More and more, cremated remains are sitting in closets or garages. Want to turn this into a business opportunity? Learn how to grow your revenue while offering meaningful solutions. Through my educational website, www.OptionsForAshes.com, I provide resources to help funeral directors and consumers explore cremated remains options. The Aftercare market is small but rapidly growing – attend this session to learn how to position your business for success.

2025 has already proven to be a pivotal year in Washington, D.C., with rapid changes shaping the political, legislative, and regulatory landscape. As policies change and legislation and regulations move at an unprecedented pace, it’s crucial to stay informed and prepared to act swiftly. Join NFDA lobbyist, Lesley Witter, as she breaks down the key shifts and trends in Washington, D.C., offering a roadmap for staying updated, making your voice heard, and driving meaningful change. This informative session will help you learn more about the legislative and regulatory process and what it takes to affect change on the federal level, understand how NFDA advocates on a national level to protect the interests of Funeral Service, learn about federal regulatory and legislative issues the profession is currently facing, and discuss other issues that might affect funeral service in the coming year. 

In this workshop, end-of-life professionals will gain insights into the history and modern curation of human remains housed within museum collections. As a result of archaeological excavations, medical donations, and other means, museums often steward human remains in their “collections.” Chicago’s Field Museum cares for the remains of an estimated 5,000 individuals in various states of preservation and from a wide range of global and historical contexts. In this interactive workshop, two museum specialists will discuss the history of museum collection practices, the ethical and legal concerns surrounding human remains housed in educational institutions, and how museum staff address curation, care, and sometimes return, of these remains.