Details
November 5, 2010
Young Funeral Directors Seminar
Adapting to Today’s Families
OFDA Office
Adapting to Today’s Families
Download the full brochure here:
YFD Seminar - Adapting to Today’s Families
Register Online HERE
8:30 AM—Registration
9:00AM—Noon Learning, Unlearning, Relearning
Todd W. Van Beck
Learning has taken place, but what kind of learning was it? Does it work in the here and now? Unlearning is most times a tension producing experience. Yet for growth to take place, unlearning is essential. Unlearning is not fun for most of us. Relearning, maybe the toughest area of all, helps ground us in coping with the future. Relearning is where we discover skills and experiences that we would never have discovered if things are left just the way they are—and in today’s funeral culture this stagnation can have deadly consequences.
Noon-12:30 PM Lunch
12:30 –1:30 PM —Tech Skills Up, People Skills Down
Todd W. Van Beck
Has technology made funeral service better? Has service to humanity slipped because people are addicted to emails and texting? Does staring at a computer all day long lessen our funeral home’s ability to connect to people? These questions will be explored. At the core of this session is the philosophy of people first, things and machine second —maybe even tenth!
1:30—3:30 PM “Social Media: Why You Should Embrace It”
Ryan Thogmartin.
It is no secret that the funeral industry is changing….but the surprise is how quickly. Technology has become such a huge facet of our lives and it is even carrying over to the way we celebrate life and grieve death. Think about 10 years ago when photo boards beside the casket were the big things. Now, if you are not offering Memorial DVD’s, webcasting, or online memorials, families may go somewhere else that does. Consumers are demanding more personalized services (superhero funeral; custom graveside set ups, etc.)
Consumers are abandoning traditional media and embracing the Internet and social media. Newspapers are dying, 24 of the top 25 largest newspapers are recording declines in circulation; Social Networks are exploding (Facebook has over 400 million users); Largest growing group on Facebook are 55-65 year old female baby boomers. Funeral directors are being forced by the consumer to embrace the internet and social media.
What is Social Media? Ryan will discuss examples and explain how social media will impact the future of the funeral industry and how funeral directors can use social media to connect with the families they serve.
Download the full brochure here:
YFD Seminar - Adapting to Today’s Families
Register Online HERE
Our Presenters:
Todd Van Beck is one of the best known and most well regarded educators, writers and speakers in the funeral profession. Todd has written over 200 articles and 65 books and manuals covering every possible topic of interest to funeral directors and clergy. His extensive training and experience spans over 35 years at every level of the funeral and cemetery profession and the church.
Ryan Thogmartin founder of Connecting Directors and CDSocial, the only funeral industry social networking site on the Web, launched July 2010. He has been in the thick of computer technology, originally developing high school sports websites. Working with his father-in-law, who owns the Hupp Stiverson Company, a distributor of Wilbert Vaults, quickly realized the need to put funeral service on the internet social network map.
