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ICFA 2003 Fall Management Conference
"Chart Your Course to Leadership Excellence"
October 29 - November 1, 2003
Doral Golf Resort & Spa
Miami, Florida
Program Chairs: Kevin R. Daniels, CCE, & Jeff Kidwiler, CCE
Program Schedule
Speakers
Sponsors
Prices
Continuing Education Credits
Cancellation Policy
The Doral: Home of the "Blue Monster"
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Join your colleagues for an outstanding CEO Program bringing together high-level speakers both from within the cemetery and funeral service profession and from the corporate management arena to help us:
- identify and capitalize on our strengths as leaders;
- hire and develop top management;
- reconsider our sales force pay structures;
- handle threats from employee unions;
- explore the non-financial aspects of succession planning;
- understand current consumer memorialization preferences;
- and examine the latest legal and legislative issues affecting our profession.
New this year, we are encouraging industry executives to bring along members of their governing boards, and so we have created a discounted "Guest Board Member" registration fee. This conference represents a terrific opportunity for your board members to learn more about the industry and its challenges and to network with you and your colleagues, so please share this program with them and encourage them to join us.
The program schedule leaves afternoons free for recreation, with receptions each evening for networking with your friends and colleagues. We are confident that this year's program "charts a new course" of excellence with its strong shift in focus on topics geared toward senior executives.
Program Schedule
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 29, 2003
8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Board of Directors Meeting
6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Welcome Reception
THURSDAY OCTOBER 30, 2003
8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Finding Deeper Waters: Discover Your StrengthBank
Sandra Shelton
You've made it to a top level of success. What matters now? Let's take a look at your numbers.
We're not talking about how many people you have helped depart with dignity, nor how many families you have helped say goodbye, although those are certainly important numbers. Rather, this session will address the number of individuals you have helped develop, people who have learned how to contribute by watching you.
Each of us has a purpose and a mission in life. Each of us has a StrengthBank —a bank of strengths designed in each of us at birth. Knowing these strengths and using them to fulfill our purpose makes all the difference. In this session we will:
- Take a hard, detailed look at the foundation for leadership responsibility that is unique to you.
- Learn how to measure relationship success.
- Think deep and wide so that when you leave, you'll know the next steps you need to take to live out your most essential contribution.
Taking time to rethink yourself and how you work, to revisit what you are promising, is your greatest real-time, right-now responsibility. Are you becoming the person you were meant to be? Do your promises line up? How can you harness your strengths and lead others to find value and meaning in their work?
Get to know yourself and your resources so your legacy can include the words: "Took audacious relationship risks and reaped audacious rewards!"
10:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
Coffee Break
10:15 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Choosing the Right Bait: Alternative Pay Structures for Sales Staff
Stockton Colt
Using commissions makes sense in some selling situations. But do your commission programs work for you…or against you? Many companies—and many industries—believe commissions work against them and have stopped using them altogether. There is a lesson here.
Now is the time to question your commission programs.
What are the real issues encouraging you to keep this pay structure year after year? Why do so few companies today use pure commission plans? What are your options? Will your sales organization embrace them? Are you risking success if your business changes?
Stockton Colt will address these hotly debated, sensitive business issues, presenting hard data, conjecture, ideas and challenges to your traditional thinking. The debate may rage, but Colt will give you pause for thought that weakens the pro-commissions argument.
6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Networking Reception
FRIDAY OCTOBER 31, 2003
8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Casting Your Net: Five Steps to Hiring and Keeping the Best
Michael Gravelle
No single factor has more impact on the success of your organization than the people you hire. If you have the right people on board, motivating them and driving them to produce results takes care of itself. If you don't have the right people, the best strategy in the world can't save you.
Study after study lists "hiring and retaining talent" as key issues that keep executives awake at night. Yet most managers are less scientific when hiring their greatest resource than when buying a piece of office equipment. They replace rigorous analysis and reference checking with general impressions and "gut feel."
A recent Globe & Mail Survey indicated that only 17 percent of senior managers had ever received training on how to interview potential candidates. Meanwhile, today's sophisticated job candidate is better trained and coached than ever. Hundreds of Web sites offer everything from resume templates to answers to typical interview questions!
Clearly, the traditional hiring methods no longer work. It is becoming increasingly difficult to assess candidate potential. This practical workshop will teach you:
- How to avoid common hiring pitfalls.
- Which questions to ask—and which to stay away from.
- How to thoroughly evaluate the well-coached candidate of the 21st century.
- When to go with your gut and when not to.
- How to conduct legally defensible interviews.
- How to use tools such as employment testing work samples to assess and develop leaders.
- How to increase staff retention and productivity.
- How to enable employees to play to their strengths.
Making sure you have the right people is far too important a task to leave to "HR." World-class CEOs such as Jack Welch (GE), Larry Bossidy (Allied Signal) and Coleman Mockler (Gillette) have all stressed the importance of making line managers take greater accountability for the people they hire.
10:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
Coffee Break
10:15 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
A First-Class Crew: How to Develop a Successful People Strategy
Gary O'Sullivan
The effective development of any enterprise requires well thought-out and effectively executed strategies. All responsible and successful businesses have this discipline as part of their operating plan.
Marketing plans, long-term capital improvement projects, annual budgeting and master planning are strategies responsible businesses develop and monitor. Yet there is one critical factor that makes all the other aspects possible: people. And most businesses don't have a "people strategy."
In this session, you'll learn how to develop a successful people strategy for your business by examining the three reasons people join a company, the two reasons they stay and the one thing you have control over. You'll also discover the seven principles of an effective people strategy that will help you attract, develop and retain top talent.
12:30 p.m.
"Blue Monster" Golf Tournament
6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Networking Reception
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 1, 2003
7:45 a.m. - 8:45 a.m.
Legal and Legislative Update
8:45 a.m. - 8:50 a.m.
Announcements
8:50 a.m. - 9:40 a.m.
Sailing Into the Sunset: Lessons on Succession Planning
Dan Moloney
Dan Moloney was president of Moloney Family Funeral Homes and the driving force behind its success, as well as a dominant leader in his community. He had built his business from nothing to the largest independent funeral firm and market leader in Long Island, New York. In August 2001, at age 63, he passed away.
Moloney left three sons (among eight children) to carry on the family business. That's when Dan Jr. and his brothers learned that "succession planning" means much more than just completing financial arrangements.
Learn how this family picked up the pieces and achieved a transition that has led to continuing success for their funeral home. Discover the lessons learned about succession planning as it relates to business knowledge and management strategies.
9:40 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Measuring the Tide: Consumer Memorialization Preferences
Mike Baklarz
Getting a handle on specific consumer memorialization preferences has always been a challenge in the death care industry. To gain a better understanding of what today's consumers think about memorialization, the Cold Spring Granite Memorial Group recently completed one of the most comprehensive research surveys ever undertaken within our industry.
Consumers throughout the country answered questions such as whether they had ever been involved in purchasing a memorial; where and when they purchased memorials; what types of memorials they preferred; whether they were planning to prearrange; and whether they sought traditional or informal burials or ceremonies.
Their answers were classified according to age, income, religious affiliation, geographical region, gender and ethnicity.
In this presentation, Mike Baklarz will reveal the results of this fascinating research survey. This is a must-attend presentation for cemetery and funeral home owners and managers, memorial designers and managers involved in sales, marketing and operations.
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Smooth Sailing: Managing Without Interference from Outsiders
Michael Pepperman
"Red skies at morning, sailors take warning." This session will provide you with the tools you need to identify when a union is attempting to organize your workforce and strategies to address it. We'll also examine how to deal with unions once they are in place.
Through candid discussion, informal lecture, role playing and audio-visual materials, attorney Michael Pepperman will take a positive approach to employer supervision based on two-way communication between management and staff. In addition to labor unions, he'll address the nature of employment lawsuits and government investigations and how these can be avoided through effective management and supervision.
Learn how easy it is for an employee to file a claim of discrimination, the types of claims routinely filed and the potential liability to supervisors and to the company.
6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Closing Reception
Sponsors
We would like to thank the following companies for their generous support of the 2003 ICFA Fall Management Conference:
- Aurora Casket—General Conference Support
- BLP Bronze International—Blue Monster Golf Tournament Beverage Carts
- Carrier Mausoleums Construction, Inc.—Reception Entertainment
- Cold Spring Granite Memorial Group—General Session Beverage Service
- Cornerstone Family Services—Welcome Reception
- Matthews International Corporation—Welcome Reception & Closing Reception Entertainment and Blue Monster Golf Tournament Beverage Carts
- McCleskey Mausoleums—Speaker: Gary O'Sullivan
- Service Corporation International—Blue Monster Golf Tournament
- Sterling Finacial Services—Speaker: Stockton Colt
- Stewart Enterprises—Speaker: Michael Gravelle
- Trust-100 International—Reception Entertainment
- United Memorial Products—Speaker: Sandra Shelton
- Wilbert Funeral Services, Inc.—Blue Monster Golf Tournament Box Lunch
Prices
Registration fees are as follows:
- ICFA Member: $439 before September 26; $525 after September 26
- Non-Member: $560 before September 26; $560 after September 26
- Guest Board Member: $325 before September 26; $325 after September 26
Tickets for receptions are included with all full registrations. Additional tickets may be purchased for unregistered individuals. Please see the registration form for prices.
Continuing Education Credits
Funeral directors may earn continuing education credits at the conference, pending state credit awards. CE Attendance Certificates will be available at the ICFA on-site registration desk.
Cancellation Policy
Registrants who cancel their registration by September 26, 2003, will receive refunds. All cancellations must be in writing and will be subject to a $50 per person processing fee. Cancellations made after September 26, 2003, will not be refunded.
Refunds for ticketed events will be offered if the cancellation request is received in writing at ICFA headquarters by September 26, 2003, less a $5 processing fee per ticket. No refunds will be offered after this date.
For more information, call the ICFA Meetings Department
at 1-800-645-7700
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