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The educational sessions at this conference are the result of years of fine-tuning for our audience. We've found that executives at this level don't want to sit and be "taught" how to run their businesses. Many of them are already well-read on the industry and are familiar with the usual cast of presenters at these conferences. They need to hear new voices and explore fresh perspectives, and they need to be made part of the conversation. At the ICCFA Fall Management Conference every attendee is an expert, so we follow up highly original educational presentations with idea-sharing forums to take advantage of the incredible breadth of experience in the room. The program will include recognized experts from outside the industry as well as new faces within the industry. We hope you will join the conversation with us in Naples in October!
—Program Chair:
Nancy Lohman, LFD
Chief Operating Officer,
Lohman Funeral Homes, Cemeteries & Cremation,
Daytona Beach, Florida |
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THANK YOU TO
OUR SPONSORS!
• Aurora Casket Company
• Batesville Casket Company
• Carrier Mausoleums Construction, Inc.
• Cold Spring Granite
• eBridge Solutions
• International Memorialization Supply Association
• Independence Trust Company
• Keystone Group Holdings, Inc.
• Matthews International Corp.
• Riviera Tailors Ltd.
• Service Corporation International
• Stewart Enterprises, Inc.
• StoneMor Partners LP
• Trigard/Greenwood Plastics
• United Memorial Products
• Wilbert Funeral Service, Inc.
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Room block at the host hotel nearly sold out!
If you have not reserved your hotel room for the ICCFA 2008 Fall Management Conference, you are strongly encouraged to do so soon. Our room block is nearly sold out and rooms are going fast. The conference will be held October 22-25 at The Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida.
ICCFA has negotiated the low room
rate of just $279 per night at The-Ritz Carlton Naples. For
reservations, call 1.888.856.4380 and request to be included in
the ICCFA Room Block.
If you have any problems securing your accommodations, please contact Karen Gray at 1.800.645.7700. When the ICCFA room block is gone, we will provide a list of alternative hotels.
Click here to download the registration form.
The ICCFA has negotiated the low room
rate of just $279 per night at The-Ritz Carlton Naples. For
reservations, call 1.888.856.4380 and request to be included in
the ICCFA Room Block.
WEDNESDAYOCTOBER 22
6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Welcome Reception
The ICCFA Fall Management Conference is the place to be for cemetery, cremation and funeral service owners, execs and up-and-coming managers. Make the most of your time with your fellow industry leaders at our evening networking receptions.
THURSDAYOCTOBER 23
8 – 8:30 a.m.
Breakfast and coffee
8:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Excellence in Customer Service
Legendary Service at The Ritz-Carlton
Jeff Hargett, Corporate Director, Learning and Content Delivery,
The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center
In this all-morning workshop, you’ll learn The Ritz-Carlton philosophy and core values and how to translate them into exceptionally high levels of employee and customer satisfaction and loyalty at your own business.
Our 2007 conference presentation from The Ritz-Carlton received overwhelmingly positive reviews and a call for more detail and depth. This year, we’re delivering, with a three-hour session by one of the firm’s top trainers.
Among the insights you’ll receive:
- how to reinforce company culture
- the need for written service strategies
- the tie between loyalty and pricing
- the importance of initial contacts
- employee empowerment
- the role of leadership in driving service excellence
- The Ritz-Carlton “Gold Standards”
- a business management model and key processes that work
- “wow” stories
Each year, Training Magazine ranks the top 125 training organizations. In 2007, Jeff Hargett was part of the team that led The Ritz-Carlton to be recognized as #1. He holds both a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of science in theater from East Carolina University. His lengthy stage credits include roles as Harold Hill in The Music Man and Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, and his film credits include “Money Train,” with Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, and “First Wives Club,” with Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton.
6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Networking Reception
FRIDAYOCTOBER 24
7:45 – 8:15 a.m.
Breakfast and coffee
8:15 – 9:15 a.m.
Election Preview: Legislative and Legal Panel
On the eve of the national elections, join moderator Irwin Shipper, CCE, and an ICCFA panel of legislative and regulatory specialists as they review how our industry may be affected by the new presidential administration taking over in 2009 and its potential consequences for state laws and regulations. Bring your questions.
9:15 – 10:15 a.m.
Excellence in Entrepreneurialism
A “Fireside Chat” with L. Gale Lemerand
L. Gale Lemerand has a record of uncommon success in the construction, restaurant and sports entertainment industries. In this session, he’ll share his philosophies and strategies as a businessman who has made entrepreneurialism a key component in his path to success.
L. Gale Lemerand is founder and director of Stonewood Grill & Tavern, Peach Valley Café and the Ormond Wine Co. He is a partner in Houligans Irish Sports Pub and San Francisco Oven restaurants, Southern Title Co., All Star Lumber and Command Medical Products. He is the recently retired founder, chairman and CEO of Gale Industries Inc., the largest insulation subcontracting company in the United States with sales in excess of $400 million. He is part of the ownership group for the Daytona Beach ThunderBirds arena football team.
A well known philanthropist in the Daytona Beach area, Lemerand serves on numerous boards of local charities and educational institutions. His life is the subject of the book, To Win in Business ... Bet on the Jockey.
10:15 – 11:15 a.m.
CEO Symposium
Nowhere else in our industry will you find more successful execs who are eager to share their wealth of experience than at the ICCFA Fall Management Conference.
At this event, every attendee is an expert. The Friday and Saturday morning sessions each conclude with a one-hour symposium that will allow you to take advantage of this valuable brain trust and share your challenges and successes. The morning speakers will provide their unique perspectives on the topics of entrepreneurialism, leadership and innovation, and these CEO Symposium sessions will allow attendees to delve further into those topics and relate their own experiences. Come prepared to join the discussion!
11:45 – 6:00 p.m.
ICCFA Fall Management Golf Tournament
Tee up for a semi-shotgun start at Tiburon Golf Course, a championship 36-hole course in a serene, natural setting, designed by the legendary Greg Norman. Tiburon is home of the PGA Tour and the annual Merrill Lynch Shootout. Shuttle service to and from the course will be provided.
SATURDAYOCTOBER 25
 SPECIALTOUR
12:15 to 3 p.m.
There will be a special educational tour of Naples Memorial Funeral Home & Cemetery on the afternoon of Saturday, October 25. All attendees and guests are invited to visit the 29-acre property. Special features on site include a crematory, mausoleums, private mausoleums, a veterans section, a columbarium, chapels and a community room to host receptions after services. The tour will include lunch. |
7:45 – 8:15 a.m.
Breakfast and coffee
8:15 – 9:30 a.m.
Excellence in Leadership
Building a Framework for Successful Negotiations
Steve Tidwell, Chief Executive Officer, Keystone Group Holdings, Tampa, Florida
So much in our lives depends on negotiations, whether it be for the sale of a home or business, for our compensation package or that of someone on our staff, for pricing on products bought or sold, or for any of a myriad of daily transactions. In this session, Steve Tidwell will share the secrets to unlocking successful outcomes, based on his participation in the “Negotiation Project,” a program designed and developed as a think tank between Harvard University and MIT. In this interactive presentation, he’ll demonstrate how to “get to yes without having to say no,” 10 tips to effective negotiations and more.
Steve Tidwell is CEO and a co-founder of Keystone Group Holdings, which owns and operates 200 funeral homes and 16 cemeteries in the United States and Canada. He is a first-generation funeral director and a graduate of John A. Gupton College in Nashville, Tennessee. Prior to founding Keystone, he worked at numerous funeral service companies, including Prime Succession, Thomas-Pierce and Company, Arlington Corporation and the Woodlawn and Forest Lawn Group in Nashville.
9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
Excellence in Innovation
Young Guns: Where the Next Generation Will Take Us and
What We Need to Learn From Them Now
April DeYoung, Corey Gaffney, Ty Lohman, John Williams
Energy. Ideas. Ambition. This panel of up-and-comers will give us their take on where our industry is headed. How can we stay relevant to the next generation, both in terms of potential hires and potential customers? What technologies should we be using to reach out to Generations X and Y? How are their expectations, goals and attitudes different from previous generations? And what are these young leaders doing that you can learn from here and now? Panelists include (left to right in photo above):
• April DeYoung: General Manager, Forest Park Funeral Homes & Cemeteries, Shreveport, LA
• Corey Gaffney: General Manager, Gaffney Funeral Home, Tacoma, WA
• Ty Lohman: Vice President, Lohman Funeral Homes, Cemeteries & Cremation, Daytona Beach, FL
• John Williams: Vice President, Venice Memorial Gardens Cemetery
10:30 – 11:30
CEO Symposium
Nowhere else in our industry will you find more successful execs who are eager to share their wealth of experience than at the ICCFA Fall Management Conference.
At this event, every attendee is an expert. The Friday and Saturday morning sessions each conclude with a one-hour symposium that will allow you to take advantage of this valuable brain trust and share your challenges and successes. The morning speakers will provide their unique perspectives on the topics of entrepreneurialism, leadership and innovation, and these CEO Symposium sessions will allow attendees to delve further into those topics and relate their own experiences. Come prepared to join the discussion!
6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Closing Reception
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