Fall Management Conference Program Now Available Online

Pawliw-Fry

As a cemetery or funeral home executive, you and your staff work with people at one of the most difficult and emotional times of their lives. One of the top subjects being explored in executive training today is emotional intelligence. Your emotional quotient, or EQ, is your ability to perceive, assess and manage emotions—both your own and others'. Developing your EQ improves your ability to lead, to engage and develop your staff and, in the case of this profession, to better serve families.

At the ICCFA Fall Management Conference, September 21-23 at The Ritz-Carlton Beach Resort in Naples, Florida, consultant and executive trainer Dr. J.P. Pawliw-Fry will present a keynote address and a customized two-hour in-depth workshop session on how cemetery and funeral executives can develop their EQ and leverage it to become more effective leaders.

Pawliw-Fry has served as a consultant to Fortune 100 companies, the U.S. military and Olympic athletes. He is one of the highest rated lecturers at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management Executive Education and is president and co-founder of the Institute for Health & Human Potential.

In addition to Pawliw-Fry's sessions, the conference will explore three topics identified in a recent survey of cemetery and funeral service executives as today's top concerns and challenges. Attendees will break into three smaller groups and rotate for 50 minutes through each session to discuss best practices and brainstorm solutions on the following issues:

• Marketing to Baby Boomers—Moderator Larry Merington, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Stewart Enterprises. What is the best way to reach and engage the baby boomer generation? What are you doing to attract them, meet their needs and desires and encourage loyalty among them?
• The Cremation Value Proposition—Moderator Julie Burn, CCrE, CSE, ICCFA director of cremation services. How do you convey the value proposition of cremation both to staff and families as it relates to memorial services, personalization, alternative disposition, permanent placement and memorialization?
• Leadership in Times of Change—Moderator Vinnie Faccinto, CCFE, owner, Signature Services, Cookeville, Tennessee. How do you leverage your leadership style, communicate with staff, develop your organizational culture, ensure accountability?

Additional sessions will include a Government & Legal Affairs Breakfast and "You Just Don't Get It!," a debate between cemetery and funeral home executives examining the age-old conflict between the two areas of the profession.

The streamlined, two-day conference will end with the annual Fall Management Golf Tournament. The event provides an exclusive yet informal atmosphere in which top industry executives can freely discuss the challenges and opportunities their companies face.

This year's event at The Ritz-Carlton offers an extremely attractive room rate of just $179 per night at one of the nation's premier properties.

Full program and registration information is now available at www.iccfa.com.

Member Satisfaction Survey: We Want Your Feedback

The ICCFA leadership is undertaking a strategic review of the association's activities and are asking for your help to ensure we are meeting your needs.

Please take a few minutes to complete the 2011 Member Satisfaction Survey. The survey was sent on June 2 via e-mail to everyone we have an e-mail address for in our database. Corporate members and members for which we do not have an e-mail address for are being mailed a hard copy of the survey bthis week. Your candid responses will help us set the association's priorities in the coming years so we can continue to improve on our services to you and to the cemetery, cremation and funeral service profession as a whole.

If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions regarding your membership, feel free to contact us at 1.800.645.7700 or hq@iccfa.com.

Thank you for your membership in the association and for your assistance with this important initiative.

ICCFA University: Learn From the Best in the Business; Registration Deadline June 20

ICCFA University, July 22-27, at the Fogelman Executive Center at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee, offers you and your staff the most comprehensive training from experts in our industry in six specific fields. Instructors include:

• College of 21st Century Funeral Services
  • Doug Manning, president, In-Sight Books, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Glenda Stansbury, dean, In-Sight Institute, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Alan Wolfelt, Ph.D., President, Center for Life and Loss Transition, Ft. Collins, CO
  • Mark Krause, CFuE, president, Krause Funeral Homes & Cremation Service, Milwaukee, WI
  • Tim Lancaster, CCFE, executive vice president, Eternal Hills Memorial Gardens & Funeral Home, Klamath Falls, OR
  • Allen Dave Jr., president, Allen Dave Funeral Directors & Cremation Tribute Center, Houston, TX
  • Dean Ernie Heffner, CFuE, president, Heffner Funeral Homes & Crematory, York, PA
• College of Administration and Management
  • David Nixon, president & CEO, Nixon Consulting Inc., Chatham, IL
  • Gary Freytag, president & CEO, Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum and Gwen Mooney Funeral Home, Cincinnati, OH
  • Robert Taylor, association professor of management, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
  • Christine Toson Hentges, CCE, vice president of cemeteries, The Tribute Companies, Hartland, WI
  • Tim Lancaster, CCFE, executive vice president, Eternal Hills Memorial Gardens & Funeral Home, Klamath Falls, OR
  • Robin Heppell, CFSP, president, Center for Excellence for Funeral Service Professionals Inc., Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
  • Poul Lemasters, Esq., principal, Lemasters Consulting, Cincinnati, OH
  • Doug Gober, director of development & marketing, Carriage Services, Kenner, LA
  • Paul Gabriel, vice president, Heritage Memory Mortuary & Cemetery, Prescott, AZ
  • Dean Nancy Lohman, CCFE, owner, Lohman Funeral Homes, Cemeteries & Cremation, Daytona Beach, FL
• College of Cremation Services
  • David Nixon, president & CEO, Nixon Consulting Inc., Chatham, IL
  • Julie A. Burn, CCrE, CSE, ICCFA Director of Cremation Services
  • Nectar Ramirez, general manager, Options, Batesville Casket Company, Batesville, IN
  • Mike Kubasak, president, Kubasak Associates Inc., Mesquite, AZ
  • Doug Gober, director of development & marketing, Carriage Services, Kenner, LA
  • Mark Krause, CFuE, president, Krause Funeral Homes & Cremation Service, Milwaukee, WI
  • Toni Lombardi, division manager, production, service and repair, Matthews Cremation Division, Apopka, FL
  • Ron Salvatore, Matthews Cremation Division, Aurora, OH
  • Poul Lemasters, Esq., principal, Lemasters Consulting, Cincinnati, OH
  • Dean Jim Starks, CFuE, CCrE, president, J. Starks Consulting, Lutz, FL
• College of Funeral Home Management
  • Dean Todd Van Beck, CFuE, Dothan, GA
  • All students receive the Deming Manual, a manual for the quality creative service management system created by Dr. W. Edwards Deming
• College of Land Management & Grounds Operations
  • Mary Malotke, OSHA accredited trainer, TechneTrain Inc., Milford, OH
  • Christine Toson Hentges, CCE, vice president of cemeteries, The Tribute Companies, Hartland, WI
  • Nancy Lohman, CCFE, owner, Lohman Funeral Homes, Cemeteries & Cremation, Daytona Beach, FL
  • Jim Hammond, Bremerton, WA
  • Anthony Russo, vice president/superintendent, Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY
  • Tom Smith, senior vice president, Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum, Cincinnati, OH
  • Mike Hays, consultant, LifeSteps Inc., Louisville, KY
  • Gary O'Sullivan, CCFE, president, Gary O'Sullivan Company, Winter Garden, FL
  • Dean Jeff Kidwiler, CCE, CSE, vice president, Heritage Park Philippines, Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines
  • Dean Gino Merendino, director of veteran development, Merendino Cemetery Care, Linden, NJ
• College of Sales & Marketing
  • Barry Bamford, CCE, sales manager, Oak Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park, San Jose, CA
  • Ty Lohman, vice president, Lohman Funeral Homes, Cemeteries & Cremation, Daytona Beach, FL
  • Dick Perl, CCFE, director of marketing & sales, Mobile Memorial Gardens, Mobile, AL
  • Patrick Downey, CCE, director of sales & marketing, Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum, Cincinnati, OH
  • Robin Heppell, CFSP, president, Center for Excellence for Funeral Service Professionals Inc., Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
  • Tiffany Gallarzo, vice president, sales & marketing, Fair Haven Memorial Park & Mortuary, Santa Ana, CA
  • Dean Gary O'Sullivan, CCFE, president, Gary O'Sullivan Company, Winter Garden, FL

ICCFAU combines five days of intensive classroom education with campus-style networking and recreation to provide a unique experience within the cemetery, cremation and funeral service profession. This year's registration deadline is June 20.

NEW THIS YEAR!: The ICCFA is offering a one-day registration for those who wish to attend only the Crematory Operator Training/Certification on Saturday, July 23. This includes:

• Admission to the Friday night University Reception and Dinner
• The all-day crematory operator training and certification on Saturday
• Breakfast, lunch and refreshment breaks on Saturday

Each year, the University is rated as the best educational and networking opportunity available. Students are welcome to come for one or two years, but most continue on through four years to become ICCFAU "graduates." From front-line maintenance workers, counselors and funeral directors through top executives and owners, the program offers something for everyone. Find out for yourself what draws our students back year after year. Funeral directors can earn up to 24.5 CE credits, pending state approvals.

The complete program, registration materials and online registration for the 2011 session of ICCFA University are now available at www.iccfa.com.

2011 Annual Convention Audio CDs Now Available

Recordings of 19 of the 2011 ICCFA Annual Convention educational sessions are now available for purchase in our online store. More titles will be made available in the coming weeks. Please note that these CDs are available only to members who attended the convention. Sale of the CDs will be made available to all ICCFA members this fall.

Want to listen to your favorite sessions again or catch up on the competing sessions you missed? Order your CDs. Each recording includes the taping of the presentation as well as a copy of the speaker's handouts (when applicable).

Orders may be placed online by clicking on the session title below or using the form at http://www.iccfa.com/files/2011conventioncdsalesform.pdf.

The following audio CDs are now available at a cost of $17 each for members and $37 each for non-members:

• Cemetery Infrastructure: Building a Strong Foundation for Business, Tom DeGrace
• Ethical Choices: The Story of Someone Who Made Some Bad Decisions (and Paid the Price), Chuck Gallagher
• Embalming Experts Roundtable, Melissa Johnson Williams, Sharon Gee, Robert Mayer, Karl Wenzel
• The Four Keys to Improving Employee Competence, Ingrid Gudenas
• Recruiting: Building the Team of Tomorrow, Barbara Milton
• Building a Funeral Service Experience That Will Build Your Business, Paul Seyler
• Stop Praying for Talent and Start Predicting It, Anthony Casablanca
• Alkaline Hydrolysis Summit, Poul Lemasters, moderator
• We Don't Sell Dirt... We Sell Memorials, Randy Wood
• The Cremation Case: A Step-By-Step Guide to Avoiding Liability, Poul Lemasters, Jim Starks
• Strategic Planning That Works: A Skeptic's Story, Gary Freytag
• Death Care: The Emergence of a New Normal, Alan Creedy
• Partnering With Hospice, Kim Medici Shelquist
• Accountability: The Ultimate GPS, Christopher Kuhnen
• Crematory Operator Tricks & Tips, Larry Stuart Jr.
• A Bright Future for Endowment Care Trusts, Marcia Williams
• Using Alternative Investments to Lower Risk and Increase Return, Pat Severo
• Managing Trusts in Today's Market, David Hay
• Waterless Embalming, Mark Fisher
• PLPA: Selling to Survive, Gary O'Sullivan
• PLPA: 50 Ways to Love Your Marketing Levers, Coleen Ellis
• PLPA: Marketing Channels That Work, Ron Zartman, Larry Omps, Kate Moore
• PLPA Cremation Liability, Poul Lemasters

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