Linda and I had a fantastic time at the Ohio Funeral Directors 130th Convention. The booth traffic was constant almost throughout the entire three days. After last year's exhibiting schedule and the concomitant inconveniences of business travel this year is going to be quieter on that front, but the OFDA Convention is truly an expo not to be missed.

Thanks to the staff and officers of OFDA for putting on such a successful event for the exhibitors.

Below, ICCFA's Julie Burn was faced with a travel predicament when a ride did not materialize - but at a Convention for funeral directors a resourceful gal can find herself a ride. She drove off in a hearse. What a life.

We are at the New Jersey State Funeral Directors Convention. Great group of people.

Here are ICCFA's Linda B. and Julie B.

Our booth neighbors, Dan and Anita

The most recent stop on ICCFA's tour of the states was right in our backyard at the Virginia Funeral Directors Association Convention in Roanoke. (Well not most recent, as I am actually writing this from Kentucky, but blog-time is close to catching up with real time).

To skip to the ending - since it was so delightful - here is the view from our car window during the first hour of the trip up Skyline Drive back home to Northern Virginia. Few pastoral settings compare to the beauty that is the Shenandoah Mountains.

Then, here is the view from our car window during the second hour of the trip up Skyline Drive after the rain and fog had set in. At this point our speed dipped from 35 mph to approximately 35 cph (centimeters per hour) as I attempted to navigate between the invisible lines marking the invisible road and the invisible 3500 ft drop which constituted the “shoulder.”

So the most interesting part about the 2009 VFDA Convention was the near flaming death off an Appalachian cliff. But the next most interesting part was definitely the wonderful folks Linda and I met and the gracious hospitality we enjoyed at the Convention itself.

Linda once again did yeoman duty manning the booth and answering questions. Plenty of people inquired about the new state requirement for crematory operator certification – which inspired ICCFA to quickly schedule three certification classes July 13-15 in several key parts of the state. Click here for details on crematory operator certification opportunities in Vienna, Richmond and Norfolk.

The Exhibit Hall sessions were well-attended, with food and beverage service available throughout most expo hours.

Kudos to the VFDA and Virginia Cemetery Association for signing a Memorandum of Understanding supporting the Missing in America Project (MIAP). Here, Convention Chair Robert Givens (standing) hands the documents to VFDA President Michael Rorrer for signature. As soon as a digital copy of the Virginia Memorandum of Understanding is available we will post it here as a model for other state and national organizations that may want to follow suit.

As an editorial note, I think a commitment to provide military funeral honors for unclaimed veterans' cremated remains is a truly noble effort the entire industry should support.

Pat Green of Integrity Burial Boxes is the Veterans Cemetery Liaison to the Virginia MIAP project.

VFDA Exec Lacy Whittaker kept the trains running on time throughout the Convention.

ICCFA Board Member Mike Doherty stopped by the booth during the “tailgate party with exhibitors.”

Some old and new friends in the booths around ours:

Good buddy and booth-neighbor wherever we go, Del Doleman of American Cemetery and Funeral Supply visits with a customer. Two things I have come to expect every time we arrive at a new trade show are: 1) another part of our exhibit booth will be broken, and 2) Del will be across the aisle.

Lar and Ken of Larken (get it?). They are a brand-new industry supplier selling amazingly inexpensive handmade urns.

Because of the rapid onset of senility I have forgotten their names, but the folks at Embalmers' Supply were very nice.

And below are just some random shots around the expo hall. Looking forward to the VFDA Convention next year in Norfolk!

ICCFA Cremation Coach Julie Burn was a speaker, and VP of Membership Nancy Lohman and Allied Industry Chairman Allen Dave manned the exhibit booth, at the Texas Funeral Directors Association Annual Convention last week in Austin.

Here are some shots from the exhibit hall:

Nancy Lohman and Allen Dave with Vickie King White of San Antonio College.

TFDA Exec Ann Singer (l) with Nancy Lohman and TFDA staff members.

In keeping with the rigors of our busy year, ICCFA was well-represented at the Arizona Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association (ACCFA) Annual Convention last week in Scottsdale, Arizona.

This time up: President Gregg Williamson and Director of Cremation Services Julie Burn were our ambassadors to this great state organization (which I hear is in the process of a merger with the Arizona Funeral Directors Association).

Thanks to the ACCFA for the warm welcome.

Bill Addison thanks Gary Brown for his service as ACCFA President. The plaque (provided by Matthews International) was given to Gary in appreciation for his role as president of the association. Gary has agreed to continue as acting president while the merger with the Arizona Funeral Directors Association is worked out.

ICCFA President Gregg Williamson and ICCFA Director of Cremation Services Julie Burn at the ICCFA Booth during the ACCFA 2009 Annual Convention.

Julie reported the ACCFA had a fantastic Convention, which is no surprise as it's one of the state organizations with stellar leadership.

Looking ahead, Julie (along with our VP of Membership Nancy Lohman and Allied Industry Chair Allen Dave) is in Texas for the Texas FDA Convention this week. Next week Linda and I will be at the Virginia FDA Convention in Roanoke and the following week at the Kentucky FDA Convention in Louisville. In July Bob Fells will be at the Florida combined meeting of the FCFCA and FFDA in Naples, Florida. In August Allen will be at NFDMA in Detroit. That is just skimming the surface because there are quite a few more before the "Convention season" is over for 2009. In fact, if there are any industry Conventions or Conferences ICCFA is not already scheduled to be at it is solely because we haven't managed to set it up yet or because it is logistically impossible. Getting out in public more has been a wonderfully rewarding experience we plan to build on going forward.

Nothing beats meeting people in person when it comes to learning about what is really going on in our profession.

Exhibiting at the Ohio Funeral Directors Association 129th Convention has been a great time, because the people have been fantastic and there are just so darn many of them here. Traffic at our booth today was fantastic - we gave away hundreds of pieces of literature and are going to run out of much of it.

It has also been rewarding to be at a trade show and actually have time to talk with attendees and exhibitors. Typically, at the ICCFA shows, if I even get a change to look at you it would be considered meaningful social interaction between us. Here, it's absolutely heavenly to be able to converse at length without having to be somewhere in 45 seconds.

As a side note, my wife Linda and I were talking about how running a Convention and attending a Convention are so utterly different.

I noted: "Running a Convention is more like washing a boat than it is like attending a Convention."

She responded: "And attending a Convention is more like riding on a boat, than it is like running a Convention."

Among the many great people we've gotten to hang out with are OFDA Secretary (actually Treasurer by the time you read this) John Evans (l), here with Lincoln Heritage guys Chuck and Joe (will get last names tomorrow - sorry, I should be more observant of the people in the booth next to ours!)

Wilbert had a "Harley" themed booth with the obligatory biker chicks as decor.

Official Friends of ICCFA (l - r): Poul Lemasters, Larry Stuart, Mark Pennington

I just met Richard Steele of Eckels, and he told me that our show last month in Vegas was as good a Convention as he has ever attended in his life, and that he would be buying double the booth space at our Convention next year in San Antonio. That, my friends, is how you get your photograph on the front page of Joe's blog.

Here's the lovely Linda at the ICCFA Booth, from whence we gave away piles of paper and handfuls of chocolate. Judging by how much we have left I estimate we got to make contact with over 220 people so far. Tomorrow the attendee traffic is supposed to be slower so we will have a few hours to spend visiting with all the other exhibitors.

All I can say is - GREAT JOB OFDA. You guys really know how to put on a Convention, and your attendees really do take advantage of the opportunity to visit the booths.

Tom Routsong was born to ride a motorcyle with that plate on the back.

Tonight's pre-event reception for early attendees of the Ohio Funeral Directors Association 129th Convention was held at the magnificent A.D. Farrow Harley-Davidson dealership outside Columbus, Ohio (and generously hosted by A.D. Farrow, the oldest continually operating Harley dealership in the world). And even though Tom rides a Honda, he was definitely among the cooler folks in attendance because the vast majority of the rest of us travel strictly in vehicles with windows.

Linda and I got to meet a bunch of the OFDA leadership and staff, along with many other great folks from all around Ohio.

President-elect and Program Chair Tom Fleming is an avid Harley fan - thus the Convention theme "Life is short .. Enjoy the ride!" - and while I likely will continue to require those two extra wheels for personal transportation needs, I have to thank Tom for the opportunity to hang out around dozens of spectacular machines.

The evening actually began with a trip to the American Motorcycle Association Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum.

Photo above is OFDA Treasurer Terry Reardon, President-elect Tom Fleming, and an Arlen Ness cycle that costs more than your average college education.

Steve Jenkins and Linda Budzinski in front of another Ness creation: Two Bad, the Most Impractical Motorcycle Ever. Another look here. But what do I know, I'm a seat-belt guy.

Definitely a rousing start to Convention week! Looking forward to the kick off tomorrow and hanging out at the ICCFA booth and spending time with the whole Ohio crowd over the next few days.

 Have you ever seen a hearse that's not black but painted with a field of colorful flowers? You have if you read British funeral magazines. (The hearse is gorgeous, BTW.) You've also seen lots of varieties of "green" caskets with flowers woven through them--there have been at least half a dozen different ads for them in every issue of the British funeral magazines for several years. Thanks to the efforts of ICCFA Office Manager Brenda Clough, we receive funeral and cemetery magazines from far and wide. Most are from North America, but some are from overseas.

"Memento," from Poland, is the most exotic and enticing. Enticing because Polish uses the Roman alphabet, and words such as "cmentarz," "funeralne" and "krematorim" look familiar. But most of the other words don't, as you soon discover when you try to puzzle out even a single sentence in one photo caption: "W chwili zamykania numeru, otrzymaliśmy wstrząsającą informację o olbrzymich stratach wyrządzonych przez huragan "Orkan" na Cmentarzu Centralnym w Szczecinie." OK, then. It's about a cemetery.

You can always use the free Internet translation sites. According to one, that sentence means, "At the time of closure of a number, we received information about shaking huge losses caused by Hurricane "Orkan" at the Central Cemetery in Szczecin." Of course, "huragan" means "hurricane." I now know FOUR words of Polish! My guess is that the magazine staff heard just before going to press that the cemetery had been damaged by winds from Hurricane Orkan, which makes sense since the photos show monuments damaged by fallen trees. But that's a whole lot of typing of consonants and inserting special characters to get one little sentence translated.

I'm glad I can easily read the British and Australian magazines. I have a special fondness for the Aussies, partly because I'm a night owl. Often when I send an e-mail in the evening to someone at the Australasian Cemeteries & Crematoria Association, I get an immediate reply, since it's already the next workday there. The "ACCA News" is lovely; I've reprinted numerous stories from it.

Sometimes I see things I can envision making their way to North America. British magazines have been full of news about "natural" (green) burial sites for years. There is a heartbreaking and sensitive article in the February "Funeral Service Journal" by a mother who no longer visits the woodland burial ground where she placed her daughter. She used to love the site, but now finds it upsetting because, in clear violation of the rules, family members of others buried there have left so many toys, chimes and plastic gee-gaws that the woodland peace has been ruined. The more things change, the more they stay the same ...

Linda and I drove up to Baltimore last Thursday, Dec. 4, for the Maryland Cemetery, Funeral and Cremation Association's 1st Annual Holiday Gathering. We saw a number of old friends and also got to meet some new ones.

Gino Merendino, Linda Budzinski, Richard Cody

I did not do a head count but if memory serves there were at least 70 people and possibly more, a fantastic turnout for an inaugural event.

Here are the MCFCA folks who put it on:

MCFCA 1st Annual Holiday Gathering: Lisa Standiford, Marjorie Sinnot, Amy Shimp, Mary Auld, Tom Claxton

The purpose was to provide a casual atmosphere for socializing, to allow industry members not familiar with MCFCA to get to know the organization. Tickets for the dinner were extremely inexpensive because virtually the entire spread and beverages were sponsored (ICCFA provided the Roast Beef Carving Station). It's not a bad idea because keeping the price as low as possible is a good way to encourage attendance, none of the sponsors had to take on that big of an expense, and they got their name out there to a decent sized crowd of cemeterians, funeral directors and other suppliers.

It was held at the Rusty Scupper restaurant right on Baltimore's Inner Harbor - a location matched by few others in the area - on a beautiful evening. Thanks to MCFCA for putting on such a nice event, and we look forward to next year.