Greening of Funerals - Panel Discussion

June 6, 2008, Niagara Falls, Ontario

Robin Heppell moderated a panel discussion about the “Greening of Funerals” at the Funeral Service Association of Canada’s Annual Convention. Panel members are Dave Erb (funeral sector), Erb & Good Funeral Home, Kitchener, Ontario, Caley Ferguson (supplier sector), Northern Casket, Lindsay, Ontario, and Paul Taylor (cemetery sector), Woodland Memorial Park, Guelph, Ontario.

To listen to the presentation below, press the PLAY button.

Greening of Funerals panel discussion at the FSAC Annual Convention

Things are Heating Up & I’m not talking Cremation!

I just wanted to let you know a couple of things happening in the next couple of weeks.

First off this that the ICCFA Pre-Convention Interviews have commenced and can be found at the Funeral Gurus website: http://www.funeralgurus.com/2008/iccfa-2008. ICCFA is in a couple of weeks and they have a great lineup of speakers and panel discussions. I will be conducting some Funeral Gurus video interviews, so if you are going to be there, track me down and get some free publicity for your funeral home or cemetery. Also, during my presentation I will be demonstrating step by step how to use online video to promote your firm - plus I will be sharing some very recent case studies on the results of marketing with online video.

Also, I am going to be on the hot seat next Wednesday - the National Public Radio (NPR) station out of Seattle is having and hour long discussion about funeral trends and the future of funeral service - right up my alley, right? Well sure, but it is not just one on one, it is going to be a panel and on the panel is someone from the Peoples Memorial Society, someone who arranges home funerals, and they are still trying to get a representative from one of the normal -I mean traditional - funeral homes (I will be lonely if they can’t)! So it should be interesting and if you are interested, you can listen live on their website. If you are listening and you want me to make a point, you can Instant Message through Google Talk ( funeralfuturist [at] gmail [dot] com) - sorry that’s so the spammers and robots leave me alone OR through SKYPE at ( funeral.futurist)

Here are the show details:

• KUOW http://www.kuow.org Pudget Sound Public Radio 94.9 FM
• Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 9:00 AM Pacific time
• To listen, look in the left column under Listen Live for listening options

Wish me luck - I will report back later next week!

…Hep

Heppell to Keynote at Oregon’s Annual Convention

Mark Stehn, CFSP, Executive Director of the Oregon Funeral Directors Association has secured Robin Heppell, CFSP, to keynote at its annual convention in April. With the theme of this year’s convention being, “Ride the Wave - Sea the Future” it only seems appropriate that Heppell - the Funeral Futurist - be involved.

Heppell’s keynote is titled, 3 Keys to Future Funeral Service Success!

There has never been a tougher time to be in Funeral Service. We as funeral professionals face many challenges: changing trends, increased outside competition and technology overload - all things that did not affect the former generations. If we could only change one thing - our mindset - and embrace these challenges and more importantly take action on them, it will be the best time to be in Funeral Service. Are you up for the Funeral Futurist Challenge?

Heppell will also be facilitating 4 workshops:

1. Google and the Funeral Industry: With three quarters of the population using the Internet, and Google being the go-to place to find information, it is imperative to understand the basics of how Google see you. This workshop will feature live demonstrations so if you would like a free website review, please let the Association know.
2. Your Funeral Home on YouTube: The fourth most popular website on the Internet and being owned by Google, YouTube has the attention of Internet users! Are you using YouTube to get your customers’ attention? This workshop will feature a live example so if you have a television commercial or other video and you want it up on the Internet, please let the Association know.
3. Funeral Home eNewsletters: Learn the basics of launching a successful eNewsletter program. This workshop will provide you with a starter guide that addresses get people to subscribe to your list, content, format, and frequency as well as references to other programs available.
4. Ask the Futurist: In this fourth session, members can ask questions of Heppell on a variety of topics. From his travels around the country, his interviews with funeral professionals on FuneralGurus.com, and practicing funeral services in a high cremation, highly competitive market to the North, he can provide insight, suggestions, or at least the resources to your questions! If you have questions ahead of time, submit them to the Association, and Heppell with answer them at this session or on his website if time does not permit.

The conference will be held from April 24th to 27th in Seaside, Oregon. For more information and for registration details, visit: www.ofda.org.