Fun and funerals
This was our second day at the NFDA funeral homes convention. Our feet are sore and our throats are dry. Things are pretty well organized, apart from the food and beverage. So what did we see today? Who did we meet and what are some of the trends?
The morning started early as we ran past gamblers and their hysterical machines to reach the convention center via Monorail. Today we met very interesting people. Again we had to convince older funeral directors why people are on the internet and on social networks; however, on the other side the coin, the younger generation gets it, and the same goes for those who want to set up a new funeral home.
What are the interesting trends, apart from the humongous caskets that I had never seen before in my life? They have extra soft mattresses and copper angels attached to them. These are popular because the majority of people still get buried in the States and not cremated.
The Red Book or National Directory of Morticians is the phone book for funeral resources. Everything is in in there and is widely used by funeral homes across the States and in Mexico. Also they are rolling out internationally. Online they do have some presence, but it is not as complete as in the book. Probably that has to do with the fact that most funeral homes are still working offline.
Dana met with Christian from the American Heart Association and we are eager to work out some sort of feature for February and heart health.
Richard got a chance to check out Ecocoffins, a group that creates wonderful wicker coffins for green burials. This would be a huge hit in Northern California with all our eco-buddies.
We also got to speak to the great people at Vidstone, a unique video tombstone service.
Richard also met a wonderful woman named Sherry who specializes in after care services for families with her online magazine. Her business, New Leaf, can be reached via the website at www.newleaf-resources.com.
And last but not least, Barbara, the author of Life Catching, was a great person to talk to. Barbara teaches people how to create memoirs and capture their lives as stories. Dana, Barbara and Richard had a great little chat and I think we may see more of Life Catching in the future.
Well folks, we are now off to a sushi bar to talk shop with the folks at Red Book. Wish us luck. We have no idea what we are getting into. In Vegas, anything can happen.
9 Oct
