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Chicago, Connection & Change: Highlights from NFDA 2025 and the Future of Deathcare Summit
38 Plays11 days ago
This episode takes you behind the scenes of the NFDA 2025 International Convention & Expo and the Future of Deathcare Summit, held in Chicago this October.
Despite a few uninvited audio gremlins (yes, apologies in advance for the glitches!), this conversation captures the energy, innovation, and sense of community that defined the week.
Host Jennifer Muldowney – The Glam Reaper – shares personal reflections from the Summit panel on generational shifts in funeral service, insights from NFDA’s biggest educational event of the year, and key takeaways for funeral professionals in Ireland and beyond. Even though all our audio died from the NFDA we still tried! Check out our blog piece for more info. https://www.muldowneymemorials.com/blogs/chicago-connection-change-highlights-from-nfda-2025-and-the-future-of-deathcare-summit
Key Topics
- What made the Future of Deathcare Summit a breath of fresh air for our profession
- Highlights from Jennifer’s panel: “Generational Expectations: How Gen X & Millennials Are Redefining Funeral Service”
- The NFDA 2025 Convention at McCormick Place — record attendance, new innovations, and a renewed focus on human connection
- The rise of AI tools, digital legacy, and sustainability in modern funeral care
- Why “personalisation is no longer optional” for today’s families
- Work in funeral service, celebrancy, or end-of-life care
- Are curious about how the profession is evolving globally
- Missed this year’s NFDA Convention and want to catch the vibe
- Love hearing how community, creativity, and compassion collide in our work
🤦♀️ Audio Disclaimer
Fair warning — the audio gods were not on our side this time!
A few sections sound like they were recorded in a wind tunnel (they weren’t, promise). But the insights and spirit of the conversation are well worth the ride.
Thanks to NFDA (National Funeral Directors Association) – nfda.org and Future of Deathcare Summit – hosted by Sympathy Brands & Fortitude Marketing
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Convention Overview
00:00:10
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Glam Reaper podcast. I'm your host Jennifer Muldowney aka The Glam Reaper. Now for those of you watching this on YouTube, less of the glam today, I have big old bags under my eyes and I look tired um but we are on day four of the National Funeral Directors Convention and It's a lot. It is your talking to people, we are networking, we are partying at night, and which is all networking. But it's it's a really, really great conference to go to. There's been a lot of students at this year's, lot of new vendors. We also had a pre-conference conference as such called the Future of Death Care Summit. So I was by a panel, i was part of that on Saturday. So we will talk more about that. We're gonna have lots of video. But for now, here are some clips from some interviews that we did on the floor.
Eco-Friendly Burials with Teremation
00:01:03
Speaker
First up, one of our conversations that we had on the floor that was one of my favourites, I got chatting to Max from Teremation, Germany. um And I let Max and say in his own words what and they're up to in Germany. I love the Germans. I've always loved the Germans. Anybody who knows me knows that. I spent and many, many months in Germany travelling all over, but particularly in Munich. and so And I'm always a fan. The Germans always do everything better. So I was very interested to hear what they had to say. So take it away, Max.
00:01:32
Speaker
Our innovative and eco-friendly burial transforms a body into nutrient-rich soil and it just takes 40 The body rests in a special cocoon decorated in this beautiful wooden decor on a bed of hay and straw.
00:01:48
Speaker
Natural microorganisms gently decompose the body in a controlled environment and throughout the process the cocoon is carefully monitored, aerated and gently rocked, optimizing the microorganisms work.
00:02:03
Speaker
The result is 160 pounds of fertile soil, a beautiful legacy of life. Being at the NFDA convention is amazing for us as a company to yeah showcase what we have developed our technology and especially to see what people like about it and also the demand that has been present here at our booth. And we are very much looking forward to all the discussions and talks will have with our US partners.
00:02:30
Speaker
We saw Memory Box, and which was this great innovative product, and sadly born from a loss, which I feel like there's a lot of people that innovate in this space. and But this was a mom who lost her son and She created this box that funeral directors, death doulas, celebrants, whoever wants to really can and have these care packages sent out to a family. They're customised, but they can be sent out on certain dates like anniversaries and birthdays stuff like that. So i thought that was really, really cool.
00:03:01
Speaker
We had a great chat with Olav from Loop, which was a mushroom casket that I personally loved. i'm Very sad that the audio from that did not translate because we got some great information. So we might have to get him on the podcast for a separate episode and because they were too busy to give us a little audio clip. But um I thought the mushroom casket was really, really good. i thought the urn was really special
Cremation Air's Unique Service
00:03:27
Speaker
too. Myself and Eileen from Hollis Funeral Home were expressing how lovely and soft it was another really fascinating conversation we had on the expo floor was with of course the it originates from asd the answering service um direct for directors for funeral directors world nationwide and um we spoke to pat it's called cremation air so we'll let pat take it away this is pat came business development strategist with cremation air cremation air
00:03:56
Speaker
is an ASD-owned company that supports funeral directors in helping loved ones with a new, unique, and astounding way to say goodbye to their loved ones by scattering their cremains over U.S. coastal waters.
00:04:16
Speaker
We currently have two locations, right outside of Philadelphia and in Tampa. These two locations allow us to support the eastern part of the United States.
00:04:28
Speaker
We currently have the ability to scatter cremains in Gulf waters around the tip of Florida, up the entire Atlantic coast to Maine, and in the Great Lakes.
00:04:41
Speaker
Funeral directors will work with families to select their desired scattering location for their loved one. Once they've gone through the entire ordering process, they will ship the cremains to Cremation Air via USPS.
00:04:57
Speaker
Our tech team has created a unique barcode tracking system, which allows us to keep the funeral director and families up to date every step of the way.
00:05:08
Speaker
From the time we receive the cremains here at Cremation Air, to the time we scheduled our flight, to boarding, and the day of scattering, there are consistent updates which help them know where their loved one is every step of the way. All of our scatterings are unattended and they take place three nautical miles off the U.S. coast.
00:05:32
Speaker
We have a computer system on board our plane, which allows us to record the entire scattering process. From tracking the GPS location to recording the actual scattering via our camera system,
00:05:48
Speaker
We have the ability to create a scattering certificate for the family as well as a one and a half minute tribute video. Both the scattering certificate and the video are emailed to the funeral director and the family so that they can distribute to their loved ones.
Future of Death Care and Leadership
00:06:09
Speaker
To learn more about Cremation Air and to see how you can provide this new unique service to your families, You can see us on the web www.cremationair.com. We're going to give some clips from the future of Death Care Summit that recorded. The sound isn't going to be great on these, unfortunately, because we didn't have them mic'd up. But if you want to check out the YouTube channel where they'll be captioned, it might be easier for you to follow along. But we just wanted to put in a few clips of that here with some nuggets from the day.
00:06:48
Speaker
What are the ways you've seen women in this space excel in their leadership roles?
00:06:55
Speaker
I've had the privilege of working with several women in leadership both within my own organization or a competing organization and one of the things I love about women Deaf Care is they lead without permission.
00:07:08
Speaker
They lead without title. They just lead. They see what needs to be done and they get it done and they have an amazing ability to inspire a teen, inspire those around them for no other reason than the fact that they know that's what's best for the families.
00:07:29
Speaker
And one of what I want to continue to encourage women to do is just lead. You don't need, you can create an incredible panel up here with some incredible titles.
00:07:41
Speaker
don't need an incredible title to be an incredible leader. And you definitely don't need to wait for someone to give you permission. I think for me it's lead by example, always.
00:07:53
Speaker
Always be a good example for your teammates. Always work on yourself because you can't control what other people do, but you've got to be the in your own hands.
00:08:06
Speaker
So always continue work on yourself. And would encourage anybody in senior leadership, next time you're in the field, offer to go on a mobile, answer the telephone.
00:08:19
Speaker
It's super important to work alongside your people so that they know you're in it with them. And I would just say, always lead by example, and always truly believe leaders need last.
00:08:32
Speaker
Recognize they are unique for reason, you are unique for reason. Stop worrying about what everyone else is doing. We were just talking about this, Ashlyn. Comparison is the theme of joy.
00:08:44
Speaker
Curious. Stop it. There is room for all us. Every single day. I find two or three people that I can reach out to. Call, text, email, Venmo for Starbucks coffee.
00:08:59
Speaker
Because it's actually really lonely. And we get so lost in the shuffle. Don't get lost in the shuffle. Remember that this industry is people.
00:09:10
Speaker
So reach out to your people. No, you need 12 hugs a day. Who's getting them? Who's getting full clothes a day? Okay, Doug is, but they're probably not getting nearly the support and the outreach that you need to.
Modern Memorials and Generational Differences
00:09:32
Speaker
Everybody has five minutes. to send a couple of text messages do it it goes such a long way when somebody calls you when somebody's struggling answer it make the 15 minutes you never know what that's going to be as a panelist here at and nfda how are you feeling I am feeling great. We've had a couple of really good talks this morning. Looking forward to this afternoon. Not least because yours truly will be on one of the panels straight after lunch. So we have got a big task ahead of us because we've got to wake everybody up after the delicious lunch we just had. But again, yours truly knows how to shake it up. So I think this suit in and of itself will wake people up. But I'm looking forward to my panel. We're talking about modern memorials, millennials, Gen X, all of that sort of stuff. So it should be good. Great, we're looking forward to it.
00:10:26
Speaker
and the parents lost their son and the third he was a very sudden passing away unexpected and when the family came in there was a lot tension.
00:10:36
Speaker
For one, the family wanted to have traditional service and the siblings was like, no, let's remember him like he was, don't mean that and he wouldn't want that to happen.
00:10:49
Speaker
We've heard that so many times, don't need service, that's not what they wanted and the parents wanted the traditional, just like us as funeral directors and funeral arrangers, we want to have or present this service package to the family.
00:11:05
Speaker
And that's our bottom line, of course, we want make sure that that happens. But ultimately, our job, think, as funeral directors, should be helping the family heal and how do we there into that space.
00:11:21
Speaker
And so I started out with asking them What did they love about their loved one? The room was quiet like it is right now.
00:11:32
Speaker
And then all of sudden one of the sisters, she yelled out, well, he was the plateless person. He was our plateless guy. At every family gathering,
00:11:45
Speaker
He was the DJ. We can count on him to make sure that our music was secure. And so I was like interested. I was like, tell me more about this.
00:11:56
Speaker
What type of songs he have on that playlist? And this opened conversation for us to create a sacred during that time, created an event that was memorable.
00:12:12
Speaker
And during that event, some people got together and thought, you know, they should have tacos because that was his favorite food. And so the gathering looked from what we tried to sell as payroll directors as a service traditional package.
00:12:31
Speaker
but it was a meaningful moment that we created in space where they needed to start healing. And we connected friends and families together on that special day.
00:12:45
Speaker
And the end of that service, the parents came back and we sat down and talked and the mom was like, this was not at all what I was expecting, but exactly.
00:12:57
Speaker
what we needed. And that's the moments that we try to create. And that's how we bridge that gap. So when a family comes to you say, I don't want service or I don't need a service, they're not saying that. They don't want that. But what they're saying is this package thing that you have on a piece of paper doesn't resonate with me.
00:13:17
Speaker
I don't know what this professional service date really means I don't want a register or a guest book but I do want to remember my bloodline and that's how bridge that gap We just recently did a talk in Greenwood where we were talking about like offering people options.
Innovative Funeral Services
00:13:39
Speaker
right like if If I say to you, okay, do you want a coffee, Starbucks or Dunkin', you're only going to give me Starbucks or Dunkin'. Whereas if I give you the full breath of, well, you could have McDonald's and blah, blah, blah, now you're like, oh, well, what's that like? What's this like? so Even in the states where it's legal, and again, I'm not a funeral director, so I'm not going to talk to it, and every state over here is like a country in and of itself. and It's wild. but
00:14:04
Speaker
m If you have a funeral director or somebody who's leading the arrangement, you you can still offer people options, even if there's no viable option in your estate. Like I know funeral directors, I have accompanied them where we have driven to water cremation because that's what the family wants it again rather than saying oh they they don't want that because burial or cremation are the only two you don't know until you ask the question you don't know what they can and can't afford if they value composting or like terramation if they value water creation maybe they will pay for your entire team to drive like whatever it might be so it's rather than us answering and assuming
00:14:45
Speaker
the answers and answering the questions before we've even asked them like it's leaning in. So when we talk about passion for service it's really passion people right our stories uh their vulnerabilities and the foundation all of that is empathy and I think of empathy as a little bit more than just a soft skill.
00:15:07
Speaker
It should be at the foundation of every interaction that we have. And that's another thing that we talk in Carriage is having, instead of having transactions, let's have interactions.
00:15:18
Speaker
So that's what we think about a lot. And empathy is at the core of all that. And when I think about two things come in mind for me when I think about it. Number one is we focus on service recovery.
00:15:29
Speaker
So think this a really big piece of providing service. Service recovery is essentially when something goes wrong, we ought to have some sort of playbook. Because when we think of service and we work so hard to define these great things that we're do for families but we ought be prepared for when things don't play in our favor right and what we've seen is there actually tangible measurable um you know outcomes where we were able to uh uh by performing service recovery effectively and lot of times you create closer relationships with the families
00:16:07
Speaker
but one i mean I've heard this phrase toted around a lot in this space is meet them where they're at but do we actually know what that means? Like meeting them where they're at doesn't necessarily always mean them coming into physically your funeral home. Like sometimes, I mean if you can, I'm not saying everybody can do this, but is there a possibility that you could meet them in their home to talk about the plans? and is there, you know, having it in a space that's not your funeral home, maybe it's on a beach, maybe it's in a park, maybe it's in their home, like I don't feel that it has to just be the perimeter of the funeral home, it doesn't have to be a church or a synagogue, um and that's where celebrants come into play as well, is like I'm Irish, I was raised Catholic, and my grandmother would probably be turning in her grave right now, she knew I was trying to take the priest's job, I'm not grand, but um it's
00:16:58
Speaker
I want prayers. said amma It doesn't make me any less Catholic that I don't want to have it in a church, but maybe I'm a diva, I don't know, but I want my funeral to be about me. I don't want it to be about the mass. Sorry, guys, like I don't. And having a guy who I've never gone to, i don't again, grandmother rolling in her grave, I don't go to church, I don't go to mass. but i Sorry, I actually, I don't go to mass, I go to church. I love going to St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York and taking my time there. but it's So it's it's about like...
00:17:25
Speaker
There's so many different facets to us.
Convention Reflections and Connections
00:17:27
Speaker
Like even in this room, im like every single one of us is different. Every single one of us. A set of twins is different. Like we're we're all so different. So why would our funerals ever, ever be the same?
00:17:39
Speaker
One of my favorite parts of the Death Care Summit was, ah well, at the end of our panel anyway, we had an interactive kind of workshop vibe. So I basically bullied all the tables to sort of think outside the box. We presented them with a scenario that was a little unorthodox maybe or just challenging them in a certain way. And so we presented that to them and we got each table to come up with sort of different ways that they might address that situation.
00:18:10
Speaker
What truly makes this and every convention extraordinary though, for me, has always been the people. And any convention I go to that's who I'm going there for. It's the receptions, the reunions, the late night conversations that start with business but end with stories and friendships and just really beautiful camaraderie. and You know, the Irish community, as always, showed up with warmth and laughter, and reminding the world that connection is our strongest currency.
00:18:45
Speaker
you