‘REINVENT YOURSELF’ AT ICCFA FALL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE

Best-selling Business Author Jason Jennings to Lead Three-Hour Workshop

May 30, 2012 (Sterling, VA)—Management and leadership consultant Jason Jennings will lead a three-hour keynote and workshop presentation, “Reinvent Yourself: 6 Secrets to Achieving Growth and Remaining Relevant,” at the ICCFA Fall Management Conference, October 17-19 at the Arizona Biltmore, a Waldorf Astoria Resort in Phoenix, Arizona.

Each year, Jennings receives more than 1,000 requests for presentations, of which he accepts only 80. The ICCFA invitation attracted him, he said, because he understands that this is a segment in need of reinvention and he felt he could make a real impact.

ICCFA President Jeff Kidwiler, CCE, agreed that the ICCFA Fall Management Conference is the ideal venue for Jennings’ game-changing message. “This conference brings together the most successful, open-minded owners and executives in our profession,” he said. “These are people who understand that they need to constantly evaluate how they operate, change their approach to the business and improve and expand their services if they are to succeed. Any cemetery or funeral service executive who sees the writing on the wall for our profession would be wise to attend this event and heed Jennings’ message.”

“The Reinventors” was released May 12 and has already reached best-seller status. In it, Jennings compiles research on more than 100 companies that have successfully reinvented themselves and identifies the keys to pursuing “never-ending radical change.” Among the companies he profiles are Starbucks, Smithfield Foods and Southwest Airlines, as well as Anderson-McQueen Funeral Homes. Jennings says a key to Anderson-McQueen’s reinvention was defining their destination, when the company came to the realization “that they weren’t really in the business of handling bodies but were instead in the business of educating and helping people understand the value of ceremony, ritual and the telling of one’s life story.”

Jennings also is author of the national best sellers “Less is More,” “It’s Not the Big that Eat the Small—It’s the Fast that Eat the Slow,” “Think Big, Act Small” and “Hit the Ground Running: A Manual for Leaders.”

At the ICCFA Fall Management Conference, he will share six principles for reinvention and will then facilitate an interactive workshop-style discussion on how those principles can be applied specifically within the cemetery, cremation and funeral service profession.

Along with the Jennings workshop, the conference will offer interactive discussions on “Attracting and Keeping Good People,” “Creating a Five-Star Customer Experience” and “Reaching Families through the Web.” Additional highlights will include a celebration of the ICCFA’s 125th Anniversary on October 19, the ICCFA Government & Legal Affairs breakfast, two networking receptions and the Fall Management Golf Tournament.

Complete details and registration materials can be found at www.iccfa.com.

Founded in 1887, the ICCFA is the only international trade association representing all segments of the cemetery, cremation, funeral and memorialization profession. Its membership is composed of more than 7,500 cemeteries, funeral homes, crematories, memorial designers and related businesses worldwide.