Genesis Casket Company, and New Tech Innovation Drive NFDA 2011

I am writing this review form the Southwest Airlines terminal at the Chicago Midway airport only hours after the most innovative NFDA convention I have been apart of. I say this excitedly! I do not usually feel this way after NFDA. Though NFDA is the largest funeral industry convention it is not always the most innovative or progressive.

The introduction of new product is always prevalent at NFDA, new urn companies, new small independent specialty casket companies, products that really aren?t ground breaking or innovative on the technology side. These types of products are just not heavily displayed at NFDA. This year was different, and it was good.

This year NFDA featured more workshops around technology. I had the opportunity to listen to funeral director Walker Posey present on using digital and social media in the funeral home and as a way to interact with client families. Through this presentation Walker was able to give real testimony about the impact social media has made on his business. I was pumped after hearing Walker and look forward to featuring some of his experiences on ConnectingDirectors.com and DisruptMG.com/funeral.

On the exhibit floor I was most impressed with the product from new casket company Genesis Casket. Genesis has done an amazing job using new manufacturing technologies to make small changes that dramatically enhance the casket appearance and function of certain key areas of the casket. It is inspiring to seeing new companies come into the marketplace that are going to push the innovation of a standard funeral item. Be watching for a more in-depth overview and interview with Genesis Casket in the coming weeks. The 2011 NFDA Innovation award was presented to Funeral Screen. Funeral Screen is a full service digital signage provider to funeral homes. I did not have the opportunity to fully interact with their product, but congrats to being voted the 2011 Innovation award winner.

I want to point out a few other companies that made noise at this years convention as I wrap up this quick overview and board my long awaited flight home:

1. Frontrunner and the launch of the Velocity program. It is great to see funeral industry companies partner their services and products together to better the profession.
2. Directors? Edge and the rollout of the first iPad “Funeral Planner” app for Funeral Directors, and a separate app for the consumer. I received a demo of the app and think it is very cool, but I do feel that most funeral directors will be immediately turned off by the cost.
3. Greeting Express and the introduction of their “Legacy Book” that now includes a DVD sleeve in the back as well as optional registry pages.
4. Trigard and their new Facade urns
5. FuneralOne and the rollout of the first funeral home sympathy store that can be added to any funeral home website.
6. TributeScan and their very cool integration of QR Code in monuments and other funeral product.

If you attended the 2011 NFDA convention we would love to hear your feedback and thoughts in the comments below.

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