The Second Verse Was as Great as the First! Takeaways from Day Two of the 2026 Funeral (un)Conference

Inspiring. Groundbreaking. Dope. Day Two of the 2026 Funeral (un)Conference was all of these things and more (and yes, that last descriptor was Ryan’s personal take!). Picking up seamlessly from an incredible Day One, the second half of deathcare’s most interesting conference delivered, with even more experts, insights, and exciting introductions.

We can’t officially close out this year’s (un)Conference without thanking everyone who made this possible, including primary sponsor Curtis Funk and Tukios, our many corporate sponsors, the illustrious guests, and of course, the participants who kept the comment section full of encouraging words and spot-on questions. And, of course, kudos to Ryan Thogmartin, his sweet and smart daughters and future son-in-law, and the entire DISRUPT Media team who made the (un)Conference a success.

Here are some highlights from the panels:

Casket Company Cohort (Jenn Parvin, Batesville; Lance Ray, Wilbert; and Billy Eaton, Matthews Memorialization):

• Today’s consumer is the most curious, but also the most undereducated when it comes to deathcare
• The arrangement conference is where cash flow is won or lost, so a guided, consistent arrangement process is the fix for both revenue and staffing gaps (and luckily, our panelists can help you out with that!)
• Only about 25% of families feel educated when they walk in; the industry thinks it’s 75% (spoiler: it’s not)
• Directors won’t present what they can’t confidently explain (uneducated staff = undersold product, every time)
• Transparent pricing isn’t optional; families are already on Amazon before they sit down with you
• Cremation product lines need a refresh every 3-4 years 
• Training isn’t a one-time event — it’s repetitive, ongoing, and the vendors will come do it for free if you ask

Marketing Magicians (Ryan Thogmartin, DISRUPT Media; Scott Jensen, FirstCall Marketing; and Welton Hong, Ring Ring Marketing) 

• GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the new SEO frontier; it makes sure AI knows who you are, what you do, and what makes you different (Yay! A new acronym!)
• AI-generated content is easy to spot and hurts more than it helps; organic, human storytelling wins every time (for reference, please see literally any of DISRUPT’s funeral home clients)
• Facebook is where your most profitable audience lives (women 45+, who make 71% of deathcare decisions)
•  Don’t slash your marketing budget in the slow summer months. That’s exactly when you should double down (ask Kellogg’s, circa 1933)
• Pick one channel, invest in it properly, measure the return, then scale
• Hospice, hospice, hospice: more than 50% of deaths occur through hospice, and it’s still the most underworked relationship in funeral service — especially the relationships with the nurses on the front lines

New Panel for 2026! Cremation Equipment Crew (Mike Burwell, American Crematory Company; Paul Seyler, Matthews Environmental Solutions; and Gary Looker, B&L Cremation Equipment):

• Are you outsourcing 60%+ of your cremations? Sorry, but you’re giving your profit to a competitor 
• Crematory wear and tear should be measured in pounds processed, not cases because a 150-lb case and a 250-lb case are not the same thing (hmmm… where have we heard this before?)
• If your machine is 20+ years old and still running, we’re impressed, but you should retire them
• The future is predictive (not just preventative) maintenance, remote monitoring, and equipment that texts you when something’s wrong
• New or old machine, service response time is everything — when a crematory goes down, the business stops

Livestream Legends (Brady Cox, OneRoom Streaming; Trajan Schulze, Foveo; and Kyle Fogarty, MemoryShare):

• Stop asking families if they want to livestream! Just make it standard
• Recording is where the real value lies; 65% of viewers watch the recording, not the live stream itself, and that number climbs to 75% after a year 
• If it’s not recorded, it doesn’t exist ever again 
• Don’t invest in expensive equipment until you’ve recorded at least one service on a phone; walk before you run
• Fixed in-chapel cameras are worth every penny if most of your services are there because automation means fewer human errors and twice as many streams
• Music licensing is a real (and manageable) issue, and again, what luck: all three panelists have tools to auto-mute copyrighted music in recordings, so that’s one less excuse to avoid streaming!
• Livestreaming is a marketing tool hiding in plain sight; if you talk about it louder than your competitor, families will think you’re the only one who does it

Whew! Yes, that’s a ton of info, but it’s just a fraction of what was shared during these two amazing days of education … which, perhaps predictably, was one of the major themes that emerged this year. 

The other was definitely AI, as you can probably glean, even from these scant bullet points. It’s here, it’s not going away, and it’s being implemented into all aspects of deathcare. Day Two’s final guest, our friend Antonio Green of James H. Cole Home for Funerals in Detroit, made that case perfectly clear, demonstrating a real-life AI application that he created to do exactly what Day One’s technology panel said AI should do: automate all the things you don’t love to do so you can spend more time doing what you love. 

We hope you’ll reach out to Antonio and all of our extremely smart and super nice expert guests to learn more about their offerings!