New Perspectives

Better Business

The Ceremony Matters Online

SUPER CONFERENCE

Diversity and Inclusion for Funeral Professionals

3 Conferences in One Online Super Conference

October 2020 to May 2021

You can still join us to benefit from amazing talks and discussions with our guest speakers!

Catch up with missed content in our exclusive online learning portal and join the conversation.

“In diversity there is beauty and there is strength” – Maya Angelou

Diversity & Inclusion

 appreciating and acknowledging differences in individual backgrounds, cultures and experiences to offer a service with equity for all.

The SUPER CONFERENCE 2020 is for anyone COMMITTED to serving bereaved and grieving people with respect and kindness.

By understanding individual and cultural diversity we are better equipped to offer funeral services that make the difference allowing people to mourn and begin to heal in a safe space.

“Well worth the 2 days”,

“Fantastic. I feel inspired”

5 stars

100% of last year’s feedback said celebrants recommend Ceremony Matters workshops to their colleagues!

Why join the SUPER CONFERENCE 2020?

Do you…

 

  • want to expand your client base and build your reputation as an inclusive business?
  • worry about making a “diversity misstep” with a client?
  • have a reputation of being kind and inclusive?
  • want to ensure that you can offer the best service to all clients?
  • enjoy learning about people?
  • think of yourself as someone who continues to learn and develop personally and in business?
  • believe that everyone should be treated with equality and respect?
  • want a space to explore ideas and beliefs where you wont be judged?

If you answered yes to any of the above, join us for the Super Conference!

Creativity, learning, support and networking

There is rapid change in the public expectation of a funeral service, demanding more personalisation of service and ceremonies. There is an increased demand for truly person-centred services and we increasingly find ourselves creating ceremony for people with experiences very different from our own.

Offering high quality, meaningful and personalised funerals is the best way of growing sustainable businesses. The focus of this conference will be on quality and ‘equality’ of service. We will also be sharing best practice so that we can continue to offer excellent service as our clients and families demand more highly personalised and individual services and ceremonies.

We have been taught to ignore diversity rather than embrace it.

Only in embracing individuality and diversity can we organise and create services that are meaningful, person-centred and appropriate for our clients and families.

Let’s change our industry together!

Let’s make sure that our business is inclusive, respectful and kind for all.

Ceremony Matters SUPER CONFERENCE is for those who are truly committed to providing the best service to the bereaved, who aren’t afraid to challenge themselves and grow their business reputation as excellent funeral professionals offering services that really help people get through the days, weeks. months and years after a death.

“Fantasic conference. Thank you”

Funeral directors

More people now specifically want to know that you embrace diversity and are inclusive in the way you conduct your business. Do you have policies in place but no real diversity training? So, how do you make sure that your staff understand how to treat people with respect and equity? Research shows that short diversity trainings have little long term effect on staff. This training offers the opportunity to have someone on your staff who has a good understanding of diversity issues and can be responsive to clients from all backgrounds in a person-centred way, securing and expanding your client base with a good reputation for Diversity, Inclusion and Equity.

Celebrants

As a celebrant you can be asked to create a ceremony for any one from any background. Independent celebrants can be asked to create semi-religious ceremonies when, for whatever reason, a religious minister will not or cannot preside, and religious ministers may be asked to officiate a non-religious ceremony for someone in the community. So, what happens when we make a mis-step or feel like we are mismatched with the family or client? Our reputation is on the line. The better our understanding of the diversity of people in Britain and the inequality that many experience, the more comfortable your clients will be and the better your reputation for kindess and great service.   

This conference is for anyone who works with people planning and facilitating funeral services, whether you are a celebrant or minister, a funeral director or any member of staff representing them, a doula, or a chapel or burial ground attendant. 

Here’s what you get in your

SUPER CONFERENCE

 

3 weekend online conferences with Q&As and Networking, followed by discussions, book clubs, networking and online community from October 2020 to May 2021

 Non-binary Thinking – Understanding LBGTQIA+ Identity
conference 10 & 11 October, programme through November

Racial Equity – Deeper than skin
conference 16 & 17 January 2021, programme through February

Mental Health & Disability – Visible and Invisible Difference
conference 24 & 25 April 2021, programme through May

Each individual weekend conference will include:

4 webinars

Guest experts with lived experience of diversity within the funeral industry

Q&As

Networking

Recordings for catch-up

Plus an extended programme with:

Discussion groups

Book club

Networking

and

A facebook group with like minded community support

– a place to brainstorm, question, share and discuss

Tier 5 pandemic price for the full SUPER CONFERENCE!

£399
(value £1500)

Join Us Today

There are only a limited number of Early Bird places available. Once they’re gone, they’re gone!

Prefer a payment plan?

Or join us one conference at a time – ‘Tier 5 pandemic price’ one conference only

£167
(value £500)

JOIN US to explore how to work with your clients to provide meaningful and person-centred services that help them.

You might have seen shorter diversity courses, or maybe think you don’t need it?

There are many short course diversity courses but research shows that they have little to no lasting effect upon those who take them.

That’s where our Diversity & Inclusion Super Conference comes in.

It’s 2020, everything is changing, we need to keep up!

Each conference is less than the cost of one funeral ceremony booking for a celebrant.

That’s 3 weekend conferences with 12 webinars, Q&As and networking, plus an extended programme of discussion groups, book clubs, recordings for catch-up and an online Facebook community for support and sharing from October 2020 to May 2021.

Unlearn

beliefs and values that aren’t serving you, your clients or your business

Enjoy

online learning, being challenged, meeting colleagues and benefitting from the experiences of guest experts and other delegates to expand your knowledge and business practice

Work you want to do

with discussions, book clubs and assignments that are designed to help you integrate what you discover without too much desk work.

Discover

so much more about British history and present day culture from the personal lived experience of our guest industry experts

Develop

a broader understanding of your clients, whatever their background so that you can promote your business as inclusive and equitable

CPD Hours

Each conference will gain you more than 10 Continuing Professional Development hours, that’s more than 30 hours for  SUPER CONFERENCE.

 We welcome funeral professionals from any association, fellowship, belief system or training organisations for seminars, networking, discussions and talks that will leave you inspired and ready to take your business to the next level.

The Conferences

Conference One

Non-Binary Thinking – Understanding LGBTQIA+ Identity

10 and 11 October 2020, programme through November

with Emma Curtis, plus guest speakers – Celebrant and retired Embalmer Angie McLachlan, Minister Martin Hazell, Funeral Professional and Trans Activist Ash Hayhurst and Illustrator and Sacred Space Specialist Cath Brew.

**Special extra session with Martin Hazell 14 November 2020**

“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities”
– Stephen R Covey

1. Non-Binary Thinking

In this first module we will look at and understand binary thinking in our every day lives and use gender roles to explore how 20th century culture has formed our values.

2. Being transgender

Trans activist and funeral arranger Ash Hayhurst will share his experiences as a trans man, talk about the legal status of trans people, and discuss how being more aware of our words helps LGBTQIA+ people feel safer working with us.

3. Disenfranchised Loss & Faith

Angie McLachlan and Martin Hazell join us to reflect upon experience of funerals for people who died from HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. How do we facilitate funerals for people with blended faiths, religions of their own and/or conflicted family relationships and why are person-centred funerals are worth creating?

4. Creating meaningful funerals for LGBTQIA+ people

People’s values are formed by lived experience. How might the funeral of a member of the LBGTQIA+ community differ from the norm (or not)? How do we navigate a world of new pronouns, terms and meaning? With Ash Hayhurst, Angie McLachlan and Cath Brew.

Learning Objectives:

  • Becoming aware of a non-binary perspective on life, and death
  • Being mindful of confidentiality while supporting LGBTQIA people
  • Understanding how we can use neutral language to be inclusive of everyone
  • Exploring why it is important to respect someone’s confidentiality after they die
  • Learning how the Gender Recognition Act informs the way we work as funeral professionals
  • Gain insight into how we can support trans and gender diverse people
  • Find out how to navigate delicate conversations

Plus

  • Having opportunities to ask questions in a judgement-free space
  • Finding our confidence as professionals and managing the fear of “putting our foot in it”

JOIN THE SUPER CONFERENCE

for just 

£399

Early Bird

Conference Two

Racial Equity – Deeper Than Skin

16 and 17 January 2021, programme through February 2021

with Emma Curtis, plus guest speakers – Black Musician and Historian Andrew Maginley, Celebrants Debi Lewinson-Roberts, Sheron Burt and Hannah Jackson- McCamley, Funeral Arranger and EDI advocate Janice Hunt, and Illustrationist and Sacred Space Specialist Cath Brew

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
– Martin Luther King

5. What we learnt as children

We all have unconscious biases. We are not ‘bad’ people for having them but we are responsible for them nonetheless. Together with celebrant Sheron Burt, Emma creates a safe place to explore what we believe, what we have learned, and how some of our unexamined biases may be quietly confirmed by the culture in which we live today. We begin to explore how to consciously embrace the diversity of British culture and see life from new and perhaps broader perspectives.

6. Black and British

Inspired by historian David Olusoga’s work, we explore the history and experience of black and ethnic minority people in Britain with Andrew Maginley and Debi Lewinson-Roberts. We consider how inclusive the funeral industry is of BAME people outside of culturally defined communities, and we talk with Janice Hunt and Debi their experiences working in the funeral industry.

7. White and British

We unpack ‘white privilege’ and together with celebrant Hannah Jackson-McCamley discuss how we can understand that concept and be part of a culture of change, acknowledging that not everyone with light skin feels they have had a priviledged upbringing and many would not describe themselves as white. This is a challenging subject in a friendly, non-judgemental environment. Cath Brew will join us for the discussion.

8. Active allyship and antiracism

How can we update our perspectives and language to be inclusive, acknowledging diversity, intersectionality and sometimes a mismatch of family beliefs and value? Funeral arranger and EDI advocate Janice Hunt joins us to share her experience as we discuss becoming proactive as allies opposing racial discrimination reasonably and peaceably amongst colleagues, and explore how we foster equity and inclusion through our words and actions as we honour people’s lives – with Sheron Burt, Janice Hunt, Debi Lewinson-Roberts, Hannah Jackson-McCamley and Andrew Maginley.

Learning Objectives:

 

  • Appreciate how easy it is to make a diversity misstep
  • Become aware of cultural biases we might not we hold
  • Understand the big issues around diversity, equality and inclusivity
  • Recognise terms such as Antiracist, Cancel Culture and Intersectionality
  • Appreciate that there are a multitude of ways in which people can feel disenfranchised or excluded
  • Look back at what history has taught us about Black and ethnic minority people
  • Be able to be mindful of privilege when supporting BAME people
  • Learning the new language around racism in the UK and USA
  • Discover how we can be fairer without offending or losing out

Plus

  • Having opportunities to ask questions in a judgement-free space
  • Finding our confidence as professionals and managing the fear of “putting our foot in it”

JOIN THE SUPER CONFERENCE

for just

£399

Tier 5 Pandemic Price

Conference Three

Mental Health and Disability – Visible and Invisible Difference

24 and 25 April 2021, programme through May 2021

with Emma Curtis, plus guest speakers – filmmaker and actor Ngozi Ugochukwu, together with Celebrants David Miles and Nick Laurie, together with funeral professional Ash Hayhurst

“We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”

– Jimmy Carter

Considering how we approach serving clients and families affected by issues that have often been stigmatised in our culture: alcoholism and addiction, disability, mental health issues, neurobiological differences and suicide.

Nick Laurie and David Miles, both funeral celebrants for many years, will be presenting their areas of expertise which have informed their celebrancy practices. Nick is a Somerset based celebrant, specialist in working with families affected by addiction. David, a winner of The Good Funeral Award for Celebrant of the Year, will talk about Approaches to Disability. We will discuss working with families affected by disability and mental health issues, and how we approach ceremony writing and facilitation in exceptional circumstances.

9. Just finding a poem is not enough

Does our own discomfort lead us to provide a less meaningful service? We look at how we can learn to encounter both physical and psychological pain and difficulty without awkwardness or making unhelpful assumptions to up-level our service.

10. Disability… how you see me

We learn how it is to experience and live with disability from two experienced funeral professionals, David Miles and Angie McLachlan, and discover how we can work to ensure that our services are inclusive and offer an equitable opportunity to benefit from a good funeral service.

11. Perspectives on mental health and addiction

There are many forms of addiction from behaviours to substance abuse and a spectrum of mental health issues, all of which can impact on the friends and family of a person. Nick Laurie shares with us his personal and professional reflections on the whys and wherefores of alcoholism and on creating ceremonies for people whose issues have caused suffering for others.

12. Creating meaning, even when it’s complicated

A funeral ceremony has the potential to be healing. The words we use cannot be underestimated in their ability to impact clients and mourners in both positive and negative ways. In this final segment of the Super Conference we polish our interview skills to make sure that every service, however challenging the circumstances, fits the person who has died and our grieving clients.

Learning Objectives:

  • Consider how being more flexible to the needs of our clients can also benefit us as we work
  • Understand how we can be more aware of the diversity of mourners listening to our service
  • Learn how to navigate difficult family dynamics without resorting to generic poetry
  • Discover a social approach to disability
  • Learn about the unique difficulties facing a funeral celebrant in the preparation of a ceremony for someone who died by suicide
  • Learn how to make everyone feel included and no one feel excluded by the ceremony we’ve prepared and the service we provide
  • Observe how we can find paths between simply good and bad, right and wrong, success and failure as we develop trust with our clients and families

Plus

  • Having opportunities to ask questions in a judgement-free space
  • Finding our confidence as professionals and managing the fear of “putting our foot in it”

JOIN THE SUPER CONFERENCE

for just

£399

Tier 5 Pandemic Price!

Online Community

Discover what it’s like to be part of a community of funeral professionals who are all dedicated to a person-centred approach to creating funerals, one that benefits the clients and families we serve. Share your stories and your experience, and discover that we can be more resilient and confident when we support each other.

The funeral industry is becoming more competitive with new entrants at all levels, but supportive alliances can help us stay strong and doing our best work.  

“The celebrants and funeral professionals I work with are culture makers; committed to using our voices and our business practices to make funerals better and create a safe and inclusive environment for all” –  Emma Curtis

Meet The Presenters

Emma Curtis is an award-winning influencer in funeral celebrancy working to raise the standards of funeral celebrancy throughout the profession and to gain recognition for the valuable work that celebrants do in the service of the bereaved. In March of this year she founded the Funeral Celebrants Support Network for peer-2-peer support during the pandemic. She has become well respected for her support of funeral celebrants and her creative writing workshops. Emma is the CEO of Ceremony Matters which provides further trainings, support and mentoring for funeral celebrants and funeral professionals, and now offers this SUPER CONFERENCE for Diversity and Inclusion to Funeral Professionals who wish to offer services that really make a lasting difference to their clients, and that build their reputation. Emma is a founder representative on the Funeral Celebrancy Council. She is the representative of independent celebrants and proud to have been part of the team that drafted the Funeral Celebrant Accord. Pronouns are she/her.

As well as being a celebrant, Emma is a certified Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist, Pastoral Counsellor, Grief and Resilience Specialist with a therapy practice on the corner of Harley Street and Cavendish Square, W1 and an award-winning Opera Singer, bringing that wealth of experience not only to her clients, but to supporting celebrants through mentoring, supervision and further training. 

Guest speakers

Ash Hayhurst is a relatively new kid on the block and has been a part-time Funeral Arranger in London since April 2019. He is the author of ‘Making informed choices when planning a funeral – a guide for queer people’, and has written articles for the Funeral Service Journal and the ICCM journal. Before joining the funeral profession, Ash volunteered with LGBT+ charities Stonewall Housing (www.stonewallhousing.org) and Educate & Celebrate (www.educateandcelebrate.org) helping to develop workshops and resources for young people. He has a degree in Popular Music Composition and is a qualified secondary school music teacher. Ash is a bisexual transgender man, and his pronouns are he/him.

Photo: Fox Fisher

Cath Brew (she/her) works an educator and illustrator who specialises in Identity and Belonging – a large part of which are sacred space and LGBTQIA+ issues. Her aim is to ‘centre the marginalised’ through education, to offer those who are ‘other’, a sense of belonging. Cath’s background lies in 18 years in heritage management in Australia and the UK, where she gained considerable experience of working with ‘sacred space’, both as a physical place and an emotional/spiritual one. Cath was also the Cemeteries Conservation Officer for the National Trust of Australia (NSW) for 2.5 years and has worked extensively with Aboriginal communities. She has delivered diversity training to Dorset Fire and Rescue Service and hosts “Talk-Back Tuesday, a weekly Facebook Live where she answers questions about LGBTQIA+ stuff.

Martin Hazell (he/him) is a gay man and was ordained into the United Reformed Church in 1984. Shortly afterwards, he volunteered at the Terrence Higgins Trust, leading the Interfaith Group. During this time, he was a counsellor for CRUSE, the bereavement charity and led training on issues around grief and bereavement, specialising in suicide and self-harm. During the 80s and 90s, he regularly trained THT’s Buddies as part of their induction programme and helped many at their end of life care. Martin has led funerals from many different perspectives: Christian, Buddhist, pagan, and for people of no faith or religion. He has travelled widely as a WHO consultant to East Europe encouraging local community groups in the response to HIV. He is an actor, broadcaster and writer.

As the daughter of a Minister of Religions, Debi Lewinson-Roberts (she/her) was raised to comfort the bereaved, support the community and attend funerals from childhood. This gave her great insight and experiential knowledge of African-Caribbean funeral practices. Her working knowledge of diverse cultural and religious practices informs her work as a celebrant. In January 2017 Debi started running a monthly Death Café  to provide an opportunity for individuals of any background to meet together in a non-judgemental environment. She has also created a virtual space that welcomes Black people to gather in a supportive environment. Debi has a background in education, training & development and not-for-profit management and has recently been awarded a PhD scholarship researching bereavement and relationships.  

Andrew Maginley is a musician and portrait artist who has done his fair share in the funeral industry, both as a bearer and as an assistant at Clandon Wood Natural Burial Ground. He is a historian with an active interest in black history. Andrew is of American, Caribbean and British descent and grew up in New York City where he completed his Bachelors and Masters degrees, before moving to Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship. He begins a series of talks on his experiences with a presentation for Sacramento University on the many challenges that face young musicians of colour. 

Andrew Maginley

 Sheron Burt (she/her) is an Independent Celebrant from Daventry, Northamptonshire. Sheron works to promote diversity and equality in celebrancy. As a supporter of Faith, she respects all beliefs, including those having no religious affinities. After many years in Nursing. Sheron was inspired to change career after attending a Funeral of a relative. Sheron has been a funeral celebrant since 2016 creating personal and unique services. She is passionate about her work in celebrancy, and truly cares about those she serves.

Hannah Jackson-McCamley is a London based celebrant who creates completely ‘one-off’ services for people from a wide array of backgrounds and beliefs, consciously encouraging diversity and inclusivity in the services she leads. As well as a love for literature and music, she has a deep interest in culture and politics, cultivated in her early years attending anti-Nazi marches with her sister and later her degree in Government and History at the London School of Economics. As well as being a funeral celebrant, Hannah is training to be a psychotherapist and has a background in advertising and fashion. She volunteers with St Mungo’s, Crisis and organises for Hounslow Community Foodbox. Her passion for social justice has lead her to become an ally in the anti-racist movement, fighting for equality for all.
Janice Hunt is one of a small number of BAME funeral professionals and is a licensed Church of England Lay Reader in the diocese of Southwark. She is authorised to conduct funeral services and manages a funeral home for a major corporate funeral service company. She has been serving the bereavement needs of her community since 2012. Creator of the ‘Enabling Equity’ series Race in the Workplace and Dignity in Difference EDI learning materials, Jan regularly engages with company HR and Learning and Development teams to advocate for improved standards in the funeral sector. She is a freelance EDI advisor for Executive Connexions Ltd. An awareness of inequality in the funeral professions has led Jan to advocate for better training and EDI, seeking to address issues of diversity and inclusivity within the funeral industry, including better staff training.

Ngozi Ugochukwu is a photographer a filmmaker, and performer (actor and stand-up comic). Her work has been shown at HOME Manchester – a centre for international contemporary art; Disability Arts Online; and has been part of a British Council conference in Hong Kong looking at the arts and its importance for, and impact on three groups: old, young, and disabled people. Ngozi trained as a video editor, studying in Central America. She then went on to produce, direct and edit an award-winning documentary about her travels and experience in Cuba, which was shown in film festivals internationally. Currently, Ngozi sits on the board of the Manchester International Festival and the advisory board of Documental Theatre based in the South West of England. She believes that art, imagery and performance can challenge people’s perceptions and encourage debate about the way they see and shape the world. Her ambition is to see her work in galleries worldwide.

Angie McLachlan (they/them) was catapulted suddenly into the funeral business. Having French Polished their mum’s coffin, they didn’t leave the undertakers; staying on, initially to run the coffin workshop. While working as transport manager and funeral operative they trained as an embalmer. In the early 90s Angie pioneered embalming treatment and care for those who had died from ‘AIDS Related Conditions’. This very personal choice was against professional and government guidelines in the U.K. Angie looked after many of their friends. Angie is an experienced celebrant, known for creating beautiful personalised ceremonies for people of diverse pathways.

Angie holds BA Hons Death Loss and Palliative Care; MA (Distinction) Religion, the Rhetoric and Rituals of Death; and teaches Care of the Body with Ichabod their hand-made Death Dummy.

Photo: The University of Winchester

David Miles is an award-winning funeral celebrant. He is passionate about recognising, respecting and responding to equality and diversity principles, seeing these values as essential to his role. As a deaf Disabled person he promotes Disability Equality as a Trainer.  Having been a Nurse and Social Worker David has supported people with learning difficulties for many years. davidmilesuk.com

Nick Laurie is an independent celebrant. He has worked and played with alcoholics and addicts for many years and after 23 years of sobriety can still remember the whats, whys and wherefores of alcoholism. He has conducted funerals for many addicts both recovering and those still in the throes of their illness. He hopes to show you that an addict is a human being too. nicklaurie.co.uk

What people say about Emma and her conferences

“You delivered the right amount of helpful information whilst still allowing it to be a discussion between us with plenty of time to take on board our thoughts too. Rather than it being lectures it was lovely that it included so much ‘audience participation’ in a very relaxed informative manner. So thank you once again for what I felt was a very enjoyable conference. Looking forward to the next one.”

Marion Lambshead

Independent Funeral Celebrant

“Emma is leading the rebellion against the generic template celebrant. She begins each ceremony with a blank piece of paper. She actually listens to families, facilitates difficult conversations and puts together ceremonies that do what they need to do. She also does the difficult thing that most celebrants avoid – goes the emotional distance with the bereaved and doesn’t just give them what they think they need (ie just going with a celebration of life for a young person who died by suicide but actually making the bereaved think about what it is they need from the funeral).

She has played a huge role in developing the philosophy and approach behind Poetic Endings, where ceremony is front and foremost of the work we do as funeral directors.

Emma also held space for me, whilst I learnt to hold space for others.

When I imagine the celebrancy profession of the future, I’d like to think that Emma has been able to contribute to it with her dedication to improving standards, offering proper training and providing actual emotional support to the people who are doing this work.

Poetic Endings wouldn’t be what it is without Emma Curtis. “

Louise Winter

Funeral Director, Poetic Endings

Emma delivered with sensitivity, passion and fun, keeping everyone fully engaged from start to finish.
The practical exercises that she gave the celebrants to do were stimulating, thought provoking and challenged them to think outside of the box and stretched their creative writing skills to new levels, with those present even saying that they produced levels of writing which they didn’t know they could deliver.

Terri Shanks

Founder and CEO, Fellowship of Professional Celebrants

“Thank you Emma Curtis for your wonderful and inspiring creative writing session at the Conference. It encouraged me to try a new opening today, slightly out of my comfort/safe zone and ‘stretch myself’. At the funeral today it worked so well… The widow said that service was ‘brilliant’ and it was as if her husband was actually there.”

Bev Symonds

Fellowship of Professional Celebrants, Beverley Symonds, Independent Funeral Celebrant

“Overall it gave me confidence in what I am doing already which was needed. it also gave me inspiration and ideas for some new approaches. Plus the rare opportunity to talk with other celebrants – bringing us together for collaboration rather than competition.”

Becky Lee-Wale

Daisy Chain Celebrant

Funeral director Carrie Weekes speaks at our ‘Focused On Funerals’ conference 2019

“Can’t rate the day high enough”

This Ceremony Matters online super conference is open to all funeral professionals who are dedicated to raising the bar and offering the best service possible to their clients and families.
As always there will be an emphasis on the value of a meaningful funeral ceremony, together with opportunities for networking, sharing resources and support, benefiting each of us individually, and the profession as a whole.

FAQs

What's included in the SUPER CONFERENCE?

12 Deep dive webinars over 3 conferences with Emma and presenters

Guest presenters with lived experience and understanding of the funeral industry

Live Zoom discussions and Q+A sessions for your questions

Book clubs with a chosen book for each conference and extra suggestions for avid readers

Recordings to catch up with some of the content you may have missed

Supplemental materials

Online Facebook Community

How long is this programme?

The conferences together with the follow-up programmes spread from October 2020 to May 2021.

The conferences take place on 3 weekends, with webinars for 4 hours on Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday – afternoon and early evening with a good break in the middle for a walk or dinner or whatever you need to do, plus networking if you wish.

The follow-up discussions and book clubs will take place over a month following each conference.

If you can’t make any of the webinars or book clubs live there will be recordings for catch-up. If you want you can do all the webinars and book clubs at your leisure, but you might find that you are not up to speed in the online community. Up to you.

Is there support available?

You will be supported by the discussions and online community. The online Facebook community is there to support you, and Emma will be popping in there every day to make sure that everyone has what they need to feel supported with this programme. You can post questions, concerns, ideas and discoveries in the group. 

Emma is also available for individual supervision and support but that does not come as part of this programme. 

I'm worried I'll say the wrong thing and be embarrassed...

We may all mis-step at some point. In the SUPER CONFERENCE we get to have real discussions in a learning environment where we can ask questions, be up front about any awkwardness or confusion, and where we can practice making amends amongst friends. These are challenging topics. There is no perfection here, only learning and understanding, so that we are prepared to meet our clients and families with openness, kindness and self-awareness, working to offer inclusive and equitable services. Growth always comes with a little discomfort. Without taking the step to learn and develop, you’ll stay in your comfort zone, but restrict the growth of your business.

Can I join if the programme has already started?

You can join the SUPER CONFERENCE at any time before 25 April 2021 and catchup through recorded materials. There are webinars available for review.

If I join just the first conference for now can I have the early bird price for the SUPER CONFERENCE later?

You are, of course, welcome to join just one conference at a time. Unfortunately once the early bird on the SUPER CONFERENCE is gone if you decide to take the rest of the Super Conference later you would need to pay the current Super Conference price at the time you decide to continue. 

What's your refund policy?

As with most educational organisations, we are not able to offer refunds for online workshops, classes and courses.

If you unsure whether this programme is right for you and would like to talk through your decision to enroll, please feel free to request a discovery call by emailing conference@ceremonymatters.org

We cannot give refunds for missed sessions or dropped internet connections. You will always be able to catch up through the conference recordings. 

What if I can't make the webinars?

If you can’t make the webinars or your internet connection is a problem and you miss something, don’t worry. We will be recording webinars, Q&A and book clubs so you needn’t miss a thing. Just catch up on your own time.

How will the networking work?

We will run our networking sessions on Zoom.

You can get a cuppa or a snack, or eat your dinner if you wish and get to know your colleagues.

There will be a facilitator who can manage break out rooms so that you can chat in smaller groups if they are appropriate for the gathering.

It’s basically a coffee break or after session chat online, and a great way to get to know people.

What this conference is not…

This conference is not just going to be directly about marketing and making money. Of course we all want to be financially successful in our work, however, there are plenty of other such offerings to help you promote your business through social media and advertising. Those skills alone wont help you sustain your business, your reputation is based on the quality of your service.

This conference is about providing the very best quality of service possible to our clients and ‘families’. That is the core of a successful funeral business, whether you are a celebrant or a funeral director. The growth and sustainability of our businesses depend upon our skills, our relationships and the quality of personalisation that we offer.

We can make new contacts and let people get to know us through our media presence, but in the end it is the service that we provide that is meaningful and memorable.

Emma Curtis has become well respected for her engaging, creative and thought provoking CPD workshops as well as a champion for independent celebrants striving to make each service special and meaningful.

This is the best time to try changing your perspective and considering ceremony in a more incusive way. You’ll have a supportive, creative environment with no ‘real’ client to answer to. There will be plenty of support for anyone who is abandoning old ways of working that now seem out-of-date. You’ll be inspired to put your client/family right at the centre and create something especially beneficial and beautiful for them.

You can’t beat this for value or quality CPD

“I very much hope that you will join me and an inspiring group of colleagues who see this SUPER CONFERENCE as an invaluable investment in their skills, their personal growth and their business development. 

See you in October!” 
Emma Curtis, Ceremony Matters