Industry News - Funeral Directors Convention
Live from Funeral Directors Convention, It’s Florists, Flowers, Teamwork
Like most florists, Cheryl Bakin and Clay Atchison would love to rid obituaries from the words “in lieu of flowers” and show every singlefuneral director in the country what a difference flowers can make at a service. But they’ll be happy to make their case to the 5,500 attendees at the National Funeral Directors Association convention recently held in Boston. Atchison and Bakin have spent the last year gathering florist input, product and support to have a booth at the convention, and when the convention opened Monday, those directors didn’t need to look far to see the power of flowers or the dedication of florists.
After months of online coordinating and brainstorming, a team of florists began designing in earnest early Sunday morning, said Bakin, owner of Parkway Florist in Pittsburgh. On site at Nunan’s Florist and Greenhouse were Bakin, Lisa Greene, AAF, AIFD, PFCI, of Nunan’s, Atchison of McAdams Floral in Victoria, Texas; Melissa Mega of The Ivy Green in Washington, Pa.; Kathy Dudley of The Bloomery inButler, Pa.; and Erlene LeBorgne of Maine Bride in Portland, Maine.
The team spent five hours and completed more than 20 pieces to use in three vignettes, including a masculine-themed casket lid treatment, a cremation display and a highly personalized to generation and geography piece that Bakin called the “throw-back” collection.
“It’s a testament to hard work, networking, social networking and group efforts to provide a strong message to a crucial component of our industry,” Atchison said about the grassroots movement that began on the online community FlowerChat last year. “The emphasis is the positive message that ‘Flowers provide comfort.’”
That message has been well received so far, said the florists.
"The directors like the information on alternative sayings to 'in lieu of,'" Bakin said of the response so far. "It is a habit they have to break -- just like florists have to stop saying 'How much do you want to spend?'"
Many have already broken it, based Kathy Dudley’s interactions with convention attendees. “The great majority of the funeral directors that we have talked with use alternative phrases to In Lieu of Flowers for obituaries, except when the family insists on that exact wording,” she said. One funeral director even complimented the florists on the “Can We Bury In Lieu of?” ad, which SAF created and has placed in the The Director.
Dudley said she and the other florists are also using the face time with funeral directors to get feedback on how florists can improve their services. Some of the constructive comments received so far: Use fresh flowers in arrangements, provide a description of the arrangement on the back of the card, and deliver pieces for a Sunday service on Sunday, not Saturday. (Articles in upcoming issues of E-Brief and Floral Management will feature a more thorough review of the funeral director feedback.)
For more information on burying in lieu of flowers and for sample letters to send to your local funeral director, see SAF’s campaign and the information-packed consumer www.inlieuofflowers.info Atchison created.