Live! Casino & Hotel
900 Packer Ave., Philadelphia, PA
Telephone: (888) 251-7931
At Mastermind, you’ll gain practical strategies to help your business grow stronger, serve families more effectively and prepare confidently for the future.
This year’s speakers bring new insights and real-world experience to the conversations that matter most right now — from strengthening preneed performance and understanding changing consumer expectations to planning for successful business transitions and applying lessons from the world of hospitality to the craft of funeral service.
Explore how to:
Identify key customer touchpoints to increase engagement and trust.
Recognize critical moments in the family journey and create meaningful connections that build loyalty and trust.
Leverage consumer insights and emerging data trends to refine services.
Adapt offerings to meet the evolving preferences of multiple generations making end-of-life decisions.
Turn exceptional service into a powerful reputation advantage in your market.
Expand visibility through modern digital marketing strategies, including social media, search optimization and targeted advertising.
Leverage the power of AI to streamline processes and provide more value to families.
Apply lessons from pastoral care to improve the relationship your funeral home has with clergy members.
You’ll leave Mastermind with actionable ideas, proven strategies and renewed clarity — tools you can immediately apply to elevate your funeral home, crematory business and/or cemetery and better serve the families who depend on you.
Join us on September 24, 2026
at the Live! Casino & Hotel
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Cocktail Hour
Step into a lively, easy-going cocktail hour created for genuine conversation and real connection with fellow forward-thinking funeral professionals. It’s your chance to relax, compare notes, and explore fresh ideas for growing your funeral home’s market presence. You’ll leave with new perspectives, valuable relationships, and actionable ideas you can put to work right away. Here’s to meaningful conversations, smart growth and the opportunities ahead.
Bonus: Bonus: If you are one of the first 20 conference registrants to attend the cocktail hour, you’ll get a free ticket to the evening game between the Phillies and Brewers in the Mastermind attendee section at the Citizens Bank Park, just a short walk down the street.
6:30 PM
Join Your Peers at Citizens Bank Park to Watch the Phillies
The first 20 Mastermind registrants who attend the cocktail hour and request a ticket to see the Phillies face the Brewers will receive a FREE ticket to join the group.
8:00 AM - 8:30 AM
Registration, Breakfast & Networking
Start your day by connecting with fellow attendees and your hosts. Grab your conference materials, settle in, and enjoy a hot cup of coffee, fresh juice, and a selection of delicious breakfast treats, from toasted bagels to flaky Danishes. It’s the perfect opportunity to network, meet new faces and gear up for a day packed with insightful discussions, valuable business connections and fresh ideas.
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Chris Cruger
CEO, Foresight
The Funeral Consumer Has Changed. Have You?
Every year, The Foresight Companies asks a simple but powerful question: How are consumers really feeling about funeral service?
The answers are sometimes encouraging. Often surprising. And occasionally uncomfortable.
In this dynamic, data-driven session, Chris Cruger, CEO of Foresight, reveals the latest findings from Foresight’s nationally recognized Funeral & Cemetery Consumer Behavior Study, based on feedback from more than 5,000 consumers and more than 1,000 funeral professionals.
What you’ll learn:
- The biggest shifts in consumer attitudes toward funeral homes, cremation and memorialization.
- Why the “digital front door” is now the most important first impression for families.
- The growing demand for transparent pricing — and what happens when it’s missing.
- The surprising knowledge gaps between families and funeral professionals.
- Practical ways to adapt your firm to meet the expectations of consumers.
9:30 AM - 9:45 AM
Break
9:45 AM - 10:45 AM
Excellence Without Compromise
What if every family who walked through your doors felt the same level of care, confidence, and professionalism they’d expect from the world’s finest luxury hotel?
That’s not a fantasy. It’s a system.
In this session from Carriage Services, discover how to:
- Lead with genuine empathy without lowering service standards.
- Communicate with families in ways that build immediate trust and confidence.
- Implement simple, proven systems that create consistent service every time.
- Turn exceptional service into a powerful reputation advantage in your market.
Walk away with a deeper understanding of how the most respected service organizations in the world create consistency under pressure, build extraordinary trust and empower employees to deliver unforgettable experiences — every single time.
10:45 AM - 11:00 AM
Break
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Terri Bordenkircher
Regional Director, Homesteaders
Understanding Consumer Motivations: Key Findings from Homesteaders’ Preneed Motivators Report
Explore insights from the latest edition of Homesteaders’ exclusive Preneed Motivators consumer research.
Terri Bordenkircher, a regional director at Homesteaders, will examine the demographics and behaviors of individuals who choose to prearrange, outline how they move through the decision-making process and highlight what they experience during and after prearranging.
Walk away with practical, data-driven strategies to strengthen relationships with current families, engage new audiences and effectively leverage tools to grow your businesses.
12:00 PM - 12:15 PM
Where Tribute Meets the Sky: The Cremation Air Approach to Scattering
Families want scattering options that are simple, meaningful, and handled professionally. For funeral homes, this represents both a challenge — and an opportunity. In this session, Cremation Air will showcase how it’s paving the way for funeral directors to transform scattering from a logistical hurdle into a value-added service. Learn how to expand your offerings, meet evolving preferences, and create new revenue opportunities.
12:15 PM - 1:15 PM
Lunch and Networking
Recharge with a delicious meal while connecting with fellow attendees. Use this time to discuss key takeaways from the morning sessions, engage with sponsors and expand your professional network — all in a relaxed, conversational setting.
1:15 PM - 1:30 PM
OneRoom Highlights the Value of Livestreaming
OneRoom, a Platinum sponsor of Mastermind, highlights how livestreaming works, ways it can differentiate your firm from competitors and how it can add valuable leads to your preneed pipeline.
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Rev. Christopher Monturo
Archdiocese of New York
Lessons on Grief, Ritual and Collaboration from a Priest Who Knows the Profession
Before he was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, Father Christopher Monturo was preparing for a career as a funeral director. Today, as pastor of Sacred Heart–Our Lady of Pompeii Parish in Dobbs Ferry and a priest who regularly collaborates with some of the most respected funeral professionals in the country, Father Monturo brings a rare dual perspective to the work of caring for the bereaved.
In this engaging and deeply insightful presentation, Father Monturo will share stories from a ministry that has taken him from parish funerals to some of the most historically significant services in the Catholic Church—including the funeral of NYPD Detective and Air National Guardsman Joseph Lemm, who was killed in Afghanistan.
You’ll learn:
- How clergy and funeral directors can collaborate more effectively to serve grieving families.
- Practical ways funeral professionals can help create more meaningful and spiritually resonant funeral experiences.
- What priests wish funeral directors better understood about liturgy, ritual, and pastoral care.
- Lessons on grief, compassion, and presence from decades of ministry with bereaved families.
The remarkable story of Father Monturo’s journey from mortuary science student to priest — and how funeral service still shapes his vocation today (including his partnership with Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in New York City) – is a talk you will not want to miss.
2:30 PM - 2:45 PM
Break
2:45 PM - 3:45 PM
Welton Hong
Founder and CEO, Ring Ring Marketing
The 2027 Marketing Playbook for Funeral Homes
The way families find funeral homes has changed dramatically — and it’s changing again.
In 2027, simply having a website and running a few ads won’t be enough. The firms winning more at-need calls and preneed inquiries are using smarter systems, better data, and increasingly, artificial intelligence to reach families at the exact moment they’re searching for help.
In this eye-opening session, digital marketing expert Welton Hong — the strategist behind marketing campaigns that have helped deathcare businesses generate tens of millions in new revenue — reveals what’s working right now in online marketing … and what’s quietly becoming a waste of time and money.
Discover how to:
- Identify which marketing tactics will still work in 2027 — and which ones are fading fast.
- Use AI tools to improve website performance and convert more visitors into calls.
- Strengthen your online reputation with smarter review monitoring and response strategies.
- Optimize mobile and search visibility, so families find you first when it matters most.
- Automate and refine ad targeting to maximize your marketing ROI.
If you want more calls, more cases, and a stronger digital presence in your market, this session will give you a clear roadmap for the year ahead.
3:45 PM - 4:45 PM
Founder Journeys: Building the Future of Deathcare Through Technology
What does it take to build, scale and sustain a technology company in the deathcare profession?
In this dynamic closing session, three pioneering founders — Effie Anolik of Afterword, Rehan Choudhry of Chptr, and Nicholas Allan of Celebrate Life Co. — pull back the curtain on their entrepreneurial journeys.
Each panelist will deliver a concise, insight-rich presentation exploring how they identified opportunity within a traditionally slow-to-change profession, leveraged technology to meet evolving consumer expectation and navigated the complexities of building solutions for funeral homes, cemeteries, and families.
Following their presentations, they will answer questions from Mastermind attendees, diving deeper into topics such as product-market fit, scaling operations, customer acquisition and the realities of innovating in deathcare.
Whether you’re a funeral professional evaluating new technologies, an aspiring entrepreneur, or a leader seeking fresh perspective, this session offers a rare opportunity to learn from those actively shaping the future of the profession.
Philadelphia’s Live! Casino & Hotel is a four-minute walk from Citizens Bank Park and 13 minutes by foot from Lincoln Financial Field. This casino hotel is 0.9 mi (1.5 km) from Wells Fargo Center and 3.7 mi (5.9 km) from the University of Pennsylvania.
You do NOT have to walk through the casino floor to get to the conference room for Mastermind, even though it is conveniently located in the exact same venue.
Some other highlights are listed below.
Rooms have a flat-screen TV, cable television, and a private bathroom with bathtub.
Enjoy the 24-hour fitness center and gift shops/newsstands.
Satisfy your appetite at The Prime Rib, a steakhouse with a bar/lounge. Dining is also available at the coffee shop/cafe.
Other amenities include dry cleaning/laundry services, a 24-hour front desk, and multilingual staff.
Book your room for Mastermind at the Live! Casino & Hotel at Our Special Group Rate.
Early-Bird Price
$199
before July 31Regular Price
$349
If you are bringing three or more people
contact the event organizer to inquire about bulk pricing.
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