News & Notes: NFDA and TEDxABQ Adventures!

Oct 27, 2015 | 0 comments

Gail Rubin and Caitlin Doughty

Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death, and Caitlin Doughty, Ask a Mortician star and best-selling author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.

You won’t believe some of the new developments observed last week at the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) convention. Blog posts about see-through caskets, skin art preservation and fun photos are already on The Family Plot Blog – stay tuned for more tales to come! It was great to meet so many new friends and reconnect with those we already know and love.

At last, the official videos from TEDxABQ are now online! And this Thursday evening is the TEDx Adventure associated with my talk, A Good Goodbye. We’re having a Death Cafe at French Funerals & Cremations Lomas location from 5:30 to 7:30, including a behind the scenes tour of the facility (more information).

A Good Goodbye | Gail Rubin | TEDxABQ

This Friday, October 30 is the 16th annual Create a Great Funeral Day. Create a Great Funeral Day prompts people to be mindful of mortality and plan reflectively in advance. Families aren’t left disorganized and stressed after a loved one’s death. I’ll be interviewed on KRQE/KASA-TV on Thursday morning and on the Debbie Nigro Show, a syndicated radio program, on Friday morning about Create a Great Funeral Day and Day of the Dead.

Selected recent posts at The Family Plot Blog and upcoming events follow. Feel free to call if I can be of assistance – 505.265.7215.

Live long and prosper,

Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death®

The Family Plot Blog Highlights

Click on the titles to read the blog post. Review all posts on The Family Plot Blog or view just the Death Cartoons posted on the blog!

NFDA Welcome SignClear View Caskets Offer an Eyeful  One of the most-discussed expo introductions at the NFDA convention were the see-through acrylic caskets offered by Clear View Caskets.

Preserving Tattoos for Posterity  One of the buzz-generating exhibitors at the NFDA expo was the National Association for the Preservation of Skin Art (NAPSA).

Fun Photos from the NFDA Convention & Expo  The expo at the National Funeral Directors Association convention, the largest funeral expo in the world, is colorful, unpredictable and an amazing collection of all things funereal.

NFDA Announces Arrangement Conference Training Program  At the first general session of the 2015 National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) convention in Indianapolis, IN, Christine Pepper, the organization’s CEO, announced a new program to help funeral directors convey the value of a funeral and build trust with the families they serve.

Upcoming Events and a Humorous Quote

Friday, October 30 is Create a Great Funeral Day!  Why not take this opportunity to talk to the people you love about the details of what you might want for your final journey?

Lola, the ABQ Death Cafe mascot

Lola, the ABQ Death Cafe mascot

Sunday, November 1, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Gail Rubin presents a Day of the Dead talk at the Tome Gallery, 2930 Highway 47 in Los Lunas, NM. Tome Gallery website.

Tuesday, November 10  The Coronado Thunderbirds, an organization of Sandia Laboratory retirees, hosts Gail Rubin and Erin Marshall of Compassion & Choices, speaking on Talking About Sex Won’t Make You Pregnant, Talking About End-of-Life Won’t Make You Dead.

Thursday, November 12, 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.  Gail Rubin speaks to Dr. Kris Roush’s Death and Dying Class at Central New Mexico Community College. Gail will share stories of new developments and products exhibited at the National Funeral Directors Association convention.

Saturday, November 14, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Albuquerque Death Cafe at Gail Rubin’s home. Eat delicious cake or cookies, drink tea or coffee and let’s discuss mortality issues! If you want to come, send a note to Gail [at] AGoodGoodbye.com to RSVP and get directions.

Thursday, November 19, 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.  OASIS presentation on Greening Your Final Arrangements. Do you recycle and save energy? If you consider yourself “green” in life, consider greening your final arrangements. Among the topics to be covered: green burial opportunities in New Mexico, the carbon footprint of cremation, how Jewish burial traditions are naturally green burial, donating your body to science, and what you need to know NOW before there’s a death in the family. The class is $8 – register for class 12 at the OASIS website.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.” — Steve Jobs

A Good Goodbye