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Celebrant Conference 2019 is an opportunity for our 400-strong network of Humanist Ceremonies celebrants to come together; to learn from each other, and to strengthen the bonds of our community. It takes place on 2–3 November, at Conference Aston.

Tickets [SOLD OUT]

Day tickets

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Please note that Celebrant Conference 2019 is now sold out.

Saturday day tickets are available for £49, and Sunday day tickets are available for £59. These include entry to all sessions that day, teas and coffees, and the Sunday ticket includes lunch.

Those looking to book Day Tickets for Saturday and Sunday should instead purchase a Non-residential ticket.

Non-residential tickets

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Please note that Celebrant Conference 2019 is now sold out.

For those wishing to attend on both Saturday and Sunday.

Please note that dinner and accommodation are not included.

Accommodation is now fully booked, and so Residential tickets are no longer available.

Speakers

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Louise Winter is a progressive funeral director and the founder of Poetic Endings. Before training as a funeral director and launching Poetic Endings, an experienced funeral celebrant, and is also the co-founder of Life, Death, Whatever, an award-winning festival and community that exists to change the dialogue around death and dying. Louise’s book will be published in 2020 by Bloomsbury. In 2017, Louise won a Death Oscar at the Good Funeral Awards.

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Ellie Kime is the relentless creative mind and loud laugh behind The Wedding Enthusiast, a complete wedding consultancy for creatives. She’s whole-heartedly and whole-headedly passionate about weddings, working with couples to help ease their wedding planning stresses, and with companies to help showcase their work to the world.

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Tiu de Haan has been creating experiences designed to connect us to each other, to ourselves and to the possibility of wonder, for over a dozen years. As a ritual designer, she creates bespoke ceremonies to honour the important moments in our lives – be that a rite of passage for an organisation at a point of transition, an individual stepping across a threshold in their career, or any number of other transformations in work, love, life or death that call for a moment of meaning.

Testimonials

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The best part was meeting old friends and making new, and updating my knowledge and understanding of celebrancy issues. I love the job and these things refresh my enthusiasm.

Celebrant Conference 2018 attendee
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We work in isolation a lot of the time and the opportunity to share experiences and knowledge was invaluable.

Celebrant Conference 2018 attendee
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The opportunity to socialise with other celebrants and to learn from more experienced ones was the most valuable aspect for me.

Celebrant Conference 2018 attendee
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I loved catching up with friends and colleagues, and networking with other celebrants from around the country.

Celebrant Conference 2018 attendee

Programme

Saturday 2 November

Start time End time Session
12:00 13:00 Registration
13:00 13:20 Welcome and introduction
13:20 14:00 Louise Winter
14:00 14:30 Ellie Kime
14:30 14:45 Break
14:45 15:45 Workshop session 1
15:50 16:50 Workshop session 2
16:50 17:15 Break/networking
17:15 18:15 Tiu de Haan
18:15 18:25 My Death My Decision – Trevor Moore
18:25 18:30 Close
18:30 19:15 Free time
19:15 Meet at bar
20:00 Dinner and entertainment

Sunday 3 November

Start time End time Session
From 07:00 Breakfast (included)
09:00 10:00 Workshop session 3
10:00 10:20 Break/check-out of accommodation
10:20 11:20 Workshop session 4
11:20 11:30 Break/networking
11:30 11:40 Chief Executive Address – Andrew Copson
11:40 12:15 Marketing update – Angie Aspinall
12:15 13:00 Question & Answer
13:00 13:20 Community Services Panel
13:20 13:25 Memories Medley
13:25 13:30 Close and thanks
13:30 14:30 Lunch and exit

Workshops

Tailor Celebrant Conference 2019 to your needs and interests.

You’ll have a choice of up to 20 workshops, on as wide and varied a range of topics such as: end of life doulas; creating an ‘About’ page for your website that sells you; how to approach funeral directors and attract business; Instagram & Twitter know-how; LGBT and equality; and remembrance ceremonies.

You can now read our full list of workshops taking place over the weekend.

Book your ticket

Venue

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Aston

Celebrant Conference 2019 takes place at Conference Aston, in leafy green grounds even with its city-centre location. With the advantage of Birmingham’s excellent transport links, Celebrant Conference 2019 will once again be the easiest Celebrant Conference to reach.

Our venue

Our plenary space is a large and comfortable room that can accommodate us all comfortably, with two large projector screens to allow all attendees perfect vision of what’s being discussed. Immediately outside our plenary room is a breakout space large enough for all our networking needs – and all our breakout rooms lead directly off from this space too. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout the venue.

All day sessions take place in the same building as the Gala Dinner and hotel – for those with Residential Tickets – meaning no hassle with crossing back and forth between the two venues.

Transport

Conference Aston is within 10 minutes’ walk of each of Birmingham’s three mainline railway stations (New Street, Moor Street, and Snow Hill).

On-site car-parking is available for a flat rate of £7.95 per 24 hours (08:00–08:00), but must be booked in advance.

Bursary

The Celebrant Conference is such an important occasion for the Network to gather and learn from one another, which makes it so important it is accessible to as many as possible. If you would like to help others afford to attend this conference, you can make a donation to our bursary scheme after buying your ticket.

To apply for a discounted tickets, please visit the ticket page and select ‘Apply for a discounted Residential ticket’. Please note that these are not guaranteed, and discounts will be offered based on the donations made to the Celebrant Conference 2019 bursary.

The deadline to apply is 15 September 2019; successful applicants will be notified of their discount by 17 September 2019.

Book or apply for your ticket now
Make a contribution to the bursary now

Event policies

Cancellations

Bookings may be cancelled free of charge up to 90 days prior to the Conference start date (by 4 August 2019, inclusive). Bookings cancelled 30-89 days (by 3 October 2019, inclusive) from the start date will incur a 50% charge of the full price of the ticket. Cancellations made within 29 days of the Conference start date (from 4 October, inclusive) will not be refunded, but may, at the discretion of Humanists UK and with no less than 21 days’ notice (by 12 October, inclusive), be transferred to another eligible individual. Any refunds for ticket cancellations will be processed within two months.

Speakers

All appearances are subject to speakers’ work and other commitments.

Photography, video, and audio recording

Humanists UK reserves the right to photograph and record video and audio of all public sections of the Convention and to make public the footage as it sees appropriate. Please be aware that by attending Celebrant Conference 2019, you consent to your voice, name, and/or likeness being used, without compensation, in any and all media, whether now known or hereafter devised, in perpetuity, and you release Humanists UK, its successors, assigns, and licensees from any liability whatsoever of any nature. If you would like to ensure that you are not captured in any media, please contact ceremonies@humanists.uk and we will do our best to accommodate you.