Celebrant Conference 2019 workshops (TBC)
Please note these times for these workshops are tentative and yet to be fully confirmed. Once the timetable has been confirmed, you will be emailed to give your preferences for each timeslot.
Workshop 1 – Saturday 2 November
| Session | Facilitator | Description |
|---|---|---|
| How to write an ‘About’ page as brilliant as your ceremonies | Ellie Kime | Having an ‘About’ page is so crucial to finding the right clients, but it can seem terrifying! In this workshop, we’ll explore how to create an ‘About’ page that doesn’t make you cringe; that shows you off without being show-offy. |
| Inspiring and Learning as a Community of Practice | Isabel Russo | This workshop seeks to bring the network’s experienced, established celebrants together with freshly trained, new celebrants, to encourage an inspiring session of sharing and learning from each other. Celebrants will have an opportunity to draw on their own understanding and experience, ask questions, give answers and hopefully, leave the workshop full of new ideas. |
| Other ceremonies and celebrations | Julie Kay | We are trained and accredited to conduct baby namings, weddings, and funerals but life brings many more reasons for ceremony, celebration, and ritual. In this workshop we’ll explore how humanist celebrants have responded to requests for other ceremonies and how can we develop this work. |
| Singing in ceremonies: a practical guide | Teddy Prout | Do you find the prospect of communal singing in a ceremony daunting? Are you looking for ways to help your clients include the music they want? This session will cover how to approach singing in ceremonies, boost confidence, and seek to answer your questions. |
Workshop 2 – Saturday 2 November
| Session | Facilitator | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Why Instagram Is Great For Story-Telling (And Isn’t Just For Generation Z) | Ellie Kime | Instagram is a great place to find your clients, but it can seem super intimidating; learn how to use it to tell your stories authentically. From basic posts to building followers to ‘beating the algorithm’ to just being on there! |
| What is an End of Life Doula? | Nett Furley | Nett Furley is an End of Life Doula. But what does that mean? It means she supports people approaching the end of their life to experience a better death, in a very practical sense. In this session, she will talk about her work as one of the UK’s first End of Life Doulas and her NHS National Audit and NICE Committee work. |
| LGBT and equality | Teddy Prout | As providers of a service we seek to be as inclusive as possible in our provision. This session covers how to be inclusive of LGBT people in our ceremonies, the Equality Act 2010, and ways to approach writing a ceremony for LGBT clients. |
| Have your photo taken professionally | Andrew West | Excellent head-shots are more important than ever when promoting your work as a celebrant. Express your interest in this slot if you would like a head-shot taken by Andrew West, our Director of IT and an experienced professional photographer. Please come ready to be photographed, as demand will be high. |
| What constitutes a ‘good’ funeral? | Julie Rugg | Very little research has been carried out to establish what constitutes a “good” funeral. Sarah Jones, from Full Circle Funerals, and Dr Julie Rugg, senior research fellow at the University of York, have led a pioneering study to identify which aspects of funerals people find helpful and to see whether funerals have an impact on long-term well-being. The report was released on 24 September and we have a wonderful opportunity in this workshop to examine the findings. |
Workshop 3 – Sunday 3 November
| Session | Facilitator | Description | Drop-in surgeries | Ellie Kime | Whether it’s because you find it too embarrassing, too exhibitionist, or you just don’t know what to say, writing an ‘About’ page can be a terrifying prospect (even if you are an excellently talented ceremony-writer by day!). However, ‘About’ pages are crucial in finding, connecting with, and securing your ideal clients. In this 15-minute surgery, Ellie will help you craft an ‘About’ page that you’ll be proud to plaster over the internet, to show you off without being too show-offy. |
|---|---|---|
| Conflict management | Teddy Prout | This session will explore the causes and types of conflict that you may come up against. We will consider the key skills required to manage conflict situations effectively and how assertive behaviour can act as a foundation for positive conflict resolutions. |
| Secular Remembrance | TBC | For the last four years, Defence Humanists has been leading the way on making Remembrance a secular and inclusive occasion. This workshop will provide discussion and ideas to equip celebrants to engage locally on Remembrance. |
| Running a Wedding Photo Competition | Maxine Beech | Last year, Maxine ran a wedding photo competition with her 2018 couples and photographers. It was a huge success and gained a lot of exposure. In this workshop, she will share the process with you, and encourage you to run your own! |
| Demystifying the Humanist Funeral Tribute Archive (HFTA) | Patsy Wallace | What is the HFTA and why is it important? How is it developing and what does it offer to families? How can celebrants use this unique feature as a marketing tool? A hands-on session will guide you through the (simple) steps of submitting a tribute to the archive. |
Workshop 4 – Sunday 3 November
| Session | Facilitator | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Drop-in surgeries | Ellie Kime | Whether it’s because you find it too embarrassing, too exhibitionist, or you just don’t know what to say, writing an ‘About’ page can be a terrifying prospect (even if you are an excellently talented ceremony-writer by day!). However, ‘About’ pages are crucial in finding, connecting with, and securing your ideal clients. In this 15-minute surgery, Ellie will help you craft an ‘About’ page that you’ll be proud to plaster over the internet, to show you off without being too show-offy. |
| ‘A Collaborative and Professional Culture’ | Felicity Harvest | That’s what we sign up to when we become celebrants. But what does it mean in practice? How can we best support each other in terms of finding and sharing work, professional development, and being there when help is needed? This workshop will draw on the best (or even possibly worst!) examples of collaboration, and aim to create a blueprint for how we might support each other in the future. Please come with your examples, needs, and hopes for the future to share, collaboratively. | Celebrant IT: Q&A | Andrew West | Anything and everything related to celebrant IT. Your Dashboards, your email accounts, your websites, and logging ceremonies. And an open Q&A – no question too small. |
| An introduction to Twitter | Angie Aspinall | What is Twitter? How does it work? How do I send a tweet? Who can see my tweets? What is a hashtag? Why should I use Twitter to promote my services as a celebrant? All these questions – and more – will be answered in this workshop. |
| How to win Funeral Directors and influence arrangers | Deborah Hooper & John Clayton | Deborah Hooper & John Clayton | Hear two different experiences of building business with Funeral Directors – from the perspective of a successful, established celebrant and a relative newbie. What can we learn from one another, and from other ceremony types? Two brief presentations will be followed by Q&As and a group discussion. |