Connecting Die-ers and Sellers
Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 5/15/2006
How-to consumer shows are commonplace in most major U.S. cities.
They're packed with workshops, displays and every opportunity imaginable to teach consumers how to handle whatever life throws at them. There are shows about how to take better care of children and pets, renovate homes, plan weddings — and, in Pittsburgh, prepare to die.
The first edition of the End-of-Life Expo took place May 7 in the basement of the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh with 13 table-top exhibits and 120 attendees.
The show was held during the annual meeting of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Pennsylvania, and featured information from mostly nonprofit groups on dying, cremation, hospice, grieving and burial (including environmentally friendly options). The alliance did not feature speakers or condone sales pitches at the show, said Tris Ozark, office manager for the group.
Ozark told Tradeshow Week that the idea for the show was conceived during a board meeting. It's a way for attendees to "make their plans ahead of time," she said.
The show is the first of its kind in the United States, Ozark said. After it was announced, she discovered a similar event in Canada, The Human Journey, which took place in October at the Library Square Conference Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Joshua Slocum, executive director for the Funeral Consumers Alliance, said End-of-Life may spark a trend among the other 111 FCA local chapters.
"That's fascinating. If there's a lot of interest in it, maybe it's a good idea that it spreads," said Slocum, who called the South Burlington, Vt.-based FCA "the Better Business Bureau of the funeral industry."
But attendees shouldn't get their hopes up about event giveaways, Slocum warned.
"People are probably not going to buy a casket and bring it home today," he said.
Ozark said she was unsure whether the event would be held again.
However, when asked if she thought it would grow to a size suitable for Pittsburgh's David L. Lawrence Convention Center, she replied, "Who knows?"
