Australian Funeral Directors Association, Case Study

The First to Say What No One Else Would

Morris’s relationship with the Australian Funeral Directors Association spans decades, with keynote presentations, national and state AGMs, and workshop sessions delivered across the country. From Tasmania to Western Australia, he’s spoken to every level of the profession board, members, and emerging leaders helping them prepare for a future few in the sector were openly discussing.

Early in his work with AFDA, Morris stood before a room and said what no one else had dared: the business of death and dying was about to shift. Families would no longer default to religious routine. Ceremonies would become personal, visual, and experiential. People would choose their own ways to mourn, often digitally. And the long-assumed role of the funeral director as a guaranteed provider would no longer be secure.

That message, once considered provocative, became foundational. Across multiple divisions and years, Morris was invited back to keep building on those ideas integrating insights on demographic change, evolving customer expectations, new ceremony formats, digital legacies, and where the next business models would come from.

Shift: From tradition-bound service to future-aware, experience-led remembrance providers.

The result? A long-term national partnership that helped reposition AFDA members as adaptive professionals prepared to lead conversations about life, memory, and meaning in a rapidly changing world