2026 CONFERENCE
Gathering the Threads
Minnesota’s Cultural Landscapes of Death
Join us for a day of learning, curiosity, and community as we gather with end-of-life doulas, caregivers, celebrants, and deathcare professionals from across Minnesota. Beyond the presentations, this conference is an opportunity to build relationships, share experiences, and reconnect with colleagues who understand the unique joys and challenges of this work.
We would love to welcome you in person, where shared meals, conversation, and community-building will be woven throughout the day. For those unable to attend in person, a virtual registration option is available.
About the theme
Gathering the Threads reflects the idea that Minnesota’s cultural landscape is made up of many distinct lineages, traditions, and ways of honoring death. Each community holds its own “thread,” its own history, rituals, and beliefs around dying and care. This conference is not about blending those threads into one shared practice, but about bringing them into relationship, so we can witness, learn, and better understand the full tapestry without trying to claim or replicate what isn’t ours.
Conference Speakers & Topics
Preparing the Journey Home: Hmong Death, Grief, and Funeral Traditions
Billy Lor
Billy Lor is a Hmong shaman, cultural consultant, educator, and public speaker whose work centers Hmong culture, spirituality, healing, grief, family systems, and culturally responsive care. Through Hey Billy LLC, he provides cultural consulting, spiritual consultations, educational programs, and workshops for healthcare professionals, educators, advocates, students, and community organizations across the country. Billy is deeply connected to Hmong community work and currently serves on several nonprofit leadership boards, including the Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association, Hmong American Leadership and Economic Development, and the Hmong Museum.
Rituals of Death: Purpose and Creation of End of Life Rituals in Healthcare Settings
Liza Neal
Chaplain Liza Neal journeys with elders living on the margins through aging, illness, and death, as community and witness. Liza has spent more than two decades developing spiritual community both within and outside faith, multifaith, and non-institutional contexts, as well as counseling survivors of sexual violence.
Walking Someone Home: Dakota Traditions of End-of-Life Care, Grief, and Spiritual Remembrance
Janice Bad Moccasin
Janice Bad Moccasin is a Dakota cultural practitioner, healing storyteller, spiritual care provider, and Indigenous cultural wellness artist. She is an enrolled member of the Crow Creek Dakota Sioux Tribe. For more than three decades, she has served Native communities in Minnesota and South Dakota through cultural leadership, community support, education, and advocacy, integrating Dakota teachings with wellness, grief support, and healing practices.
Death as Sacred Continuity: Learning from Mesoamerican Dead-Living Relationalities
Gabriela Spears-Rico
Gabriela Spears-Rico is a Mexican Indigenous (Pirinda and P’urhepecha) interdisciplinary cultural anthropologist and poet whose work focuses on performance studies, critical mestizaje, and indigeneity in Mexico. She is an Assistant Professor of Chicano Latino Studies and American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota with a forthcoming book on the cultural commodification of the Day of the Dead.
Reverend Lor and LeeAnne Watkins
The Rev. Wa Meng Lor is the Spiritual Care Provider at Beyond Hospice and Associate Priest at Holy Apostles Episcopal Church in St. Paul. Accompanied by LeeAnne Watkins, Director of Spiritual Care and Bereavement at Beyond Hospice.
Hmong Culture around Death and Dying
Other conference activities
Morning Altars
Called “a celebration of life and nature,” Morning Altars will be providing a guided space to create our own altar on the day of the conference. Spend time participating in this artistic ritual in nature on your own schedule, and connect with themes of beauty and impermanence.
Exhibitor Tables
The conference will feature a table space for organizations and vendors in end-of-life and adjacent spaces, allowing guests to learn about others in the community and network as they have time throughout the day. Stop by in the morning or over the lunch break.
Catered meals
Throughout the day we will have catered refreshments and meals (gf & veg options available). We are grateful to connect in-person with members of the MNDC community and beyond, meeting others in the space and having a chance to be together for the first time since our conference in 2024.
Eagan Community Center
Home to this year’s conference, the Eagan Community Center is recently remodeled, with modern amenities, a bright conference space, and access to beautiful nature.
Conference registration
Select your attendance preference to register.
Register to attend in person | $125
Register to attend online | $65
Frequently Asked Questions
-
No; we welcome anyone interested in the subject matter to attend the conference.
-
In addition to the content from our amazing lineup of speaker presentations, the conference will also include a Morning Altars activity, and organization tables. Meals and refreshments will also be provided throughout the day (gf/vegan options available).
-
For in-person attendance, the cost is $125. For online, the cost is $65.
-
Speakers applied in the spring to be selected for the conference. We were lucky enough to have many wonderful applicants, and our committee’s focus was to amplify a diverse range of voices from across the rich cultural landscape of our state while also ensuring alignment with our organization’s mission. We are grateful to all those who applied and who were selected for being willing to share their cultures with our audience.
-
A detailed schedule will be provided closer to the event, but doors will open at 9 AM and the conference opening talk will begin at 10 AM. We will have breaks throughout the day, including for lunch, and conclude around 4 PM.
-
Yes. The Eagan Community Center has modern amenities including free parking and a bright and spacious conference area where the event will be hosted.
Brought to you by generous funding from:
