Monday, October 7, 2013

More Conference More Often

Last General Conference, I missed one of the talks, so after Conference was over, I watched the talk online and took notes in a word processor. The benefit of that was that I had digitized notes that I was able to create and edit much more quickly than writing by hand, and now I have a digital copy of the notes for that talk. I think that over the course of the next few days or weeks, I'm going to try to re-watch each of the talks, and take digital notes. Not only will the review help me to remember the talks and what I learned from them, but having a digital copy of my notes could be valuable. Plus, I'd have more time to write more notes, since I can pause and rewind the talks whenever I want.

Another thing I've heard over lunch between the sessions of General Conference is that General Conference doesn't happen often enough. Often, half-way between General Conferences, I feel like I'm in a slump. A solution that I heard suggested was to re-watch the talks half-way between the Conferences. Since General Conference happens on the 4th and 10th months, a good time to review the most recent General Conference (beside "any time") would be on the 1st and 7th months. That way, we can remind ourselves of what we learned at Conference and help us carry on through the doldrum months.

General Conference is a wonderful and unique blessing. The outpouring of revelation, guidance, and the Spirit are so profound, that it seems almost foolish to try to cram all of that inspiration and learning into two days. Most of us don't have a good enough memory to remember everything that inspired us out of those talks, even out of those that happened only yesterday. If we want those messages to really sink in, we'll need to hear them and ponder them again and again. The More Conference More Often approach, made possible by the church's fantastic website, can help us review, remember, and internalize everything we love about General Conference, so it can continue to bless us throughout the year and throughout our lives. And that's what Conference is for, isn't it?

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