Twice a year, we as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gather in our church buildings and our homes — all over the world — and listen to the leaders of our Church give counsel and share inspiring messages at our two-day semiannual General Conference. As we believe in continuing revelation through prophets and apostles and other leaders, these conference become a sort of living scripture for us.
Interested in seeing what a conference is like? You can do it from the comfort of your own home. See this page for more details, or this page for additional broadcast options.
General Conference Traditions
Our semiannual conferences tend to include church unit and family traditions for many of us, which add to the anticipation and excitement we feel.
For example, read what several women recently shared about their General Conference traditions here.
Other traditions are described here and here.
General Conference “Packets”
Parents often try to find creative ways to keep their children engaged in listening to and enjoying General Conference. In recent years, there have been people who have created “General Conference packets” that circulate around via email and websites. The Church has created one this year, which can be found here. Other packets can be found here and here.
This packet might be worth a glance if you are curious about the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The packet contains tidbits of information about each of the fifteen men whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators in our day.
History of General Conference
Curious about the history of Mormon General Conference meetings? They started in 1830, with 27 members! Read more about that here, or glance at a timeline here.
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To you who will be listening over the course of the weekend, we invite you to share some of your thoughts and insights (or questions) here.
LDS Newsroom is asking people how and where they are listening to conference.
#ldsconf is one of the top Twitter topics today. If you are on Twitter, consider sharing some of your thoughts and be sure to use #ldsconf in your tweet.
You can find all the archived videos of what has been shown, including the Relief Society General Meeting here.
Thank you so much for the packet links! They are wonderful to have during general conference; my kids actually enjoy listening when it becomes interactive.
An interesting explanation of Mormon General Conference can be found in this article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.