The fall session of LDS General Conference kicked off last weekend with the General Women's session. It will close this weekend with five more sessions and numerous talks and words of encouragement from the latter-day leaders of the church.
As a child, I remember every radio and TV in the house tuned in to each session. There was no way to escape it--so I learned to embrace it. I developed a method to effectively take notes and study the words of the prophets. I looked forward then, and now, to this special time every six months.
Since I've become a parent to three busy toddlers, the days of quietly watching LDS General Conference and intently taking notes are long gone. I tried to reserve personal study time to reflect on and review each talk, but had been searching for a way to still make those few hours feel special while they are happening. I recently came across three new and fun activities that have helped me engage and participate in General Conference in a rewarding way. Have you heard of any of these ways?
1. Fantasy General Conference / Predictions
These fun worksheets give you chance to make fun predictions and earn points throughout each session of conference. Correctly guessing who will speak, what colors the choir will wear, and what rest hymns will be sung are just a few picks you can make. I have found two versions of this game. One is more in-depth than the other, but both versions are fun to play.
2. Conference Doodle Notes
I discovered these artists via Twitter by following #ldsconf. These artists are extremely talented, and they share their thoughts and insights through their sketch notes and doodles. Each piece of work brilliantly captures a snapshot of each talk in a fun and creative way you can easily save and share. |
| James Valentine |
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| Kent Carollo |
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| David Lesue |
3. Conference Notes Google Doc
Every conference session since 2011, the man behind ldsconfnotes.blogspot.com creates a public Google Doc for anyone to contribute their thoughts and notes about each talk. (See the April 2015 Conference notes here.) Because there are so many contributors, the notes are detailed and principles are rarely missed. You can read how it all came to be here, but, for me, this is a great resource to quickly catch up on what I missed while I was chasing my kids around the house.After each conference, they create a to-do list that identifies things we were asked/counseled to do by our leaders. See an example here.
A Google Doc for the upcoming conference has already been started. It can be viewed, here.
In addition to these fun resources discovered on the Internet, the Church has dedicated aids to help you prepare for conference spiritually here.
Additionally, there are many ways to get your children involved. Below are links to coloring pages and doodle books for your kids, as well as a couple of other note taking resources.
