Cracking the Conference Talk Code

So you just spent a great spiritual weekend listening to Conference talks.  Now what?  What did you learn?  What did you remember?  What did they ask use to do? In listening and reading loads of Conference talks you can see a pattern emerge in teaching the gospel.  If you use this little pattern when studying talks you can get a lot more out of them and come up with a handy list of what we need to do about it that you can post on your fridge to help you remember to Follow the Prophet ;)

1) Stories/Anecdotes: Every good conference talk includes a story.  It could be from the life of the speaker or their family, a scripture story or an ol' chestnut.  It can be long or so short that it's just kind of referenced.  Some apostles have predictable themes that they use frequently, ie Pres. Uchtdorf and flying. Not unlike parables, stories are great in that they help us make applications in our daily lives and they help us remember what is being taught.  What Conference talks, from any Conference can you remember right now?   The first one that pops to mind for me is Pres. Hinckley talking about a train that ended up on the wrong side of the country because someone didn't flip the right switch.  These stories that we can remember long after help us to keep the lessons with us.  Pres. Monson is the story master.  He could give an entire talk as a story and then you have to go back and mine out the principles that are embedded with in.

2) Scripture:  Every topic is also backed up with scripture.  This could be one theme scripture related to the topic or several.  If you read closely you can see that speakers often weave scriptural phrases into what they're saying.  They're so conversant with the language of the scriptures and what the scriptures teach.  Using scripture to support what is being taught allows the Spirit to testify of what we're learning.  It's also a great jumping off point for further personal study.  Take all those scriptures that were used and to look them up and cross reference them.

3) Doctrine: Doctrine is concise statements of the truths of the gospel.  Doctrine can be found in a talk on a micro and macro level.  There may be one over arching statement of doctrine that encapsulates what a talk is teaching.  Within that there is doctrine to be teased out of almost every line- Exhibit A: Elder Maxwell.

4) Invitation/Commitment & Promise: The final step of great teaching is to invited the hearer to do something about what they've just learned.  When we act upon doctrines we can gain a testimony that they are true and invite the consequent blessings into our lives. It makes us accountable to be 'doers of the word' and not just hearers only. Often a speaker will also outline the promises attached to taking action and making gospel principles a part of our lives.  These invitations/commitments are what go on your fridge list.  This is what we have been invited to do, these are our marching orders for the next six months.

The first time I taught this lesson I stopped there.  This time around I've thought to add another step.  

5) Direct Admonition: In Enos 1:22-23

 "And there were exceedingly many prophets among us. And the people were a stiffnecked people, hard to understand.

 "And there was nothing save it was exceeding harshness, preaching and prophesying of wars, and contentions, and destructions, and continually reminding them of death, and the duration of eternity, and the judgments and the power of God, and all these things—stirring them up continually to keep them in the fear of the Lord. I say there was nothing short of these things, and exceedingly great plainness of speech, would keep them from going down speedily to destruction. And after this manner do I write concerning them."

Generally speakers teach us correct principles and then the Spirit will teach us how to apply those principles in our lives.  But sometimes when it seems as though we're not getting the message, making the correct applications, speakers will come straight out and make the application for us.  An example of this is Pres. Hinckley talking about earrings and tattoos.  It was explicit and direct and there was no question as to what is expected.  Other pointed comments that have been made include not dressing too casually for church etc. These admonitions are not always thou shalt not sometimes they're thou shalts.  Keep an eye out for these direct applications.  

So make yourself a little chart with these categories and start dissecting conference talks and see how much more you can get out of them.  Also this pattern provides and excellent guide for us in preparing talks and lessons.

PS I highly recommend subscribing to the Conference podcast feed- so handy!