How to Teach a general Conference Talk (2024)

How to Teach a general Conference Talk (1)

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Leading Saints

Helping Latter-day Saint Leaders be Better Prepared to Lead

Published Oct 14, 2021

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Once a month, my wife and I come together to explore a specific General Conference talk to prepare her to teach a Relief Society lesson.

As I have seen these “lessons about talks” taught for years now, I have noticed a few pitfalls that dramatically impact the quality of the lesson.

I want to address one of those pitfalls quickly.

Often there is this sense that the instructor must review the talk in a way that covers several quotes and many of the speaker’s personal stories they already shared during General Conference.

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As I prepare a lesson on specific General Conference talks, I have noticed that I rarely recommend specific quotes from the talk be shared.

Likewise, I never recommend an instructor share the same personal stories or anecdotes that the General Conference speaker included in their remarks.

The teaching model from General Conference talks is not necessarily to review the talk; instead, it gives us an opportunity to identify specific doctrines of the gospel taught by our general leaders that we can further explore in our priesthood and Relief Society classes.

The first step I take in preparing these lessons is to read the talk several times to identify specific doctrines.

I make a list of doctrines mentioned in the General Conference talk, and then my mind shifts to identifying questions that would further help us as a class discuss these doctrines.

The instructor may share 1 or 2 quotes from the actual talk, but once they allow the class to explore these doctrines through specific questions, the class typically ends up in the scriptures rather than in the text of the talk.

And instead of sharing the speaker’s stories, this approach often leads to individuals in the class sharing their own stories.

It is the doctrines that offer grace and change the hearts of men and women.

The more we focus on doctrines rather than talks, the more we will leave people sanctified and edified.

What approach do you take to avoid pitfalls in these types of lessons?

Sincerely,

Kurt Francom, Executive Director, Leading Saints

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Andrew Jordan

Innovating Ways to Get People to a Place of Health Sustainability

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I take a similar approach in that I read the talk several times to identify key doctrinal takeaways. With each doctrinal point, I try to identify a question that will help the group engage personally with the doctrine. As questions are shared, I try to ask follow up questions that help participants delve deeper into the doctrine. These questions and follow up questions usually echo other doctrinal points from the talk. Once I identify another doctrinal point from the talk I will go to that portion of the talk and repeat the process, tying in what has been discussed up to that point. In this manner, rehashing the talk is avoided by engaging and inviting participation. It also helps me stay grounded in the talk as opposed to straying towards my own soapbox or the soapboxes of the various participants. Great article.

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