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General Conference Talk Study Methods
Posted: May 2nd, 2019, 7:39 pm
by bmtaylor05
I've been following a routine over the last five years of studying a conference talk each week from the previous sessions. I usually have to double up in the weeks leading up to the next sessions of general conference in order to have studied each talk before new talks are given every six months. I have come to really enjoy this and I have really benefitted from it, as I have made efforts to accept invitations and challenges extended by the leaders of the church. I have also noticed patterns in certain talks from certain leaders. However since this last conference in April, I have been thinking of changing things up now to dig deeper in my study, so it doesn't just become a "routine" or check the box kind of task each day and week.
Does anyone have any specific methods that work for them when studying conference talks? Is there a specific time you set aside each day? Do you keep a journal with notes on impressions you get from the Holy Ghost when reading the talks? What works for you?
Re: General Conference Talk Study Methods
Posted: May 3rd, 2019, 12:50 pm
by Shaffer89
bmtaylor05 wrote: ↑May 2nd, 2019, 7:39 pm
I've been following a routine over the last five years of studying a conference talk each week from the previous sessions. I usually have to double up in the weeks leading up to the next sessions of general conference in order to have studied each talk before new talks are given every six months. I have come to really enjoy this and I have really benefitted from it, as I have made efforts to accept invitations and challenges extended by the leaders of the church. I have also noticed patterns in certain talks from certain leaders. However since this last conference in April, I have been thinking of changing things up now to dig deeper in my study, so it doesn't just become a "routine" or check the box kind of task each day and week.
Does anyone have any specific methods that work for them when studying conference talks? Is there a specific time you set aside each day? Do you keep a journal with notes on impressions you get from the Holy Ghost when reading the talks? What works for you?
I've always found that my most beneficial studies come from questions, I really like the idea of studying one of the talks each week, it would give me a nice baseline.... Typically when I am reading something I note any questions that pop in my mind while reading, then I take those questions as prompting (so to speak) and spend some time looking into each one until I lose interest or feel like I've lost sight of why I had the question in the first place.
Once I have gone as far as I feel like going with the question I go back to my list of questions, sometimes I don't feel the same interest or concern for any of the questions so I end up just going back to reading through the scriptures or through this forum until I have another question.
I'm thinking if I structure it your way I could go back to that specific talk and see if I have new question or maybe have an old question rekindled...
Thank you for the idea!
Re: General Conference Talk Study Methods
Posted: May 3rd, 2019, 1:22 pm
by Zathura
bmtaylor05 wrote: ↑May 2nd, 2019, 7:39 pm
I've been following a routine over the last five years of studying a conference talk each week from the previous sessions. I usually have to double up in the weeks leading up to the next sessions of general conference in order to have studied each talk before new talks are given every six months. I have come to really enjoy this and I have really benefitted from it, as I have made efforts to accept invitations and challenges extended by the leaders of the church. I have also noticed patterns in certain talks from certain leaders. However since this last conference in April, I have been thinking of changing things up now to dig deeper in my study, so it doesn't just become a "routine" or check the box kind of task each day and week.
Does anyone have any specific methods that work for them when studying conference talks? Is there a specific time you set aside each day? Do you keep a journal with notes on impressions you get from the Holy Ghost when reading the talks? What works for you?
My method has been fruitful, and I'm grateful for my Mission President for showing me the proper way to study.
Each morning I would pray sincerely, and I would not stop praying until I had a clear understanding of what topic I should study that day. I didn't have a computer on the mission obviously, but post-mission I'm able to do that and once I know the topic I then would search by topic and find Conference talks on it. You could do this and search by topic per year starting as far back as you can go, whatever you want. This has been my most enjoyable and fruitful method of study.
Re: General Conference Talk Study Methods
Posted: May 3rd, 2019, 2:14 pm
by Shaffer89
Stahura wrote: ↑May 3rd, 2019, 1:22 pm
bmtaylor05 wrote: ↑May 2nd, 2019, 7:39 pm
I've been following a routine over the last five years of studying a conference talk each week from the previous sessions. I usually have to double up in the weeks leading up to the next sessions of general conference in order to have studied each talk before new talks are given every six months. I have come to really enjoy this and I have really benefitted from it, as I have made efforts to accept invitations and challenges extended by the leaders of the church. I have also noticed patterns in certain talks from certain leaders. However since this last conference in April, I have been thinking of changing things up now to dig deeper in my study, so it doesn't just become a "routine" or check the box kind of task each day and week.
Does anyone have any specific methods that work for them when studying conference talks? Is there a specific time you set aside each day? Do you keep a journal with notes on impressions you get from the Holy Ghost when reading the talks? What works for you?
My method has been fruitful, and I'm grateful for my Mission President for showing me the proper way to study.
Each morning I would pray sincerely, and I would not stop praying until I had a clear understanding of what topic I should study that day. I didn't have a computer on the mission obviously, but post-mission I'm able to do that and once I know the topic I then would search by topic and find Conference talks on it. You could do this and search by topic per year starting as far back as you can go, whatever you want. This has been my most enjoyable and fruitful method of study.
That seems like it would be fruitful! I may have been studying backwards this whole time! haha I'm usually studying until I get the impressions, I will have to try and pray for the impression first and see where that takes me.
Re: General Conference Talk Study Methods
Posted: May 3rd, 2019, 2:19 pm
by Zathura
Shaffer89 wrote: ↑May 3rd, 2019, 2:14 pm
Stahura wrote: ↑May 3rd, 2019, 1:22 pm
bmtaylor05 wrote: ↑May 2nd, 2019, 7:39 pm
I've been following a routine over the last five years of studying a conference talk each week from the previous sessions. I usually have to double up in the weeks leading up to the next sessions of general conference in order to have studied each talk before new talks are given every six months. I have come to really enjoy this and I have really benefitted from it, as I have made efforts to accept invitations and challenges extended by the leaders of the church. I have also noticed patterns in certain talks from certain leaders. However since this last conference in April, I have been thinking of changing things up now to dig deeper in my study, so it doesn't just become a "routine" or check the box kind of task each day and week.
Does anyone have any specific methods that work for them when studying conference talks? Is there a specific time you set aside each day? Do you keep a journal with notes on impressions you get from the Holy Ghost when reading the talks? What works for you?
My method has been fruitful, and I'm grateful for my Mission President for showing me the proper way to study.
Each morning I would pray sincerely, and I would not stop praying until I had a clear understanding of what topic I should study that day. I didn't have a computer on the mission obviously, but post-mission I'm able to do that and once I know the topic I then would search by topic and find Conference talks on it. You could do this and search by topic per year starting as far back as you can go, whatever you want. This has been my most enjoyable and fruitful method of study.
That seems like it would be fruitful! I may have been studying backwards this whole time! haha I'm usually studying until I get the impressions, I will have to try and pray for the impression first and see where that takes me.
Do it! I think it's much better this way. This way, study is never boring or stale because you know you're being told to study it, even if you find yourself studying the same topic a few days in a row and reading the same scriptures. I would find myself reading the same stuff until I came to a better understanding and the next day I'd feel prompted to study an entirely different topic. Rinse and repeat. It's wonderful
Re: General Conference Talk Study Methods
Posted: May 4th, 2019, 7:32 am
by bmtaylor05
That's a great approach! I will have to use it and see where it goes. When I study talks I pick from the last sessions that were given. I'll see what talk's title speaks to me or seems to pop out the most usually based on how I'm feeling or what is going on in my life at the time. Every topic seems to fit my life like a glove in that approach.