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Last night I was struck by the fact that even though the LDS Church has virtually unlimited finances and has spent millions and millions on a conference center, all we get at GC is the same old thing--talking heads.

I began to think what could be done in order to make General Conference more engaging.

It is time to think outside the talking-head box.

I will start by saying that a talk doesn't have to be from somebody reading a teleprompter from behind the rostrum. Speakers could come in live from another location. (President Kimball actually did this, I think, back in April 1980 Conference from the log cabin where the Church was organized 150-years before.)

Or they could do something prerecorded at different locations, like the Hill Cumorah, or even from the Middle East. Or from meso America.

Our technology is better now but we have never done that type of thing again. Why not, I wonder.

Or how about something different than just singing? Maybe some interpretive dance? How about some dramatic pieces?

Any thoughts?

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

That which is traditional is difficult to change, when leadership consists of only traditional thinkers.

Innovation, creativity, outside-the-box thinking... those are not valued within our leadership. So we get the same ol' same ol' because that's the kind of leaders we have.

I think that instrumental music or even different styles of music that still provide a spiritually uplifting message would be interesting.

Well, first, why not shorten the whole damn thing? Seriously, 10 hours is a bit much.

Second, after shortening it to three hours, add a bit of revelation - really move the church in some bloody direction instead of spouting off the same moral dribble.

Third, interact with the congregation somehow, put up some Twitter feeds, move around the stage a bit.

Fourth, send all the speakers on a course that teaches them to speak with a little bit of life. Good god, how many more cardboard cutout speakers do we have to endure?

H.

And why should all singing by choral?

I mean, even just having a soloist would be a wonderful change?

And how about singing to a harp? Or a freaking piano?

(I remember my wife asking during a musical interlude whether it was a harp she heard, and I knew only too well it was just a certain organ stop.)

These are not big steps, and fit within the mold of what is already offered.

Then we can bring in music from Mormons in different cultures. They can play in their own lands and have the film up on the big screen.

Gladys Knight and her SUV could have a recurring spot.

And then we can have people dance to the music on stage, and plant dancers in the audience who get up where they are at and begin dancing in the aisles.

The sky is the limit.

All the best!

--Consiglieri

P.S. And we should avoid having Hispanic GA's quote scriptures in an accent that sounds like they are saying, "Behold, my balls are filled with compassion for you."

consiglieri wrote:P.S. And we should avoid having Hispanic GA's quote scriptures in an accent that sounds like they are saying, "Behold, my balls are filled with compassion for you."

To be fair, the original "Behold, my bowels are filled with..." doesn't sound great either, especially in a conference full of senior citizens.

You know what would get people really interested is if they started talking about Mormon history that most Mormons don't know.

Like if they would mention Joseph Smith use to be a treasure hunter, that he had different versions of the first vision, and how polygamy got started.

I'm thinking more people would be interested in that rather than the same boring things.

Rambo wrote:I'm thinking more people would be interested in that rather than the same boring things.

I will tell you from my experience as Gospel Doctrine teacher that you are one million percent right, Rambo.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

Almost anything which it would make it seem less like a funeral for the Death of God would be a step in the right direction.

Have some one who knows about theatrical staging design the stage: no more funereal greens and mortuary podiums and seats.

A variety of music, rather than the canned sounding "religious" muzak.

Speakers who can actually speak and not drone in the exact same vocal rhythms and cadences.

Women who sound like adults and not girl children.

More women. More women. More women.

Some young people.

Topics of relevance and interest rather than the canned and trite admonishments of a high school guidance counselor.

Points of visual interest; more to look at than a mass of old guys in the same ill-fitting suit.

Ban the pastel lady suit.

Stimulating and challenging talks which draw the works of philosophers and writers outside of Mormonism, so as to encourage education and make good on Joseph Smith's universalism. (Name dropping "Shakespeare" or introducing some cliché with "a famous author once said," doesn't count. Speakers should be actual readers not talking heads mumbling a script culled from some book of famous quotes. Speeches should also be vetted from someone outside of FARMS/MI in order to ensure quotations are used in context and no one is putting words in Camus' mouth for cheap rhetorical purposes.)

I think the GA's should start a group called "Uncle Tom and the Twelve" and then re-enact scenes from the video below. It will definitely make conference interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_JmXCNPs6Y

I think Monson would fit in the blue preaching outfit, he looks to be about the same size.