LDS Life Hack: General Conference

[person0]

Step 1) Download the Video Speed Controller plugin for your browser (link to Chrome plugin)

 

Step 2) Wait until 10:40 a.m. Mountain Time on Saturday of General Conference weekend

Step 3) Start watching General conference on YouTube at 1.5 speed

 

Step 4) Complete an entire session including prayers and hymns in 1 hour and 20 minutes, finishing the session at the correct time it would normally end.

Step 5) Repeat as needed 

Note:  You can speed the video to 1.5 without the plugin, however, the plugin gives more control and options than the built in YouTube speed feature.

Disclaimer:  General Conference is for learning, personal revelation, and inviting the spirit (among other things).  Do not do this if it will impede your ability to accomplish those goals.  I personally watch video content at 2x speed on a daily basis and am used to processing it.  Most speakers during conference are not speaking very fast which makes it easier to do this with great results even for those not accustomed!

Happy Conference 

 

[Vort]

I listen to the most recent General Conference at the beginning of every month. I have done this for years. I find it to  be very useful for me, spiritually and otherwise.

I used to speed up the General Conference sessions to 1.5x or even 2x normal speed. While I understood all (or almost all) that was said, what I found after some time was that I was not feeling the Spirit as I should. Both my mind and my spirit need time to process and ponder what is being said. I have long noted that it's often only on the fourth or fifth listening that I hear something in a talk that really strikes me, and I think or say, "Was that there the whole time?" Very scripture-like, in that sense. But listening at enhanced speed impedes my ability to make those connections. So for the last probably two years, I have returned to listening to the General Conferences at normal speed, and I find my monthly General Conference time quite a bit more profitable. (No "profitable/prophetable" pun intended, but maybe there should have been.)

[JohnsonJones]

I'm old school and I watch it normally (and these days on TV).  However, I am more of a reader and after the talks are printed I prefer reading them in the Ensign.

[person0]

That's all fine and dandy, but I have 3 kids (1 is a baby), who even when well behaved are highly disruptive.  I get great bits and pieces from the live sessions, but always have to follow up with additional watching/listening/reading to get what I really need anyway.  I actually haven't used the method from the OP for General Conference, and was posting it to be funny (but still kind of half serious).  Humor Fail!   Suppose I should get to know the crowd better, eh! However, I have recently pondered over the last couple of conferences if I might as well do it like that since I have to follow up anyway and I would get more time with my kids on the actual conference weekend days.

Edited April 1, 2017 by person0

[zil]

IMO, for each of us, there is a balance and optimal learning method, and we need to find it.  E.g. Too slow and the mind wanders (or you need to take notes (or do something) in order to prevent that), too fast and all you can process are the words (basic comprehension without learning), just right and you are focused and learning.  For others, the viewing / listening method doesn't aid much in learning, so they need something to read (either to follow along, or just read, or they take notes, draw diagrams, anything to have a visual representation of ideas (no, looking at the speaker doesn't help such learners)).

Technology can simplify all this.

I sometimes think I would be better off just waiting for the written version and then watch/listen, following along, pausing, thinking, taking notes on a print-out, resuming the video, etc. rather than watching it live; but I also feel guilty about not watching it live, so I watch it live, try to take notes while listening, and then I read it later (I don't normally watch / listen later, just read).

Edited April 1, 2017 by zil

[person0]

37 minutes ago, zil said:

". . . but I also feel guilty about not watching it live, so I watch it live. . ."

[Guest]

2 hours ago, zil said:

 

I sometimes think I would be better off just waiting for the written version and then watch/listen, following along, pausing, thinking, taking notes on a print-out, resuming the video, etc. rather than watching it live; but I also feel guilty about not watching it live, so I watch it live, try to take notes while listening, and then I read it later (I don't normally watch / listen later, just read).

I learn through reading as opposed to lecture.  So usually i watch about two sessions live (usually the Sunday sessions), and read the rest later.  This was a pattern in law school: I found i did better by tuning out the lecture and focusing my energy on the reading.

Growing up, my family did all four sessions plus priesthood.  That is fine, but i would find myself totally exhausted somewhere around the start of session four and not get much out of the rest.  Watching two sessions and reading the rest seems to work better for me.

Edited April 1, 2017 by DoctorLemon

[Vort]

2 hours ago, DoctorLemon said:

I learn through reading as opposed to lecture.

I have always learned much better by reading than by listening. For me, learning auditorially has been a learned skill. I learned how to listen profitably to lectures when I decided that I was bored listening to an unending litany of music while working around the house, but still wanting something to listen to on occasion. (Silence is good, too, but sometimes it's nice to have your mind engaged outside the rote duty you're taking care of.) So I started listening to various lectures and talks; as I recall, my first focuses were Bruce R. McConkie, who I listened to for probably five years, and Hugh Nibley, who I still listen to. After some months or years of listening to their lectures/speeches (and others, as well, including Neal A. Maxwell and other apostles), I found that I was getting a lot more out of listening to a lecture than I ever did before, e.g. in a classroom setting.

[zil]

I think @Vort is right, and I need to learn this skill - I just love reading so much that I have a hard time wanting to.

[person0]

13 minutes ago, Vort said:

I have always learned much better by reading than by listening. For me, learning auditorially has been a learned skill. I learned how to listen profitably to lectures when I decided that I was bored listening to an unending litany of music while working around the house, but still wanting something to listen to on occasion. (Silence is good, too, but sometimes it's nice to have your mind engaged outside the rote duty you're taking care of.) So I started listening to various lectures and talks; as I recall, my first focuses were Bruce R. McConkie, who I listened to for probably five years, and Hugh Nibley, who I still listen to. After some months or years of listening to their lectures/speeches (and others, as well, including Neal A. Maxwell and other apostles), I found that I was getting a lot more out of listening to a lecture than I ever did before, e.g. in a classroom setting.

I first learned this skill on my mission.  I disliked listening to music and found it to be a 'waste of time' (for me at least) when I could instead be listening to something uplifting that would also enable me to more easily ponder and learn.  Funny thing, is I started with the same speakers!