Kendal's General Conference Analysis

Sister Reyna Aburto talked directly about depression, anxiety and suicide. I was there in the conference center as she gave the talk. To me as someone who has deeply been affected by depression, her words were music to my ears and were very much healing for me personally. Her talk cut really deep especially when she shared that her father committed suicide. For me, sharing something so raw and personal added to her ethos. She didn't sugar coat it and said it directly. It's how we should be about this genre and I think that is why I liked it so much.

I don't remember who it was, but I noticed some allusion to Lord of the Rings which probably woke people up and had them listening more than they were before. 

Another time I saw this was with Elder Holland. He told us about the little boy who raised his foot to sustain the prophet last general conference. He showed two pictures as he told this story and it was easy to follow, familiar and cute. It hooked the audience into listening to him. 

Marcus's General Conference Analysis

In Neil Andersen’s talk, he began with listing fruit in a humorous way – from which he described in detail the story of the Tree of Life from The Book of Mormon. Even though this story should be relatively familiar to his audience, he continues as if to be telling it to an audience that doesn’t know the reference. I find it interesting that most general authorities do this, but I believe it helps their argument throughout the talk. Because he described the story of the Tree of Life in detail, when he went on to tell the story of Jason Hall, we understood the purpose of this new account. 

With the story of Jason, he was able to describe his story from a first-person account. He used quotations from Jason and also incorporated the reactions from his wife and child. I think adding in the dialog and direct quotations added an important element to his talk – it gave his stories credibility. 

Lastly, I think the parallels that he was able to derive from the stories was important to tie his talk back together. Starting with the story of the Tree of Life, to the story about Jason’s life, then to the description of his wife and child’s reaction to the tragedy of Jason’s death, Andersen uses each story to tie back to the original. There is a purpose for each of the stories that he tells and they are intertwined throughout his talk.

Julie’s General Conference Analysis

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf made his talk more interesting by taking a story that we all know--the story of our lives as we strive for discipleship and exaltation--and framed it in the light of Tolkien’s The Hobbit. He doesn’t stop after simply comparing our lives to a fantasy adventure. He goes into depth regarding all the luxuries and comforts that Bilbo Baggins has as a hobbit (eating several breakfasts, etc.) and the imperfect start to his journey. He said that in our journeys we face metaphorical spiders and dragons. He also compared discipleship to learning to play the piano: even if you have to start out simple and mess up at times, the only way forward is continuing to practice and practice. 

Elder Uchtdorf could have simply said that we need to be better disciples and better appreciate this journey that is our life. Instead, his technique was to engage the audience with a familiar popular tale and using it to frame our journey in life in a different light. He vividly painted a picture that makes our own lives (which may feel mundane and meaningless at times) feel like an exciting adventure. By doing so, he made his talk all the more interesting and thought-provoking.

Ana's General Conference Analysis

Gary E. Stevenson began his talk with two personal stories about his children—one about their black Labrador, while the other was about a skunk. In the first story, Elder Stevenson talked about how his son wanted to paint their dog like the movie (“101 Dalmatians”). Because most people are familiar with the movie or story, they were immediately able to paint the picture in their head of what was running through his son’s head, and what was going on. It helped me personally, when I already had a concrete image in my head of what was going on, before Elder Stevenson arrived to the conclusion of his story.

He was also able to bring humor into his personal stories, with the dialogue taking place and the setting. As his sons became more real to the audience, they were able to relate to the story more, and were able to arrive to the point he was trying to make faster. For example, the sons thought the skunk was a black cat. That response showed the boys’ experience level with the animal, and later laid the foundation for a parallel Elder Stevenson was tying the skunk to. When there is humor within the personal experience, I find myself more likely to be engaged with the speaker.