General Conference: stake presidency on the stand during local broadcasts?

In our stake we are hearing mixed guidance about something so I would welcome any comments/input on this issue - better yet, a definitive source (if one exists).

Some stake leaders believe that the First Presidency has asked a member of the stake presidency to sit on the stand during any sessions of General Conference that are show in a local stake centre or chapel, and others are not aware of any such instruction. Does anyone know either way?

Curious about what the situation is (quite aside from the fact that sitting on the stand in our stake centre means that the stake presidency member would have their back to the projector screen...).

hooson wrote:and others are not aware of any such instruction. Does anyone know either way?

Put me in this class. Because the chapel doesn't have curtains, we've been showing it in the cultural hall, usually watched over by an assigned High Councilor.

If this really came from the First Presidency, then there should be some documentation somewhere.

hooson wrote:Some stake leaders believe that the First Presidency has asked a member of the stake presidency to sit on the stand during any sessions of General Conference that are show in a local stake centre or chapel, and others are not aware of any such instruction. Does anyone know either way?

This instruction used to be given in the letter announcing details of an individual broadcast. I think, many years ago, that it might also have been a note on the annual satellite broadcast schedule.

I have not seen it recently, and I believe it is no longer expected. It wasn't just for general conference. The stake presidency used to be asked to sit on the stand during the General Relief Society Meeting each year.

Once again, I have not seen that instruction in the recent past.

I'm not privy to the official word, but I can tell you our stake presidency will usually sit on the stand until the last 30 seconds of the broadcast countdown, then they will sit with their families in the congregation.

BTW, in our stake here in Utah, we only show the Women's Conference and the Priesthood Session. The rest is easily found on TV and radio broadcasts, or via the Internet.

We received a letter from our Area Presidency stating that a member of the Stake Presidency, or an assigned priesthood leader, should be on the stand for any general conference broadcast in a church building.

It also mentioned that a member of each presidency participating in the general women's meeting should also be on the stand when that is shown, this is in addition to a member of the Stake Presidency. That would be a sister from the relief society, young women's and primary presidencies.

simonawright wrote:We received a letter from our Area Presidency

How recent was the letter and what area was it in?

Does your area normally show all of the sessions at the Church building?

We received the letter in the last month and it covered the Europe Area.

We show all general sessions of conference at our stake centre and 2 other buildings, the priesthood session is usually shown in 2 locations. The General Women's broadcast won't be shown until mid October at 2 locations in the Stake.

Sounds like we have different instructions for different Areas. That has been pretty common over the years.

I'm guessing the instruction hasn't been repeated as much recently in the Book of Mormon belt because most members in that area watch the conference from home – giving the broadcast at the Church building less of a formal "meeting" feel that would have a presiding officer on the stand. I think something is lost in not gathering together for conference, but every advance in technology has positives and negatives. One of the negatives is the casual attitude toward conference expressed by Elder Ballard in a recent regional conference (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8656 ... tml?pg=all).

I had to convince my stake presidency that it was worth showing the priesthood session at our stake center. We're not showing any of the general sessions, but I do enjoy gathering for priesthood at least.

One of my first jobs as the Stake Technology Specialist was to set up for the First Presidency Christmas Devotional last December. Our PFR showed me how and we had everything ready for the live broadcast at 5pm local time. When the stake president found out about ten minutes before, he was surprised since he thought it had been announced for 7pm, and said a stake presidency member needed to be on the stand during all church broadcasts, so scrambled to make that happen. He had been stake president for less than a month, so probably learned this somewhere in his training as opposed to being a long tradition that may not be needed any more. But I haven't seen it myself.

We always show all the General Conference sessions in the stake center because there not everyone in the stake has access to it at home. About half the audience is missionaries, though more come to the Priesthood session. We put a TV on the stand for the stake presidency member to watch. Last week's Women's Conference was well attended at the stake center, and all of the RS, YM, and Primary presidencies sat on the stand. We had two TVs on the stand.

rsidwell wrote:One of my first jobs as the Stake Technology Specialist was to set up for the First Presidency Christmas Devotional last December.

The last time I set up a projector in the stake center for a First Presidency Christmas Devotional, I watched it alone in the stake center. It was kind of nice having the whole stake center to myself.

rsidwell wrote:we had everything ready for the live broadcast at 5pm local time. When the stake president found out about ten minutes before, he was surprised since he thought it had been announced for 7pm,

If I'm not mistaken, if live was 5pm your time, there would have been a re-broadcast at 7pm.

russellhltn wrote:

rsidwell wrote:we had everything ready for the live broadcast at 5pm local time. When the stake president found out about ten minutes before, he was surprised since he thought it had been announced for 7pm,

If I'm not mistaken, if live was 5pm your time, there would have been a re-broadcast at 7pm.

Correct. The stake calendar had a listing for the 7pm local time re-broadcast at the stake center (I guess leadership figured it would be more convenient for members). But the church-wide calendar had a listing for the live event at 5pm local time. So both show up in the calendar. It's somewhat confusing.

simonawright wrote:We received a letter from our Area Presidency stating that a member of the Stake Presidency, or an assigned priesthood leader, should be on the stand for any general conference broadcast in a church building.

It also mentioned that a member of each presidency participating in the general women's meeting should also be on the stand when that is shown, this is in addition to a member of the Stake Presidency. That would be a sister from the relief society, young women's and primary presidencies.

Do you have that letter.

What is your location? The guidance was area specific and might not apply to you.

There isn't a General Women's meeting anymore, it's the Opening Session of General Conference, no need to specifically state it separately from. Interesting that an Area Presidency would still be calling it the General Women's Meeting.

There was a general women's session in April and so I would expect the guidance that we received to apply for that session and any subsequent general women's sessions unless directed otherwise.