How to stay awake and interested during General Conference

Bethany — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 14:31:38 +0000

Here are some ideas to help you and your little ones stay awake and interested during General Conference:

Prepare. No one falls asleep when they're having a massive spiritual experience.
Watch with specific questions or problems in mind and pray for the Spirit to help you find answers during Conference.
Conference Bingo– either use the grid from the Friend here, or make a Bingo grid with pictures or words that you might hear in Conference. Then each time you hear something that's on your Bingo card, mark it off. First person to get a Bingo wins a prize!
Play other Conference games. Do a search for "general conference game" of the Friend, or click here, and pick one.
Take copious notes and have some sort of notes system. My sister said she heard someone suggest dividing your note paper into two columns–one for what the speaker said, the other for what the Spirit said. My uncle once drew caricatures of each speaker in my journal next to my notes, so that might help some artistic people stay interested.
Food. My aunt had grapes out during Conference yesterday and that kept Degen in the room and quiet. He might have absorbed something while he was quiet…
Plan to talk about Conference afterward. Have a quiz with a prize for the best memory. Writing a quiz will help you stay involved.
Imagine how it must feel for the speakers to talk to millions of people and allow yourself to become extremely sympathetic. Become each speaker's cheerleader in your head.
Try to come up with the scripture reference to each scripture mentioned before the speaker says it. Write down all the scripture references mentioned. Keep track and try to find out which scripture is used most in General Conference.
Force yourself to sit in a really hard seat. You may have noticed yesterday that they said they didn't make the Tabernacle seats any softer.
Go to Conference in person if you can. Live with all those people in the room it can be electrifying.
Get plenty of sleep the night before and make sure you eat something and use the bathroom before the session starts.
Shower and get dressed before Conference. Wear something that makes you feel reverent.
Start getting in the mood before Conference starts by listening to reverent music, saying a prayer, and/or reading your scriptures.
Agree with the person next to you to punch each other if you fall asleep. Or just wake up the person next to you to set the tone of waking each other up.
Splash yourself with water. Or give a water gun to the person next to you.
Keep your hands busy. Doodle, knit, or do anything else that doesn't require the use of the listening parts of your brain.
Watch Conference in more than one format at a time. Meaning, turn on the closed captions, stream it on the internet, picture in a picture, listen on the radio at the same time as you are watching.
Put picture in a picture on the TV with a cartoon with no volume in the small picture for the kids to get their bright colors while they listen to the words of Conference on the big picture (untested).
Invite a neighbor or a stranger to watch with you so that you are concentrated on setting a good example or excited to introduce someone to Conference.

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Bethany — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 17:37:13 +0000

I just spent 45 minutes reading Scott Sampson's blog. Apparently he's a professor at the BYU Business School, and his specialty is Services Management. I've never heard of such a specialty, and I'm fascinated by the idea. Mr. Sampson has only made a few posts (I read all of them in the few minutes I was there), but each was informative and fun to read. One of his posts was about a local restaurant, the Chef's Table. I've been there twice, and Sampson is right that it's the best restaurant in the county (possibly the state)–great food, awesome service, nice atmosphere. I've never liked the name "Chef's Table" because it sounds like a buffet to me and really doesn't connote the grace of the place. My only other complaint is that the businesses nearby are grotesque bright-colored-signs kind of establishments. After reading Sampson's post, I'm tempted to go back and try leaving my chair for a moment to wash my hands in the restroom and see if they can fold my napkin for me before I get back. Other restaurants he mentions in his blog: The Mayan, Hamiltons, and Sweet Tomatoes. Of those three, I've only been to Sweet Tomatoes, and had a similar experience. I actually love Sweet Tomatoes on a slow-to-normal day because I like their food (an extensive salad bar, soup bar, with smaller bread, pasta, and desert bars). I like the idea of loading up on vegetables first and filling in the corners with healthy soups and carbs. But the service isn't great, especially when it gets busy, and you really debate whether to leave a tip at all for the servers (and I'm a big tipper) because they hardly look at you while you're there. I've heard from friends and family that the Mayan is all about the Disneyland atmosphere and to not expect anything from the velveeta-ized Mexican food. I'd like to go there anyway, just for the show, which shows that Sampson is right about it possibly being an entertainment place that happens to serve food. I'd love to go to Hamiltons in Logan now. I think I'm going to have to celery-test restaurants from now on, just for the fun of it. Do you think that whether a restaurant has tablecloths on the tables is related to how good the food and service is? I pointed out to Colin the other day that it's hard to find restaurants that use tablecloths. I know Chef's Table has them, but I'm having a hard time thinking of any others nearby that do.

Bethanyology » scott

How to stay awake and interested during General Conference

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