Conference Talk Study Notes

I love General Conference!!! For years I have consistently taken notes during each session. I hate to miss a session for fear of missing something I specifically need to hear. 

I have learned that taking notes is not easy if I am trying to write word for word the wonderful counsel I hear so I have altered my approach. 

This is what I do. During General Conference I now take notes on only one side of each page of my conference journal. The opposite page is left blank unless I feel impressed to do something specific. If so, I take leave of my notes and immediately begin to record the impression across from the talk that I was listening to when it came. This leaves me free to enjoy the rest of General Conference and then, once I am home, I can review my notes and act on those impressions. I have found that often, they only stay with me long enough to record them. By recording them with my notes during General Conference I am then able to follow through afterwards. That is an awesome feeling.

Six months ago I added another step to my study of the General Conference talks. I was finding that it was all too easy to set those note filled notebooks to the side where they weren't looked at for a long time - often it wasn't until the next conference! I wasn't pulling them out as a companion to my study of the General Conference talks in the Ensign. I felt a need to study those messages in greater depth and decided that a workbook format was in order. This is what I did.

I created a booklet in which I can write everything I LOVED about a talk, it leaves space for me to record my impressions, thoughts and feelings that I have regarding the subject I am studying. I gives me a place to look up and record scriptures that support that topic (and they don't have to be referenced in the talk). I decided that to get as much as I possibly could out of a General Conference talk, it would be good to set a goal for implementing those principles into my life more fully! Here are a few pictures of completed pages...

I love stickers and use them frequently to add color to my notes.

My notes are not always full, but I have found that there
is always something worth learning and applying from
the General Conference talks.

This was a talk on parenting and in my stickers I found
the components of a family. The chicken family is a visual
reminder of what I learned and felt as I studied this talk.

When I use these pages I start by first reading the talk. I identify topics that it teaches and then write my own summary of the message given. As I read the talk I highlight the parts that speak to my spirit. Next I identify scriptures that illustrate the principle. Sometimes I learn a deeper application for the scriptures that I am already familiar with. I try to record these thoughts and impressions next to the scripture. I love quotes! This is where I record the words that I want to be able to reference each time I read this talk. I don't mind writing by hand the quotes I enjoy, but another option that I have also done is to print them out on the computer and then attach them onto the page as shown in the image below.

On the next page I record my thoughts and impressions. I try to record any experiences that I have had regarding that principle and the things that I have learned by experience or observation about that topic.  I complete the page by writing down a goal - something that I feel impressed to act on after reading and studying this talk. I try to include a time period in the goal setting process which lets me come back and evaluate how well I did.

I LOVE the amount of not only learning and growth that I get as I use my General Conference books, but also the way I become familiar with the words taught by our leaders. I can hear a talk in sacrament meeting and be taken immediately back to the talk being referenced. I am reminded then of the feelings and thoughts I personally had as I read and studied. 

If you would like your own copy of the April 2013 Conference Talk Study Notebook, click here to view it in PDF:  April 2013 General Conference Study Notebook