A solemn assembly - in which "the voice of the Church" is expressed in the sustaining in general conference of a new Church president - highlights the 164th Semiannual Conference of the Church.
With President Howard W. Hunter presiding, the conference convenes in the Tabernacle on Temple Square Saturday, Oct. 1, and Sunday, Oct. 2. General sessions will be conducted at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) both days. The priesthood session will be Saturday at 6 p.m. (MDT)A one-hour video documentary tribute to President Hunter will be broadcast over the satellite network between conference sessions both days.
The Solemn Assembly session will be the first session Oct. 1. All Church members are invited to participate in the sustaining of the new First Presidency and all other General Authorities and general auxiliary presidencies of the Church. The session is being transmitted live to Europe, and videocassettes of the session will be sent to all non-satellite stakes for replay.
All sessions of the conference will be televised via satellite to more than 3,000 meetinghouses throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Jamaica, the West Indies and the Dominican Republic.
In addition, all sessions will be transmitted via satellite to more than 1,100 cable television systems in the United States.
All general sessions are being carried live on KSL-TV, Channel 5, in Salt Lake City. The tribute to President Hunter will be telecast over KSL-TV on Sunday at noon. It will also be shown on KBYU-Channel 11 Sunday at noon and again Sunday at 7 p.m.
Church units in areas of the world where the satellite and other transmissions are not available will receive videotapes of conference sessions. Asian languages are made available through distribution centers in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok, Jakarta, and Seoul. Spanish and Portuguese language tapes will be distributed throughout Latin America. Eastern European languages will be made available through the Frankfurt Distribution Center.
Portions of the conference will be provided to commercial television and radio stations and cable networks in the United States on a public service basis.
Non-English-speaking Church leaders and members from various parts of the world, seated in the Tabernacle, Assembly Hall, the Legacy Theater in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, North Visitors Center, the Salt Lake Stake Center (147 W. 200 North) and local ward chapels are able to listen to conference proceedings in their own language through interpreters stationed in the lower level of the Tabernacle. The listeners are provided special headsets. For information indicating where translation is available, go to door 3 in the Tabernacle Baptistry.
The language translators and interpreters are virtually all volunteers who donate many hours of their time in preparation for the conference as well as during the conference.
The 325-voice Mormon Tabernacle Choir, directed by Jerold D. Ottley and Don Ripplinger with Clay Christiansen and John Longhurst at the organ, will sing during the Sunday sessions of conference. The Mormon Youth Chorus will provide the music for the Saturday morning session, with Robert C. Bowden directing and Bonnie Goodliffe at the organ. Saturday afternoon's session will feature the Primary Children's Choir from the Kaysville Utah Region, with Vanja Y. Watkins directing and Linda Margetts at the organ.