President Hinckley said he was concerned at one time whether the new 21,000-seat Conference Center would be filled. "It seats three-and-a-half times the capacity of the Tabernacle. But already we are in trouble. People are filling up all the seats," he quipped. Ticket demands for the inaugural General Conference there were 3.7 times the building's capacity.
"I was somewhat shocked to learn that the people from my own ward, who are nearby and whom I love, have received no tickets. But we are grateful for the enthusiasm of the Latter-day Saints concerning this new meeting place."
The Conference Center, yet unfinished, now consumes the block north of Temple Square following years of prophetic forecasts. President Hinckley said the late Elder James E. Talmage wrote in 1924 as an apostle that he had "long seen the possible erection of a great pavilion on the north side of the Tabernacle, seating perhaps 20,000 people or even double that number." The church's governing First Presidency in 1940 had an architect draw plans for a building on the current Conference Center site that would seat 19,000. They later dropped the idea.
President Hinckley said the historic statements came to his attention after construction began on the Conference Center. "It is huge, and it is constructed in such a way that nothing obstructs the view of the speaker. The carpets, the marble floors, the decorated walls, the handsome hardware, the wonderful wood all bespeak utility, with a touch of elegance."
