All are invited every six months to gather for general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And thousands of people work tirelessly behind the scenes to make general conference a success.
The 195th Annual General Conference will be held Saturday and Sunday, April 5-6, with five general sessions originating from the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.
A behind-the-scenes video from the Church introduces viewers to members of the staging crew and their herculean task of moving and assembling the stage for each general conference, which takes about three work weeks to do.
The full video is on the Church’s general conference YouTube channel, and a shorter version is on The Liahona magazine’s social media accounts.
In the video, Joel Wright, the supervisor of the staging crew, said setting up for general conference is such a large task that sometimes he wonders how it can all be done — but he knows they receive divine help.
“One can only imagine the number of items that have to be set up for conference, and I’ve seen the hand of the Lord involved in that,” he said.
Wright has been involved in setting up general conference since the first meeting was held in the Conference Center in April 2000.
In the video, other staging crew members describe and show what it takes to put all the pieces in place — they move 18 individual modules, which are the size of a living room, and each weighs 1.5 to 4 tons. A system of air blowers near the ground floats them in and out.
Then, 500 or more little pieces are a part of putting together the rest of the rostrum, chairs, brass handrails and more.
All of this work allows those attending in person and those watching the broadcast around the world to be able to receive personal revelation as the Prophet, Apostles and general authorities and officers give counsel and direction from the Lord.
The video’s description on YouTube quotes Doctrine and Covenants 64:33–34, which says: “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great. Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days.”
More videos showing other aspects from behind the scenes of general conference will be released in the future.
