Thousands of people work behind the scenes to make general conference a success every six months. A series of videos from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shows those people and what they do.
Some are Church employees and others are unpaid volunteers.
The first video showed what the staging crew does to prepare the Conference Center in Salt Lake City; the latest video explains what is involved with guest services.
The video posted on the Church’s general conference YouTube channel and the social media accounts of The Liahona magazine gives what the description explains is “a high-level sneak peek at the work and dedication of our guest service missionaries” at the Conference Center.
Some of the numbers:
- 20,000 people per session
- 9,000 hours of service
- 400 guest services missionaries
- 30 minutes between sessions to prepare
Events coordinator Vanett White described the work as nonstop, saying, “It is a big challenge and we love doing it.”
Guests come from all over the world to attend in person. The missionaries help thousands of guests to their seats and out again for each of the five sessions of general conference. It may be that each missionary interacts with more than 5,000 guests.
“They do it with a love of Christ in their hearts and a determination to make each guest feel loved and invited, regardless of who they are or where they are in their discipleship,” the video description said.
In his April 2024 general conference address, “The Powerful, Virtuous Cycle of the Doctrine of Christ,” Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “Our job is to love — to love and minister in such a way that others are drawn to Jesus Christ.”
Individuals, families and friends are invited to watch general conference. 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 and broadcast in multiple languages on ChurchofJesusChrist.org/broadcasts, the Gospel Library app, the General Conference YouTube channel and on Gospel Stream.
