Ever wondered the best place to park, or how to get into General Conference without tickets? This is a brief guide to address exactly that.
*Special thanks to Aaron L. M. Goodwin whom we’ve featured before, for most of these tips via Google Plus. Thanks also to Mame Hampton and other contributors.
Attending Conference In-Person
- The best parking spot: Just north of the Maverick on the corner of 200 West and North Temple. We’ve parked there every time, and the roof always has plenty of spots available, it’s free on Conference weekend, and only a short 0.3 mile walk to the Conference Center.
- How to get tickets (aka “The standby line is for suckers” – Aaron L. M. Goodwin): Get to Temple early, then make a sign saying “Tickets to any session, please?” Make eye contact and smile, and stay about a block away from The Conference Center. Tram terminals and parking garages are your best bet. And remember: don’t be a jerk. Share your unused tickets with the less-fortunate.
- Coordinating groups: use the awesome mobile app Beluga (for Android and iPhone). With it you can spread out and cover more ground if you’re trying to get tickets, or coordinate different cars of people to meet-up and sit together, if you already have tickets. You can use it to announce when you get your tickets, the quantity and quality of them. Plus you can use the built-in geo-location feature to keep track of where everyone is. Alternately you can use the “Huddle” feature of Google Plus mobile with Latitude, to do similar things.
Getting More From Conference
- Get to bed early Friday night, and again Saturday night!
- DVR Conference so you can go back afterward and review stuff, without waiting for it’s availability on the internet.
- Remove what you can from your schedule on Conference Weekend.
- If you can’t clear your weekend, DVR Conference and start 10-20 min after each session actually begins, fast-forwarding through prayers, music, etc, to shorten the session, and watch the end live, with everyone else.
- Take a day off work the Friday prior, or Monday after, or both.
- Carefully record the title and speaker of talks that were your favorite, those you felt impressed to review later, and those you slept through. Then use your personal gospel study time to review each, being sure to carefully listen to or read those you missed.
- Watch conference at the local Stake Center.
- Dress in your Sunday Best.
- Avoid couches at all costs! (ZZZZzzzzzzz…)
- Keep a large stash of candy near you to help keep you awake and cognizant.
Note: we’re fairly certain sugar is a tool of the adversary, but it can be useful in certain situations.
Utilizing Twitter
- For note taking: Leave a window open of Twitter live-updating the #LDSconf tag (many Twitter apps, and even twitter.com do this), then copy and paste quotes that other people have typed for you.
- Tweeting: review “10 Tips for Tweeting #LDSConf on Twitter” at Kathryn Skaggs‘ blog A Well-Behaved Mormon Woman.
Do you have any additional tips for us? What works well for you during #LDSConf? Please comment below?