LDS General Conference

Annual General Conference Semiannual General Conference
Status	Active, bi-annual
Genre	Religious
Venue	LDS Conference Center
Location(s)	Salt Lake City, Utah
Country	United States
Inaugurated	9 June 1830
Organized by	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Website
http://www.lds.org/general-conference

General Conference is a gathering of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), held biannually every April and October at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. During each conference, members of the church gather in a series of two-hour sessions to listen to sermons from church leaders. It consists of six sessions, including a general women's session held a week prior to the other sessions, four general sessions, and one session for male priesthood holders. Private training meetings for general and area leaders of the church are also conducted.

While originating from Salt Lake City, General Conference is considered an international event for the church. The sessions are broadcast worldwide in over 90 languages, primarily through local and international media outlets, and over the Internet.

In the LDS Church, general conference is a series of semiannual meetings where general authorities and other church leaders preach sermons and give guidance to church members. Changes to church leadership are also proposed and sustained through the principle of common consent. General conferences are held on the weekends of the first Sundays in April and October. The April conference is known as the Annual General Conference, with the October conference referred to as the Semiannual General Conference. The April conference includes annual statistical and financial audit reports not included in the October meeting. Both conferences are identified by the number of years since the church was founded in April 1830; thus, the April 2016 meeting was the 186th Annual General Conference, and the October 2016 meeting was the 186th Semiannual General Conference.

Since October 1848, all of the conferences have been held in Salt Lake City, Utah, with the exception of the April 1877 conference, which was held in St. George, Utah. Conferences were held in a bowery in Salt Lake City from 1848 to 1852, in the Old Salt Lake Tabernacle from 1852 to 1867, in the Salt Lake Tabernacle from October 1867 to April 2000, and in the Conference Center since that time. Historically, General Conference was held over three days, with the annual conference always including April 6, the anniversary of the church's organization. This made conference participation difficult for those with work and school commitments when April 6 fell on a weekday. In April 1977, during Spencer W. Kimball's presidency, changes were made to reduce the conference to the Saturday and Sunday of a weekend.

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