Conference Talk: When is the written account made?

[Sunday21]

Dear Bros & Sis's,

i am teaching a conference talk next week.

i notice that there is some content that is in the spoken account that is not in the written account.

1) So does the speaker give the talk first and then the talk is transcribed? In which case a church authority may have decided that the detail was not for common consumption? Here is the detail, Bro Bednar mentions in his spoken words that one can receive confirmation from God that you are on the right track in life. 

Or

2) Is the talk written and then the speaker reads it? In which case, Bro Bednar may have thought to add a detail.

i suspect # 1 so Perhaps Bro Bednar or other church authority thought better of this detail. 

 

Edited April 23, 2017 by Sunday21

[MrShorty]

My impression is both can happen. As I understand it, all conference talks are written out and submitted before conference so that the translators have time to put together their translations of each talk. But, there are plenty of examples of speakers who, in the moment deviate from the originally submitted talk. On the other hand, it also seems that there are talks that are edited after being given for the church magazine editions for clarity or for whatever reason the editors and church authorities have for editing talks afterwards. I don't get the impression that there is a single either 1 or 2 answer for your question, but that both happen. I'm not sure if there is a way of knowing if the talk was added to while being given or edited before publication, though sometimes there might be clues (such as when a translator seems to have trouble or delays during a portion of a talk that suggest that the speaker went "off script" and the translator is needing to translate on the fly).

[The Folk Prophet]

6 hours ago, Sunday21 said:

Bro Bednar mentions in his spoken words that one can receive confirmation from God that you are on the right track in life. 

...

Bro Bednar or other church authority thought better of this detail. 

Why would they have thought better of this detail?

[my two cents]

Re: the written account - Is the difference in the Ensign or on lds.org or both?

Edited April 23, 2017 by my two cents

[Blackmarch]

11 hours ago, Sunday21 said:

Dear Bros & Sis's,

i am teaching a conference talk next week.

i notice that there is some content that is in the spoken account that is not in the written account.

1) So does the speaker give the talk first and then the talk is transcribed? In which case a church authority may have decided that the detail was not for common consumption? Here is the detail, Bro Bednar mentions in his spoken words that one can receive confirmation from God that you are on the right track in life. 

Or

2) Is the talk written and then the speaker reads it? In which case, Bro Bednar may have thought to add a detail.

i suspect # 1 so Perhaps Bro Bednar or other church authority thought better of this detail. 

 

The talk is prepared first on paper, so it can be reviewed by the 12, as well as preparing the translators before conference starts. There has been a time or two when speaker said they would deviate from what they've prepared. Also being human id wager there would be small differences between the written one and the live one

Edited April 23, 2017 by Blackmarch

[Sunday21]

3 hours ago, my two cents said:

Re: the written account - Is the difference in the Ensign or on lds.org or both?

There is a difference between the recording of the talk (additional detail) and the written text as provided on lds.org. The additional detail is thus: it is possible to receive reassurance from God that you are on the right path. The right path refers to your eternal progress and not temporal concerns. My thought was, as this detail is not in the written text did some authority decide that teacher's should not go there?A: If the verbal delivery came before the text, maybe. B:  If the verbal delivery came after the written text, maybe the speaker was inspired. 

The text in most cases is so close the verbal account that I think A is true. However, this detail is something that I think my sisters need to hear but am I going to contradict a decision made by a church authority? No.

[SilentOne]

I remember reading an account by Orson Scott Card about his experience in preparing conference talks to be published in the Ensign. I'll try to find it again, but from what I remember they had the pre-written talks and would note any changes made during delivery for the speaker to later review and decide which version to publish.

Got it: The Gifts of Conference

Edited April 24, 2017 by SilentOne
adding link

[Sunday21]

@SilentOne. Thank you so much for posting!

[noah89]

I am not quite sure about it.

[Guest]

Context is helpful.  I'm guessing you're talking about this one?

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/the-spirit-of-revelation?lang=eng

The answer to the question is this:

1. Read what @Blackmarch wrote.  Although that happens sometimes without necessarily "announcing" that they are going to drift from their prepared remarks.
2. There are naturally times when someone misreads a word on the teleprompter or decides to make a last-minute correction/substitution.
3. A few times, some things went through this entire process of review, and yet still, something is said that the 12 think better of.  I do not believe this is the case in the talk you're describing.

I believe it was an afterthought that Bednar felt impressed to say at the time.  But it was simply additional exposition that wasn't really necessary for record purposes.  So, they didn't change it in the written transcript.