Conference by the Numbers: April 2020

In the October 2019 General Conference, President Nelson promised that "General conference next April will be different from any previous conference. In the next six months, I hope that every member and every family will prepare for a unique conference that will commemorate the very foundations of the restored gospel." Little did we know that COVID-19 would strike and make April 2020 General Conference very unique and memorable! 

However, despite the big focus on the coronavirus pandemic in our everyday lives and throughout the world, general conference was focused on the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the impact it can have in our lives. The virus pandemic will pass. The message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, however, will fill the earth and never be taken away.

The infographic below indicates some of the words emphasized during conference. Restoration-related words were certainly emphasized. Virus-related words showed up, but definitely were not the spotlight. While COVID-19 came up several times, coronavirus didn't even make a debut.

In addition to the infographic, I also looked at trends over time for some of the words and phrases used in this conference. First Vision, Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and Second Coming were heavily emphasized. You can also see the trends for some individual words to get a sense of how much the word restoration or hosanna were emphasized. And for perspective, I also put in a few graphs for words related to pandemic, virus, etc.

See links at end of post for past Conference by the Numbers and for a post explaining how the word comparisons work.

Trends Over Time for Restoration-Related Phrases

  

Trends Over Time for Words Restoration and Hosanna

Trends Over Time for Words Related to Virus Pandemic

Links and Past Posts

Some more details on word analysis can be found in this past post.

Past Conference by the Numbers:
October 2019
April 2019
October 2018
April 2018
October 2017
April 2017
October 2016
April 2016
October 2015
April 2015
October 2014

Conference by the Numbers: October 2019

This post is coming a little later this year than usual, but only delayed, not forgotten!

What words or topics were emphasized in the October 2019 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? The infographic below shows words that were used more than the typical conference of the past, and occurred at least 25 times.

Note that these are words used more often than average, but are not necessarily the most-used words of the conference. For example, Jesus, Christ, and God, are the most-used non-lexicon words (lexicon words are the the, and, it, of... words). However, because they typically take top rankings in most conferences, they don't often get a "higher than average" ranking. Some more details on word analysis can be found in this past post.

For this conference I included a list of top-cited scripture chapters based on the number of unique speakers that cited the chapter. Several speakers cited a scripture chapter multiple times, but I only counted it once per talk. For an additional look at scripture citations during conference, see these past posts (Dec 2017, Jan 2018, Mar 2015).

Past "Conference by the Numbers" blog posts:

April 2019
October 2018
April 2018
October 2017
April 2017
October 2016
April 2016
October 2015
April 2015
October 2014

Conference by the Numbers: April 2019

What words or topics were emphasized in the April 2019 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? The infographic below shows words that were used more than the typical conference of the past, and occurred at least 25 times.

Note that these are words used more often than average, but are not necessarily the most-used words of the conference. For example, Jesus, Christ, and God, are the most-used non-lexicon words (lexicon words are the the, and, it, of... words). However, because they typically take top rankings in most conferences, they don't often get a "higher than average" ranking. Some more details on word analysis can be found in this past post.

Also, some unique words that have only been used in the April 2019 Conference are listed. Side note: in case you thought "Cheerios" made its debut by Elder Holland, it was mentioned by Elder Ballard in April 2008 Conference.

Past "Conference by the Numbers" blog posts:

October 2018
April 2018
October 2017
April 2017
October 2016
April 2016
October 2015
April 2015
October 2014

Conference by the Numbers: October 2018

What was emphasized in the October 2018 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Each listener has his or her own talks that stood out personally. But if you just want to count words and see which words were used more often than in past conferences, look at the chart below.

Ministering, healing, grace, individuals, and the Savior's name are all used more than in past conferences. The name of President Russell M. Nelson also occurs more frequently. Why is fear on the chart? Read Elder Rasband's talk "Be Not Troubled."

In addition to words of emphasis, President Nelson used some words of exhortation, invitation, promises and blessings. To see the context of those phrases, see the lists below.

President Nelson's Talks:
Opening Remarks
Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
The Correct Name of the Church
Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints

Urge:

• Tonight I urge you, with all the hope of my heart, to pray to understand your spiritual gifts—to cultivate, use, and expand them, even more than you ever have. Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
• I urge you to record and follow through with each impression. Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
• I urge you to study the current Relief Society purpose statement. It is inspiring. It may guide you in developing your own purpose statement for your own life. Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
• I urge you to study these messages, commencing this week. They express the mind and the will of the Lord for His people, today. Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints
• If you have reasonable access to a temple, I urge you to find a way to make an appointment regularly with the Lord—to be in His holy house—then keep that appointment with exactness and joy. Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints

Invite/Invitation:

• First, I invite you to participate in a 10-day fast from social media and from any other media that bring negative and impure thoughts to your mind. Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel 
• Second, I invite you to read the Book of Mormon between now and the end of the year. Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
• Third, establish a pattern of regular temple attendance….For those of you who don’t live near a temple, I invite you to study prayerfully about temples in the scriptures and in the words of living prophets. Seek to know more, to understand more, to feel more about temples than you ever have before. Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
• My fourth invitation, for you who are of age, is to participate fully in Relief Society. Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
• Then I invite you to worship in the temple and pray to feel deeply the Savior’s infinite love for you, that each of you may gain your own testimony that He directs this sacred and ageless work. Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints

Encourage:

• As you read, I would encourage you to mark each verse that speaks of or refers to the Savior. Then, be intentional about talking of Christ, rejoicing in Christ, and preaching of Christ with your families and friends. Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
• To those who have long been absent from the temple, I encourage you to prepare and return as soon as possible. Then I invite you to worship in the temple and pray to feel deeply the Savior’s infinite love for you, that each of you may gain your own testimony that He directs this sacred and ageless work. Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints

Promise:

• My dear brothers and sisters, I promise you that if we will do our best to restore the correct name of the  Lord’s Church, He whose Church this is will  pour down His power and blessings upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints, the likes of which we have never seen. The Correct Name of the Church
• And, as you prayerfully study [the Book of Mormon], I promise that the heavens will open for you.  Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
• I promise that as you diligently work to remodel your home into a center of gospel learning, over time your Sabbath days will truly be a delight. Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints
• I promise you that our rigorous attention to use the correct name of the Savior’s Church and its members will lead to increased faith and access to greater spiritual power for members of His Church. Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints
• I promise you that the Lord will bring the miracles He knows you need as you make sacrifices to serve and worship in His temples. Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints

Bless you:

• The Lord will bless you with increased inspiration and revelation. Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
• I love you and thank you and now bless you with the ability to leave the world behind as you assist in this crucial and urgent work. Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
• I bless you with increased faith in Him and in His holy work, with faith and patience to endure your personal challenges in life. Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints
• I bless you to become exemplary Latter-day Saints. Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints
• I so bless you and bear my testimony that God lives! Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints

If:

• …if you will accept this invitation [to read the Book of Mormon] with full purpose of heart, the Lord will help you find a way to achieve it. Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
• If we as a people and as individuals are to have access to the power of the  Atonement of Jesus Christ—to cleanse and heal us, to strengthen and magnify us, and ultimately to exalt us—we must clearly acknowledge Him as the source of that power. The Correct Name of the Church
• If we will be patient and if we will do our part well, the Lord will lead us through this important task. The Correct Name of the Church

Past "Conference by the Numbers" blog posts:
April 2018
October 2017
April 2017
October 2016
April 2016
October 2015
April 2015
October 2014

Conference by the Numbers: April 2018

General Conference for April 2018 was exceptional for many reasons. A new president of the church was sustained in a solemn assembly, two new members of the Quorum of the Twelve were sustained, changes were announced to Melchizedek priesthood quorum organization, and home teaching and visiting teaching were retired and replaced with "ministering." Oh yeah, and seven new temples were announced, including one in India and one in Russia.

As you might imagine, most of the emphasized words in this conference related to these topics. If you're wondering how "small" made the list, read President Oaks' talk (Small and Simple Things). The increase in usage of the words "Nelson," "Russell," and "ministering" compared to past conferences was so large that I had to use a log scale to make sure everything fit on the same graph.

I also included a graph showing the apostles' age versus experience in the leading councils of the church (time since call to the Twelve). Notice the years of experience that were lost with the passing of President Monson.

For past "Conference by the Numbers" see the links at the bottom.

Past "Conference by the Numbers" blog posts:
October 2017
April 2017
October 2016
April 2016
October 2015
April 2015
October 2014

Book of Mormon Books: Length vs LDS Conference Citations

As a follow up to my previous posts on the Old Testament and New Testament, here is the same analysis for the Book of Mormon:

And the citation/length ratio shows which books are more heavily cited compared to their length:

Book	Citation/Length
Moroni	3.4
Enos	2.2
2 Ne	1.4
3 Ne	1.2
Mos	1.1

You will notice that, for the most part, the number of citations per book is relatively on par with the number of verse in the book. Overall, the Book of Mormon has a more even distribution of "scripture gold" than what is seen in the Old Testament or New Testament. However, going a step further, I wanted to see what chapters in the Book of Mormon were the most cited. Below is a list of the top 50 cited chapters in the Book of Mormon in order of citation from greatest to least (# citations in parentheses). Next time you want to read the Book of Mormon, try reading in citation order rather than from beginning to end!

2 Ne 2 (408)

Moroni 7 (357)

Moroni 10 (313)

Mosiah 4 (259)

Alma 5 (258)

2 Ne 31 (258)

3 Ne 11 (255)

3 Ne 27 (249)

Alma 34 (238)

Mosiah 3 (234)

2 Ne 9 (230)

Mosiah 18 (208)

Alma 42 (198)

Alma 32 (194)

Ether 12 (175)

Mosiah 2 (159)

2 Ne 25 (155)

3 Ne 18 (153)

Alma 37 (145)

Alma 7 (144)

3 Ne 17 (144)

Mosiah 5 (142)

Helaman 5 (135)

1 Ne 8 (133)

2 Ne 28 (130)

2 Ne 32 (122)

3 Ne 12 (119)

1 Ne 3 (117)

Alma 36 (115)

Jacob 4 (111)

1 Ne 11 (107)

Alma 41 (103)

Enos 1 (100)

3 Ne 9 (99)

1 Ne 17 (98)

2 Ne 26 (92)

Alma 13 (91)

Alma 12 (91)

Mosiah 27 (91)

Alma 26 (90)

Moroni 6 (83)

1 Ne 15 (77)

Moroni 8 (74)

Alma 29 (73)

Jacob 2 (71)

2 Ne 1 (68)

Alma 39 (67)

Mormon 8 (67)

4 Ne 1 (66)

Sources:

For Book of Mormon verse count see http://scripturetools.net/resources

For Book of Mormon conference citations see http://scriptures.byu.edu

Old Testament Books: Length vs LDS Conference Citations

As a follow up to my previous post, here's the same analysis done with books of the Old Testament:

And for the ratio of Citation % / Book Length %, the top books (ratio > 1) are:

Book	Citation/Length
Malachi	15.6
Obadiah	3.2
Isaiah	2.9
Amos	2.7
Genesis	2.1
Exodus	1.8
Daniel	1.7
Proverbs	1.5
Joel	1.4
Ecclesiastes	1.3
1 Samuel	1.3
Micah	1.2
Joshua	1.1

A few of these books, might be what you call One-Hit Wonders. They have one verse that gets quoted a lot and that drives up the citations for the whole book. For example in Obadiah, all the citations are for verse 21, and Amos 3:7 carries half the weight for Amos's citations. However, if you're looking for good books to study, Malachi, Isaiah, and Genesis are great places to start. After all, the Lord calls out Malachi and Isaiah specifically in the Book of Mormon (see 3 Nephi 24:1 and 3 Nephi 23:1.)

Speaking of Book Mormon...next blog post will be on Book of Mormon.

Notes on sources:

LDS Conference scripture citations are based on citations from 1971 to 2016 from the LDS Scripture Citation Index (http://scriptures.byu.edu/)

Old Testament verse statistics were from online at http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/OT-Statistics-NAB.htm; apocryphal books were excluded.

New Testament Books: Length vs LDS Conference Citations

What if you took your New Testament, stretched it out tall like a bar graph, and then color coded the sides of the pages so you could compare the relative length of each book in the New Testament? You'd get a sense for how much each author wrote in each book. And although every reader of the New Testament knows that "all scripture...is profitable" (see 2 Tim 3:16), yet there are some parts that spiritually "yield...thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred" (see Mark 4:8).

How would you find which parts might yield the quotable, ponderable scriptures? One way is to look at which books are cited the most in LDS General Conference. The books cited the most could be considered the "hundred-yield" parts of the New Testament.

Below is a bar graph showing just such a comparison. On the left is the graph showing the relative length of each book in the New Testament based on the number of verses (click on picture to see larger version).

A few interesting points to notice are that Matthew and John show an increase in citations whereas Acts is noticeably diminished, relative to their lengths. 2 Timothy is noticeably larger and Revelation is about half the size in the Citations column vs the Book Length column.

In fact, if you wanted to see which books carry more than their own weight (or length) in citations, you could divide their value in the Citations graph by their value in the Book Length graph and get a ratio. Below is the list of all the books that have a ratio > 1, meaning they get cited more than what their # of verses would merit if every verse got cited equally.

So if you're looking for some good New Testament study, start with James and 2 Timothy--they're relatively short and packed with good stuff!

Book	Citation/Length
James	1.9
2 Timothy	1.9
Matthew	1.9
Ephesians	1.8
John	1.7
1 Peter	1.5
2 Peter	1.2
1 Corinthians	1.2

Coming soon...Old Testament Book Length vs Citations

Notes on information sources:

LDS Conference scripture citations are based on citations from 1971 to 2016 from the LDS Scripture Citation Index (http://scriptures.byu.edu/)

New Testament verse statistics were from online at http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/NT-Statistics-Greek.htm

Conference by the Numbers: October 2017

Here it is: Conference by the Numbers, October 2017. If you'd like to know a little more how I got the numbers, you can visit this blog post. But basically, the "% Increase over Average # of mentions" is calculated by the frequency with which a word is referenced in October 2017 Conference divided by the average frequency with which the same word is referenced in all conferences from 1971 to 2017 minus 100%. The # of mentions shows how many times the word was used in October 2017 Conference. Thus, the word "Light" was mentioned about 200% more than the average conference. In other words, it was referenced ~120 times in October 2017, but usually it is referenced about 40 times.

For a few words and phrases, I wanted to look at how the conference usage has increased or decreased over time. Below are a few graphs of words showing their frequency of usage (# of times the word was used) vs the conference session. It is interesting to see which words/phrases have increased over time and which have just gone up or down depending on the conference.

Lastly, as a tribute to Elder Robert D. Hales, who passed away Oct. 1, 2017, I did an analysis of his talks over the last 30-40 years. You can see some of the words he emphasized in the Word Cloud below. I will miss Elder Hales' ministry and testimony that he gave, even while facing personal trials and hardship.

Conference by the Numbers: April 2017

It's time again for Conference By the Numbers: April 2017. If you didn't get to watch or listen to conference, you can read, listen, or watch here.

First, a few notes on the infographic. As with the past two Conference By the Numbers (October 2016 and April 2016), the main graphic focuses on emphasized words from conference talks. The horizontal axis indicates how many times a word was mentioned during the conference, in the text of the talk or in the footnotes. The vertical axis shows how the frequency of usage compared to an average conference. For example, an average conference would use the word "felt" about 25 times. This conference, the word was used 100% more, or about 50 times.

After looking at some of the emphasized words, I noticed that several words seemed to go in pairs, such as "Holy Ghost" or "Heavenly Father." I did a separate search to see how often these word combinations. In the box above the graph, you can see how many times the exact phrases "Doctrine and Covenants," "Holy Ghost," and "Heavenly Father" are used.

After looking over the emphasized words, I notice a theme of referring to the Godhead (Heavenly Father, Savior, Holy Ghost, see Elder Oaks' talk), the plan of salvation (President Eyring, Elder Oaks), and feeling or hearing the voice of the Holy Ghost (see Elder Stevenson, Elder Rasband).

For top scriptures, Moses 1:39 is not a surprise--it consistently comes in at the top at general conference (see this post). John 3:16 is also not a big surprise, given its wide popularity in Christendom. While not an obscure scripture, 2 Ne 28:30 usually doesn't come out in the top 10 list of cited scriptures. However, it is an appropriate reference for this conference given the emphasis on the Holy Ghost.

Of course, this is only a sampling of some of the topics that were emphasized in conference. What stood out to you from conference?

Conference by the Numbers: October 2016

Listen to October 2016 conference at https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10?lang=eng

 

A few notes on the infographic:

The most cited scripture chapter and verse are based on the chapter / verse cited by the most speakers. Some scriptures were cited multiple times by the same speakers, but these repeat citations weren't counted.

All word data is based on conference talks available online at lds.org. This limits the range of comparison from conference in 1971 to the present.

Emphasized words were selected based on words that occurred with above-average frequency during the October 2016 general conference.  Additional details on word comparison methods can be found at this blog post: http://visualscriptures.blogspot.com/2015/01/top-20-words-of-ezra-taft-benson.html

Conference by the Numbers, April 2016

What topics were mentioned most frequently or especially emphasized during the April 2016 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Take a look at the infographic below and see which words occurred with higher frequency than the average general conference. You can also see some of the words that were used for the very first time in a general conference--including the very first Star Wars reference that I could find. (Note: "all" conferences means conferences going back to April 1971, the earliest for which transripts are provided online at lds.org)

Family Proclamation References

A while back, my brother asked if I had looked at references to "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" in general conference talks. I had not looked at this previously, so I decided to give it a whirl. Here's a graph of conference references to "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" by year. I counted any reference to the entire title, or shorter versions like "Family Proclamation" of "The Proclamation on the Family." References could be in the talks themselves, or in the footnotes.

A few interesting facts:

• 2015 saw a record high high with 25 references between October and April conferences.
• Boyd K. Packer referenced the proclamation the most (12 times)
• If you read President Howard W. Hunter's talks when he was ordained President of the Church in October, 1994 (see Being a Righteous Husband and Father and Exceeding Great and Precious Promises), you will find many ideas and phrases that will later be incorporated into "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" as given by Gordon B. Hinckley in September, 1995.

Conference by the Numbers, October 2015

Here's my take on the numbers for the 185th semi-annual conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, October 3-4, 2015. You can also check out my post from last conference.

Top Word Counters

In my last post, I showed how word counts in General Conference changed over time. I noticed that certain terms would have a spike in certain years, often attributable to a single talk. In honor of those talks that give extensive reference to a single word and topic, I've compiled a list of "Top Word Counters." There's no particular reason for the selected topics, except that I picked them. I've arranged them from highest to lowest word count per talk. Enjoy reading some of these classic talks!

Top Word Counters

Mission(ary)--62
Milton R Hunter, April 1972
The Miracle of Missionary Work

Temple--59
Thomas S Monson, April 2011
The Holy Temple—a Beacon to the World

Light--53
Robert D Hales, April 2002
Out of Darkness into His Marvelous Light

Family--50
James A. Cullimore, October 1975
Family Home Evening

Baptism/Baptize--48
James E Faust, April 2001
Born Again

Faith--47
Dallin H Oaks, April 1994
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

Mercy--47
Marion D Hanks, October 1981
My Specialty Is Mercy

Priesthood--46
Robert D Hales, October 1995
Blessings of the Priesthood

Sabbath--39
James E Faust, October 1991
The Lord's Day

Repent(ance)--31
Russell M Nelson, April 2007
Repentance and Conversion

Grace--29
Gene R. Cook, April 1993
Receiving Divine Assistance through the Grace of the Lord

Family History--23
Dennis B. Neuenschwander, April 1999
Bridges and Eternal Keepsakes

Obey/Obedience--21
James E. Faust, April 1999
Obedience: The Path to Freedom

Genealogy--16
Russell M. Nelson, April 1998
A New Harvest Time

General Conference Word Counts Over the Years

As a follow-up to my last post, and in honor of General Conference this weekend, I'm posting about various word counts in General Conference talks. One question I received from my last post was about how variations in the occurrence of Joseph Smith in conference talks compared to other gospel words and topics. The following graph shows some of the variation seen in the words (and related word forms) of temple, baptism, repentance, family, and Joseph Smith. One takeaway from these graphs is that there can be quite a bit of variation in word usage from year to year (though you do notice the increase of "temple" starting in the 1990s).

For many other gospel terms, you see a similar bouncing-around variation. However, I did find a few other interesting trends. In comparing the terms faith, works, and grace. There is a definite increase in the usage of faith over time, whereas works  is diminishing. Grace remains relatively constant--showing a slight increase.

Why the increase? Have Latter-day Saints focused too much on works and not enough on the requisite faith to go with it? Or do we need more faith in these days of increasing cynicism and skepticism? Or are our modern-day apostles asking the Lord, as the ancient apostles did, for the Lord to "increase our faith" (Luke 17:5). I won't pretend to have the answers to these questions, but it is something to ponder on. I do recommend reading President Gordon B. Hinckley's 1987 talk "Lord, Increase Our Faith."

A few other comparisons sparked my interest, although not on a doctrinal basis. For example, the change in usage from genealogy to family history is readily apparent here:

I also liked observing the change in references related to modern technology and media. There is an expected increase in terms related to modern media such as computer and internet. The dangers of pornography have received consistent attention, but more recent years have seen concentrated and emphatic attention. I'm a little sad, albeit not surprised, that references to books has declined with the concomitant increase in internet references. 2014 shows 27 uses of the word internet as opposed to 5 occurrences of the word books. But, hey--this blog is brought to you by the magic of the internet and is not published in a paper book, so I probably shouldn't complain too much.

Do you have any terms you'd like to see compared? Any thoughts from this weekend's General Conference? Let me know in the comments. You can also look at the next post on Top Word Counters. In the meantime, I'll be working on a summary from October 2015 General Conference once the talk texts are available.