The 20th Fair Mormon Conference will be August 1-3 at the Utah Valley Convention Center. If you’re not able to go they’ll provide streaming of the presentations.
The first day this year is a women’s workship with an emphasis on women in the Church. The is open to both men and women but the focus of the speakers is on LDS women and women’s leadership in the Church. This is being done in partnership with the Church History Department.
I’m going to make a big attempt to go to some of the meetings this year. (I’ve never been) I’m actually doing a soft launch of a restaurant & coffee shop across the street that hopefully will be ready in time. So one way or an other I’ll be in the area.
There are expected to be some big presentations during the event. In addition to the women’s workshop there’s a talke by Wade Miller on pre-columbian horses that is rumored to be significant. Color me skeptical as bones in pre-columbian strata have been dated before and always turned up as post-columbian. However I’m hearing a lot about that session.
An other session I’m taking note of is Brad Wilcox’s discussion on Grace. That’s been a topic I’ve focused on a lot, albeit more from a philosophical angle.
The other one I’m very intrigued by is Lisa Olsen Tait’s presentation on the Gospel Topics Essays. I’m not sure if that’s on them broadly or those more related to women’s issues.
It seems like I never am able to go to more of the interesting Mormon conferences. I was in the hospital during SMPT and wasn’t able to attend either the MHA or other conferences this year. I’ll give a real try to be at this one.