LDSPMA Conference: Frequently Asked Questions

The 2025 conference will be held:

October 16–18
UVU Sorensen Student Center
Orem, Utah

EarlyBird registration will open May 2025.

The Tenth Annual Conference of Latter-day Saints in Publishing, Media, and the Arts will take place on October 16–18, 2025. It will be held in the Sorensen Student Center of Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah.

• Virtual Preconference Classes will be held on weekday nights and Saturday mornings in September and early October. (Included in the main conference package.)
• Deep-Dive Workshops and the Publishers’ Summit (by invitation only) will be held on Thursday, Oct 16. (Each purchased separately.)
• The Main Conference will be held on Friday and Saturday, Oct 17–18. It will include:
  • 4 Keynote sessions
  • 50–56 breakout sessions in eight tracks
  • Vendor exhibits and a Meet the Creators event
  • Fast Pitch, Quick Critiques, Networking Hour, and other interactive sessions
• The LDSPMA Awards Banquet will be held the evening of Friday, Oct 17, in the same venue. (Tickets purchased separately.)
• Virtual Fast Pitch is tentatively scheduled to be held over Zoom on Saturday, October 25, at 1:00–3:00 pm Mountain Time. (This is in addition to the in-person Fast Pitch at the main conference.) (Included in the main conference package.)

This year, we will not offer live-streaming of any conference events. However, virtual attendees may participate in 10–15 virtual breakout sessions over Zoom in the weeks before the main conference. Virtual-only attendees will also have access to the recordings of all virtual and in-person breakout sessions and keynote sessions after the main conference takes place.

We are also offering an online Fast Pitch session and online Quick Critiques.

All our sessions for 2025 are already planned. Please fill out our Speaker Application Form by January 15, 2026, to be considered for our 2026 conference.

Definitely not! LDSPMA is an international organization for members and friends of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who work in media, the arts, and publishing, or seek to do so. Please come and enjoy!

Everyone is welcome to attend our conference, whether or not they are members of LDSPMA. Becoming a member simply gives you extra perks, such as priority notice about discounts for our conference, training opportunities, and our monthly newsletter, which contains tons of information about how to further your career!

Individuals must be at least 12 years old to attend the conference. They must purchase a ticket. Babies in arms (approximately 12 months or younger) are allowed for free as long as they do not overly disrupt the conference experience of other attendees.

This year, we are also offering a special 50%-off discount for youth ages 12–18.

Youth ages 12–15 must be accompanied by an adult.

See our registration page. Registration opens in mid-to-late April each year.

Yes! If you order 5–9 registrations at one time, you get an additional 10% off the current discount rate. If you order 10+ registrations at one time, you get an additional 15% off the current discount rate. Email us at [email protected] to arrange a bulk registration. This option is ideal for publishing companies, universities, or other organizations who want to send several of their employees or students to our conference.

Anyone who will be a part-time or full-time college student at the time of the conference.

Anyone who will be 12–18 years old at the time of the conference.

No. The Thursday Workshops, Publishers’ Summit, and Awards Banquet are separate from the main conference. You can register for all of these events together or independently from each other on the registration page. You can also add a workshop or banquet ticket to your existing registration by completing the registration page a second time. (We will combine your two orders.)

If you need to cancel your registration, please email us at [email protected]. Our refund policy is as follows:

• Cancel by September 1: Full refund
• Cancel between September 1 and October 4: 50% refund
• Cancel after October 4: No refund

Due to costs incurred close to the conference (such as ordering meals, programs, and other materials) and because we will likely sell out registrations this year and will have to turn some people away, we will not be able to grant last-minute or after-the-fact refund requests.

A detailed grid schedule with exact session times and locations will be announced soon.

All lunches and dinners include vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, nut-free, and dairy-free options.

Note: All food items are prepared in a facility that uses gluten, milk, soy, eggs, nuts, and shellfish.

Dietary-needs foods will be served on a separate buffet line to avoid cross-contamination. A menu and dietary guide will be provided soon.

If you have special dietary needs that are not satisfied by the available options, please email us at [email protected] so we can arrange either a substitute or a meal voucher to buy a meal at a campus vendor.

The following WILL be recorded, with recordings made available to main conference registrants for a limited time after the conference:

• The preconference classes running September 9 through October 14
• The 4 keynote speakers on Friday and Saturday
• All breakout sessions on Friday and Saturday, including the Real-Time Reactions panels
• The Lifetime Achievement Award recipient remarks

The following WILL NOT be recorded:

• The Thursday Deep-Dive Workshops
• The Thursday Publishers’ Summit
• The Thursday midday keynote address by Sharon Eubank
• The Thursday night networking and fundraising dinner and LDSPMA’s Got (Secret) Talent show
• Fast Pitch (but there is a virtual Fast Pitch on October 25)
• Quick Critiques (but virtual critique slots will be available)
• Online Presence Audits
• The Meet the Creators event
• The entertainment and award presentation portions of the Awards Gala

See a list of participating publishers here.

See more information about Fast Pitch here.

Sign-ups for these will open on closer to the conference. We will email all registrants with details.

To volunteer to help with the registration desk, room management, or filming, please see our Conference Volunteer page. For other year-round volunteer opportunities, please see ldspma.org/volunteer.

Networking Session 1: 11:05-11:25
[Passing time: 5 minutes]
Networking Session 2: 11:30-11:50

1. Use this map to pick an industry/genre you want to network with.
2. Go to that industry’s assigned room (or designated table).
3. Self-organize into groups of 4-6. (Each room will have a facilitator helping to organize groups and serving as timekeeper.)
4. You have 20 minutes to network:
   • 5 minutes: Give each person 1 minute to briefly introduce themselves, speed-dating style:
     • Who you are
     • What you do
     • What help you’re looking for or what kind of person you are hoping to collaborate with
   • 10 minutes: Talk about shared interests, explore potential collaborations, swap resources, etc. Please be cognizant of everyone in your group and give everyone time to talk or share. (Do not monopolize the conversation!)
   • 5 minutes: Share contact info or business cards so you can connect after the conference.
5. At 11:25, dissolve your group. You are welcome to move to another room/table or join a new group at your original room/table.
6. Network with your new group from 11:30 to 11:50, following the same pattern above.

UVU Sorensen Student Center (800 W University Pkwy, Orem, UT).

Please plan an extra 15 minutes to find parking, park, walk to the Sorensen Center, and find the check-in desk.

Free Parking Options

• UVU Institute parking lot (we have gotten permission to park here)
• Any yellow lot (due to fall break). Closest lots are L3 and L6.

Paid Parking Option

• Parking Garage ($1/hour, 2 hour minimum, $10/day). Pay with the PassportParking app (enter zone 80112 and your license plate #.)

See our detailed parking guide for a map and pictures.

We have arranged for attendees to receive a roughly $40 discount at the following hotel for any night from Wednesday, October 16 through Saturday, October 19:

Hampton Inn & Suites Orem
851 West 1250 South Orem, Utah

This hotel is directly across University Avenue from the UVU campus. It is a 12-minute walk from the Sorensen Student Center, including a pedestrian tunnel bypassing two of the three roads you would need to cross:

Use this link to reserve a room at the discounted rate.

Note: The booking defaults to Wed, October 15 through Sun, October 19. Click “Edit Stay” to change or remove nights.

Yes! The Utah Valley Express (UVX) bus line has a stop at the UVU campus. This bus line connects UVU with the Orem and Provo Frontrunner stations, downtown Provo, and BYU campus. It usually has service every 15 minutes, with more frequent service during peak times.

The Frontrunner is connected to the Salt Lake airport by the TRAX light-rail in Salt Lake City.

See rideuta.com for bus and light rail schedules and to plan your trip.

No. Once you’ve registered and paid for the conference and/or workshops, you should receive a confirmation email. (Please check your Spam and Promotions tabs if the emails do not arrive in your inbox.)

Please go to our Attendee Portal. Unlock the portal with either the email you used when you registered. If you have trouble accessing the attendee portal, please contact us at [email protected].

Recordings are generally available for at least 60 days after the conference. An exact ending date is to be determined.

It takes time for our volunteer video editors to sort through and organize our camera files, trim them, sync the separate audio tracks, edit for quality, export the finished videos, and upload them to our website.

We expect to have all recordings available before Thanksgiving.

Yes! If you didn’t register for our conference, you can still purchase the recordings at our registration page. Recordings are $160, the same cost as a virtual ticket.