General Conference Sketch Notes: Every Talk Since 2000 and the Apostles Back to 1971

General conference gives us about ten hours of teaching twice a year. By the following Sunday, most of us remember a story or two. A sketch note is a simple way to keep more of it: one page per talk, with the main idea, a few short quotes, the scriptures and small drawings that make it easy to picture later.

Weak Things now has a free online library of 2,916 general conference sketch notes. It covers every talk since 2000 and the apostles back to 1971, from 112 conferences and 384 speakers. This guide explains what sketch notes are, what memory research says about drawing and pictures, and how families, teachers, youth and missionaries can use them.

The library in numbers

What	Count
Talk sketch notes, each with its own page	2,916
General conferences covered	112 (April 1971 through October 2026)
Talks from 2000 to today (every talk)	1,945
Talks by apostles, 1971 to 1999	971
Speakers	384
Gospel topics you can browse	56
Printable collections, volumes and packs	More than 400

The topics that come up most across the library are Family (549 talks), Jesus Christ (536), Faith (395), Obedience (389), Service (387), Priesthood (375), Discipleship (369) and Testimony (363). Among talks that list scripture references, the Doctrine and Covenants appears in 1,622, Alma in 763, Matthew in 547 and John in 510.

What is a sketch note?

Designer Mike Rohde, who coined the term, describes sketchnotes as "rich visual notes created from a mix of handwriting, drawings, hand-lettering, shapes, and visual elements like arrows, boxes, and lines". He is quick to add that you do not need to be an artist. The point is listening for the big ideas and giving each one a shape on the page.

Every Weak Things sketch note follows the same layout, so your eyes know where to go:

• Title, speaker and conference across the top.
• The main idea in one sentence.
• Three short quotes worth remembering, hand-lettered.
• Simple drawings of the talk's images and stories: a lighthouse, a broken vessel, a path.
• The scriptures the speaker used, so you can study further.

The drawings are reverent and simple. We never draw the face of the Savior or of Heavenly Father, and we do not draw caricatures of Church leaders.

Why drawing helps you remember

Sketch notes are more than decoration. Several well-known lines of memory research point the same way.

The drawing effect

Researchers at the University of Waterloo asked students to either draw or write words they needed to remember. In their 2016 paper in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Jeffrey Wammes, Melissa Meade and Myra Fernandes call drawing a reliable and robust memory benefit. According to the university's summary, participants often recalled more than twice as many drawn words as written ones. The benefit held even with only 4 seconds to draw, and the quality of the drawing did not seem to matter.

Pictures plus words: dual coding

Psychologist Allan Paivio's dual coding theory proposes that the mind handles words and images on two linked channels. An idea stored both ways has two paths back to it. This is closely related to the picture superiority effect, the finding that pictures are generally remembered better than words. A sketch note puts a short phrase and a simple picture side by side on purpose.

Doodling keeps attention on the speaker

In a 2009 study by psychologist Jackie Andrade, 40 people listened to a dull, rambling phone message. Half of them shaded shapes while they listened. As Harvard Health Publishing reports, the doodlers recalled 29% more information. Anyone who has watched a child color quietly through a conference session has seen a version of this.

Summarizing beats copying

In "The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard" (Psychological Science, 2014), Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer found that laptop note-takers tended to copy lectures word for word, while longhand note-takers had to choose and rephrase. Later studies have found smaller differences, but the main idea holds: notes help most when you decide what matters. A sketch note leaves room for only one main idea and three quotes, so you have to choose.

How to use conference sketch notes

For families

Put one page on the fridge each week. Read the quotes at dinner, or let children color a printed copy while you read the talk together. For family nights, the Family Pack collects talks on home, parenting and marriage. Our free conference games are a good match for the weekend itself.

For teachers and seminary

Each page lists its scriptures, so lessons can start in the standard works. The library is matched to the Come, Follow Me 2027 weeks, and teachers using Seminary Showdown or Line upon Line will find related talks after each game.

For youth and future missionaries

Short pages suit short attention spans. Start with 25 Talks for Future Missionaries, 25 Talks Every Young Man Should Remember or 25 Talks Every Young Woman Should Remember.

For leaders

Bishops, ward councils and youth leaders can share one page before a meeting. See the Ward Leaders Pack, the Aaronic Priesthood Pack and the Young Women Pack.

Ways to browse the library

Browse by	Best for	Start here
Conference	Reviewing a whole weekend	All 112 conferences
Apostle	Following one voice over the years	The apostles
Topic	Lessons, talks and personal study	56 topics
Collection	Life stages: missions, parenting, grief, new members	Curated collections
Single talk	Sharing one page with one person	October 2026 talks

Free to read, simple to print

Every sketch note is free to read online. If you want printable PDFs:

• Newest conferences: October 2026 and April 2026 are free by email.
• One talk: $0.99.
• A whole conference, Saturday and Sunday: $3.99.
• Topic volumes: $3.99. Curated collections of 25 talks: $4.99. Apostle collections: $4.99 to $14.99. Packs: $9.99 to $29.99.

Printed pages include a QR code that opens the official talk, so the full text is always one scan away.

Make your own sketch notes during conference

1. Fold a page into four boxes, one for each idea you want to keep.
2. Write the speaker's name and the title at the top before they begin.
3. Listen for the one sentence that sums up the talk, and write it in the middle.
4. Draw what they describe. A boat, a key, a seed. Stick figures are fine; the research says quality does not matter.
5. Write down the scripture references and look them up on Sunday night.

Then compare your page with ours for the same talk. Children love this game, and it is a good way to start a family conversation.

Frequently asked questions

Are Weak Things sketch notes official Church materials?

No. They are independent study notes made by Weak Things, a small family business. They summarize talks and quote short lines. Read the full talks at churchofjesuschrist.org.

How far back do the sketch notes go?

Every talk from April 2000 to October 2026, plus talks by apostles from April 1971 through 1999.

How soon are new conferences added?

We draw new talks during conference weekend. Titles are working titles until the Church publishes the official text, and then the pages are updated.

Can I print sketch notes for my class?

Yes. Printable PDFs are made for personal, family and classroom use. A whole conference costs $3.99, and the newest two conferences are free by email.

Do I need to be good at drawing to make my own?

No. In the Waterloo studies, the memory benefit did not depend on how good the drawing was.

Can I share a sketch note?

Yes. Every talk page has a share button that sends a picture of the page with a link by text, email or social media.

Open the sketch notes library →