Calm Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 (edited) Info is here: https://fairlatterdaysaints.org/store/product/2021-fair-conference If you have questions, just ask and I will try and find out. Also will try and pay attention to updates and post them here as well. Please keep thread focused on the Conference. PS: removed early bird discount info PPS: new info 7/27 Quote We met with the Event Center staff this week, and they offered to arrange for us to accommodate 50 additional attendees! The website is updated and tickets are ready for purchase. The Event Center, Speakers and the FAIR volunteers have been working literally around the clock to bring you an amazing conference experience this year. Some of the awesome reasons to attend in person: - 21 outstanding speakers on a wide variety of topics - meet your favorite authors and have a chance to talk with them - enjoy a diverse lunch menu created by Utah Celebrations - explore new books to bring home from our on-site bookstore - get special discounts on brand new books, like Mike Ash's book Rethinking Revelation and the Human Element in Scripture: The Prophet’s Role as Creative Co-Author - hear from up-and-coming apologists you haven't heard from before - enjoy live musical performances from the Spark Singers and Allie Gardner - and so much more! This is a great opportunity to enjoy a conference experience that's been put together to educate and enrich - and it's also a great way to support FAIR! Please attend in person if you can - but if that's not an option, streaming is also available and blesses both you and FAIR. We've done everything we can think of to make this the best conference ever. All we need now is the most important part - we need you! Register today! Thank you for your interest in and support of FAIR! See you at Conference Edited July 28, 2021 by Calm 2 Link to comment
Calm Posted May 28, 2021 Author Share Posted May 28, 2021 I may have to watch the Netflix series again on Hofmann because I had some questions and now I might be able to ask them of Mayfield...only I can’t remember them as usual. 1 Link to comment
Calm Posted May 28, 2021 Author Share Posted May 28, 2021 The venue is the same as last year, about a block north of the Utah Valley Hospital. I wonder if that place that had fantastic Korean pancakes is still nearby. Link to comment
Robert F. Smith Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 1440 N Moon River Dr, Provo, UT 84604 Just to the north of Macey's Market https://goo.gl/maps/JCpoc3XDZhjEVgm87 1 Link to comment
Calm Posted June 1, 2021 Author Share Posted June 1, 2021 (edited) The info available so far is in the quoted material in my post. Updates will be posted here: https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/conference/august-2021 Edited June 1, 2021 by Calm Link to comment
JLHPROF Posted June 1, 2021 Share Posted June 1, 2021 (edited) DEL - Bob beat me to my question. Edited June 1, 2021 by JLHPROF Link to comment
Stargazer Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 On 5/28/2021 at 7:21 AM, Calm said: Info is here: https://fairlatterdaysaints.org/store/product/2021-fair-conference If you have questions, just ask and I will try and find out. Also will try and pay attention to updates and post them here as well. Please keep thread focused on the Conference. This info is from the email sent out, I am not seeing it online yet, but only looked in one spot... I have signed up virtual only for on demand... because I can't be there, and the time zone problem is insurmountable. And it's cheaper anyway. What's the deal with "Sustaining Membership"? The monthly cost is $12/month, but the annual is $150! That means one saves money by doing it monthly because it's $6 cheaper overall that way. Isn't the usual thing in such matters to get a price break for buying an annual membership? I would have thought the annual would be something like $120, thus encouraging potential supporters to buy the annual! 3 Link to comment
Calm Posted June 3, 2021 Author Share Posted June 3, 2021 9 hours ago, Stargazer said: I have signed up virtual only for on demand... because I can't be there, and the time zone problem is insurmountable. And it's cheaper anyway. What's the deal with "Sustaining Membership"? The monthly cost is $12/month, but the annual is $150! That means one saves money by doing it monthly because it's $6 cheaper overall that way. Isn't the usual thing in such matters to get a price break for buying an annual membership? I would have thought the annual would be something like $120, thus encouraging potential supporters to buy the annual! I will bring that up. Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 It would appear the organization has gone back to the old name FAIR. I’m glad. I never did like the “FairMormon” contrivance. Link to comment
Calm Posted June 5, 2021 Author Share Posted June 5, 2021 Not the old name, just the old abbreviation with a twist. FAIR Latter-day Saints... FAIR for Faithful Answers, Informed Response. Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 15 minutes ago, Calm said: Not the old name, just the old abbreviation with a twist. FAIR Latter-day Saints... I see that in the URL but not so much in other usages. And I noticed that the corporate name (as distinguished, I suppose, from the brand name), still seems to be the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research. I’m glad for that too. I don’t share others’ antipathy for the word “apologetics” as denoting “defense.” Link to comment
Calm Posted June 5, 2021 Author Share Posted June 5, 2021 (edited) 4 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said: I see that in the URL but not so much in other usages. It is a bit clunky. I don’t know what we will eventually settle on. I am guessing probably just FAIR in casual conversation and the logo otherwise. We likely would have changed the official name, but I believe there is a legal difficulty. I am guessing from comments most of us are tired of having to explain that apologetics is not apologizing and would be happy to drop it. Edited June 5, 2021 by Calm Link to comment
Vellichor Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 There used to be an option of buying a ticket for just one day. Three days is quite a lot for some of us working folks. Any chance that option will be added? On a similar note, why isn't it ever scheduled over Saturday? Link to comment
Calm Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 (edited) That is weird. Could have sworn I saw single day only options. Maybe not for the early bird special? Will check. Added: I am guessing because there is limited seating due to Covid, they will be giving people who want to attend all three days first chance to avoid the hassle and greater costs of filling up on one or two days, but not the full conference. Single day may open up in that case closer to conference if we don’t max out. I can’t remember why we don’t do Saturdays, I am guessing it is because many, many involved have church callings and need to use Saturday to get back home. Juliann might be a better source for this as she is a founding member/was a board member till recently. Edited June 7, 2021 by Calm 1 Link to comment
Calm Posted June 8, 2021 Author Share Posted June 8, 2021 (edited) On 6/3/2021 at 6:38 AM, Stargazer said: What's the deal with "Sustaining Membership"? The monthly cost is $12/month, but the annual is $150! That means one saves money by doing it monthly because it's $6 cheaper overall that way. Isn't the usual thing in such matters to get a price break for buying an annual membership? I would have thought the annual would be something like $120, thus encouraging potential supporters to buy the annual! It has been fixed, monthly is $13, annual $150. Thanks for pointing that out. Edited June 8, 2021 by Calm Link to comment
juliann Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 20 hours ago, Vellichor said: There used to be an option of buying a ticket for just one day. Three days is quite a lot for some of us working folks. Any chance that option will be added? On a similar note, why isn't it ever scheduled over Saturday? We did it on Saturday once and it was poorly attended. Link to comment
Tacenda Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 I think I may have to check it out. Saw some interesting ones for people of my faith status. Link to comment
Calm Posted June 10, 2021 Author Share Posted June 10, 2021 (edited) We are apparently having some sort of link issue*** for tickets. It will be taken care of as soon as possible. This link hopefully works: https://fairlatterdaysaints.org/store/product-category/2021_fair_conference Another way would be to go to the menu on the main website, go to the bookstore and then through the category link, click on conference in case you do it later and don’t want to come back here. I haven’t tried purchasing tickets, so there might be a further glitch (not sure if that one got fixed yet or not). I will try and track when it gets fixed to let you know if there is. ****The register now link on the main website goes to google. Edited June 10, 2021 by Calm Link to comment
Calm Posted June 16, 2021 Author Share Posted June 16, 2021 (edited) This was sent out by Scott, our president a few days ago as part of our newsletter. Thought some might be interested. It includes discussion about false claims made by a critic about our finances recently. Quote What is FAIR? I find that some people are very confused about what FAIR is and what we do. First of all, we know that there are several organizations that use the term "FAIR." For us, it stands for Faithful Answers, Informed Response. We are a group of volunteers. Yes, that’s right – volunteers. We don’t have a staff of customer service people to make things happen. We have two people that work for us. They help organize our volunteers, organize our conference, do our accounting, and mail out books. Because the rest of us are volunteers, we often move more slowly than I like. But we do our best. What do we do? People send us questions via emails and we try to answer them. We keep all names confidential. We have even received emails from some in the former Latter-day Saint community, but again, we keep the names confidential. The volunteers answer the emails. Some of those answers, stripped of all identifying material, are posted on our website. Find Answers We put on a conference each year. We try to invite speakers we think will be interesting to the Latter-day Saint community. Often, they speak on current issues, and other times they speak on history. I am really excited about this year’s conference. You really won’t want to miss it. 2021 FAIR Conference We operate a bookstore. We have tried to collect books that are of interest to the community. We focus on books related to history and doctrine, so you won’t find any novels with us. FAIR Bookstore (fairlatterdaysaints.org) We operate a YouTube video channel. Currently, the channel carries previous conference talks, and occasional videos that are put together by us, or by other organizations that are willing to share. FAIR - Faithful Answers, Informed Response - YouTube We have a blog/podcast with lots of interesting information. We have many who follow one of our podcasters, Hanna Seariac. If you haven’t listened to her yet, you should! Blog - FAIR (fairlatterdaysaints.org) This year, in addition to our regular blog material, we are supplementing the Come Follow Me curriculum. Come, Follow Me - Doctrine & Covenants, Church History - FAIR (fairlatterdaysaints.org) Quote What are we not? One former Latter-day Saint, who has made a career out of being a podcaster and internet influencer, recently created a long podcast where he tried to describe FAIR’s creation, mission, and financing. He made several statements that I can only categorize as dishonest. I say that because the information he gave was based on innuendo, was easy to verify using public documents, or was misleading. His organization pays him over $200,000 per year to produce these podcasts. It is difficult to believe that he doesn’t have the resources to complete a basic fact check on what he says. Contrary to his dishonest claims, we were not created by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church was not involved in the creation of our organization, nor did they encourage us to organize. Also, contrary to that podcaster’s claims, The Church was not involved in the creation of The More Good Foundation, The Interpreter, or Book of Mormon Central. All of these organizations were created by everyday people who felt there was a need. None of these organizations, including FAIR, were created with input from the Church. I included the other organizations here because I personally know the founders of these groups and don’t like to see them misrepresented. Again, contrary to the dishonest claims of that same podcaster, we don’t receive millions of dollars from the Church. He repeated this claim throughout his presentation. You don’t have to believe what I say about finances. You can view our public 990 tax forms here: Foundation For Apologetic Information And Research Inc - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica The podcaster repeatedly stated that people should correct him if he is wrong. I am surprised that nobody in his audience looked at our 990s and corrected him. It only takes 30 seconds to see that he is incorrect. He pointed out that 990 tax forms are public, so I have a hard time believing it was an ignorant mistake. In our 24-year history, we have received two donations from the More Good Foundation, the most recent in 2018. The other organization that has given us donations is the United Way. Other than that, individuals or family charities donate to us, many in very small amounts. We appreciate those donations as they keep us afloat. We are not the greatest fundraisers. If you like what we do, please consider donating. It does cost money to pay our two employees and do what we do. Next, that podcaster combined the total funding from several organizations including FAIR, both big and small, and compared that total amount with his personal $200,000+ salary. He talked about the millions of dollars of resources as if they were available to FAIR. First, revenue does not equal salary. Secondly, the entire presentation is flawed. For a comparison, let’s combine the revenue of Intel, Samsung, Hewlett Packard, and Nick and Tony’s local computer repair shop together and then have a discussion on how rich and powerful Nick and Tony must be because the combined group brings in millions of dollars. It is dishonest to do that. I’m amazed people bought into his argument. I know they did because they emailed me demanding answers. Contrary to claims of that podcaster, the "LDS Church" doesn’t use us to spread misinformation. He makes the claim, "’Newer churches sometimes feel less comfortable with full information and with open/honest dialogue." He then shows The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Church of Scientology. The claim offends me in a couple of ways. First, he provides no evidence that The Church feels "less comfortable" with full information. There is a lot of evidence to the contrary—just think Joseph Smith papers. And secondly, we at FAIR try to make our information as accurate and open as possible. We deal with difficult topics. We believe that open dialogue is the best way to handle it, and we have done that since our beginnings. When, on occasion, misstatements have been pointed out to us, we try to immediately correct them. We are honest and transparent in all that we do. We back up our claims with footnotes. We check things with historians. The Church of Jesus Christ links to us as an alternative source of information from a non-affiliated group. Concluding thoughts. We do our best to provide the best information possible. We hope to be a place where you can fact check any claims, no matter what your belief in the Church might be. We hope that you find our services valuable. We get thank you emails from time to time, and we really appreciate those. The only payment our volunteers receive is from receiving your thanks. We look forward to many more years of providing truth against the false claims that continue to be repeated by a few internet influencers who seem to have no other purpose than to attack the Church or use misinformation to drag people away from the Church and their families. Why do they do it? I’m not sure. But I think that $200,000 salary plays a role. Edited June 16, 2021 by Calm 1 Link to comment
latterdaytemplar Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 Thank you for sharing this. This is the first time that I will have had the opportunity to attend one of their conferences. Link to comment
Calm Posted June 19, 2021 Author Share Posted June 19, 2021 (edited) Outdated info… Edited June 29, 2021 by Calm 1 Link to comment
Calm Posted July 10, 2021 Author Share Posted July 10, 2021 (edited) Good chance we will be sold out this year. Quote 20 Tickets Left - Get Yours Now! Tickets are limited! There are only 20 tickets left, so if you’ve been waiting to buy a ticket you might want to act fast! If you haven’t been able to make up your mind, maybe we can sweeten the deal for you – conference attendees will be able to purchase Mike Ash’s new book Rethinking Revelation and the Human Element in Scripture: The Prophet’s Role as Creative Co-Author for only $24.95 -- $10 off the retail price! (Plus - no shipping!) You’ll also have a chance to get your book signed by the author. As a reminder, the 2021 FAIR conference is limited to 300 attendees. Each in-person ticket will be good for all three days of the conference, and lunch is included in the price of the ticket. Tickets will remain on sale through July 31 or until tickets sell out, whichever comes first. At this point, it looks like tickets will sell out first! Don’t wait! You won’t want to miss this conference! We have some sponsorship spots available if you would like to sponsor this year’s conference. You can find the sponsorships here. We’ve also reserved a bank of rooms at the SpringHill Suites in Provo, available at a special rate for the conference. Please use the link below to access the FAIR rate! (Click here to view the property and its’ amenities.) Book your group rate for 2021 FAIR Conference Last Day to Book: 2021 Jul 20, Tue SpringHill Suites Provo… I cut the last bit off, couldn’t get it to select. Best to go to website. Edited July 10, 2021 by Calm 1 Link to comment
Popular Post Brant Gardner Posted July 19, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted July 19, 2021 On 6/3/2021 at 6:38 AM, Stargazer said: I have signed up virtual only for on demand... because I can't be there, and the time zone problem is insurmountable. And it's cheaper anyway. What's the deal with "Sustaining Membership"? The monthly cost is $12/month, but the annual is $150! That means one saves money by doing it monthly because it's $6 cheaper overall that way. Isn't the usual thing in such matters to get a price break for buying an annual membership? I would have thought the annual would be something like $120, thus encouraging potential supporters to buy the annual! It is the new FARMS (Faithful Answers, Remedial Math Skills).😃 6 Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 On 6/15/2021 at 9:38 PM, Calm said: This was sent out by Scott, our president a few days ago as part of our newsletter. Thought some might be interested. It includes discussion about false claims made by a critic about our finances recently. I wonder why Scott is preserving his anonymity. Link to comment
Recommended Posts