Devan Jensen is the president of the LDS Publishing & Media Association. What is it exactly, and who is it for? Devan will introduce us to the group, and even give it 2 discount codes to attend meetings in October.
Devan: I’m Devan Jensen and I work in Church publishing. I’m an editor and a writer, and I have been doing this for almost 30 years. So, I have a fair bit of experience working with a lot of authors in various areas, including the Mormon History Association and others. I’ve really had fun with a range of Church publishing experiences.
GT: Good, and you’re the president of…
Devan: Oh, yeah, the Latter-day Saint Publishing and Media Association, LDSPMA.
GT: I just joined.
Devan: Oh, fantastic, glad you joined, it’s free. I hope others will join, because it’s a great way to sort of amplify your voice and network with people who are interested in sort of like-minded things. Basically, a way to connect. We have a monthly networking lunch, through zoom, and we basically just share tips to help people hone their craft and improve their skills and hopefully share light and truth with the world.
GT: Well, yeah. So, tell us a little bit more about that. I actually have some other podcasters that listen, that might want to join.
Devan: I love it.
GT: I know you have a Facebook page, tell us more about that.
Devan: Sure, you visit LDSPMA.org. You can just sign up for free. We send out maybe one or two newsletters a month, just short, basic things. This networking lunch has been a fun way to connect with people. Then, we have our annual conference. That’s kind of our big event that we do. That will be October 7th through 9th this year, at the BYU Conference Center. What we’re going to do with this is we’re going to have both a gathering in-person and a virtual portion. Some people are away from the Wasatch Front, and so it may be difficult for them to gather or for health reasons they may not want to gather. But, we’re going to do it safely. We’re going to have a great event, I believe. We’re going to have, I think, if I’m not mistaken, we’re about 300 people signed up right now, it might get up to 400.
GT: Yeah, after they listen to this.
Devan: Exactly, you’re helping boost our signal, my brother. We love gathering. We’ve got tracks, several tracks. We’ve got podcasting, we’ve got multimedia stuff, we’ve got TV stuff, much of it is true traditional print, like editing and publishing and design. But here’s some of our folks. We’ve got Alex Boye, who’s going to speak to us about his craft, all the things he’s learned as a performer.
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GT: Steve’s a good guy, that’s for sure. Are you going to record it or can people watch it after the fact?
Devan: Yes, we will record it and it will be available for about a month and a half, till November 21st, I believe is the date that people can watch it.
GT: Okay.
Devan: So, there is a little bit of a window. I’ll also give you two codes. If you’re a student, student2021 will work and if you’re a friend of LDSPMA, it’s friend2021. Those are to give you some money off of the normal registration fee. Again, we’re free to join the organization and hopefully we’ll find some value.
GT: The conference costs a little money.
Devan: The conference does cost a little money. So, I want to make that clear. But, it’s a way to sign up and learn some stuff and hone your craft.
Devan tells more about his background in editing, and other things about LDSPMA. Check out our conversation….
