A timeline of BYU Women’s Conference at its 50th anniversary

BYU Women’s Conference began in 1976 as a relatively small student-led effort that reached 900 attendees.

Now, at its 50th anniversary, the three-day conference held this week on the BYU campus reached around 15,000 in-person attendees.

Here’s a timeline of the conference’s growth, history and milestones, plus five quick facts about the conference.

Dates and information were gathered from the Women of Light Legacy Hall held at the Wilkinson Student Center to commemorate 50 years of BYU Women’s Conference this week.

BYU Women’s Conference through the years

1976:

• The first conference was planned by the women’s office of a BYU student government organization then-known as ASBYU or Associated Students of Brigham Young University.
• The conference — planned for BYU students, faculty and staff — reached 900 attendees and offered nine sessions that repeated several times over three days.
• Sister Camilla E. Kimball, wife of then-church President Spencer W. Kimball, gave the first keynote address.

1977:

• The conference planning committee of 1977 invited mothers of female BYU students to attend with their daughters.
• The keynote address was delivered in the BYU Marriott Center for the first time and approximately 8,000 women attended.

1980-1981:

• Barbara B. Smith, the 10th general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gave the conferences’ keynote addresses.
• The conference was moved to the BYU women’s resources office and was overseen by BYU student volunteers and Ardeth Kapp, who later served as general president of the church’s Young Women organization.

1984:

• Then-BYU President Jeffrey R. Holland moved the women’s conference under the sponsorship of the President’s Office.

1990:

• The conference began to be co-sponsored by BYU and the church’s Relief Society.
• The conference’s planning committee included BYU faculty, representatives from the Relief Society general presidency and general board and community representatives.

1995:

• The conference was broadcast to stake centers in the U.S. and Canada for the first time.
• Conference information was also posted on the internet for the first time.

1998:

• Participants began to register electronically.

1999:

• The first-ever service projects were introduced with the goal of completing 1,999 service hours.
• The conference’s first “instant choir,” now a favorite tradition, was also introduced. It was composed of 581 conference attendees who participated in rehearsals and performed at the closing session.

2000:

• Conference enrollment reached 19,000 people.

2003:

• A track of sessions was presented in Spanish for the first time, and interpretation was provided for general sessions.

2004:

• A partnership with Deseret Book began to produce an evening concert featuring Latter-day Saint artists.

2012:

• Focus of service projects at the conference shifted from global to local.
• The conference gained an official presence on social media platforms.

2019:

• The first Sister-to-Sister panel discussion with general presidents of the church’s Relief Society, Young Women and Primary organizations was held. The discussion was live-streamed in multiple languages.

2020-2022:

• The in-person women’s conference was canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic regulations, and a small digital conference was held in 2020 instead.
• In 2021, a larger digital event was planned and featured messages from church leaders live-streamed from the BYU Marriott Center. A virtual choir was also organized, and record numbers of viewers joined the broadcast.
• No conference was held in 2022.

2023:

• The BYU Women’s Conference returned as an in-person event, featuring a new Wednesday evening addition.
• Young women (ages 11+) and their leaders were invited to participate in the Wednesday evening sessions for the first time.
• More than 1,800 young women attended.
• The conference was moved under the direction of BYU Continuing Education, with no outside sponsorship.

2024:

• New types of classes, such as Immersive Learning Sessions that are more interactive and learner-focused, were introduced.

2026:

• The conference celebrated its 50th anniversary with the theme “May We Arise and Shine Forth as Women of Light.”
• Approximately 15,000 people attended the conference, which offered 95 sessions and featured 165 speakers.
• Service projects, an art showing and a special anniversary session were among celebrations of the conference’s 50th anniversary.

5 quick facts about BYU Women’s Conference

1. President Dallin H. Oaks was BYU president when BYU Women’s Conference began in 1976 as a student-led effort. Fifty years later, he is now prophet-president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the university’s sponsoring institution.
2. The first BYU Women’s Conference reached 900 attendees. Today, the average number of people — both women and men — that attend the conference each year is about 12,000 to 13,000.
3. Wendy Watson, who later married the late church President Russell M. Nelson, chaired the BYU Women’s Conference in 1999 and 2000. She was instrumental in introducing the conference’s service component and was chair when the conference reached a record high of 22,000 attendees in 2000.
4. Approximately 110,000 people have attended BYU Women’s Conference in the past 50 years, and a total of 6,749 presenters have participated in the conference in 50 years.
5. A virtual choir of participants was organized in 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions. The choir sang in English and Spanish and featured women from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Japan, Portugal and more than 20 U.S. states.