Speaking for myself, I can think of two reasons:Hagothsen wrote:So then, why is it that Sake Conference needs be more private than say, the Priesthood Session of General Conference?
I'm not saying I know better than our leaders. I know recording Stake Conference is not allowed, even forbidden. So I humbly ask, why? (We're allowed to do that now.)
Handbook 2: 2.1.1 on Priesthood keys: "The President of the Church delegates priesthood keys to other priesthood leaders so they can preside in their areas of responsibility. .... This presiding authority is valid only for the designated responsibilities and within the geographic jurisdiction of each leader’s calling." So while there may be much said that would be good to hear, any inspiration is valid and binding only on that stake and not the general membership of the church. The keys to speaking to the world rests with the First Presidency and the Twelve.
Secondly, the church takes doctrinal purity quite seriously. Talks for General Conference are prepared and shared ahead of time - if nothing else to help the translators and Closed Captioning to be prepared. I suspect they're also vetted for any false doctrine. Most of the speakers are from the Twelve, Seventy, Presiding Bishopric, or heads of Auxiliaries. On the other hand, Stake conferences frequently have members of the stake speaking on an assigned topic, but no one has reviewed their talk ahead of time.
But ultimately, it's a question of obedience. We've been given the principles and asked to follow them.