We call this lengthy passage of scripture King Benjamin’s speech. Others have called it an address or a sermon. It could also be called King Benjamin’s ritual text or maybe King Benjamin’s revelation, or covenant text.
It is unlike a modern General Conference talk in several ways. Most Conference talks are shorter, and most do not pause for ceremonial actions. This speech is segmented into seven units, and King Benjamin added "Amen" at certain points along the way. Did something happen between each "amen" and the next segment?
In the book called Benjamin’s Speech: "That Ye May Learn Wisdom," which Stephen Ricks and I put together, several comments address the significance of the fact that these words were delivered at the temple in Zarahemla. As readers pay attention to temple-related words there, they discover that these temple elements run throughout the text. One serious reader, Paul Hyde, has identified 132 elements that identify it as a temple address. Elder Neal A. Maxwell has seen Benjamin’s text as a "manual for discipleship," establishing "the mysteries" by way of covenant (Mosiah 2:9), establishing loyalty to the laws of obedience, submissiveness, meekness, consecration, and loving kindness.
All readers of this text should note that Joseph Smith, at the normal rate of translation, did not have more than about a day and a half to bring forth this text. It is not as if Joseph could say, "I know that I need to write one of the greatest religious speeches ever given in the history of the world, so I will take several weeks or months to work on this." Speakers will labor long and hard over speeches of this magnificence, and certainly King Benjamin must have done so as well. Joseph did not have that luxury. When asked how he could do this, Joseph always answered, "by the gift and power of God."
Book of Mormon Central, "Why Is the Timing of the Book of Mormon’s Translation So ‘Marvelous’? (2 Nephi 27:26)," KnoWhy 506 (March 15, 2019).
John W. Welch and Stephen D. Ricks, eds. "Appendix: Complete Text of King Benjamin’s Speech with Notes and Comments," in King Benjamin’s Speech: "That Ye May Learn Wisdom" (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1998), 509–510.
Neal A. Maxwell, "King Benjamin’s Sermon: A Manual for Discipleship," in King Benjamin’s Speech: "That Ye May Learn Wisdom", ed. John W. Welch and Stephen D. Ricks (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1998), 1–21.