During a seminary morningside this morning, a stake president relayed the experience of Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon through the use of a seer stone and a hat.
It was refreshing to hear a leader of some authority share a part of history that is overlooked and unknown.
I remember watching general conference live and hearing a GA (Elder Holland is who I remember) talk about Joseph Smith translate using a hat and a stone, in a session about 2006. I have since looked for the reference in the written reports, and it apparently has been scrubbed.
I can’t speak to your experience, but Russell M. Nelson spoke at the MTC on the topic in 1997.
http://www.lds.org/ensign/1993/07/a-treasured-testament