It's a tricky thing. There are some huge advantages to using music, but some quite significant mistakes, too. So here's your guide to utilizing music well, and preventing the important things can can go incorrect.
Why utilize music? A summary
Music is intended and developed to be a psychological phenomena. That indicates you can utilize it to move and boost moods in your audience before your presentation ... and during it or after it if you like!
smiley face
Unsure it works? Never been to the movies then! This basic example tampers a scary scene.Want to move the atmosphere towards more favorable? Include positive music! Want your audience to be a bit more contemplative, use slower, mild background music. It truly is as basic as that.
Simply put, you can utilize music to work on your audience's feelings in the exact same method as excellent slides can do, aesthetically. The downside of music is that you can't actually utilize it by itself, unlike good slides, however the advantage of that is that you can utilize it in the background, together with other things.
Pro-tip. Don't utilize it for things like "trying to get individuals to find out more". As far as I can distinguish the research study documents I've read, that not really a thing even something people made up to offer to pregnant women who were desperate to give their infant a head start in life.
Given the pro-tip above, the very best things to do with music are emotional adjustment of your audience-- I can't declare the following concepts are written in tablets of stone, however I have actually discovered them extremely useful over 12 years as a professional presenter. Environment prior to your discussion
As your audience arrive in dribs and drabs, it's easy for them to feel exposed and out of place. Many audiences can feel as worried about being in the audience as speakers feel about being at the front of the space! With that in mind, proper music can do wonders for making people feel welcome and offer the room a buzz or an environment prior to you begin your presentation.
empty discussion venue
It's most likely excessive of a cheat for lots of individuals, however I even understand one speaker who mixes in backgrounds of groups of people talking to provide an atmosphere! Machiavellian, I understand, but I need to admit it's extremely reliable. Wind up to the start of your presentation
This is something of a smart variation of the very first concept and it works like this. Start your background music with simply enough to have the right impact however nothing too obvious, however as the start of your discussion gets more detailed, move the design (or perhaps the volume) of the music so that it "constructs up". It's a strategy beloved of theatre directors, and with great factor-- due to the fact that it works. You can carefully build anticipation of what you're going to say with smart usage of the music.
A confidence booster for you Dr Who
I don't utilize work on music, 'cos I'm not that pompous but I do have pieces of music I like to hear played. Obviously your mileage will differ but hearing "I am the Doctor" constantly puts my head in an excellent place, ready to present. It's a great piece of music for me for a great deal of personal factors and I'm lucky that it works technically, too, as it's the right tempo for when I desire to utilize it, and sufficiently odd for it not to sidetrack individuals (see below).
I tend to include it in some pre-presentation play-lists, near to when the presentation is because of begin. Filler throughout your discussion
I'm not a substantial fan of this example, because it resembles lazy presenting, however there are times when it's totally appropriate to ask your audience to believe or speak amongst themselves. A slide with background music is a god-send for minutes like this.
It covers any embarrassment your audience members may feel in the beginning, it makes it appear like you're doing this deliberately and not as padding or in panic (believe me, I have actually seen discussions that do both of these!). alarm clocks for timing your discussion during wedding rehearsals
What's more, it works as a timer! You can inform your audience that you're only going to give them 3 minutes however getting them to stop at the end is something of a shocker for them. However if you have actually got a three minute piece of music that clearly signifies the end of the three minutes as it approaches, it's very helpful. (A countdown timer on your screen works, but it's a bit officious/crude however likewise less reliable-- anyone looking at the countdown timer isn't looking at their partner in the audience!) What can fail with music in your discussions-- let's talk logistics
acoustic wave - recording of me rehearsing a discussion Let's start with the apparent. If you can't make the music play well you're worse than squandering your time. Bad-sounding music will reverse all the advantages about music in your discussion. In fact it's even worse, due to the fact that it actively annoys people and makes them believe you're not technically skilled. (And sadly the Oppenheimer effect can eliminate your discussion if that takes place.) The majority of projectors and laptops will take music and play it. You require to have the ideal cables and figure out to how to utilize the damned things (they're all different!) to be able to control the volume and so on, however ... ... but the sound quality they have isn't always practical to your presentation. Something small and without any bass will stress people.
My guidance is two-fold:
arrive well in advance of your audience (not simply before your presentation time, however ahead of your audience!) with adequate time to evaluate thing
take your own speakersbluetooth speaker for your discussion's music
Let's speak about that second idea for a minute-- little, portable, bluetooth speakers can provide an actually great sound these days and it's something you can test and set up in the convenience of your own office before you go to the location. You're not reliant on the place's kit.
Pro- pointer-- don't instantly have the speaker right at the front, beside your computer system. That might be the right place to put it, but for lots of places a better location is on a chair or a desk a couple of rows into background music for presentation the audience. That way the noise carries better to individuals at the back. (It also looks slicker-- so you at least appear like you know what you're doing! )
The less apparent presentation problem-- psychology