Using Two Types of Music to Supercharge Your Presentations

by | May 23, 2019

At our company, the strategic use of music is so engrained in us that when we don’t hear music integrated into a meeting or presentation setting, it truly makes our skin crawl! Over the years, we’ve experienced first-hand the power music has to create a vibe amongst an audience and increase the odds of knowledge retention, so we always try to use its power to our advantage!

Here are the two most powerful ways we incorporate music into every presentation we’re a part of… 

1. We use Top 40-style “pop” music for walk-ins and walk-outs.

Have you ever thought about what the term “pop” stands for? It might seem like a simple question, but let’s play it out: “Pop” stands for “popular,” which means liked, which means known, which means familiar. And it just so happens that familiarity is one of the best feelings you can create to reduce the tension of participants and their environment. Think about it: Isn’t it comforting to walk into a potentially nerve-wracking meeting, presentation, doctor’s appointment, job interview, or first date and hear a song playing in the background that you know?

That phenomenon is why, at every presentation or experience we facilitate, we play current pop songs when our participants are walking in, all the way up to the time we decide to begin. Then, when we wrap up the experience, we immediately turn the pop music back on to create a relaxed/comfortable vibe when our participants are exiting the environment.*

*Your participants don’t have to like the music for it to make them feel comfortable!

Here are a few tips for integrating pop music into your arsenal:

Curate your music least once per month.

Do a weekly or monthly perusal of the “top songs” charts on your preferred music source (iTunes, Spotify, etc.). Start from number one and work your way down the list, adding/purchasing the ones that sound appropriate for your intended audience.

Review the lyrics.

Hearing an unexpected f-bomb from your iPod in front of a conservative corporate audience is the stuff of nightmares! The safe play is to review all of your song lyrics ahead of time. Services like AZlyrics.com will give you what you need in mere seconds. And if you’re only concerned about one or two words but otherwise love a particular song, simply snag the “clean” version—the one without the explicit “E” logo. 

Keep the volume up.

For walk-ins and walk-outs, you typically want to create an upbeat, positive energy. Keeping your music on the higher end of the spectrum can help with this, and it will also help you effectively transition once it’s time to start and you turn the music off. Just make sure the music isn’t so loud that you can’t carry on a conversation with your attendees.

2. We use steady-tempo “chill” music during activities.*

*When we say “activities,” we’re referring to any moment in a meeting or presentation when the facilitator ceases talking and releases the participants to do something on their own—an individual exercise, a group roundtable discussion, a team competition, etc.

Hundreds of studies over the years have attempted to analyze the link between music and learning. While it remains a hotly debated and highly nuanced topic, it’s safe to say that certain types of music in a classroom setting tend to increase learning, knowledge retention, and test scores for the majority of students. The key, though, is in the type of music that you play during activity time. 

Here’s the protocol we follow:

Always instrumental.

By eliminating vocals from the equation, you ensure your participants won’t get distracted by what’s being said and can instead focus on what they are trying to do. The “chill” genre is our number one source for this type of music.

Always between 60-80 beats-per-minute (BPM).

Why? 60-80 BPM is a common resting heartrate range for adults. Pairing environmental music tempo with the human heartrate has been provento have a calming effect. Another reason why we prefer to use “chill” songs as opposed to “classical” songs.

Never anything with a 3/4 time signature.

If you aren’t a music guru, no worries—here are some examples of songs with what’s known as the Waltz Time Signature. This type of irregular beat can be distracting for listeners. Best to avoid it altogether!

Beyond the power of increasing the odds of learning, we also know from experience that in a corporate-type environment (think: project status meeting, formal presentation, or capabilities presentation), adding steady-tempo instrumental music during down-periods or activity times certainly feels more natural. (It’s super weird—kind of Office Space-like, actually—to release participants for a two-minute individual activity with nothing but silence in the background. Yikes!)

Conclusion

Music is a very powerful tool that you can use to build immediate and sustained connection with your audience during a presentation. Try implementing our two tips—pop music for walk-ins/walk-outs and steady-tempo instrumental music for activities—to make you and your team look more polished and create a more positive learning environment for your attendees. They’ll be tapping away, and having more positive overall experiences, in no time!