Music can help set the mood in your presentation

When I was flying home Tuesday night from St. John’s, I was tired after speaking the two days and instead of pulling out my laptop, I plugged in my noise cancelling earphones and watched a light hearted movie. After the movie, I tuned in to the preview of the XM Satellite channel The Highway, which is a New Country channel. I like country music and listening to great tunes by Carrie, Toby, Reba, Taylor and Kenny picked me right up (if you aren’t into country music and don’t recognize the artists, don’t worry).

One of the amazing things about music is that it can set the mood in your presentation. If you want to use music, make sure you use it properly. First, make sure you have proper permission to use the music. You can search for royalty free music that allows you to play the music without paying a royalty each time you use it. If you want to use a popular song, make sure you have the proper license from one of the licensing organizations such as ASCAP or BMI in the U.S. or SOCAN in Canada. You don’t want to risk your reputation by getting caught using a song without permission.

In most cases, a full song is too long and will interrupt the flow of your presentation. Select a 15 to 60 second clip that contains the key beat or words you want to use in the presentation. You can use a free audio editor such as Audacity to cut out the section you want and save it as an MP3 or WAV file that can easily be incorporated into your PowerPoint presentation.

Music isn’t appropriate for every presentation, but where it can help put the audience in a certain mood, consider it. It’s almost the weekend, so fire up your favorite tunes and get inspired for your next presentation!