Supercharge Your Event Playlists
One of my favorite things to do when I am producing a corporate meeting is to put together the walk-in and walk-out playlists for the event. Throughout a meeting it is not uncommon for audience members to stop by the tech table and ask about certain songs or to look at the playlist in my iPod.
In the coming months, our e-newsletters will feature a playlist from a recent meeting for your use or as a starting point to make your own.
At Esprit Productions, we believe in making the general session room a place where people want to be. Audiences like outstanding production, high definition graphics, beautiful staging and lighting, flawless execution, and great music as they enter and exit the room. This type of environment makes people feel good, and more open to learning and absorbing the message of the meeting. It creates an atmosphere of excitement. This entire package appeals to the right side of our brains, where the emphasis is more on intuition and emotion. The proper music sets the tone for the meeting. It gives the audience a sense of what to expect, in the same way a movie soundtrack adds to the emotion and feel of a scene as much as the actors and script do.
Here are some guidelines that I use when preparing a playlist:
- The walk-in/walk-out music should allow for people to talk. This is key networking time.
- My personal style of music includes a consistent or driving beat that has the feeling of moving forward. (My high school friends used to call these songs “Ronny Music.”)
- Never play a song that could be offensive to anyone in your audience.
- To determine the name of a song that you have heard, use the Shazam app on your smart phone. With only a small sample of music, Shazam can identify the song and provide you with the artist and title.
Here is a sample playlist structure that I have developed.
30:00 Minute Walk-in
- 0:00-20:00 minutes: Light jazz/techno/country
- 20:00-25:00 minutes: Rock/Pop
- 25:00 minutes: VO (Voice Over); 5 minute announcement to program start
- 25:00-30:00 minutes: “Kick-it-up-a-notch” songs such as “Sweet Disposition” by The Tender Trap and “Rolling in The Deep” by Adele.
30:00 Minute Walk-out and Walk Back-in from Break
- 0:00-5:00 minutes: First song after the last speaker should slowly dissolve up to allow the audience to have a few seconds to let what they just heard sink in. Keep it low at first so the audience can also talk or check voicemail. I like Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” for the first break.
- 5:00-15:00 minutes: Light jazz/techno
- 15:00-25:00 minutes: Rock/Country/Pop
- 25:00 minutes: VO; 5 minute warning to program start
- 25:00-30:00 minutes: Second “kick-it-up-a-notch” song. “Good Life” by One Republic and “Hold on Tight” by Electric Light Orchestra
10:00 Minute Walk-Out from General Session
- 0:00-10:00 minutes: Consider using a song that ties in with one of the session’s key messages. Otherwise, this song should not be overly loud, but louder than the break music selections.
Hope these tips help.
Rock on!
