Setting the Right Mood: How Music Can Motivate Your Meetings

One effective way to achieve your goal is to play music. To deliver high energy meetings, music can set the stage for increased creativity and productivity by assuring a simple shift in moods.

© Jacob Lund / Adobe Stock

Activate creativity
According to a recent study, playing music at a moderate level during meetings has been proven to enhance attendees’ performance on creative tasks. This is because moderate noise is likely to induce the processing difficulty of the attendees – which activates their abstract cognition.

When playing music, just remember not to go too crazy with the volume; as the same research also established that higher volumes can affect creativity.

Combat exhaustion
Listening to music during a workout can help distract people from fatigue – allowing them to run, walk, bike or swim further and faster without even realising it. The same goes with meetings: music playing in the background can do the same to their work and productivity levels. This is a good thing, since there is a tendency to become bored and uninspired during meetings.

Conquer stress
Studies have also found that music has the ability to reduce stress – which is why many leisure businesses use music as therapeutic relief. You can also do the same during meetings to help keep your attendees cool, calm and collected.

Peak attendee performance
For your attendees to perform at the highest level during a meeting, consider cuing up some classical music. A study found that students who listened to classical music during a lecture scored higher on a multiple-choice questionnaire than students who did not listen to any music.

How to introduce music to meetings

Use music before the meeting and during breaks
• Turn on the music as you set up for the meeting or as you begin a break
• Turn off the music when you want the meeting to begin or reconvene

Use music along with visual aids as a review or summary.
• Prepare your meeting group for the summary
• Start the music and begin your review as planned
• Turn the music off when you have finished the summary

Always make sure that the music matches the theme of your presentation and the audience who are listening. Make sure you lower the volume when someone’s presenting – as an act of respect and also to prevent distraction and confusion.

Alternatively, if you decided you didn’t want to play any music at all but you still wanted to inject some energy into the attendees, you could consider breaking up the presentation with a slideshow with embedded music. Our meeting rooms in London are guaranteed to be tech-ready to back you up in your presentations. Call &Meetings today on 0800 073 0499 and start your meetings off on a good note!

Posted by Julie Tucker