Playing ‘background music’ in virtual sessions – the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’
Why play music in a virtual training session or meeting?
It may seem a strange idea at first. However, there are plenty of reasons why having music in
the background for a virtual session – or at least part of the session – is a really good way to
energise, relax, calm and inspire your participants! (Or, if you’re lucky, sometimes all these
things happen at the same time.)
Some times when it is useful to play music in a virtual session:
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When you want to share a lot of points of information quickly, as a review activity –
information that is already familiar to participants, but of which they may need to be
reminded. You do not want to read out what is on the PowerPoint, of course – that would
be boring, especially if there are a number of slides to look at. Playing music in the
background while you show slides that people can look at together is a great alternative –
you show the PowerPoint with music in the background, and that way you avoid either
talking too much, or just asking people to read in silence.
When you want to bring renewed energy to a session where people are getting tired or
distracted. Music can do that very effectively, especially if there is something interesting
to look at visually on slides.
When you want to create a reflective atmosphere or calm mood. Playing music can help
people relax and think deeply, or even do some stretching and physical relaxation while
they are online.
When you want to encourage creativity, for example accompanied by a Whiteboard
activity. Usually people do this in silence, or with some conversation between them. This
can work fine, but if you want some time for individual inspiration, a musical soundtrack
helps people get writing and drawing their ideas.
You can really enliven lots of animations on a long slideshow if you time the animation to
hit the beat of the music. For this, you just need a steady hand (it is done manually!) and
to know the rhythm of the music. It is surprising how much more memorable and
engaging a lengthy set of slides can be if you arrange them to mark the rhythm of the
music.
If you are asking people to work individually for a period of time – say by doing some
research on the Internet via their browser, or through the Share Web Content function –
having the music playing can remind them that they are all working individually in the
same meeting, and keeps them connected more effectively than if there was merely
silence or the sound of typing.
Some times when it is not useful to play music
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When people need to have a conversation in order to do the activity – who wants to shout
over music?
When the music doesn’t ‘fit’ the activity – this is a matter of common sense. We should
not be playing a funeral march if we want people to come up with new ideas or build new
relationships online.
As a filler without any real learning behind it. It has to be coupled with effective content,
or an interesting activity, or people will disengage.
Preparation Steps
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Choose a You Tube video with a soundtrack that you like, and that ‘fits’ your
content/activity.
Copy the URL so that you have it handy.
When you open the session, before people have joined, you will need to have the video
ready to play as a music soundtrack.
You do this in the following way.
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SHARE Web Content
Enter the URL of the video clip into the browser space provided when you click SHARE
Web Content.
The video clip appears on the screen as a tab. When you click on the tab to open the
video, the video will appear to everyone.
Once the screen is opened, the video will usually start to play straightaway.
Here are some challenges to prepare for
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Often there is an advertisement, which annoyingly will play automatically when you launch
the music, and you do not want this.
You cannot control the audio level at which each participant will hear the video clip – they
have to use their own keyboard to control the audio. So it’s a good plan to warn them of
this, so people do not find themselves listening to the 1812 Overture (for example) at full
blast on their eardrums!
Once you click on the tab you have set up, the music will usually play straightaway so you
need to be ready for it, and to have the content you want to show (with the musical
accompaniment) ready to go.
You need to be ready, once you have the soundtrack running from the video, to show the
slides or whiteboard you have in mind as the activity. If you are using animated slides, and
want to fit the animation to the beat of the music, the timing needs to be rather precise.
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How to cope with these challenges
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Always make sure the You Tube video is set up in advance, so that you have the tab there
on screen when you need it.
Also keep the URL of the You Tube video handy on a separate e-document so that you can
cut and paste it in if for any reason you want to share the link with people – it can go in
the Chat Space. That way, in case this doesn’t work smoothly first time (there’s always
the risk!) people can access it in their own time after the session.
Also make sure the slides you want to show (or whiteboard, or whatever activity you have
planned with the music in the background) is uploaded and ready to go. You do not want
to waste time looking for slides once the music is running.
Very important this – run a slide before you open the video so people know exactly what
they have to do. This is important because actually people are individually responsible for
stopping and starting their own music with the SHARE Web Content option. In order for
this to happen as smoothly as possible, you should let people know they need to:
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Put themselves on mute
Start the video and SKIP ANY AD at the beginning.
When they have skipped the ad, to pause the video again.
Press Green Tick / Check to show they are all in the same place on the video.
People should stay muted. You are presenter (not muted) will then ask people to start
the video/music at the same time.
Everyone starts the video on their own screen.
The Presenter moves to the slide deck s/he wants to show and runs it with the music
in the background.
When the slides are finished, the presenter makes clear with a final slide or message in
Chat space that it is time to stop the video and unmute.
The presenter goes to the video tab again.
The presenter asks people via Chat space or via a screen note to stop the video.
When everyone has stopped the video, they use a green tick to show this.
Then they unmute themselves.
The session continues.
This may look like a long list of instructions! It takes far less time to actually do.
Why use SHARE Web Content for playing background music behind content?
The reason we prefer SHARE Web Content to open the You Tube link is because if the
presenter SHARES Web Browser (for example) to open the link, it means the presenter is in
charge of playing the video from his/her own screen, so that the music or audio on the video
will be played to people through the presenter’s speakers only – making the sound faint and
often inaudible. For the music video to play through each participant’s headset speakers, the
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SHARE Web Content enables individual control of the video for each participant, and thus they
hear the music individually through their own headsets.
When this way of playing music is useful / less useful
This method of running music in the background behind slides is most effective when you
have a group of people who have a certain level of proficiency in WebEx already and will be
able to control the video individually, as shown above. It is best for running music in the
background behind slides.
However, if you want to simply play some music via a video, and not show any other content
e.g. slides or a whiteboard, you will find it easier to embed your video within a slide, and
simply open the slide and run the video yourself, as presenter. That way you stay in control
of playing the video for everyone and there is no need to use the SHARE Web Content
function, because you already have your slide uploaded and ready to go. We have discussed
this approach in detail in a separate paper.
Reminder Tips
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Animations set to music: If you are showing slides with animations and want to fit
them to the music, simply move the animations along with the right arrow key at the
side of the tab, in time to the music.
Tell people what they will need to do in advance, before you start the video. Unless you
do this, there will nearly always be some confusion and if everyone is playing the video
without being muted, also a lot of noise.
Have the producer onside to help you. Your producer is an invaluable asset when
playing video in the background – s/he can instruct and support people individually if
necessary while you get on with showing the slides or other content you have ready.
And - Hey presto! As we Brits like to say.
While there are certainly other ways to play music behind slides or a Whiteboard (or any
other document) in WebEx TC, this is the only way we know which overcomes all the potential
challenges. One of the most common difficulties is that music may not play at the same time
for every participant – causing a terrible cacophony of noise potentially. This way, it is
synchronised for all and there is a ‘clean’ start and finish.
It’s a work in progress because Webex and other platforms becomes more sophisticated in
what they offer all the time. At the moment, this works best for us. If you like creating a
friendly relaxing atmosphere in training sessions, or conveying a presentation in a meeting
with some audio to give it energy, this could be a useful approach for you. Please let us know
how you get on, and good luck!
© Jude Tavanyar 2015
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