I would add one word of warning to Echo's advice: Whatever sound you do use,
set up some time to play it clear through several loops before the
presentation. Think about how annoying hold music gets... You don't want
your audience getting annoyed at your background music, especially if it is
going to be playing for a period of more than 5 minutes at any given
stretch.
What I do when a client insists on background music, but wants me to pick
something low-cost (no-cost): I play the music in my office for a half hour
or so while I am working. If the music doesn't get annoying or overly
repetitive, I package the music and presentation together and send it to the
client. I ask them to have someone play it in the background of their office
for 15 minutes at a time a couple of times a day (as a test). If no one
there complains about the music, then we go with it. You won't always have
the time or ability to set up the second half of this test, but you should
be able to make time to do the first half.
Just my two cents, take or leave as you desire.
--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint
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Echo S said:
Maybe use a subtle background sound loop, then. Since PPT doesn't synch
music and slides well at all, it's important that you don't try to match up
specific parts of the music (drumrolls, what have you) to specific
animations on specific slides -- it just won't work. You'll end up
frustrated, and your client/bosses probably won't be happy. So I'd just go
for something simple as a background track. I'd probably also not use
anything "familiar" to the audience, as all music has connotations for all
the different audience members. Plus you'd have the issue of copyrights and
usage fees.
http://www.flashkit.com has a lot of sound loops available (some freeware,
some shareware, some just demos), They're usually pretty short, but some
would work well to loop as a background. A search for royalty free
background sound on Google turns up quite a few possibilites as well.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=royalty+free+background+sound
Or just put a decent jazz CD in and play it over the speakers while the PPT
file runs.
Also, don't forget that if you want music with this thing, you'll need to
have some kind of audio system set up so the audience can actually *hear*
it. The computer speakers aren't going to do the trick here.
--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Rikk said:
So any good info out there or am I winging it????
That's different. If your superiors have asked for it, they are your
customers and the customer is always right.
Maybe corporate isn't the right word.
This will be a business casual meeiting of branch managers from 20
locations. 60 people in all. We are in the Diesel Engine business
so
it
isn't a suit and tie-boardroom kind of affair. I am not looking
for
