The best music for corporate events could be created by your attendees. This may seem strange but in fact, it’s not so out of reach.
Why should you care? If you’ve ever helped plan a meeting or conference, you’ve probably taken part in discussions about song selections; when to feature music, whether to hire a band, etc. Music sets the tone, keeps things moving and helps people relate; both to each other and to your conference.
So, you already know the value music has. But you’ve probably never considered that the best music can really be created by everyone at your event. Let me explain…
The Impact of Music at Corporate Events
Imagine hundreds of people walking into a conference room with no background music. You’d hear papers shuffling, chairs moving, undefined chatter, the dings of emails hitting inboxes and water glasses clanking. If this sounds disjointed, it is.
Now imagine the same conference room alive with high energy music as people walk through the doors. The music you pick will set the mood. It will draw people in. Song selection can send specific messages, highlighting your goals and reinforcing your themes.
Choosing music for a corporate event is a necessary skill set for planners. Whether you’re a professional event planner, or an employee of your company who’s helping plan your meeting, you’ll be spending time thinking of genre, tempo, variety and relevance for the music at your conference. You’ll want to have musical selections that can help narrate the story you need to tell. You may be struggling to find live entertainment too.
What if instead of focusing on the band you need to hire or finding the perfect song, you created it yourself? If this still seems strange read on…
Tell Your Own Story – Through Song
Every organization has a story to tell. Your differentiator, your mission, your messaging and your corporate culture all influence how you and everyone around you talk about your company.
My company, Kidbilly Music, is fully engaged in helping organizations tell their stories through song. What if the center of your event became the music you make yourselves? Instead of parsing through dozens of songs trying to find the best one to align with your themes, you can actually make your own music.
- This could solve your playlist problems because you’ll be the playlist!
- This could solve your team activity problems because songwriting with your group will be the activity.
- This could solve your identity problems because you’ll be creating your themes – as memorable, relevant and fun songs. Isn’t it time you were your own hitmakers?
My personal bias aside, I’m seriously suggesting that the best music for your corporate event is actually created by your attendees. Here’s how this works…
Making Music and Magic Happen
1. Creating Your Music Before The Event –
Working with an accomplished hit songwriter, you’ll schedule a creative session well ahead of your main conference. This is usually done virtually, so no travel required!
You can choose a select group to join in and create your own song. You’ll explore themes, brainstorm ideas and watch those ideas become song lyrics. After the virtual session, have a professional recording made of your song to use as a conference theme song. No music could fit your conference better than a song created by your workforce. It’s a great way to express your key messages.
2. Creating Your Music With All Attendees –
As an alternate to a typical keynote address, an interactive song session will wake up up your conference. We’ve led interactive conference energizers for well over 1,000 people. With musicians on stage and moving throughout the crowd, we’ll source ideas from attendees in a fast paced musical brainstorm.
For large groups, we use an audience response system to ensure that everyone in the room is engaged. We develop Q&A based on pre-program information you send. The live in-room responses from attendees combined with answers to the programmed Q&A work together as song lyrics take shape.
This program culminates with everyone on their feet, singing along as you perform and record your song. This is a powerful way to build buy-in for your event and to create a high level of interaction between attendees.
3. Create Your Music As A Team Building Event –
If you’re planning on team building during your meeting, consider a music team building program. This program works well for small groups to groups of about 500 people. You’ll break into teams and spend time crafting song lyrics around your goals, your conference themes or corporate values. Actually, the focus of the songs can be anything you’d like them to be.
Once teams complete their songs, everyone gathers together for performances and competition. Imagine teams taking the stage to perform and compete. You’ll have the same feeling of energy and togetherness you would when attending a concert of your favorite band. But it’s on a whole new level, because you actually are the show. This is the ultimate way in which you can be the best music for your event.
The Best Music Winner is…You
The best reason to create your own music at your corporate event is because of the experience itself. Making music together is interactive, engaging and motivational. But there’s another benefit. The songs you create will become lasting take-aways.
Whether you create one song as a large group, or several songs in a team event, you’ll end up with powerful reminders of what you’ve accomplished. These songs will live on post conference. You’ll have recordings of original songs that tell your organizational story.
Songs remind us of the past, fill us with hope for the future and allow us to live in the moment. We all relate to music and song. Music creates connections that last for a lifetime.
What if some of those songs told the story of your work-life? What if you could have a company culture with more resonance? Sounds good, right?
Build music making into your next meeting or event and watch the magic happen.