HOW TO ADD SOUND EFFECTS TO YOUR POWERPOINT! Part I

ATTENTION, POWERPOINTERS!!
I recently Googled “PowerPoint,” “Presentations,” and “Conference Presentations” to make sure I am not spewing material you could obtain elsewhere. I’m NOT. However, I encourage you to peruse Microsoft’s recommendations and those by other “experts” on communication principles with PowerPoint.
THEIR INTENT is: To present a nice, neat, semi-interesting, professional presentation of important information.
OUR HERO’S INTENT is (Watch out! Are ya ready?): To deliver the same information while connecting, engaging, exciting, motivating, and, maybe even, inspiring your audience so that their presentation experience with you is unforgettable and the information memorable. Your audience should be on the edges of their uncomfortable seats, not relaxed and passive in a beach lounger. That’s kinda like teaching, but without the students, although I recommend the same approach in the classroom.

DISCLAIMER:
My suggestions in these blogs will blow the traditional PowerPoint recommendations to smithereens. Will I violate the rules? You bet. They will be shredded, ground into pulp, and smashed into PowerPoint road kill. (Note: I apologize for the violence in this disclaimer. Sometimes I get carried away.) For example, I tried the recommended traditional, one color slide-same font approaches. Guess what? The slides were as boring as the content on them. (Sidebar: As a former freelance photographer, I learned early on that if a picture doesn’t elicit some feeling [positive or negative] by the viewer, then it should be discarded as ineffective.)
NEW RULE FOR POWERPOINT: That rule should apply to our PowerPoint slides. Our audience should be emotionally involved in our presentation. That begins with the slides. A spiritless, unemotional reaction to our slides is totally unacceptable. If my strategy is making you nervous or you already started throwing up in this 1st paragraph, you might want to get a vomit bag or close this blog.
BERK'S GOAL: To arm you with the tools to create break-the-mold presentations, not create a moldy audience as they drift into a coma.
BERK'S AUDIENCE ASSUMPTIONS: I assume every audience to whom I present has better things to do with its valuable time than attend my session. The cynics and know-it-alls are thinking: “Tell me something I DON’T already know.” The students probably have the attention span of goat cheese and mentally operate at “twitch speed.”
THE CHALLENGE: Open the presentation with a bang and sustain that bang or you’ll lose them. It’s opening night on Broadway!

5. SOUND EFFECTS
We’re now past the point of no return in our Top 10 strategies to energize your PowerPoint presentations. These last 5---sound effects, music clips, video clips, engagement activities, and humor---comprise the heavy artillery when coupled with custom animation and other techniques described in my previous blogs. Enough fooling around. Let’s get to our topic: using heavy artillery in your PowerPoint.

WHY SOUND EFFECTS? What do they contribute? What is the outcome they produce? A 1 to 2 second sound effect added to an animated title, line, or word can grab attention, produce laughter, instantly engage one’s visual and auditory senses, and simply add pop to content. It is totally unexpected. The element of surprise is critical to the effects.

SOURCES: There are several sources to consider:

1. Internet---The best part of this technique is that there are 1000s of effects available for free on the Net. Just Google “sound effects.” If you want specific effects, Google the effect, such as tire screech.
2. PC Software---Sound effects are often included with the 500 pieces of software installed on your desktop or laptop when you buy it. Although you won’t use 495 of those, the sound effects are useful. If you just want to test out a variety of effects, peruse the categories of effects on the software and listen.
3. PP Software---There are also effects in your PowerPoint software. Click Insert at top, the click Sound from Clip Organizer from dropdown. These effects can be inserted directly into your slides.

WHICH EFFECTS SHOULD YOU PICK? When you hear the effect cold, that’s how your audience will hear it. The effects that hit you on 1st impression may also hit your audience that way. Feel the emotional impact. If you don’t feel anything, your audience may not either. Check out the effects and built a pool of possible effects. Get feedback on these effects from colleagues or family members.

My next blog will list my fave sound effects, plus the steps to insert the effects into your slides.

COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC