Though playing music during a Zoom or Microsoft Teams meeting might not sound too complicated, it actually takes a bit of planning ahead, technical know-how, software, and equipment. Let's look at what you need to know before you commit to DJing a virtual meeting.
All too often, remote meeting rooms feel cold and quiet. Awkward silences abound, or people struggle to get into a conversational flow, creating outcomes where everyone is talking over one another.
This isn't just bad for business; it can also negatively affect morale, engagement, productivity, and the overall culture of your team.
One of the ways that you can really enrich your virtual meetings and help create a shared positive vibe is through music. Music can be a tremendously powerful tool to create and direct emotions, and you can tailor the type of music you're playing to the desired emotions and energy levels.
Music can be played at the start of a meeting, at the end of a meeting, when participants are doing individual reflections, and during breaks. Not only will incorporating music into your meeting help set the mood and change the overall tone, but it will also help all attendees recognize the meeting as a special event rather than just another interchangeable virtual meetup.
Though playing music during a Zoom or Microsoft Teams meeting might not sound too complicated, it actually takes a bit of planning ahead, technical know-how, software, and equipment. Let's look at what you need to know before you commit to DJing a virtual meeting.
Having a DJ for a virtual meeting might seem a bit strange to the uninitiated, but passing on the role of music provider to someone else can radically change the feel of a meeting. You'd be amazed how much some well-chosen tunes can transform the vibe of an online event– it can truly be like night and day.
Over and over again, research has found that listening to music can help to improve mood, memory, and mental alertness while reducing anxiety and stress. The impact of music on a group of people meeting virtually is something you have to see for yourself to believe. If you've been struggling with engagement in your virtual meetings, a live DJ might be precisely the ingredient you're missing.
How would you typically describe your virtual meetings? Are the participants cheery and positive, or does it seem like everyone is frankly getting a little burned out?
If you feel like you're pulling teeth just trying to get people to enthusiastically participate or even listen during meetings, music might be the missing ingredient. Listening to music boosts blood flow to parts of the brain that generate and deal with emotions, so you'll likely notice that incorporating a good virtual DJ into your next meeting will totally change the mood for the better.
If you've ever been working out and felt like you were dragging your feet, you might have reached for your headphones and put on some tunes. After just a few minutes, you realize that your energy levels have recovered, and you're feeling great again.
Having overly-laidback meetings where little gets done and hardly anyone shows any enthusiasm doesn't have to be the norm. You'd be amazed how music can change the way that participants feel, interact with one another, and relate to the content of the meeting.
For longer meetings, virtual DJs can be an awesome addition to help fill the gaps during breaks, between sessions, or during transitions.
Dull or awkward moments will be a thing of the past when you bring a DJ in to provide a seamless flow to your meetings. You'll find that participants are much less likely to get bored or distracted when there is downtime during the meetings when you have a live DJ, and engagement will be much higher.
If you struggle to get your team to fully engage during meetings, a DJ could totally flip the script on what your meetings feel like and consist of.
The atmosphere can be transformed from one that is relatively stale, mundane, and lifeless to one that is interactive and fun, keeping every participant entertained and engaged.
Among the many benefits of listening to music, you will be pleased to know that listening to music both helps people retrieve stored memories and create new memories.
If you feel like your meetings consist of information largely going in one ear and out the other, incorporating a virtual DJ might be just the thing you're looking for.
If your team has been burning the midnight oil recently or simply putting their all into a project, it's important to think about how you can support their overall well-being. Of course, everyone is going to encounter moments of stress in the workplace, but allowing your employees to work in a continuous state of stress is a well-known recipe for burnout.
At the same time, you likely can't afford to dedicate all of your time and resources to taking your team to wellness retreats or meditation centers. Hosting a virtual DJ over a remote meeting can be an excellent way to incorporate some of the therapeutic and relaxing effects of music into the workday without demanding that your whole team is taken away from work for an extended period of time.
Companies are increasingly aware of just how important having a healthy and appealing culture is when it comes to employee retention, productivity, and performance, not to mention organizational longevity and business results.
People that manage remote teams are then put in a particularly difficult spot– creating a strong and positive culture is important, but designing, promoting, and achieving a long-lasting sense of cultural cohesion among virtual workers can be very difficult indeed.
Managers and business owners that run remote teams have to be particularly attentive to crafting a healthy and happy workplace culture. While there are lots of things you can do to help create this outcome, one nice added touch is playing some music during your meetings either as a part of presentations or to break up the session and provide some transitional tunes.
Hiring a DJ means that you don't have to have your mind in two places at once– trying to run the meeting and get that song going at the precisely right moment.
The steps for DJing a virtual meeting are going to vary a bit depending on which video conferencing software you're using.
Whether you use Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or another platform, let's take a look at what you would need to do to start providing some tunes for all of your meeting participants.
This might seem obvious, but it's worth noting that you're going to want to make sure you have a stable, high-speed internet connection so that there aren't any hiccups in your session.
Before the meeting begins, you'll want to test your internet speed.
The next step is to connect any DJ equipment you have, including turntables, mixers, and midi keyboards, to your computer.
You don't want to save this until right before the meeting because you'll need to make sure that all of the necessary drivers and software are installed and properly functioning. Give yourself plenty of time to test out the equipment to make sure that it's all working correctly.
There are a number of different software programs that you can use to broadcast a DJ session through a virtual meeting platform. Some of the most popular choices out there include Streamlabs OBS, OBS Studio, and XSplit, but there's a long list of options to choose from.
Make sure you get the software all set up and configure the audio settings in advance of the meeting so everything goes smoothly.
The next step is to make sure that the audio output of your DJ software is being captured by the streaming software.
This will often involve heading to the software settings and changing the audio inputs and outputs, or it can mean using virtual audio routing tools such as Loopback and VoiceMeeter.
When you have so many different components coming together in one system, there's always a risk that something won't work right. You're relying on your streaming software, DJ software, computer, virtual meeting platform, DJ equipment, and likely other elements all to interact and communicate in a specific and desired way. You should never just assume that tech tools like these will just work as intended– it's important to give yourself ample time to test and troubleshoot if any problems crop up.
Even if things seem to be working swimmingly, you'll still want to give some thought to the ideal audio levels and make sure that the tunes are being transmitted clearly to all of the participants.
Now it's time to begin your meeting– how exciting!
It can be a good idea to send out meeting invites with the date, time, and link in advance to make sure everyone knows when and where to show up.
In order to configure your streaming software so that it will broadcast to the virtual meeting platform, you'll likely need to enter certain credentials or a streaming key in order to establish the connection.
This type of information is usually provided by the remote meeting platform itself.
Do you want the meeting participants to be able to see your DJ software interface?
While this might not always be desirable, it can be kind of fun for everyone to get a sneak-peak behind the scenes.
Finally, it's time to really get the party started! Just as you would DJ an IRL event, you can start playing music and mixing to set the tone and create the desired vibe for the meeting.
You can take things to the next level in terms of engagement by using the chat or audio features to interact with the participants, helping to create a more dynamic experience for everyone.
During the virtual meeting, you can keep an eye on the chat to get a sense of how participants are responding. You might find that they are really digging a certain type of music or that some attendees feel like the volume is cranked up a little too loud.
Whatever the feedback is, it's useful to track responses during the meeting so you can respond in real-time.
Ok, so acting as a virtual DJ during a remote meeting is actually kind of a big task. If you're also expecting to run and participate in the meeting, you might find that you've got a bit too much on your plate.
Sure, you can put together a long playlist for your event, but this, too, can actually be a lot more work than you might think. Trying to DJ your own meeting can end up meaning that your mind is split between two tasks for the entirety of the session, which doesn't tend to create the best overall results.
If you want all of the benefits of hosting a virtual live DJ without the logistical and mental burden that usually comes with it, we've got a great idea. Why not let PizzaTime supply the DJ so you can focus on what you do best?
Companies and people use our DJ for remote events of all kinds, including virtual meetings, conferences, happy hours, and more. We will even specifically customize the music that is played to your stated preferences, ensuring that the vibe created is precisely what you were going for.
Using the DJ at PizzaTime for your next remote meeting is simple and easy. Our professional DJ will craft a playlist that is based on the preferences you give us. During your presentation, call, pizza party, happy hour, coffee break, or other event, they'll spin live. You can even make requests in real-time!
You don't even have to worry about the DJ drowning out conversation or discussion during the meeting– our pro DJ will set and adjust the volume levels based on your specific needs.
If you don't love the idea of taking on a new tech project just to provide some tunes during your virtual event, you're in luck. When you use the DJ at PizzaTime, we'll do all of the heavy lifting for you. If that sounds good to you, you can schedule your event today!
Remote meetings are boring. Stimulate your team with a unique experience.
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