Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 has a range of functions that enable you to add in sounds to your presentation, but music is often an afterthought when it comes to designing and delivering the finished creation. Music is frequently used for nothing more than background noise during a presentation. However, by using some thought about how music is going to be used in your PowerPoint presentation, you can help create a number of benefits for you and your audience.

It's a good idea to put as much thought into planning the music you intend to use during your slide show, therefore, as you would to selecting text and images. The following simple guide is easy to follow and should become part of your planning process when creating a PowerPoint presentation.

It's a well-known fact that there are points during your presentation when you will have the undivided attention of your audience - just as there are times when people's attention starts to drift away. Research has shown that, even before an end of week lunch on a Friday, we are capable of concentrating completely on a delivery for not more than 10 minutes without any thought interruption. During your presentation you may be sharing new information; so this needs to be delivered at a crucial point after the settling in and before the switching off period. At this stage, you might present examples of words and images to embed the learning.

The first step in planning the music for your presentation is to identify these natural learning stages during your slide show and then give each one a title. Once this is done, you can use these titles to plan out any music you are going to include in your presentation. For example, focus music is a good way to get your audience's attention while selling them your initial pitch. A good example of focus music would be a piece in the Classical-style, but not too slow a tempo.

Obviously the physical and emotional state of your audience will have an impact on the effectiveness of your presentation. Someone who feels unhappy and stressed will not learn as effectively as someone feeling positive and calm. At the same time, music can create a sense of energy and help stimulate some of your audience; just as others will benefit from a more relaxed musical background. Careful planning to exploit the optimum stage of learning is of great benefit.

The next step in planning the music for your presentation is to identify how you want your audience to feel during the slide show. Once you have identified the optimum mood for each stage of your PowerPoint presentation, you can now select the music to create this mood in your audience. It's usually easy to select the music you want to add to each section of your slide show or to specific slides, but the following guidelines may be useful:

Slower tempo music is ideal for when new information is being given. Faster tempo music is suited to activities that require more input from the learner. Instrumental music distracts less than music with vocals. You might decide to only add music to certain sections of your presentation, or to only a few slides. Some presentations, for example, would not be suited to having any background music whilst others would. You should only use music where you believe that it will have a positive impact on how your audience will view, listen, learn and remember your presentation.

Remember, you can find music in your own collections or access free music downloads from different websites, but if your presentation is intended for commercial use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner for words and/or music.