A Few Words of Caution About Computer Presentations

Gen. Hugh Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently issued an order to all United States military personnel to stop using presentation software in their e-mail briefings. The reason? All the bells and whistles were clogging the armed forces’ limited bandwidth and, more importantly, detracting from junior officers’ attempts at conveying essential information.

Louis Caldera, the Secretary of the Army, suggests that PowerPoint presentations are alienating lawmakers: “People are not listening to us because they are spending too much time trying to understand these incredibly complex slides.”

Edward R. Tufte, the guru of information graphics and author of “The Visual Display of Qualitative Information”(1983) notes a dismaying trend toward what he calls “chart junk” (meaningless tricks done only because the program allows them to be done), and visual flash and dash instead of real analysis of useful information.

And in her entertaining article, “Power Pointless,” Rebecca Ganzel notes that electronic presentations divert the attention of both audience and speaker from the presenter’s message to what is essentially a series of pictures. “The slide show, once peripheral to a presentation ....has become its center, even its reason for being.”

The excuse that half the audience may be visual learners doesn’t cut it: even visual learners learn from graphics, not word-chocked bullet slides. We can’t expect an audience to absorb information simultaneously from both the ear and the eye.

PowerPoint can become a crutch for the nervous speaker to get through a presentation, while any good presentation will have the presenter as its prime focus and not the graphics. As Ms. Ganzel points out, it sets up the novice speakers for what they really want to do anyway: take a back seat to their visuals. We might as well just send a memo to the jury rather than doing a closing argument.

The lure of PowerPoint has caught on, belatedly, in the legal field. Coincidentally, the flyer in today’s mail is for the new NITA publication: Power Point for Litigators: How to Create Effective Illustrations and Demonstrative Exhibits for Trial, Mediation, Arbitration, and Appeal.

I do not quibble with the idea that a good visual exhibit will enliven any argument, and I was an early advocate of the use of PowerPoint in the courtroom argument. My suggestion is merely that a little moderation in embracing computer visuals is required.

Thoughts on Effectively Using PowerPoint

First ask if computer visuals are going to add anything that cannot be done better with posterboards, blowups, or simply your own voice. Graphics are especially suited and usually more powerful in presenting matters of size, distance, and quantity. But this isn’t always the case.

Suppose we wanted to convey the relative size and distances of the planets in the solar system. We could put together a visual like something out of National Geographic. Or, instead, we could paint a word picture for our audience:

Imagine a stellar salad. The Sun would be a pumpkin about a foot in diameter in the center.

The first planet, Mercury, would then be the size of a tomato seed about 50 feet away. Venus would be a pea about 75 feet away, Earth would be a pea about 100 feet away, and Mars would be a little raisin about 175 feet away.

The gas giant, Jupiter, is an apple two football fields away, the ringed Saturn a peach a thousand feet away, Uranus a plum two thousand feet away, and Neptune another plum 3225 feet away.

Tiny Pluto, the last planet in our solar system, is the size of a strawberry seed and a mile from our pumpkin, the Sun.

Which is more effective? A persuasive speaker is diminished, not aided, by overuse of visuals. What comes to mind when we think of Ross Perot? Probably not “great speaker” but more likely “that odd little guy with all the charts.”

Can you imagine PowerPoint adding something to Henry V’s speech to his troops before the Battle of Agincourt? Or Churchill’s stirring words to Parliament about fighting them on the beaches, on the streets, and never surrendering?

True, most of us aren’t those dynamite speakers and so can always use visuals to bolster our arguments. The key, again, is moderation and a little foresight.

I highly recommend the short paperback The Articulate Executive by Granville N. Toogood (McGraw-Hill 1995). Chapters 22 through 25 of Mr. Toogood’s book are a must-read for anyone-- lawyer or otherwise-- contemplating the use of a computer-assisted presentation in a speech. Mr. Toogood suggests that slides be only used for graphics (not words!) and that they should only be seen after the speaker has already made the point, as a kind of reinforcement.

I again emphasize that computer-assisted presentations can be highly effective-- if not unequaled-- for the presentation of visual evidence, such as reconstructions or deposition excerpts. Much of the brain work of a trial lawyer ought to be devising demonstrative exhibits to make the points. They are wonderful for:

• Photographs
• Video deposition excerpts
• Trial testimony video excerpts
• Charts (of the intelligible variety)
• Simulations and reconstructions
• Diagrams
• Copies of exhibits (if used sparingly)
• If you find it necessary to use bullet slides, follow these suggestions:
• Use a standard template provided by the software program- do not attempt to create your mix of colors and fonts.
• Use only one template throughout the presentation
• No more than three or four bullet points on a slide.
• Nor more than five words per bullet point.

In other words, keep it simple. The novice is irresistibly inclined toward making slides too busy, with too many (often clashing) colors, too much verbiage, too many fonts, and unnecessary fripperies, such as animation and sound.

Keep in mind that a physical exhibit– like a blowup– is often a better way to go for key exhibits. If put into a computer presentation, it disappears once the next slide appears. A blowup stays right there in front of the jury. Blowups, therefore, are still the better option for something that's going to be used time and again during the trial, like a crucial document page or photograph. I definitely would always use a blowup to show the jury the verdict form and explain it as I fill it in with my suggestions.

I also find myself drawn irresistibly back to the plain old white flip sheets. You know, the time-tried if prosaic method of writing as you speak to the jury or witness. The flip sheet is more flexible during argument to the jury, it puts the attention back on you and not on the screen, and it can even be used to jot pre-written points to remind you of your argument.

Preparation and Practical Considerations

Then there are the practical considerations that must be considered:

• Check the brightness (lumens) of your projector. The newer ones will not require much darkening of the courtroom. Your projector will normally be rented; find the newest and brightest and don’t worry about the weight. (Lighter weight usually means dimmer output.)
• Know how to use the input/output controls on the projector and how it interfaces the notebook computer before stepping into the courtroom.
• Test the noisiness of the fan. (This can be surprisingly distracting in a quiet courtroom.)
• Turn off all power management and screen savers before your presentation. (Otherwise you may find your vacation photos popping up in the middle of your closing argument. Worse, the screen may go blank.) In Windows 98, go to the Control Panel, click on “Power Management,” and turn off all power management options. For the screen saver, right click anywhere on the Desktop, left click on “Properties,” and go to “Screen Saver.”
• When creating a presentation, use the TIFF format for documents and JPEG for photographs. Learn to save in these formats. Otherwise, your presentation file will rapidly become huge (and slow).
• Get a remote control for the computer and familiarize yourself with it. (That way you won’t need to run back to counsel table or the lectern for changing slides. You can get these with built-in laser pointers as there’s no other feasible way to point on a screen.)
• On the topic of remote controllers, remember that infrared is line-of-sight but radiowave allows you to roam anywhere.
• Backup your presentation program under separate names, for example, “Annual Meeting- 1.” Simply use the “save as” function and remember to then close the file and go back to working on your original. (This will spare you the agony of losing it all ninety percent of the way through.) Or use the "Versions" function or its MS equivalent.
• Learn to set up all the equipment in five minutes. (Practice!)
• Go to court and familiarize yourself with the layout. Where are the power sockets? How much power cord do you need? Does the clerk/bailiff have any special concerns?

Most of these suggestions are obvious but you’d be amazed at how many times I’ve seen (and heard judges report) attorneys fumbling over their equipment.

The final point of preparation is to consider this: what are you going to do if your computer crashes? Always, always, have an alternative if disaster strikes. For example, I was once scheduled to make a speech and had the usual PowerPoint presentation prepared. I brought along everything but my laptop. I shared my private disaster with my audience, pulled out copies of my slides, and used them as my speaking notes. It went well. I have also had my laptop seize in the middle of a closing argument. No one knew it had happened; fortunately, I was ready to go forward without it and I just casually blanked the screen and went on.

Checklist for Your Presentation

Perhaps I am more forgetful than most, but I strongly recommend that you keep a checklist of everything that you will need in your presentation. Here’s my list:

• Notebook computer (at least Pentium Classic, preferably P2 or, best of all, P3.)
• Projector
• Connector cable from projector to notebook.
• Screen (and learn how to extend it!)
• Mouse (built-in mouse substitutes are unwieldy)
• AC adaptor for the laptop
• Power cord for the projector
• “Power strip,” fifteen-foot extension cord and extra three-prong extension cords
• Remote control for computer, with extra battery
• Small screwdriver for making connections on connector cable
• Extra bulb for the projector
• Two rolls of duct tape for restraining power cords
• Paper copy of slides (in case all fails)

A technogeek who understands how everything works is also nice, if only for your peace of mind. Learning all of the necessary details and remembering them under the pressure of a trial is a lot to expect.

Other Programs

PowerPoint and Presentations are simple programs to use. But they are the basics: no power steering, no power windows, no air conditioning. It’s beyond the scope of our presentation, but you should be aware that there are more powerful programs available for the display of graphic information in the courtroom. These programs carry many outstanding features such as allowing you to display video deposition testimony with the transcript appearing underneath the monitor frame, present documents on-screen that can be highlighted, marked, and otherwise manipulate exhibits and graphics.

Perhaps the best-known of these products is “Trial Director” from InData Corporation, 800-828-8292 or www.indatacorp.com. This was the program (in conjunction with “Summation”) that was used to such effect against Microsoft by the Department of Justice in the 1999 antitrust bench trial. (Remember the video deposition of Bill Gates’ odd rocking motions?)

An interesting new product is “Sanction” trial presentation software from Verdict Systems LLC, www.verdictsystems.com , or 490-627-2430. I can highly recommend this product for its ease of use and reasonable cost. I also suggest that you browse the various technology-for-lawyers web pages for reviews on products by attorneys who’ve actually used them. Most of these program come with a try-before-you-buy feature and allow downloads of a working demonstration over the internet or via compact disk.

Anix is a new plug-add from the people who brought us the DOAR projectors, Modern Persuasion LLC, www.DOAR.com/anix.htm. It makes certain actions easier such as cut-outs on the fly, highlighting, etc.

A simple $40 favorite of mine is VuePrint, available online from Hamrick Software at www.hamrick.com. This simple-to-use graphics viewer allows you to easily scan, save, and view photographs, documents, sounds, and even movie clips.

Conclusion

After five years of using PowerPoint and other computer-generated programs, I find myself using them less often in court, not more. Other attorneys have told me that they share this phenomenon- more familiarity, less enthusiasm. And I suppose it’s telling that the judges with whom I have discussed the issue have for the most part been singularly unimpressed with most PowerPoint presentations, either because they didn’t work, or they added little. Caveat emptor.

Francis J. Carney
Originally presented at Annual Meeting of the Utah State Bar
Coronado Hotel, San Diego, California, July 2000

© Francis J. Carney, 2000, 2001.

Permission to reprint is granted on the condition that the author shall be credited.