The use of multimedia in the courtroom (part II)
By Dr. John F. Sase
“We are all inherently visual communicators. Consider kindergarten: crayons, finger paints, and clay propelled our expression, not word processors or spreadsheets.”
—Nancy Duarte, “Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations” (O’Reilly Media, 2008)
Help, My Brain Is Going to Explode!
Assuming that the jury engages with your presentation, you may not want to explode their heads by pushing an excess of information at them too quickly. The simplest way for us to understand the Gestalt theories of information processing and memory retention is to imagine two kitchen funnels taped together. Imagine taping together the two narrow tubes of the funnels so that you have a large opening on the left, a space narrowing to the middle where the two funnels connect, and the space enlarging again on the right. You have the task of pushing information past the jurors’ sensory preceptors—eyes and ears, mostly—at the left-side opening, through the narrow tubes of their working short-term memory, and out to their long-term memory on the right, where they organize and store thoughts.
Problems arise when PPT slides contain too much information and move too fast. This overflow of information results in fragmentary learning or no learning at all. However, well-managed information flows produce meaningful learning and greater long-term retention. Unfortunately, traditional bullet-point or data-table slides tend to ignore the limits of working memory (i.e., that narrow tube section where the two funnels connect). Too often, the outcome is fragmentary. As the short-term memory processors overload, there can be no learning at all. Kaboom!
Some truth exists in the old joke “How does one eat an elephant? One bite at a time!” In order to communicate effectively, we use visual cues to highlight the organization of the PPT presentation. Furthermore, we must present our information in bite-sized pieces. Next, we need to remember that we are working with a dual-channel system—verbal and visual. Therefore, we must match our verbal content carefully to our visual information.
Studies have determined that splitting audience attention between multiple sources results in processing that is difficult to integrate mentally. In respect to this principle, one of the most common errors in making presentations occurs when the presenter reads the text verbatim. Rather than strengthening communication, this text redundancy actually reduces understanding and comprehension.
For additional information, we refer our readers to the “Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning” by Richard E. Mayer, editor, Cambridge University Press, 3rd ed., 2021) and “Working Memory” by Alan D. Baddeley and Graham Hitch in “The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory” (G.H. Bower, editor., Volume 8, Academic Press, 1974). The take-away points of these sources are that
• People learn better from a mix of words and pictures than words alone.
• Speaking extemporaneously about your subject rather than reading the text off of the screen works best.
As with the entire presentation, the organization of information flow in the individual slides is critical. Our western mindset has led us to follow the path of information from left to right, diagonally from the upper-left to the lower-right, or from top to bottom. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of prioritized information by direction and sequence of flow. Since the minds of viewers are active, not passive, prioritizing helps jurors to understand by guiding the attention of their working-memory to the most important visual and verbal information.
Making the Sausage
As promised at the top of this column, I (Dr. Sase) want to leave you with some straightforward advice and instruction to get you started in making your own forensic PowerPoints. As many feasible ways exist to assemble a forensic production, let us choose one simple working example. I will base this example, that of PechaKucha, on my classroom experiences.
A good place to become more familiar with this approach is Watch PechaKucha about PechaKucha, by Hans Van de Water at https://youtu.be/gZJc8PB2DsQ and What makes a great PechaKucha Presentation, by Brian Scott Peterson at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlcDz4kLck8&list=RDLVL31SwpN1dAc&index=3.
The Pecha Kucha presentation format continues to grow rapidly in popularity around the world during the past decade. The format consists of a set of twenty slides, each displayed for twenty seconds, for a total viewing time of six minutes and forty seconds (www.pecha-kucha.org). Though the rigidity of this approach appears somewhat draconian to students, it has allowed them to present their term-end PowerPoints in a fair and time-efficient manner. Though many judges may embrace the concept of a pure Pecha Kucha presentation, it probably will not work in most trial situations. Nevertheless, this format does provide the neophyte producer of presentations with a solid set of training wheels.
First lesson: We do not use the standard templates provided in the PowerPoint program!
Second Lesson: We delete the two default boxes from the otherwise blank slide.
After that, we make nineteen copies of this pure, clean canvas. It should take the average professional only a few minutes to figure how to insert and manipulate text boxes and images. However, if you have a seventh-grader at home, s/he can show you how to do this in half the time.
In this example, we pull the information through a three-act format. Though we could start our construction directly on the PowerPoint slides, many experts find it better to sketch out their scripts as a storyboard on standard-size sticky notes. As this kind of storyboarding is tantamount to “doodling,” it does not require any advanced artistic skills. Peter Jackson, who produced and directed “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy (New Line Cinema, 2001-03), continues to be an ardent supporter of this technique. Furthermore, Jackson cites Alfred Hitchcock, a master “storyboarder,” as a major influence.
As an example of his perspicacity, Hitchcock storyboarded each of the fifty-two shots in the famous shower scene in “Psycho” (Universal Pictures, 1960) in advance of shooting (see a video analysis at http://youtu.be/wBAMzmQ2SqQ). Though I strayed from standard 20/20 Pecha Kucha length and shots, the format works well for communicating ideas.
As many of us may feel more comfortable working with a pre-organized timeline, we will use the following three-act outline in order to provide our readers with a solid working format. The following outline contains twenty slides.
Act I: The setup of the story—slides one through five.
1) Setting—The where and when to grab viewer attention
2) Role—The viewer should ask “Who am I in this setting?
3) Point A—What is the challenge, quest, or goal?
4) Point B—Where should the viewer go? The Verdict or Resolution.
5) The Call to Action—How will the viewer get from A to B?
Act II: The Call to Action leads to three Key Points with an Explanation and Detail for each—slides six through seventeen.
6) Most important Key Point
7) Explanation
8) Detail 1
9) Detail 2
10) Second-most important Key Point
11) Explanation
12) Detail 1
13) Detail 2
14) Third-most important Key Point
15) Explanation
16) Detail 1
17) Detail 2
Act III: The Wrap-Up (Closing the “Sale”)—slides eighteen through twenty.
18) Summary of the three Key Points
19) Conclusions drawn by the presenter
20) Repeat of the Call to Action. For what verdict does the presenter ask?
As with the Hitchcock example, we type a headline at the top of each slide that reflects the preceding outline. It helps if we think of the headline as a talking point rather than as text to be read. Though sentence fragments often work well as headlines, we want the goal of our headlining to be the development of short but full sentences. Viewers process full sentences better than fragments. However, we will limit each headline to a maximum of six to ten words. Furthermore, because of computer/projector pixelization and the distance of the audience from the screen, we find that Sans-Serif typefaces of twenty-eight points or larger work best on screen. From experience, we find that thirty-six point font works best for headlines. Here is a reality check: If our computer monitors measure fifteen inches diagonally, then let us step six feet back from our computers and read the screen. If we have trouble reading the text, so will the folks in the back row.
For consistency, we use only a few compatible typefaces to use in the entire presentation. Furthermore, we want to use the same font for similar elements throughout. For example, we would use the same typeface and point size for the headlines on all of the Key Point slides. Subconsciously, this helps the audience to organize the information as well as to process it.
Next, we need to find appropriate images for the presentation as a whole as well as to illustrate the featured point on each individual slide. For the novice, we find it best to compile all of the images as a group before pasting them to their respective slides. This helps us to maintain a sense of continuity and uniformity with our selected design elements of color, image, and text. Many of the royalty-free websites for images, listed in Part One of this series, allow users to download watermarked samples of the images previous to purchase. This means that we can rough out our entire project before committing to, and paying for, the final selection of images.
Finally, as we assemble the design elements of a slide set, we should avoid razzle-dazzle effects. However, we should allow for an abundance of white space. As an undergrad, I (Dr. Sase) took an introductory course in advertising. The importance of white space was drilled into us students. Less is more. It is not what the viewer sees as much as what they do not see. The main point for attorneys creating presentations is to compose the words, images, and text in a way that allows members of the jury to digest the content quickly. After that, they will turn their attention to the expert or the attorney and his/her narration. In this sense, the slides constitute the scenery of the play, a backdrop in front of which the attorney or expert is the star.
It’s All Butter
The best multimedia presentations given in court have been those in which the attorney and their experts have practiced, practiced, and practiced. Also, let us reflect on what a former facilities officer on a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine told me (Dr. Sase) when we worked together at Focus:HOPE. He told me that the best prepared operations are those in which the crew has brought duplicate pieces of equipment as a backup system. Legal teams that bring extra computers, projectors, and screens to the courtroom and then thoroughly test both the hardware and software before trial presentation tend to have the edge over their opponents.
Wrap It Up!
In conclusion, let us refer back to the survey cited about PowerPoint abuse. Using the tools and suggestions in this month’s column could mean that presenters and viewers would not have to go to the dentist or give up sex. For attorneys, a good PPT could be a “make-it-or-break-it” part of their arsenal, the lynchpin on winning or losing a case. Since many forensic presentations are made on the final day, the jury is hungry for anything different in their sight range. When jurors appear to be rising from the dead when a presentation begins, potential for engagement exists. Therefore, the best presentations can be measured by alert eyeballs and refreshed faces during the first thirty seconds. However, if an attorney fails to satisfy and hold the positive emotions of the jurors, the result can turn ugly. Think of the peasantry with pitchforks and torches storming Castle Frankenstein. Case closed.
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Dr. John F. Sase has taught Economics for more than three decades and has practiced Forensic Economics since 1997. After graduating from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School, he earned a B.A. in Humanities from Justin Morrill Residential College at MSU, an M.A. in Economics and an MBA at the University of Detroit and a Ph.D. in Economics at Wayne State University. Dr. Sase can be reached at his e-mail at drjohn@saseassociates.com. In addition, you can find some of his videos on Economics for Attorneys and Economists at www.youtube.com/saseassociates.
