Courtroom Presentation, Litigation Software : Charles Perez : Trial Presentation Blog

Huh?

It's called "Pecha Kucha" (pronounced peh-chak-cha) . I discovered this globally-accepted presentation phenomenon in a terrific book entitled "PresentationZen - Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery" by Garr Reynolds.

In the past I've railed on the "Death by Powerpoint" that has unfortunately become the norm in almost all Powerpoint presentations from the classroom to the boardroom to the courtroom.

Pecha Kucha is a simple and challenging practice that I believe will hone your presentation skills and make for a better presentation (and presenter).

In the August 2007 issue of WIRED Magazine this "process" was simplified in an article entitled "Get to the Powerpoint in 20 Slides Then Sit the Hell Down". The concept is almost too simple (which is probably why you've never heard of it):

"pecha-kucha (Japanese for "chatter"), applies a simple set of rules to presentations: exactly 20 slides displayed for 20 seconds each. That's it. Say what you need to say in six minutes and 40 seconds of exquisitely matched words and images and then sit the hell down. The result, in the hands of masters of the form, combines business meeting and poetry slam to transform corporate cliché into surprisingly compelling beat-the-clock performance art. "

So what's this got to do with the courtroom? - Isn't it obvious? Read On!

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Albert Einstein stated a principle in 1933 which is often paraphrased as "Theories should be as simple as possible, but no simpler." Occam's Razor is a similar principle of logic that can be summed up as "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best." Then there's the principle more people are probably familiar with: the KISS principle ("Keep It Simple, Stupid").

A better philosophy is, "If it's simple and works well, don't complicate it."

The key here is that it has to "work well."

I've been kept pretty busy the past few months (since October of last year!) with a continuous series of court presentations in and around Southern California, some  civil matters, some criminal cases and yet another in Federal Court and haven't given this blog the proper attention it needs.

The overriding message you'll be hearing me preach about for the next several months is how we accomplished success after success by keeping the message simple and to the point no matter how overwhelming the exhibit load.

In the next few "blogs" I'll be playing "catch up" and relating my first hand experiences with the technology and techniques that we've used in each of these presentations as well as  insight as to what worked well and how we "uncomplicated the complicated".

Our performance in court is always a continuing "work in progress" since every case presents its own set of challenges; we've had a 90 day run that tested our mettle in many situations and I've lived to tell about it - stay tuned; I'll try to not disappoint!

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

I recently had the opportunity to attend a CLVS (Certified Legal Video Specialists) seminar in St. Louis. This is an outstanding group of video professionals who are certified in the correct methodology of preserving a deposition into a video format.

If your firm uses depositions for later presentation in court and you're not utilizing video you're missing a powerful tool that can provide a compelling and psychological advantage to your argument.
If you do use video I'd strongly suggest that you use a certified  video specialist; they follow strict guidelines and are associated with the NCRA (National Court Reporters Association).

In the past few weeks there have been news reports on the sexual harassment lawsuit involving New York Knicks President and Coach Isiah Thomas.

The deposition of Thomas was videotaped and has been replayed in court (as well as the media) several times.
When is the last time you recall a deposition being "READ" over and over on a news program?
For impact on today's jury you need visuals.
Compare the dry, written transcript of his deposition with the visual dynamics of him actually speaking the words on camera.

I think you'll agree with the old saying that "a picture's worth a thousand words"; in this case the picture AND the transcript is a priceless combination - about 12 million dollars worth.

So - why aren't you utilizing this as a  tool in your legal arsenal?
It can't be cost - a Certified Videographer's fees aren't that expensive, so it must be fear of the unknown - and of perceived courtroom catastrophes.
With the right presentation skills and current software you shouldn't be adverse to using new technology.

In the next few blogs I'll review a few of the solutions that can help you overcome any reluctance you might have regarding using 21st century solutions to win your cases.

This week I'll start with YESLAW...

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

A quick entry for you kind readers this week.. based on an all too true and all too common fear of technology in the courtroom.

Not long ago we had a client ask us to produce a DVD for a court presentation of an expert witness' deposition; a "No-Brainer" around here at Video Resources, but, this was a new, unexplored frontier for the client. We had been given the orignial taped depo on a Monday (it had been taken on the previous Friday) and we were asked to redact a series of comments that the Defense had objected to prior to viewing by the jury on the following day, Tuesday . Again - this is a "No-Brainer" over here but was viewed as no less than "Black Magic" by our client.

The following morning the client took possession of her precious DVD and headed off to a day of battle at the Central Courthouse here in Orange County, CA. We had taken the time to "QC" the DVD (Quality Control review) before delivery and it had passed muster. 

All was good. The Universe was in harmony - life was "in balance".

This was going to be a "first" for our attorney - she wanted to make sure everything ran flawlessly and I had assured her that all she had to do was pop this little disk into the court's DVD player and push the "ON' button - a "No Brainer" indeed.

We got the panicked call just before the jury was about to take a quick break.

SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH THE DVD!     It was playing in black and white rather than billiant color!  Oh my God! Oh My God!.. or words to that effect.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

While we're in the "digital mythbusting mode" allow us a moment to tackle digital AUDIO recorders.

Ah, yes, the march of progress. Remember the video rant? Yep, same thing here.

If you're relying on the new state of the art digital audio recorders to record important statements to be possibly used in a trial presentation here are a few tips that will make your life a little easier and your presentation a little smoother:

Unless you’re going at full CD quality, your digital recorder is tossing stuff out to save space. Supposedly your ears will not miss the missing stuff, but our forensic audio equipment sure will. You want your machine to toss out as little as possible, and that means running at the highest "bit rate" you possibly can.

To put it another way, if you are maximizing your recording time, then you are also minimizing your recording quality, and also the amount of help we can be to you. If you need to record for a very long time and have to go to a low bit rate to do it, then it’s time to invest in new equipment with more storage space. As with video, it’s better to get a small amount of useable material than a large amount of junk.

A lot of these portable digital recorders have

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

So we've explained the pitfalls and challenges of dealing with video images and what works and why.

Now we're going to tackle audio problems and challenges - a subject particularly near and dear to our audio engineer savant Eric Graf:

Yes, we are called Video Resources, but we "do audio" too. If you have an audio recording that needs to be clarified, we’re just the guys that you ought to bring it to. I’d like to tell you what to expect from us, and what you can do to make sure we can give you the results you want.

When dealing with an audio recording that’s hard to understand, the objective is to understand it. It’s not to make the thing a high- fidelity, professional-sounding recording, and usually that’s not possible anyway. Once we get it to where you can understand the conversation, we stop messing with it.

Often we will not be able to snag every word. 60% comprehensible is considered a big improvement over 10%.

If you read my lengthy tome about video, you no doubt remember my rant about the shenanigans on TV shows like CSI. It goes for audio too. To summarize: Much of the “technology” on those shows is more James Bond than LAPD. Do not judge a “real” clarification job by what you hear on those shows. Because frankly, they’re full of it.

What we CAN usually do is reduce background noise, background talking, foreground talking (sometimes), distortion, muffledness, and general unintelligibility. It really depends on a lot of factors.

Sometimes we can work wonders. Occasionally we can't work anything.

But we do have the tools and the expertise to do as much as can be done. Our microcassette player alone retails for $8000, and we often find that it delivers a huge improvement just because it plays so much better than everybody else's microcassette player.

Sometimes we’ll listen to a recording you’ve submitted and say “sorry, we can’t help you.” We like a good challenge, and we like making money while tackling a good challenge, but we aren’t going to waste your time or resources on a lost cause. Here’s how you can help reduce your chances of your cause being lost:

GET US THE ORIGINAL. PLEASE. WE BEG YOU.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

OK - in the previous blogisode my sidekick and ally in presentations Eric Graf exploded many of the make-believe antics that pass for science on those pop cop "CSI" - type soap operas that have the masses convinced that such visual alchemy truly exists.

One of the culprits that I feel has encouraged the feebs who write the CSI tripe is the DVR, or Digital Video Recorder. I've personally witnessed the growth of these machines over the past 5 or 6 years in the surveillance arena and have marveled at the promises made by the manufacturers that hawk them to their unsuspecting customers with the overt promise of the unit being capable of isolating an incident (and any suspect within the incident) and then enlarge said subjects facial features for police identification.

I've had the sad chore of bursting many a security manager's bubble when I point out the REAL limitations of their 32 camera, state of the art, real-time, internet accessable system. I no longer feel the need to let them rest their head on my shoulder anymore while gently rocking them and saying "There, there, it wasn't your fault".

Because, it is their fault. They should know better.

Here's why - Here's Eric's take on what we'll call "The Digital Myth":

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

O.K. - forget I used the phrase "video ehancement" in the title. The proper (correct) phrase is "video clarification", but, thanks to all the "pop, quasi-realistic, CSI-Miami, CSI-Las Vegas, CSI-Ad Nauseum garbage" on television I figured you'd recognize the term "Enhancement" since that's the misnomer these fact-challenged programs lead you to believe companies (and underfunded police agencies) are capable of doing. (We'll discuss the sub-par "acting" of David Caruso at a later date).

For the next few "blogisodes" I'm turning over the site to my able bodied wing nut right hand man and audio/video engineer extraordinare Eric Graf  (who works with me at Video Resources, Inc. in the Video/Audio Forensics lab) to explain as simply as possible the why's and wherefore's of video and audio clarification and why it's important for you to know what will and, more importantly, what will not work for you. 

Here's Eric's Video Clarification Blog: (Enjoy!)

The following is a list of random factoids about video.  Hopefully there will be pearls of wisdom herein that will help us better serve you when you get some of that all-important footage that needs enhancing (oops! I mean clarification)..  Warning:  I tend to overuse parentheses (but I’m trying to improve).
 
First of all, you know those TV shows like CSI where they take grainy, blurry, little bitty digital video and enhance it until you can read the serial number on the bad guy’s cellphone as he throws it across the pitch-black parking lot? 

 Guess what ?. . . That’s fake.   (GASP!)  (Take a few moments to catch your breath and then continue reading once your vision returns to normal.. I know - it's a shock.)

Those shows are no more a reflection of real CSI science than James Bond is.  The writers who come up with stuff like that just need some convenient way for the good guys to crack the case, so they make up something silly that they think most viewers will buy.  And most viewers do.  Please don’t be one of them. 

Video doesn’t work like that.  We wish it did.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Well, it happened again this week and I just feel it's my duty to educate those overworked, underpaid legal assistants and paralegals who make this call to us with aprehension and slight embarassement in their voice: " Do you have an Elmo we can rent?"

By the tone in their voice I know they have this image of the world famous Sesame Street® character firmly lodged in their mind's eye........ then there's that  moment of silence after they've asked  (which I'll admit I relish!) where I imagine them wincing - waiting for my laughter... that I answer with all the casualness of a fast food hamburger jockey asking if you want to "super size" your order: "Yes, we have an Elmo, do you need a projector and screen with that too?"

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks