PowerPoint is a visual tool, but it is just that - a tool. Ultimately it is your delivery, message, and the way you present yourself that make a presentation.1 However, utilizing all the tools in your arsenal is important, and your PowerPoint is a tool that can make your presentation engaging and provide a mental image that will be ingrained in a jury’s mind. Let’s go through a few Do’s and Don’ts when using PowerPoint for your presentation, whether it is for a mock trial or the real thing.
Do's:
- Keep it simple but engaging - jurors don’t like to read a lot of words on a slide and it can be overwhelming to take in information that way. Keep the text to a minimum and focus on the main concepts you want to discuss.
- Use graphics or pictures - A key graphic, like a timeline, can be a great way to help jurors visualize the layout of a case without overwhelming them.
- Use lots of examples - examples are great at explaining concepts in layman's terms. Not everyone takes in information the same way, so one example might resonate with one juror and help the concept click for them, but then it may not be understood by another juror. Lots of examples can ensure that you get your point across to as many people in your audience as possible.
Don'ts:
- Don’t put up wordy exhibits or documents - putting up an exhibit with a lot of information on it is hard for your audience to see and understand what you want them to focus on. If there is specific information you want them to see, consider adding an animation to enlarge the section that you want them to focus on.
- Don’t read your slides word for word - if jurors wanted to read a presentation then they wouldn’t need you to give it. This goes along with keeping the amount of words on a slide to a minimum. If you keep to the key concepts and have what you are going to say in a separate notes document then reading from your slides won’t happen.
- Don’t use hard to read fonts or strange colors - some fonts can be hard for others to read and the contrast of a bright yellow text and a red background can be hard on the eyes. Sometimes it looks fine when you are making the presentation, but always test it in presentation mode on the screen you are going to be using to make sure it is readable at a distance on the big screen.2
The biggest mistakes I see attorneys make when they use PowerPoint is they usually aren’t familiar with all the technical ways that they can use PowerPoint and they aren’t familiar with the presentation methods. Take presenting on Zoom for example, it is now a part of this business that you might be presenting your PowerPoint online. I have had many cases where I shared a PowerPoint presentation over zoom and had an attorney say “next slide” when he was ready to move on. This method can work, but it is not as fluid as it could be. A couple ways to combat this are to practice sharing over zoom so you are familiar with the ins and outs of how it works. You can also provide a detailed outline of your presentation for the person that is sharing your PowerPoint so that they can follow along and anticipate when you will need the next slide put up.
Here are a couple tips and tricks for a smooth presentation:
- If you have any videos to show, embed them in your presentation and make sure that in the playback settings you have “click in sequence” checked. This allows you to play the video seamlessly when you are ready.
- If you want to enlarge a part of a document, go to “Insert” then click on “Zoom” and pick “Summary or Section Zoom”. Click on the section you want to enlarge and then you have turned a wordy document into a succinct informational slide.
In conclusion, PowerPoint is an extremely powerful visual tool for trial presentations. Knowing how to use it effectively and not solely rely on it is the key to a successful argument.
1 Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint: How to Sell Yourself and Your Ideas by Christopher Witt
2 https://cte.alliant.edu/powerpoint-dos-and-donts/
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