Technology and trial. To do or not to do that is the question.
However, the decision NOT to do is often made for the wrong reasons.
First, the use of technology is not limited to trials, but can be used as part of a settlement demand and during settlement negotiations and mediation presentations. Thus a rejection of tech should not be made by simply limiting its avenues of attack.
Second, you are not alone in not wanting to leave your comfort zone. Get used to it - get used to making the change and making the changes. You left home for kindergarten, and your world continued. The bagged lunch from home was fine; but those naps and chocolate milk breaks and snacks rocked! Then, those funny little colored cylinders of wax with paper on them became kaleidoscopes of color and conduits of creativity. And for the next 12 years, leaving home for school revealed limitless possibilities. Ditto for tech. Do you wish to color inside or outside of the lines?
Third, if time is money, then economies of scale and increased efficiencies that compress the time to present a case to an adjuster, mediator, or jury is money in the bank. If the numbers on the table increase, then it just gets better and better.
Fourth, "I'm too old, too tired, too set in my ways, don't have the equipment, don't have the right case, don't need it, don't believe it will work, yadayadayada...." are not good reasons for NOT at least considering technology as option for supplementing your spiels.
Oh, did I say you were not alone? Well, you are not. You are not alone in your apprehension to upgrade your media-tech solutions beyond hard copies of pictures, blackboards, and butcher block. More importantly, you are not alone in getting help!
Lawyers are more than willing to share their new "toys" and how they "play" with them, but if you wish to conduct your avenues of attack from the privacy of your bunker, then check out the pros who can add prose and polish to the presentation.
Learning Powerpoint (windows) and Keynotes (apple) are the usual programs for presentation. Between the two, Keynotes seems to be the more powerful and the more adaptable. In fact, my very reason for jumping ship after nearly 25 years of "windows world" was that a Keynotes demo knocked my socks off in impact and ease of use which made this Mike Daddy a "mac daddy". But, Apple world is another tech story for another time.
Crawl before you walk. For your next mediation, consider a "slide show" incorporating the following into your talk to the mediator with the adjuster and client present:
- talking points text,
- pictures (scene, injuries, vehicles, items of evidence),
- client videos (from depositions or even an office conversation on your home movie cam which works nicely),
- documents (medical records, police report, expert reports, and extracts from any and all)
You would be surprised how easy and cheap this can be. Plus hiring a pro to do a presentation will teach you the ebb and flow for future work and might even encourage you to learn the stuff yourself to give you total control. Plus, organizing the presentation will organize your thoughts.
For those in Kentucky, is an excellent alternative and comes highly recommended by this writer. If you haven't a clue where to start, then the folks at TechnoEsq TechnoEsq Presentations who are both legally and techno proficient will take you through the steps of coralling your materials and placing them on a pleasing backdrop. Arrangements can also be made to use their laptop, their person to present the show, their projector and more. Click on their site at TechnoEsq Presentations for a taste of what is offered.
Your needs and desires dictate what TechnoEsq Presentations or any other media/digital/computer assistant or consultant can or should do for you; and more importantly note that TechnoEsq Presentations does not follow cookie cutter content and usually tailor something in the presentation for the firm and the facts. Yes, there is a commonality in all communications, but the bells and whistles to give it impact vary with the case and its needs.
You might find the first time that you are more comfortable meeting with them, showing them the file, listening to their suggestions, and allowing them to scan the materials as you outline the approach and content. More importantly, contacting a Techno Presentations professional EARLY will permit you time to develop other materials, such as life care and income plans, after the accident pictures or videos, timelines, xrays/mris/ct scans, videos of people and places, to be added to the mix.
Although tech should not be used without a reason, it should also not be rejected for no reason either. Hiring a professional to assist should not be delayed until you can justify it on that "big" case, but a trial run on a more economical and manageable scale before the need arises in that "big" case is beneficial for familiarity to the tools but also the process.
More importantly, once familiar with tools, you might find it palatable and possible to do your own presentations for the simpler cases.
More to follow later!
NOTE: The pic at the top is from the 1984 Superbowl commercial announcing the then new Apple Macintosh.
