PowerPoint tips for your Opening or Closing Statements

By David Andre

In my last blog post, I discussed using Google Maps images in vehicle-related cases. This post will discuss a few tips when creating PowerPoint presentations for your opening or closing statements.

I’ll start off by stating that it’s very easy to misuse PowerPoint, so let’s discuss some common mistakes people tend to make and how to avoid them so that your presentation is more effectively received.

Create slides that are less wordy and avoid too many bullet points. Some feel the need to include in the PowerPoint every word they’re planning to say. While this may eliminate the need to remember it, people don’t want to read it while you’re dictating it. Your slides should serve the purpose of reinforcing the key points you want your audience to take away from the parts you verbalize. The only time I even use full sentences is when I’m quoting something. This will also reduce the number of slides needed, which is another good thing. I try to avoid using more than one slide for any one point. Present too many slides and your audience starts to forget the earlier ones and no doubt will begin wondering how many are left.

Wordy slides bring me to my next point. Font size. It’s common for presenters to create slides without considering how difficult it may be to read on the projection screen. The more text you put on a slide, the smaller the text gets. And while you can read it on your computer, try to remember that on a courtroom projector screen on the other side of the room, it may be a bit difficult for the Jury to read the important data you’re presenting. Too many times counsel have handed me a PowerPoint on the morning of trial not realizing until I point it out that despite my 80-inch projector screen, the Jury won’t be able to read any of slide 15.  Use fewer words and simplify your key points. Make the impact statement you want to stand out and be remembered.

Font styles are another very important factor in the visual clarity of the presentation. I believe the font you choose can help set the tone of your presentation.  First off, the Comic Sans font should never be used in a legal setting. Ever. This font sets the tone for fun and playful and gives the impression that your audience need not take you seriously.  Generally speaking, the Serif font is best for printed pages; the Sans Serif font is easier to read on screen. Choose a font that doesn’t distract from your message and is easy to read.

If you’re planning to use animations, keep them simple. There is never a need for bouncing, flipping, or rotating bullet points.  Stick to simple fade-in animations if you use them at all.  The one exception that I’ve found is with certain types of graphs. In a recent summation, we used an animated line graph showing the exponentially increasing amount of money that should have gone to the lender compared to the money that was actually paid to the lender. In this instance, the lines were animated as if someone was drawing them, one at a time, and it really drove home just how much money was involved. The labels were not animated into the presentation until after the last line, to reinforce what counsel had already discussed.

Keep the colors simple. While I don’t use the default black and white, I try to use basic colors that go well together. A white background isn’t a bad thing either, though any form of neon should be avoided at all costs.  Choose a color palette that doesn’t strain the eyes, and be somewhat conservative. If you want to draw attention to something, bold, italics, and underline work well.

There’s a great blog post on Shutterstock that goes over general PowerPoint guidelines. I found this to be very useful, despite not being geared toward legal presentations. There’s also an amusing video on YouTube by Don McMillan that discusses common problems with PowerPoint presentations:

People tend to overdo PowerPoint presentations; it’s easy to do so. One thing to remember is that simplicity is the key, and less is more. If you’d like help, reach out to your trial technician, and they’ll be more than happy to help you create a dynamic presentation that emphasizes and reinforces to the jury the key points of your case.