Today I am speaking on an
ABA teleconference about how to use PowerPoint to persuade a judge or jury. The teleconference covers the high-level approach to arguing using PowerPoint. But for technical information, teleconferences aren't great. So here are technical, how-to tips for the do-it-yourself lawyer.
1. Dark background with fade at bottomDark-background slides look more professional for a trial, making the screen less of a focus than a light-background screen. A slightly nicer version is a dark background that fades to light just a little at the bottom.
To make it, start with a blank presentation. Then click on
Format -> Background and use the drop-down arrow to get color choices. I usually pick
More Colors so I can get a dark blue.
Then click on the same drop-down arrow, select
Fill Effects, and click the
Gradient tab, and click on the version of the gradient that is lighter on the bottom.
Then click
Apply to all and you're done.
2. Put a picture of a document on a slideShowing a document on screen is easy. Scan the document to PDF and open it in Acrobat. Then (in Acrobat 8) click
Tools -> Select & Zoom -> Snapshot tool to get the graphics selector. You can drag it to select an area or click somewhere on the side of the document to select the whole page.
Do that. Then go to PowerPoint and on the blank slide paste the image (
Ctrl-V). Drag the corners to expand or shrink it until it looks right. Hold the
Ctrl key down to shrink or expand the document symmetrically.
3. Create a build from one slide to the nextIf you are going to build on a slide, in the slide sorter (the sequence of slides on the left of PowerPoint) click on the slide you want to duplicate and hit
Ctrl-D. A duplicate should appear below it.
4. Blow up part of a document.Go back to Acrobat, zoom in so the document is bigger. Then use the same graphics select tool mentioned in point 2. But this time select the paragraph you want. Acrobat will copy that portion. Then flip to PowerPoint and paste it over the document you pasted there earlier. Because Acrobat was showing the document blown up, the part you just copy will be bigger. Drag to resize. Also, select the box you just pasted, right-click and select
Format picture, click on the
Color and lines tab, and select a line color like black. It should not say
None in that box. That will draw a line around your box to make it stand out from the background.
4. Underline key words and phrases
Now you have a blow up of a key paragraph. Click on a slide and hit
Ctrl-D in slide sorter to duplicate that slide with the blow up. Use the line tool (click on the button for it on the bottom of PowerPoint 2003) and drag on the bottom of the sentence you want to underline from where you want to start to where you want to end. That will draw a thin, black line underneath the sentence. While that line is still selected (when you draw it, it is), click on the other tools to first increase its size and then change its color to red. I've circled those three tools (draw line, line color, and line width) below.
5. Quote textText is easy to quote. Insert a text box and start typing. Change the font to larger and as needed for appearance. For transcripts, I like Courier New font. For cases, I like Times New Roman. The use of different fonts helps identify context to the viewer grasps what is happening more quickly.
As you can tell from my style, I believe simple slides are the best. Don't use headings and bullet points, if you can help it. These basic tips will cover most of the tasks you want to handle in PowerPoint for presentations.
