It’s always a good time to learn a new trick.

For instance:  Why should you learn to use a multi-media (PowerPoint or similar) presentation in trial when you have practiced all these years without it?

Because the studies above show that the combination of pictures and sound are the preferred and most efficient way to convey information.

• More people get their information from TV and the internet than they do from the newspaper or the radio.  (Graph 1)
• Memory is dramatically improved by the combination of pictures and sound.  (Graph 2)

Look at the difference in the percentage of information recalled at two points in time:  3 hours and 72 hours after a presentation. The best recall for either time gap, by far, is when the presentation is visual AND oral.

What these research results mean is that . . .

• People prefer visual AND oral presentations when given a free choice;
• People retain more of the message when the presentation is visual AND oral;

If you are not using information formats that appeal to the jurors’ preferred methods for taking in information, then they will simply tune you out.

Who got more attention during Show and Tell:  The kid who told about the new lizard she got for Christmas or the kid who brought it in?

Our Kindergarten teachers certainly knew the power of Show AND Tell.