Can Using Images Off the Internet Get Me Sued?

If you are searching the web looking for images for your next trial here are a few tips to keep it legal. One of the best ways to find images is on Google Images. It's fast and it's free, two of the best things around. But are these images really FREE? Are there copyright and usage issues to be aware of? The secret is the advanced search settings. One of the search criteria is "Usage Rights." It allows you several options "labeled for commercial reuse" being the the option you are likely to want. Here is a short video tutorial from John Marshall law student Jessica Dobias:

From Google’s Webpage:

In the Usage Rights drop-down, select one of the following options:

• Labeled for reuse: Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy and/or modify the image in ways specified in the license.
• Labeled for commercial reuse: Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy the image for commercial purposes, in ways specified in the license.
• Labeled for reuse with modification: Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy and modify the image in ways specified in the license.
• Labeled for commercial reuse with modification: Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy the image for commercial purposes and modify it in ways specified in the license.

For her full article: How to Use Google Images and Not Get Sued. One thing you will want to be careful of is to check the actual terms of the license.

Just grabbing photos off of Google does not give you the right to use them for whatever reason. Be Aware, Be Thorough and Be Smart.

TIP: Courtroom Exhibits Reinforce Key Witness Testimony

When a Picture ISN'T Worth a 1000 Words...

Don't let the testimony of the key witness in your automobile case hinge on a crudely-drawn impromptu sketch to illustrate how the accident occured!

To get an aerial photo or street view photo, go to http://maps.google.com/, type the address in the search box & click on the "satellite" option. Zoom in or out, then have the result blown up & mounted on a board. In court, the witness can point or draw a simple line to reinforce the verbal testimony. As they say, an accurate picture is worth a thousand words!

At Med Art & Legal Graphics Co., we can help you with all your exhibit needs!

Interactive PDFs from Med Art & Legal Graphics!!

"The Bright Ideas Company" has done it again with our Interactive PDF Presentations!! These PDF presentations are a "No Brainer". They are easy to use, require no learning and ALWAYS Work!! Imagine having ALL your case trial exhibits, photographs, documents, video deposition clips, timelines, graphics and more in ONE PDF file. Just click on the PDF file and it will automatically open with Adobe Reader. Additionally, the PDF file can be emailed or added to a CD-ROM or uploaded to the internet to be viewed by judges, insurance adjusters, experts or co-counsel.

The example shown above is a demand package presentation created for a personal injury case (for the full animated version click here). The PDF file was designed to be easily navigated simply by clicking on the images you want to see. All types of files can be viewed in our PDF presentations including 3D models, (just like the rotating male figure seen above), medical illustrations, medical animations, video clips, CT, MRI or X-Ray images or movies can also be displayed. How about including video clips of the Treating Physician's testimony or IME's testimony regarding your client's damages and future prognosis?? These powerful presentations work extremely well for settling cases or for use in mediation. We should know, Med Art has been helping our clients successfully present their cases for over 20 years!

Creating the PERFECT Powerpoint Printout

This is an except from "Speaking About Presenting" by Olivia Mitchell

• Having a printout of your slides means that you know the next slide before you click your remote. No longer do you have to click before you open your mouth. You can introduce slides, you can take turns with your slides – you can dance with your slides.
• Your audience will be more engaged, because your presentation is not a repetitive sequence of click-speak, click-speak, click-speak.
• You can jump between slides to respond to an audience question.

But none of the print options within PowerPoint give you quite what you need. The ideal printout of your PowerPoint slides has:

1. The number of each slide so that you can jump between slides (enter the number of the slide on your keyboard and press ‘Enter’).
2. About 15 slides to an A4 landscape page, so that you can see a large chunk of slides at any one time and don’t need to constantly turn over the page to see what’s next.

The ideal PowerPoint slide printout

This screencast walks you through the steps to create the ideal PowerPoint slide printout:

And here’s the steps in hardcopy if you want to be able to quickly refer to them:

1. Click on View menu, then click on the Slidesorter View.
2. In the Slidesorter View adjust the size of the slides so that you can get the right number within the screenshot. 66% gives you 15 slides which I find about right.
3. Press the “PrintScreen” key on your keyboard. This will paste your current screenshot into the clipboard.
4. Go back to the View menu and click on Normal View.
5. Create a blank side at the end of your presentation.
6. Right-click on the slide and click Paste to paste the screenshot from the clipboard onto the slide.
7. Click on the screenshot to select it – this will bring up the Picture Toolbar. Click on the Crop button and crop the screenshot so that you’re left with only the slides.
8. Print the slide by clicking on File, Print. Click on Current Slide or enter the number of the slide and click OK.

Powerpoint Slide Design for the Court ....SIMPLE!

Avoid the temptation to dress up your pages with cheesy effects and focus instead on simple design basics.

The key design principles are:

• Use a simple background – decorative templates add clutter.
• Use a sans serif font such as arial or helvetica.
• Use text which contrasts well with the background.
• If you’re using photos have them fill the whole screen and put your text on top of them. If necessary use a semi-transparent rectangle – a mask – behind the text to ensure that it is readable.

For some Great examples of Presentations designed for the Court ... Med Art & Legal Graphics does a wonderful job. Look through their examples.

Now That You Have The Slide Content ...Add The PERFECT Image.

When adding an image to your slide remember that it should add clarity not confusion, for more info read this article ( Picture Is Worth Thousand Words)

Here are a few image types you can add to a slide.

1. An image or photograph which directly represents or is a metaphor for what you’re talking about.
2. A diagram which helps your audience understand the concept you’re describing.A graph which shows the meaning of your data.
3. A flowchart that demonstrates the process you’re explaining.

Keep the content in mind when adding images to the slide ... if it doesn't clarify the story GET RID OF IT!

One Point Per Slide - The Powerpoint Way

Take each main point of your presentation and express it as a short and succinct statement. Put each statement on one slide. In the beginning try to avoid Bullets because:

• Bullets are the speaker’s notes in disguise. Take them off the screen and put them in your hand or on the table/lectern in front of you.
• Having bullets on your slide and talking at the same time harms the ability of your audience to take in your message.

Trust yourself to tell your story without have each point recreated with a word. Remember ...they are there to hear you, not see a Powerpoint presentation. Your presentation should ASSIST not DOMINATE.

Planning for Your Presentation

Step #1 - Step away from the computer.

Instead focus on your audience and what you want them to take away from the presentation. What do you want them to do? How do you want them to think differently? What do you want them to remember? This will become your Key Message.

Then structure the flow of your presentation around what your audience will want to know.

DON"T WRITE OUT A SCRIPT. What you are writing is more of a outline. A script locks you into things that you may not want to get out of because of the time it took to write.

Presenting is about communicating ideas – not exact words and sentences. So instead of a script create a set of notes for yourself. Your notes don’t say what you want to say – they remind you of what you want to say. For more guidance on creating notes. Then you can focus on connecting with your audience.

Once you’ve created the structure and flow of your presentation, you can start creating slides.

Don't Let Powerpoint OVERSHADDOW YOU!

PowerPoint can take your audience when the slideshow becomes the center of attention. Commonly, presentations start with a title slide followed by Topic-Bullet list slides. The presenter stands at the side of the room, speaking to the slides (read "Don't Let Powerpoint Steal Your Creditability") and the screen steals the show. Audiences report that this style of presenting is boring, patronising and a rip-off of their time.

Solution – Remember, you are a presenter not a projectionist. Place yourself in the center of the room and have the screen slightly to your side. Introduce your slides before you show them – so that your audience sees that you are running the show – not the show running you.

And occasionally use a blank slide – forcing the audience to be totally focused on you. The beginning and end of your presentation are ideal times to use this powerful technique.

Bullet Points TAKING AWAY CLARITY From a Presentation?

Bullet list can also take clarity AWAY from your presentation. The Topic-Bullet list format consists of a topic heading such as “Ways to help an audience remember” and then underneath, a bulleted list of those ways. Such a slide has limited effectiveness as a hand-out. The lists of words create distraction and confusion – ideal circumstances for committing a robbery.

And it’s the clarity of your message that’s being stolen.

Solution – use Assertion-Evidence slides.The headline of your slide should be an assertion – the point you’re making, such as “Your audience will only remember what they process”. The rest of the slide provides evidence to support this be it anecdotal, statistical or the recommendation of a credible expert.

Don't Let Powerpoint Rob Your Credibility!

Powerpoint can steal your credibility if you use a slide to remind yourself what to say. It doesn’t matter how few words you use, the audience can see what you’re doing. Even though you don’t have notes in your hand, there’s an con going on. You’re pretending that you don’t need notes. But…your notes are on the screen – everyone can see them. And as a result, instead of you being the credible source of the information, the screen is. Create notes on paper using brief key words and phrases. That leaves your slides to be a visual stimulus for your audience – not verbal cues for you. For more tips and exhibit ideas visit Med Art & Legal Graphics website or give them a call 888-715-0784.

WHEN to Use a Timeline

Timelines can be a useful way of showing what needs to happen next and the order in which things need to happen. However, I would caution against using timelines of the past unless your topic is historical. It might encourage you to talk too much about the ‘background’ to the detriment of the present and the future - which is of far more interest to your audience. Let Med Art & Legal Graphics experienced staff help you design the perfect exhibit to clarify you case. More more information feel free to visit our website or call, toll free 888-715-0784

Charts & Graphs ...How Much Is TOO MUCH?

When creating charts and graphs I would try not to import these directly from Excel into PowerPoint. Create your chart in PowerPoint and only include the numbers which are required to make your point. And then explain the meaning of the data. It’s very tempting when you’ve got a whole lot of data to include all of it, but this only obscures the point you’re making (and if there’s no point to it - don’t include it). For some Great examples check out Med Art and Legal Graphics Charts and Graphs.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words (Good and Bad)

Photos are great for impact and evoking emotion. They can be illustrations of the real thing or a metaphor for what you’re talking about. If you have a hard time trying to think of a metaphor simply start writing words to describe your metaphor, don't stop at 5 get 20 or more words. If you’re telling a story to make your point, then the image should relate to that story. It will help the audience make the link between your point and the story.

Don’t use irrelevent photos for the sake of adding visual interest. It’s better to have no visual than a confusing visual, because a bad graphic can confuse the audience just as easy as it can clarify your point. Med Art has a vast collection of graphics we have used to clarify thousands of stories. Feel free to visit our stock library. http://www.med-art.com/Galleries.aspx

How to Create the PERFECT BULLET: Part 1

Writing an Assertion

1. Look at your bullet-point slide and work out the single point you are trying to make with the slide. For instance with the statement could be “The Defenent was not paying attention”. Now write your assertion as a complete sentence.

2. The assertion should be short, but not so short that it’s cryptic. It’s more important for the assertion to say something meaningful, than to be short.

3. The assertion should not be a question - a question doesn’t leverage the power of displaying your point on the slide. The assertion should be the answer to the question.

Use Google Voice with your mobile phone

Recently, Google Voice released a mobile application for Android and Blackberry devices. The application allows users to dial on their cell phones and have the call appear to come from their Google Voice number.

The mobile application is a terrific complement for Google Voice. Although I have had a Google Voice number for quite some time, it often seemed useless. Even though people could call me on my Google Voice phone number, whenever I called them it would show up with my cell phone number, thus defeating the purpose.

Now my Blackberry allows me to dial using the Google Voice phone number and not reveal my personal cell phone number to the people I am calling. Google Voice can also be used to send and receive text messages. With the mobile program, that has become significantly easier and more useful.

Google Voice – Call screening | YouTube
Google Voice – Conference calling | YouTube