PDF for Lawyers

Using Acrobat instead of Powerpoint?

Most people would never imagine that they could use Acrobat to do presentations like the ones created in Powerpoint. And many of the few who could imagine such a thing might ask "Why would I want to?" Let me address both questions, starting with the second one first.

Obviously, those of you who are adept at creating elaborate Powerpoint presentations with internal builds and clever transitions aren't going to switch to Acrobat to do a presentation. But if all you want to do is show a series of slides in sequence, with simple transitions, then listen up. 

The first step is to create a PDF document with the things you want to display in order, page-by-page. Once you have your display pages sequenced inside of one PDF, the next part is easy. If you want to set transitions between the pages, select the following menu choices ADVANCED > DOCUMENT PROCESSING > PAGE TRANSITIONS (depicted in the screenshot below).

You have choices for how quickly each transition will take (slow, medium, or fast). You can also set it up so that the pages transition automatically after a set number of seconds, and that the slideshow will only apply to a certain range of pages (see the dialogue box below).

Once you've got the transitions set to your liking, you just open the PDF and then select VIEW > FULL SCREEN MODE (or choose the shortcut: CONTROL + L on a PC, or COMMAND + L on a Mac). That's it. Dead simple to set up and use.

So, now other than simplicity why would you do this? First of all, there are less compatibility problems if you're going to be showing the slides on a computer that's not yours. Many seminar organizers will require attendees to send in their slides beforehand, and then load them into the computer being used to project so that the speakers can just walk up and do their thing. More than once I've seen speakers aghast that their carefully crafted Powerpoint slides were somehow mangled, and the fonts changed into garish text. This wouldn't happen if you used a PDF file.

Ah, but you say "What if the seminar presenters don't have Acrobat on their computer?" Well, that would be a problem. But if they have Adobe Reader then you could use that. Since the Reader program is free to download, just make it a point to tell them to load that on the computer and you'll be good to go.
And, lastly, I should point out that while you can't do builds within a slide, you can embed a movie file if you want (see example below).

You have to use the "multimedia" tool in Acrobat which will take the movie file, convert to Flash, and then embed it. When you get to that slide you just have to click on the "Play" icon and the movie will play. You can then proceed on to the next slide. 

I've even been able to use wireless remotes to advance slides on my Mac computer; but I can't vouch for how this works on Windows  computers so test it before your talk and see if that works for you.

Adobe's amazing online services

Yesterday I had the good fortune to get a preview of a new online tool from Adobe called 'Presentation' (which is officially being announced today, probably about now). So what exactly is this new tool?  Basically, think of an online version of Powerpoint built on Flash technology. And how much will it cost you?  For now it'll be free, as are all of the offerings on Acrobat.com.  The Presentation service is not fully-mature yet. But that's actually desirable.  Adobe said they'd prefer to launch early and get user-feedback on features that they want baked in.  One feature that is on the near horizon is the ability to export to Powerpoint, which is obviously important.

'Presentations' is but one of several free tools available on Acrobat.com. If you haven't checked it out yet, you probably should. You'll be very impressed with the writing tool, which is called Buzzword.  Especially if you've been using Google Docs as your online collaborative word processor. I like Google  Docs, but Buzzword is vastly superior in terms of look, feel and versatility.

Clearly, Adobe is trying to position itself as a major player in the area of online collaboration.  You can also hold online meetings using the ConnectNow service in Acrobat.com.  For now, the limit is three people.  But, remember this is a free tool.  And, many impromptu meetings that require screen-sharing don't involve more than three people.

If you have any ideas on how to improve Acrobat.com navigate to ideas.acrobat.com and give them the benefit of your thoughtfulness.  We'll all benefit if Adobe makes this service better.  But, from what I can tell, it's pretty amazing already.

Technology webinars (how to go paperless & more)

Last December my friend Dane Ciolino and I put on a half-day seminar called Digital Workflow for Lawyers, which was very well received.  The point was to show lawyers how to make the transition from a paper-based law practice to a more digital one, with a strong emphasis on using PDFs.  

Now we'd like to do some online programs to help folks improve their tech-lawyering skills.  If you've already signed up for email notices at the Digital Workflow website that we set up then you'll be getting announcements as they are sent out.  But, if you haven't, and you're interested in getting notices about our seminars & webinars, then click here.

The nice thing about the webinars is that anyone can participate, even people outside Louisiana.  Basically, if you have a high-speed internet connection then you can join in (although we probably won't be able to offer CLE credit outside Louisiana).

And if there are particular things you want to learn about then send us an email with those suggested topics.  We have posted the written materials that we used at our seminar online if you are interested ind downloading them.  Just visit the website and click on any of the links along the left-hand side.

Upcoming 'paperless lawyering' seminars

Dane Ciolino and I plan to give more Digital Workflow seminars in the future.  Feedback from our recent half-day seminar was very positive, with most people saying they want more in-depth information about paperless lawyering—especially information on how to use Adobe Acrobat better.

Here are the topics that people requested, and which we plan to cover in the upcoming year:

• Advanced PDF (bates-stamping, redaction, meta-data removal, OCR, digital signatures, and document production)
• Practical E-Discovery (email gathering and production, privilege culling, working with outside vendors)
• Organizing digital information in every day practice
• Paperless depositions, hearings & trials
• Effective use of video evidence 
• Using Powerpoint (or Keynote) to persuade 
• Effective E-mail management 
• Web resources for lawyers 
• Internet marketing for lawyers 
• Apple computers in law practice 

If you're interested in getting an email notice of these upcoming seminars click here.  We plan to give seminars outside of New Orleans (and even outside Louisiana) so if you're from elsewhere go ahead and fill out the form. 

Digital workflow for lawyers

I'll be speaking to the Lawyers Computer Group on 'Digital Workflow' in a couple of weeks.  The talk is about about using scanners and Adobe Acrobat to streamline your law practice (so you don't feel like this poor guy).

The written materials are pretty spare; I'll be posting links relevant to the talk here.  I think you have to register by February 8th if you want a spot.  Hope to see some of you there.

Visualizing evidence & presenting evidence

Armed with simple spyglass Galileo relentlessly studied the heavens, eventually discovering a magnificent truth: the Universe didn't revolve around the Earth.  But then he found out that discovering a difficult truth is not as hard as explaining it to those who didn't discover that truth for themselves.   Trial lawyers can relate to this problem.

Today's courtroom veterans have at their command many sophisticated tools, but the problem is not one of tools. The problem is technique. And for those interested in learning how to present visual evidence, I highly recommend Edward Tuffte's Beautiful Evidence.  He explains his objective clearly in the Introduction.

"Science and art have in common intense seeing, the wide-eyed observing that generates empirical information.  Beautiful Evidence is about how seeing turns into showing, how empirical observations turn into explanations and evidence."  This is an outstanding book, a treasure trove of practical ideas on how to improve your visual presentations.  No one should be allowed to use Powerpoint without having read this book first. 

If he were still alive, Galileo would certainly recommend it.

Portable projectors for Lawyers

People ask me sometimes what kind of portable projector I recommend.  Truth is, I don't know the whole spectrum of projectors so I can't say I'm the best person to recommend a projector.  But having said that, I use an Epson like this one (an older model with 200 less lumens) and I love it!  The Epson S-3 got good write-ups and a lot of other techies seemed to like it, and so that's why I bought it.  I'm pretty sure that the S-4 model is even better than the one I have.

Presentation Tools

One of the little known features of Adobe Acrobat is the ability to do Powerpoint-like presentations.  If you manage your trial exhibits in Acrobat then it's probably easiest to use Acrobat to display the documents.  You can set the display mode to full-screen, which is pretty stunning.  We'll say more about this feature down the road.  For now, we have this recommendation: buy a portable, easy to use display projector.  If you have your own projector you'll always be ready to present, without worrying about if the equipment will be supplied.  Also, you'll be familiar with a key component of your presentation (you wouldn't go to court with a laptop you just borrowed from a friend would you?)  So, what kind of projector is good?

I can heartily recommend the Epson Powerlite S3 LCD Projector ($699 at Amazon). It puts out 1600 lumens (a measure of brightness), which is darn good and certainly more than you need in almost any setting you might encounter.  This projector gets great reviews, and after using it I can see why.  It comes with a nice travel case and all the add-ons you might need.  The one thing it doesn't come with, but which you should always have with you if you do a presentation is an extension cord, preferably a long one (just in case!).