An excellent example of hand drawn visuals to tell a compelling story with a lot of legal content.

The interaction between the hand drawn art work and the real video presentation of the speaker adds another layer of engagement.

Watch the video on The Story of Stuff - Citizens United vs. FEC

Hosted by Kim J. Wright, author of  ABA best selling book ‘Lawyers as Peacemakers’ , Cutting Edge Law and the Renaissance Lawyers Society.

I have done real time graphic recording of six sessions of 3 to 4 speakers each on a 4 X 8 ft. drawing board.

The essence of the content was being captured in words, color and images. The audience was energized by the experience of seeing the presentations being drawn out. The conversation continued in the lobby, where the maps were being displayed after the session.

The Portugese sessions were supported by simultaneous translation via headsets. This was a new listening and recording experience for me: speakers express a lot of meaning and priority in their voice, whereas a translator sounds very monotonous and has no relationship with the content.

Some snapshots:

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What other people say

“Susanne’s visuals were an absolute hit at the Clarity2010 plain legal language conference.
They were great for keeping track of all the main events and were a major talking point amongst our delegates. It is an extremely valuable tool for any conference.”

James Fisher-Martins, event organizer for Clarity 2010 in Lisbon

Prof Richard Susskind was the keynote speaker, presenting his vision book about the future trends for the legal profession, as layed out in his book
‘The End of Lawyers – Rethinking the nature of legal services’

The White House chooses low tech! The CEA chair explains the issue of tax cuts to the public on a white board, using simple graphics and plain language.

click here to see the video Tax cuts

This chart is based on a newspaper article that I read, while visiting the ABA Tech Conference in Chicago last spring. Though I didn’t make it for any debating purposes, it has caught the attention of visitors in my studio many times. It was an interesting conversation starter. ‘So, what is this about?’ And then I was able to quickly explain the different legal concepts, which lead to the next questions and often to some sort of opinionmaking.

To me, this clearly demonstrates how easily hand-drawn flip charts focus the attention and energize conversations on legal topics, that normally would not draw people in.

For the latest news on the policy of the Obama Administration on the legal procedures for these detainees
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/13/world/main5307100.shtml

This chart is based on a newspaper article. The topic was funny and it seemed an easy entrance to discuss some of the legal issues involved, for example for legal educators.

People who have seen this chart grasped the conflicting legal perspectives quickly and were engaged to find out more, ask questions and form their opinion. The interaction seems to be facilitated by the kinestetic experience. People walk up to the wall, study the image, and start a lively conversation while standing in front of the chart. Very different from the setting of a conference table, auditorium or desk.

Apparently, the flipchart triggers a different response in information processing.

News on the displayed topic:
Amazon apologized to its customers and offered to restore the digital copies or receive a $30 gift certificate or a check instead. Consumer advocates are still concerned with the potential censoring power of similar digital content providers.