It’s said that a picture is worth a thou-sand words.

If one’s personalities and strengths help determine career paths, it isn’t surprising that lawyers tend to focus more on written words than the aver-age person. We tend to learn better by reading and speaking while clients prefer to see or hear things. This is especially important if your audience is a jury comprised of people who get their news in sound bites and video clips.

Numerous articles have been writ-ten urging lawyers — and almost any-one with a computer — to learn to use presentation programs like Microsoft’s PowerPoint and Corel’s Presentations. Showing something often is more easily understood than describing it. This can be especially true with numbers. Imagine handling a case where you’re trying to explain the rise and fall of stock prices. Wouldn’t a chart that has lines showing the ups and downs of the stock be easier to understand than merely saying, “on June 5, ABC Corps’ stock was 60 1/8, then went down to 20 5/8 on June 15 based on projected quarterly earnings and on July 5 it was trading at 10 1/8th.”

Presentation programs usually are included as part of either Microsoft or Corel’s office suites. They both include wizards to guide users through creating a slide show, chart or other graphic displays.

Other tools also can assist in making a point visually. Programs like Visio (microsoft.com/office/visio/default.asp) let you create a flow chart to map how different components fit together. They include symbols, arrows, lines and different shaped boxes to connect. CaseMap and TimeMap from CaseSoft (casesoft.com) are good tools for presenting the facts or time line of a case. There also are programs that help visually prepare information such as mind-mapping programs or graphics programs that enable you to create, crop or edit pictures or photographs. I’ll review some of these in upcoming columns.

Projectors

While the tools used to transform words into graphics are important, a data projector also is needed to show your handiwork to your intended audi-ence. Some of the leading projector manufacturers are InFocus, BoxLight, Hewlett Packard, Mitsubishi, Proxima, Sharp, NEC, Epson, Hitachi and Op-toma. You also may want to check sites for authorized resellers such as projectorpeople.com and buyerzone.com, which discount projectors.

There are three styles of projectors: ultra lights, which weigh six pounds or less; conference room projectors, which tend to be heavier but have higher resolution and are better suited to larger rooms; and fixed projectors, which commonly are mounted to the ceiling.

Older portable projectors used LCD (liquid crystal display) technology and consisted of a panel connected to a computer. These projectors also required an overhead projector to display the LCD image. Newer projectors use DLP (digital light processing) technology developed by Texas Instruments, which uses tiny mirrors and produces brighter and sharper images.

You’ll have to consider the size of the audience and room where you typically will be presenting. If you tend to give presentations in smaller rooms, you won’t need as powerful a projector as someone conducting seminars in large conference halls for 200 or more people. Also consider the frequency of presentations when deciding whether to rent or buy a projector. Even if you don’t anticipate using one often, purchasing is much cheaper than renting on a per-use basis. I’ve found I use my projector more often than I expected. I bought it to provide on-site classroom-style training on software for my clients. However, I use it often during initial consultations and planning sessions to customize software, even if I am meeting with only one other person. It is more comfortable for us to view a large screen than squint at a laptop screen or desk-top monitor.

Projectors range from $1,500 to $40,000 and weigh between a mere two pounds to just under 10. The aver-age projector costs around $2,000 and weighs six pounds. Generally, the price increases as the weight de-creases.

The other major factor when purchasing a projector is the brightness and clarity of the projected image, which is measured in lumens. An aver-age projector will be approximately 1,000 lumens. The higher this number, the better able you are to see the projected image in a lighter room and the less washed-out the colors will be in a slide show. For example, if you were doing presentations only in darkened room, you could get away with a lower lumens projector. But if you’re showing information to a jury, you might want a brighter projector so you could leave the lights on. Consider the difference in impact between putting people in the dark during a presentation and leaving the lights on.

Questions

Before purchasing a projector, there are a number of questions to answer. For example, will you be traveling with it or will it be used exclusively in your firm’s conference room? If you’ll be on the road, will you be taking it in a car or on a plane? The difference between three and six pounds can be significant if you also have luggage and a laptop. When you reach your location, will there be a screen or will you need a portable screen?

Another important issue is resolution. This will depend on your laptop’s display. If it’s of recent vintage, you should be fine with one of the newer model projectors. If you have an old laptop, you may need a projector that can handle VGA connections and set-tings.

Lamps or projector bulbs are one of the hidden costs of a data display projector. Bulbs cost between $300 and $500 and generally come with only a 90-day warranty. The good news is most bulbs last several thousand hours. With most projectors, you can check how many hours have been used on the bulb. You’ll want to monitor usage so you can carefully time purchasing a replacement and also get maximum time under the new bulb’s warranty. Most bulbs are metal halide and fade gradually rather than die suddenly so when you notice the image getting duller, it’s time to order that replacement bulb. You even may want to re-place the original and keep it as a spare knowing it has several hundred hours left.

Lens

Depending on your budget and preferences, you also may want to consider the resolution and quality of the lens, especially if you’re purchasing a high-end projector to permanently in-stall in a conference room. Be sure to consider a warranty that offers a loaner should your projector need repair.

If you’re planning to do panel presentations requiring several computers connected to a single projector, you may want to purchase either a projector that can accommodate multiple connections or obtain a switch box that has connections for several computers. Then merely press a button to change the display from one laptop to another. Having the right tools for a presentation will ensure a smoother flow of material.

There are many good reasons for lawyers to consider investing in a data projector. It can be used to conduct staff seminars about the firm’s soft-ware. It can be used in client meetings to display charts, exhibits, documents or even a slide show. For example, I met with an immigration attorney years ago who had created a slide show for new clients to explain the steps to obtain a green card and demonstrate why the process took several years. If your firm does marketing by speaking before trade associations or other groups, you can improve your presentation with graphics.

If you’re like me, once you have a projector, you’ll find more occasions for its use and then find yourself more reliant on it to enhance meetings with clients, potential clients, staff and other groups.

Carol L. Schlein is president of Law Office Systems in Montclair, a training and consulting firm specializing in law firm automation. Copies of previous columns are on her company website, www.losinc.com. For information about her quarterly meetings for Time Matters users, check the website or e-mail info@losinc.com. Schlein formerly chaired the Computer and Technology Division of the ABA Law Practice Management Section.

Questions for Carol L. Schlein on law office technology may be faxed to New Jersey Lawyer at (732) 650-7010, e-mailed to news@njlnews.com or mailed to “Law Technology Questions,” New Jersey Lawyer, Edison Square, 2035 Lincoln Highway, Suite 3005, Edison, N.J. 08817.