Kinesthetic Learners as Jurors
On average, each jury of twelve will have one juror who prefers to learn kinesthetically. As opposed to visual learners who prefer to learn by seeing or auditory learners who prefer to learn by hearing, kinesthetic learners prefer to learn by doing, experiencing or touching.
Since the 1990s most serious litigators have learned that about two-thirds of their jury will be visual learners and, as a result, will create a visual presentation to complement their oral presentation. What is less commonly understood, however is the role of the kinesthetic juror or judge. For these unique people representing 5-10% of the population, a visual presentation combined with an oral presentation is not enough. To believe, it must feel right.
This presents a conundrum. Litigators do not generally physically interact with a jury, and usually exhibits are not handed to juries for physical inspection. So, what is a well-prepared litigator to do?
First, we believe that anyone involved in making or creating legal presentations will learn something from a 3 year study we conducted in 2004-2007 that reveals a gap between litigator and juror communications. Issues related to kinesthetic learning are more deeply discussed here.
Second, we think that a litigator should prepare two presentation components for each courtroom presentation. One should be a classic visual presentation using PowerPoint and other media. The second presentation should have kinesthetic learning in mind. Keep in mind, you will not be directing this to just one juror. Since most people have a major learning preference AND a minor one, you will very likely be speaking to many who are partly kinesthetic learners, and of course, you could have more than one kinesthetic learner in the room.
To properly engage the kinesthetic learners, consider some of the following tactics:
- Build a and use a physical model (i.e. this could be a model of the thing at issue in the case or could even illustrate how a financial transaction was structured).
- Seek the judge's permission to allow the jury to handle a model/device/photo
- Do a demonstration of something in the courtroom (i.e. "if the glove don't fit" or make a pushing motion to emphasize a witness' direct testimony that rejected the overtures of the other conspirators)