Remember the Elmo!

An Elmo is a visual presentation device that will almost always be present in any courtroom in which an electronic presentation is being given. An Elmo is a lot like a digital overhead projector. The attorney can place a page underneath a camera (which can be zoomed in or out) which presents the image of the document on the monitors set-up for the judge and jury or on the main projection screen in the courtroom. Elmo is a brand name - a company named Elmo manufactures these projection devices, but actually other companies make document cameras which serve the same purpose.

I have participated in several electronic courtroom presentations, and I've been struck by how often attorneys forget or at least neglect the Elmo. They become so accostumed to having a trial tech present exhibits and demonstratives from a latop, they entirely forget that it's possible to use the Elmo to show the jury the hard copy documents and demonstratives they have on hand. If you're doing an electronic presentation and for some reason - horror of horrors - you don't have the document the attorney needs for his or her examination on the laptop, tell them to just use the Elmo. Even though the document camera is set up in the middle of the courtroom, the most experienced litigators may still forget all about it.