Tag: video conferencing

With the rise of depositions by video conferencing, a lot of attorneys may be wondering “What about the exhibits?” Just because you have exhibits doesn’t mean that you can’t take advantage of remote depositions. Here is some information on how you can conduct a remote deposition – with exhibits.

Video Conferencing – The Old Way

Remote depositions are hosted using video conference services. These services are great for sharing audio and video footage from participants in any location in a very easy and user-friendly way. In many ways it can feel like everyone is in the same room. However, the reality that each participant is many miles away become glaringly obvious the moment when you realize you want to share a document in front of you with the other participants. What can you do? You could try to email the document to the group for viewing. In our experience this creates a delay during the deposition while email addresses are confirmed, and while time is given to allow the participants to search their inboxes for the shared document. In desperate situations, we have heard of participants holding pages up to their cameras hoping that it will focus enough for the rest of the group to read. None of this makes for a smooth deposition, or a clean record. Our solution? Share documents digitally!

Digitally Sharing Exhibits

Most video conferencing services have native solutions for “screen sharing” during a video conference allowing participants to easily show their own screen to the rest of the group. This is how you can share exhibits during your deposition! To take advantage of these features, make sure that you have digital scans of all the exhibits you would like to use prior to your scheduled remote deposition. Once you’re ready to show your exhibit, use your video conference’s screen sharing feature to show all participants your document in a clear, readable form right there inside of your video conference software. When you are finished, simply disable the screen sharing feature to return to the normal video conferencing view. Using this method is easy and prevents interruptions to your proceedings.

Pro Tip: Open your document in full screen before connecting to your video conference so it will be the first thing everyone sees when you are ready to share.

Why Have Your Remote Deposition with EGCR?

All remote depositions conducted by Elizabeth Gallo Court Reporting have the above feature, and several others including:

• Preparation of a pre-marked, digital exhibit binder for use during your deposition
• Exhibit handling by a court reporter trained in remote depositions
• Ability of your reporter to mark exhibits in real time should plans change with the use of digital exhibit stamps complete with a date-stamp  (compliments of our international sister company Ancillary Legal Corporation)

Interested in scheduling a Remote Deposition, but feeling a little nervous? Ask about our free client training available to those who schedule a remote deposition with Elizabeth Gallo Court Reporting.

Be sure to take advantage of our  Remote Deposition Checklist  and our video tutorial.

Technology has made things possible that people could never have envisoned 20 years ago.  At the rate it’s advancing, things that seem like they are cutting-edge now will be as obsolete as the typewriter in a short amount of time.  With regards to court reporters, technological innovations have changed the way that we do our work for our clients in just about every way imaginable.  We can now store and deliver our product electronically.  We can add functionality to it that makes it easy to use when these transcripts need to be studied and analyzed.  We can do just about anything we want at this point, all of which makes our service better.

One of the most central components of this advancement is video technology.  Videoconferencing is something that the court reporters at Elizabeth Gallo Court Reporting, LLC, have immediately embraced, as it simply makes managing cases for litigators and their staffs that much easier and less expensive.  In our continuing quest to add to our offerings that are being driven by technology, our team is now able to provide something truly remarkable to our clients.  This tool is known as video transcript syncing.  We’ll explain how it works below.

Video Transcript Syncing Described

Litigators understand that back in the pre-technology days, many hours were spent poring over paper transcripts in an effort to find the passage that was needed for review.  Those days largely ended when electronic transcripts became the norm.  More recently, video transcripts of testimony became available, and this added another dimension to the analysis of testimony by way of the ability to actually see how a witness answered a question or questions.  Now we can manage these video transcripts much like we can electronic, written transcripts, but you have to work with Georgia court reporters who have incorporated this capability into their service.

Elizabeth Gallo Court Reporting, LLC and DepoView

DepoView has partnered with our firm to provide video transcript syncing, and that means that people who use this tool can now do the following:

• Search testimony with keywords and watch the screen jump to that portion of the testimony
• Cut specific video clips from the testimony and save them
• Export clips to a PowerPoint presentation
• Email video clips
• Edit clips to within one-tenth of a second

These are just a few examples of what can be done.  In addition, people who download the DepoView app can do all of this from their iPad, and downloading the app is free.  It’s just that easy – you can manage your transcripts anywhere and at any time and with all of the capabilities of an experienced video editor.

As Georgia court reporters, we owe it to our clients to work tirelessly to provide them with every advantage possible.  Our new video transcript syncing capabilities are just the latest example of how we continue to look forward.  If you’d like to know more about how we can help you, contact Elizabeth Gallo Court Reporting, LLC, today for prompt answers to your questions.