OTLA Trial Lawyer Fall 2020

47 Trial Lawyer • Fall 2020 together (now, virtually), presenting facts to them, getting the crosstalk between the participants going, then sitting back and taking in every gold nugget they give you. For virtual focus groups, we mostly use Zoom. When you are looking either for more general attitudes from jurors or a very specific issue in a case such as what a particular photograph conveys, we have been using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) in conjunction with Survey Gizmo. Both formats have advantages and drawbacks. Zoom your case forward Zoom (along with other virtual meet- ing software) is continually advancing and trying to lead the industry in the new virtual revolution. I think we have all experienced feeling the fatigue of being “zoomed out.” We can tell when partici- pants are also feeling this way. They want real human interaction but are resigned to the fact that this is the best they are going to get. In the past, moderators and participants both have preferred the in- person focus group, but the world we live in has opened up some different options that are proving effective. Using Zoom has some advantages over in-person focus groups. In our in- person focus groups we always provide snacks or lunch. But with virtual focus groups you don’t have to pickup food (or spend money on food). You don’t have to spend your time scheduling (and pay- ing for) a meeting place. And there is no commute time for anyone participating so getting it started and finished is a lot easier. People participate from the com- fort of their own home or office. Addi- tionally, it opens up the pool of partici- pants so finding ready and willing people is usually easier, too. As for the drawbacks. Developing your interpersonal skills is harder. It is more difficult to get crosstalk going among participants. And you have to deal with inevitable technical issues. Interact- ing with people and picking up on non- verbal cues is a bit more challenging. In addition, crosstalk is where some of the best information comes from, but be- cause only one person can talk at a time on Zoom, most people do not engage each other, instead waiting for the mod- erator to direct things. We think this has become standard Zoom etiquette, and we have not yet found a solution. The other disadvantages to Zoom are technical. Bad internet connections, dropped participants and other difficul- ties. Despite these disadvantages, we have found online focus groups to still be of value and worth doing. We inform our participants, prior to starting, of several requirements they must meet in order to participate in the virtual focus group. We require them to have a strong internet connection. They need to have a device — such as a com- puter, iPad or smart phone — with an internet-friendly microphone and cam- era. They must be on time to the meet- ing, or they will not be allowed to par- ticipate. They also need to have an ac- count with one of the digital wallet apps — Google Pay, PayPal or Venmo — so we can pay them. Zoom has several levels of member- ship, and, frankly, the basic free version will not cut it. Basic only allows 40-min- ute meetings, and there is no way to re- cord through Zoom. When it comes to recording, it is nice to be able to record through Zoom because the quality is decent, and it catches everyone talking even when they talk over each other. We also always make a backup recording from our desktop either by using Micro- soft Xbox Game Bar recording or Record Screen option on Mac. These recordings not only make a record of the focus group, but are also used to make a tran- script for the file. We use otter.ai for our transcripts because we like the live tran- script feature, but rev.com, trint.com and temi.com all work well, are relatively inexpensive and have minimal mistakes. With Zoom, you can vet each par- ticipant before allowing him or her into the group. This lets us make sure we have received a signed copy of each person’s confidentiality agreement and other documents. It also allows you to share your screen, to show video or other me- dia, and you can put participants in breakout sessions if needed. We recom- mend your Zoom focus groups not go over two hours or participants start to look around at all the things they need to get done. As we are wrapping up with the group, one of us will work on closing out the group while the other sends money to the accounts. The participants can confirm they received the deposit, which they generally seem extremely happy about. All in all, you should easily be able to get eight people with diverse back- grounds to a Zoom meeting to discuss your cases for two hours. To breakdown the cost we usually take three to five cases in this time slot, and the whole things costs $300-500. See The Virtual Way p 48