Your beliefs about jurors shape your conduct toward them, and in turn, their actions reflect those beliefs—welcome to the Pygmalion Effect in action. In this episode of Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster, I’m drawing from my years as a choreographer to reveal how high expectations, clear communication, and bold leadership can transform how jurors perceive you and your case.

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From setting the stage for success to ensuring your message is simple, clean, and compelling, these courtroom communication techniques will help you lead with confidence and clarity.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✅ Why high expectations elevate juror performance—and how to set them effectively

✅ How to simplify complex arguments so your jury can truly engage and retain information

✅ The power of mirroring—why jurors reflect the energy and clarity you model

✅ The #1 mistake trial attorneys make with flashy presentations (and what works better)

Why This Matters for Trial Attorneys:

🎭 Jurors are not legal experts—they are an ensemble of diverse backgrounds and experiences. Your job is to guide them through your case with precision and purpose. Just like in a well-choreographed performance, every movement (or argument) should be deliberate, clear, and designed to resonate with your audience.

🎧 Listen now and learn how to choreograph a winning performance in the courtroom!

Resources & Next Steps:

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TRANSCRIPT

Hellllooo! Hello! Hey there, Foster Fam! Let me ask you real quick...are you already on my mailing list? Do you already know the JOY and VALUE of my Tuesday emails?

I love knowing that I'm getting through, and so it meant so much to me when one reader replied out of nowhere to say "I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy getting these emails from you.  I can “hear” you as I read it." Or another that said "This is a great vocal tip. Thank you for helping me to become a better communicator."

Well, I tell you what...it's MY PLEASURE!

So, get on my list so you can get my weekly free vocal tips. The link to join is in the show notes.

Or, you know, maybe you need some incentivizing. Sure, okay, I got you! I've got two great resources I'm happy to give you — little free trainings to just help get you on the right path.

One is for making sure that your voice, face, body, and breath are all in sync to clarify your emotional profiles and 10x your communication impact. The other is to help you craft a vocal warm-up — just to get your breath, body, and voice ready to go before you step on your "stage" (the courtroom, or a conference room)

I've put links to both in the show notes. I mean...look at me just GIVING stuff away here! Take advantage of it. And then check in and let me know how it's going.

Today, we're going to continue the short series on what my career in theater education taught me about courtroom communication; last we we talked about what I learned while being a theater Director, and today we're talking about what I learned as a Choreographer that just might help you as a trial attorney.

But before we get into it, i just wanted to share something I heard the other day that kinda stopped me in my tracks. And it was this...

The faster you're moving, the more you're in fear.

And the more you're in fear, the more you're thinking about yourself.

And the more you're thinking about yourself, the less compassion and kindness you have for others.

There's no love in hurried and stressed.

And the more you're hurrying and the more you're stressing, the more you're missing the magic.

SO, thanks for that guilt trip Kristi. Yeah, I know i'm too hurried and too stressed. I'm a trial attorney. That's just how it goes.

I'm not meaning to make you feel guilty for choosing a career that is fast paced, full of rollercoasters of emotions and strategies. In fact, I say all the time, "you are the HEROES of the world." But I want you to be able to do this extraordinary work for a long time, or at least for however long you WANT to.

So...how about you just take this moment, right now, to choose to slow yourself down. Take 1 minute and breathe with me.

(lead 6 cycles of 4x4 balancing breath)

—MAIN—

So, for many many years I ran a youth theater company in my area — the largest regional theater company for kids ages 6-18. We produced 13 shows a year, had 40 classes every quarter, summer camps, competitive improv teams, and...well...all the things. So, needless to say, I have directed and choreographed and music directed more than my fair share of productions.

Last week I shared some of the helpful communication strategies and perspectives I picked up while being a theater Director. As a Choreographer, there are some additional tips I want to pass on to you as a courtroom leader.

Now, if you're not a theater person, let me just explain that the Choreographer is in charge of all the dances and, often, transitions from song-to-scene. When working with a youth ensemble, there was a huge range of skill levels and experience levels, so it was difficult to make sure that every student was able absolutely SHINE on stage.

I found that I had the best success with my productions when i choreographed to the highest denominator; when I set high expectations and just believed that everyone would step up.

Wait a minute, didn't that set up the less skilled students for failure?

You might think so, but the opposite was actually true. If i set high expectations, I also equipped them to meet those expectations. It brought out the best in ME as well. I wanted a strong show, and I believed that the students could rise to the occasion because they also wanted a strong show.

This approach actually has a formal title to it. It's called The Pygmalian Effect. Now, if you ARE a theater geek like me, you're buzzing because you know that Pygmalian is the name of the play that the musical My Fair Lady is based off of. Trust me...theater folks are literally buzzing right now. haha!

But the term is actually a psychological term. A central tenet of the Pygmalion effect is that others’ expectations of us can eventually influence our behavior in a significant way.

In other words, low expectations could ultimately lead to poor performance while optimistic expectations would likely improve performance.

Okay...but how does this relate to the courtroom, Kristi. I'm so glad you asked. Let me make the connections.

1. Your beliefs about jurors shape your conduct toward jurors.

2. Your conduct toward jurors influences jurors' beliefs about themselves.

3. These beliefs in turn, impact jurors' actions toward you.

4. Jurors' actions toward you influence your beliefs about them

And we're back to the beginning. It becomes a cycle. A self-fulfilling prophecy.

So, the lesson here is to think HIGHLY of your jurors. Think of them as the heroes you want them to be. Treat them as if they are "the most important part of the justice system" and believe it, don't just give them lip service. Expect that they will rise to the occasion to do their best, and equip them to do so.

When you set that expectation and belief system from the start, YOU will behave differently for them. You will equip and empower them in unique ways. And they, in turn will rise up and look to you for leadership and trust your counsel.

Create the cycle.

Okay, now the second thing that being a choreographer taught me about courtroom communication is that Simple & Clean is WAY BETTER than Advanced & Messy.

As a young or less experienced choreographer, it was SO TEMPTING to push higher skills and try to create something flashy and impressive. But, the end product was far less successful and actually ended up being LESS impressive. By using easy, understandable, quickly mastered steps that everyone could do, it made it possible for everyone to shine AND we created a WAY MORE impressive outcome for the audience. Using advanced steps that not everyone can do masterfully creates chaos and the only ones who appreciate it are the technical masters who can recognize the intention. That doesn't cut it.

So, in case I've not been obvious, let me just lean in to this a bit. In a jury, you're going to have a huge range of folks — education levels, value systems, and learning styles. You can't ignore this, nor should you underestimate it. You want simple and clean. Your flashy tech, your fast-talking legalese is not going to work on them.

If anything, you'll leave them asking "Who are you trying to impress?" And, you know...that's a good introspective question. Who ARE you wanting to impress?

Is your technology and your terminology to show defense counsel that you can "play with the big boys"? Or are you elevating your approach to prove to your own team that you are competent and strong? Are you trying to prove to yourself that you can rise above your humble roots and deserve to stand among the greats?

Maybe none of these, and your case really NEEDS the fancy and the hi-falootin'...but, as a juror-type person, I'm going to suggest from my perspective, that I'd rather you take time to draw on a simple flip-chart that guides me through your thought process instead of showing all the professionally done animations you had made that draw my attention away from YOU, the leader I want you to be.

And please set aside the legalese. Find common, everyday language that EVERYONE will be able to, not just track with, but will be able to internalize and make their own. Simple & Clean does NOT mean that you're dumbing it down. You're simply placing a priority on elevating the greater good and the group over the individual.

Finally, as a choreographer, I always wanted my actors to make bold choices, dance full out. They might get a move wrong or get off track, but at least then I knew how to help them and where the breakdown was happening.

Now, they would only know how to dance full out if I showed them. If I wanted the final result to be lightning fingers for a final pose, I modeled that to them. If I wanted high knees, I modeled that to them. Whatever facial expression I knew would best serve the energy of the moment, I modeled that to them.

They, in turn, would mirror that back. And jurors will do the same. Give them generous energy, physically and vocally. Model to them the type of interaction you'd like back from them. Now, not EVERYONE will respond in kind. I certainly had rehearsal that felt like I was pulling teeth to get the level of energy I wanted. But MOST of the time, it worked.

Model what you want them to mirror back. And for goodness sake...keep fostering your voice. I'll see you next week.