Virtual Court Checklist

Court Tech Support & Best Practices

Preparation Review

• When is court (Date & Time)?
• When is the court ‘dry run’ (Date & Time)
• Who/How many people will be on camera?
• How long is court scheduled to run? (add 30 minutes for planning purposes)
• Have you used this specific pile of technology (camera, computer, microphone, etc) before?
  • Have you done a camera test to ensure that you’re getting the picture quality that you want?
  • Have you done a camera test to ensure that everyone will fit in frame or are you going to be shifting the focus (actively moving) the camera during court?
  • Have you done a test recording to your scheduled court length to ensure that your memory card is big enough?
  • Have you done a microphone test?
  • Have you done a placement check to ensure that you have power, internet, etc where it will be needed to film court?
  • Do you need batteries? Do you have enough batteries?
  • Is your internet connection sufficient to stream? If not, and you are streaming, consider changing locations. (20M/20M is generally OK)
  • How do you plan to transfer large files between people? Dropbox? Google Drive? Something else?
• Will court be live or prerecorded?
  • If live, have you tested the internet connection?
  • If live, have you tested the streaming platform?
  • If live, are you planning to also record? (See comments regarding prerecorded courts)
  • If live, are you planning to have remote parties digitally join the court (someone else joining in via a zoom call, for example)? Have you tested this?
  • If prerecording, do you have an editor with the required software arranged?
  • If prerecording, how do you plan to distribute the recording & when?
• Are you filming inside or outside?
  • If filming inside, do you require additional lighting?
  • If filming outside, is your microphone going to pick up unwanted ambient noise?
  • If filming outside, do you have an indoor location in case of inclement weather?
• Did the pointy hats approve the video and audio quality of the test record? If not, adapt and overcome.
• How are you going to backup everything?