FYV #27 - The Primacy & Recency Effect: How First and Last Impressions Impact Your Case
Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
Release Date: 07/14/2025
FYV #50 - Motivation Isn’t a Feeling: How Jurors Decide and How You Stay Grounded
Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
In this episode, we explore motivation from two critical angles: what motivates jurors to stay engaged and move toward a verdict — and what actually motivates you to show up grounded, prepared, and consistent in high-stakes moments. Jurors don’t get motivated in isolation; they respond to your energy, clarity, and intentionality. And before jurors ever lean in, you have to generate momentum for yourself. This episode bridges courtroom communication with personal practice, showing how relevance fuels juror engagement and how motivation is built through small, repeatable actions — not...
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FYV #49 - RBF, Thinking Face, and the Juror’s Subconscious
Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
In this episode, we zoom out from pure vocal technique and dig into one of the most overlooked communication tools in the courtroom: your face. With 43 expressive muscles firing even when you’re not speaking, your facial expressions reveal more than you think — especially to jurors who instinctively read micro-cues for safety, sincerity, and credibility. You’ll learn why your “resting face,” thinking patterns, stress habits, and unintended microexpressions can either support your message or sabotage it — and how to intentionally build a neutral, open, trustworthy facial baseline...
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FYV #48 - The Two Personalities That Shut Down Your Jury
Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
In this episode, Kristi unveils the two personality types that quietly shut jurors down long before your story ever gets a chance to land: the know-it-all and the chronic apologizer. Both create emotional friction that drains jurors' attention and engagement — just in opposite ways. Kristi breaks down how each style shows up vocally and nonverbally in the courtroom, why jurors feel instantly exhausted by them, and how even small shifts in vocal presence, humility, and breath-supported delivery can completely change how jurors perceive you. This is a mindset-and-voice tune-up every trial...
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FYV #47 - Cognitive Load in the Courtroom: How to Give Jurors a Fighting Chance
Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
Jurors don’t get real breaks. Not mentally, not emotionally, and certainly not socially. In this episode, we explore how cognitive fatigue shows up inside the courtroom and why even small, intentional pauses in your delivery can dramatically improve juror engagement and listening stamina. You’ll learn how micro-pauses, grounded transitions, and light moments of levity create essential “brain rest” for jurors—without derailing your momentum or weakening your command of the room. This episode reframes pauses from something to fear into one of your most strategic storytelling tools....
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FYV #46 - The Power of a Simple Nod
Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
This episode begins with a lighthearted story about outdoor walks and ends with a powerful lesson on nonverbal communication. Kristi explores how a small, intentional gesture—like a nod—can change the emotional tone of an interaction and deepen connection. Whether you’re walking past a stranger or speaking to a jury, your breath, presence, and micro-movements tell a story. In this episode, you’ll learn how to use breath, facial expression and tone to support your full nonverbal communication strategy so your interactions with jurors feel calm, credible, and human. In this...
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FYV #45 - Your Voice Is Not Who You Are — It Reveals Who You Are
Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
Most trial attorneys think authenticity means “just be yourself.” But in this episode, Kristi reframes what authenticity really is — and why your voice isn’t something to fix, but something to honor and expand. Through stories from her vocal snapshot sessions, Kristi explores the deep connection between self-perception, vocal growth, and leadership presence. You’ll learn why discomfort is a sign of expansion, how your brain resists change to protect you, and what it means to align your voice with who you truly are — not who you think you’re supposed to sound like. In this...
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FYV #44 - Breathe the Story — How Your Breath Shapes Emotion and Connection
Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
Your breath doesn’t just keep you alive — it brings your stories to life. In this episode, Kristi explores how intentional breathing shapes the emotional rhythm, tone, and impact of your storytelling. From recreating a car crash scene to guiding jurors through reflection and resolution, your breath is what makes a story felt, not just heard. Learn how to move between urgency and stillness, intensity and calm, using breath as your invisible thread of connection. In this episode, you’ll learn: How your breathing patterns shape emotion, pacing, and vocal tone. Ways to use breath...
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FYV #43 - Rhythm That Sticks: How to Make Your Words Memorable
Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
Most trial attorneys fall into one of two traps when they speak: they either get stuck in repetitive vocal patterns that lull jurors to sleep… or they avoid rhythm altogether and lose clarity. In this episode, Kristi unpacks the neuroscience and strategy behind rhythm as a communication tool — how to use repetition, contrast, and deliberate pattern to make your message stick in jurors’ minds long after closing arguments. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why predictable vocal patterns sabotage juror attention. The difference between distracting repetition and intentional...
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FYV #42 - Talking With Your Hands: How Gestures Can Win or Lose Jurors
Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
Your hands are speaking in court—whether you mean for them to or not. In this episode, Kristi unpacks why gestures matter as much as words, how jurors process them as part of your message, and how you can use them strategically to reinforce rather than distract. Learn how to balance movement so you look authoritative instead of chaotic or rigid, and discover how pairing tone with gesture creates courtroom communication that sticks. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why psychologists call gestures “co-speech gestures” and how the brain fuses words + movement into one message. ...
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FYV #41 - It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It
Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
Of all the five vocal building blocks—pitch, pace, melody, volume, and tone—tone is the one most often overlooked. Yet it’s also the one that communicates the most: your intent, your sincerity, and the emotional meaning behind your words. In this episode, Kristi unpacks why tone matters so much in the courtroom, how it shapes jurors’ perceptions faster than words, and how you can start using it intentionally to build trust, credibility, and connection. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why ignoring tone leads to miscommunication and lost juror connection. How the brain...
info_outlineWhether onstage or in the courtroom, the way you start and the way you end deeply shapes what people remember.
In this episode, we explore the neuroscience-backed principles of primacy and recency—why jurors remember your opening and closing far more than the middle—and how to use that knowledge to structure your case with clarity, impact, and emotional resonance.
From voir dire to final argument, your first and last impressions aren’t just about style—they’re strategy.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
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What the primacy effect and recency effect mean for trial attorneys
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How early “micro-impressions” shape juror trust before opening statements even begin
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Why your opening must be structured with rule, roadmap, and relatable storytelling
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What a powerful closing should include—and how it echoes long after you leave the courtroom
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How to use emotional anchors to make your case human and memorable
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Why planning your entrances and exits isn’t about performance—it’s about leadership
Key Takeaway:
Your first impression is a neurological anchor. Your last impression is the one that walks into deliberation without you. Use both to guide, teach, and move your jurors with clarity and heart.
Favorite Moment:
“You won’t be in the room during deliberations—but your voice can be.”
Links & Resources:
🔉Want more on building emotional and cognitive anchors into your case structure? Check out Episode 23: Balancing Logic & Emotion at https://www.fostervoicestudio.com/blog/23
📕 Malcolm Gladwell – Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Book site: https://www.gladwellbooks.com/titles/malcolm-gladwell/blink/9780316010665/
✍️ Primacy & Recency Effects in Trial
https://www.litigationgroup.com/2015/03/01/winter-2015/
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