I'm Cliff Atkinson.
I spent 20 years teaching lawyers to turn a screen into a campfire where jurors gather round and think as one, for weeks at a time.
Now I‘ll show you how to turn your screens into a pod of people that holds you, for life.
What I do
I transform media from passive to sociable.
Twenty years ago, my first book Beyond Bullet Points introduced the evolutionary idea that anyone could transform presentation software from a boring book to a persuasive backdrop.
The legendary trial attorney Mark Lanier invited me to apply the concept to a big trial, where we turned the screen into a campfire where 12 strangers gathered round as a jury to think as one.
He won a $253 million verdict, and Fortune magazine called our work "frighteningly powerful."
Since then, I've worked on 150+ cases, helping my clients win ever-increasing verdicts - including a $5 billion antitrust verdict.
Over my decades working on high-stakes cases, I began to understand that what we were doing to create a virtual campfire for a jury was powerful but only temporary, and had much broader potential impact in the world.
That through-line has led me to the next stage of my work: showing you how to turn your screens into a pod of people that holds you for life.
What clients say
"Cliff, I just wanted to say a big thank you to you. Your presentation was spot on and fantastic!" — Kristin G. Hamlin, Vice President, Wells Fargo
"Our members are still talking about the great workshop." — Christina Busso, Executive Director of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, DC
"Cliff is stinking amazing!" — Mark Lanier, Trial Attorney with $20 billion in verdicts
I'm the author of evolutionary works on communication, persuasion and human performance
Beyond Bullet Points: The visual storytelling classic, 125,000+ copies, translated into a dozen languages, named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon.
By Cliff Atkinson: My central writing hub where you can access my articles, podcasts, pamphlets, books and more. Visit https://cliffatkinson.substack.com
The Missing Membrane: The online pamphlet that introduces how to correct a historic injustice and rejoin the evolution. Visit www.themissingmembrane.com
The Survival of the Closest: The online book that gathers groups of 6 round a new campfire to tell the 4-billion-year storyline of life and its regeneration. Visit www.survivaloftheclosest.com
The Greenhouse: The living algorithm for starting your own personal pod of 6 people, and evolving our world from the bottom up. Visit www.podmedia.com
The Superpositioning Paper: The online positioning paper that teaches you how to write the decisive line bringing order into chaos. www.thesuperpositioningpaper.com
About Me
I hold a B.A. from Baylor University and an MBA from Richmond, The American International University in London. I served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, and have lived in 32 places across the world. I'm currently living between Dallas and Montreal with my husband, Louis.
Ready to talk?
Whether you're preparing for trial, building a high-performance leadership team, or curious about what I teach, let's have a conversation.
