Noah Zandan wants to make clear he's not a lawyer.

But it could benefit litigators greatly to hear what he's got to say, if they truly want to influence judges and juries–who, in the end, are only human.

Zandan, CEO and co-founder of Quantified Communications in Austin, told a packed room of attorneys at the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting in Austin on Thursday about the artificial intelligence system that his company has created to use behavioral science to measure precisely how leaders should communicate to gain the most influence and impact.

Texas Lawyer caught up with Zandan after his presentation to ask a few questions about how litigators can earn influence in the courtroom. Here are his answers, and you can hear Zandan explaining his research himself on this Texas bar podcast.

Litigators want to influence judges and juries during trials. Can you explain why it may benefit them to check out your research and findings?

A lot of people think about influence like, 'I have to prepare the right argument; I have to prepare the right closing statement; the words need to be perfect.' Our research says it's a lot about how you deliver those that actually influences humans. In the end, even the judge, even the jury — as much as we want to get the content right — are humans and are going to respond in a human way to a story that connects to them. That connection can happen logically, but even more fundamentally and strongly, it will happen through emotional connection and intuitive connection.

You mentioned that speakers focus all of their preparation on content — their speech and presentation slides — but for audiences, content is the least important thing. What would you recommend lawyers to focus on instead, to really boost their influence?

When we study it, people spend 90% of the time preparing the content, and 10% thinking of how they are going to deliver the content. We would suggest that go to like 50-50, if not even further, toward the side of: think about how you want to replicate the room; think about how you're going to make eye contact, who you are going to look at, what the big moments are, when you are going to want to pause. Great lawyers you watch — they do this. It comes naturally. The younger lawyers think so much like, 'I've got to write my argument, I've got to get it perfect' — instead of how to deliver it.