What Is Mock Trial? (+ Ways to Improve)

Mock trial coaching can completely transform your public speaking skills, whether you’ve been to trial before or you’re new to mock trial.  

If you’re interested in mock trial coaching, look no further. Our thorough guide on mock trial coaching (as well as the added benefit of speech coaching through Yoodli) will tell you everything you need to know to get your communication skills to the next level.

What Is a Mock Trial?

A mock trial is just what it sounds like — it’s a simulation of a real trial in the form of a competition. Although the cases aren’t real, mock trials are meant to give teams a taste of what a real criminal or civil case is like. 

Mock trial teams are usually a total of 6-10 members. However, during the competition, only six members are involved. Each team needs to have three witnesses and three attorneys.

What Skills Does Mock Trial Teach?

Mock trial teaches a plethora of practical skills that are applicable to everyday life. The most obvious skill is persuasive speech. However, mock trials also give team members the ability to think critically and practice their public speaking skills.

Is Mock Trial Difficult?

Mock trial is a very accessible, doable hobby for people to pick up. That’s not to say it’s easy, however.

Like most other activities, it’ll take a little hard work and dedication for you to get the most out of the experience, but it’s definitely not out of reach.

Is Mock Trial Good for College?

Yes, mock trial is great for college! High school student can even win awards, national recognition, and college scholarships for participating in mock trial.

Not only is it a suitable hobby for high schoolers and college students, but for anyone looking to improve their public speaking or develop their passion for law. Still, you don’t need to have a background or interest in law to reap the benefits of mock trial.

What Is Mock Trial Coaching?

Mock trial coaching is essentially preparation for a mock trial. Mock trial coaching involves lots of practice, especially with regard to public speaking. 

With this type of coaching, the coach will help you with any weak areas and work to bolster your existing skills. A mock trial coach provides expertise in many critical mock trial areas, including: 

• Critical thinking
• Public speaking
• Problem solving

How to Improve with Mock Trial Coaching

One of the best ways to train for a mock trial is through mock trial coaching. However, mock trial coaching and speech coaching can work in tandem to bolster your skills and get you court-ready. Here’s how to improve with mock trial coaching. 

Get Comfortable with Public Speaking

Mock trials involve lots of public speaking. No matter if you’re acting as an attorney or a witness, you’ll be speaking in front of the court. For mock trials especially, you’re trying to sell your case — mediocre public speaking skills won’t get you there. 

Even the best, most experienced mock trial team members should continue to sharpen their skills with mock trial coaching. To complement it, try adding a speech coach like Yoodli to the mix. 

Yoodli — an AI-powered speech coach — provides a safe space for anyone to practice and improve for mock trials. All you have to do is upload or record a video directly on Yoodli and you’ll receive tons of personalized, non-judgemental feedback. 

This eliminates the guesswork. You don’t have to wonder if you’re using too many filler words or if you’re speaking too fast; Yoodli will let you know. 

For example, you’ll be able to get the most important analytics that’ll help elevate your abilities in mock trial, including: 

• Your speech pacing
• How often you use filler words (and which ones you use most often)
• Your vocabulary, including any weak words you could improve
• And your pausing, among other insightful analytics

To improve your public speaking skills, just let Yoodli analyze your speech; then, you can focus on the targeted areas of improvement and address them from there. 

Work on Your Body Language

If you’ve participated in a mock trial before, you’ll know that proper body language is essential. How you present yourself in front of the court can make or break a case.

One of the most insightful analytics Yoodli provides regards body language and how you present yourself. Are you smiling? Are you making eye contact? Believe it or not, Yoodli analyzes your body language to make actionable recommendations for improvement. 

Body language also goes hand-in-hand with how comfortable you are speaking in front of an audience. If you’re nervous, you might be playing with a loose thread on your sweater, swaying side to side, or even standing perfectly still. 

None of these nervous habits will be doing you any favors. Plus, body language that suggests you’re anxious or uncomfortable can actually harm your credibility during a mock trial. 

So, what’s the solution?  

Let Yoodli point out areas in which you could improve. For example, making eye contact. Our AI speech coach will let you know how often you make eye contact during a recorded speech, interview, or the like. 

Yoodli has a collection of sample speeches from celebrities and famous faces, along with their analytics, to give you an idea of what kinds of feedback you’ll receive. 

For example, take former President Barack Obama’s speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Obama is known for being an adept public speaker, and his speech at the DNC wasn’t an exception. 

By analyzing his speech, we can see that Obama’s body language is one of his strong suits. He uses confident, positive hand gestures and smiles when appropriate. We can also see that he made eye contact over 70% of the time. 

Watch the full speech on Yoodli or check out the video below:

You’ll be able to see these same analytics based on your own speaking. That way, you’ll know what you need to improve before the day of the next mock trial. 

Why Is Mock Trial Important?

Mock trial coaching is important because it’s an excellent learning tool for effective communication and career-enhancing skills.

You’ll learn how to think critically, problem solve, speak comfortably in front of an audience, and experience the courtroom atmosphere firsthand. Those skills can last a lifetime, but practicing through mock trial coaching — coupled with speech coaching — can elevate your abilities. 

The Bottom Line

Mock trial coaching aims to advance your skills to better prepare you for your next courtroom appearance. Mock trial coaching, especially when paired with speech coaching on a free platform like Yoodli, can change the game. Plus, those effective communication strategies you’re putting into action don’t just apply during mock trials; they extend into your everyday life, whether that’s at school, at work, or just during day-to-day conversations. 

If you’ve invested in mock trial coaching and you want to take your practice based on your individualized analytics, take advantage of Yoodli’s services. There’s no downside to working on compelling, effective communication skills.