Make Every Bullet Count

Bullet points are things that we take for granted, and they blot our presentations. I had debates with a co-worker about whether my presentation bullet points should have periods. He said they should, I said they were not sentences, so they should not. I realize now that I had bullets that were sentences and some that were not. I shot myself with my own bullets.

The PowerPoint Ninja Blog has a useful how-to series on creating and using effective Bullet Points. It is a practical guide to these small but important phrases we all use. They give many ideas to think about, and use, in your presentations.

In tactical presentations where you are advocating a solution based upon data, examples and evidence, bullets may be hard to avoid, and really, it is ok to use them. Just avoid the issues described in the Ninja’s blog. It would be hard to do an”image-only” PowerPoint in this context. Think “business review”.

I advocate the use of images along with a bullet point, one per slide.

I like to “build” my slides if I have several points that, when put together, explain a concept. Do a build by animating the bullet points using animations so that they appear on a click. as you speak. This way the audience is not confused by a busy unexplained slide, allowing you to introduce each idea one at a time.

I do not use a bullet graphic, the little symbol, dot or dash in front of the bullet. Avoid them when you can. You can use numbers if the bullet points are steps in a process, or part of a to-do list. If you keep to a minimalist 4x4 or less rule (no more than 4 bullet points and no more than 4 words each line) you really do not need to illustrate each line.

Finally, avoid “carriage returns” (some may not know what this phrase from typewriter days means), or continuing a bullet point on a second line. If that is happening, you need to edit and keep key words (Ninja covers this too) or make more room on your slide. Do not, in any case, let Power point automatically reduce the font size so the bullet point fits in the text box.

Don’t shoot yourself, or your audience, with machine-gun bullets. Make every bullet count.