Why PowerPoint bullet points are ruining your presentation

One of the easiest ways to kill a presentation – and your audience’s attention span – is slide after slide of bulleted lists.

And while bullet points are often a great way to organise information, it’s actually been proven that they prevent our brains from retaining information properly.

A 2010 study called The Use of Visualization in the Communication of Business Strategies found that viewers who were shown a graphic representation of a concept not only paid more attention to it, but also agreed with and better recalled the concept than subjects who were shown an identical, bullet list version. The research also concluded that audiences view presenters in a more positive light when shown information graphically.

Basically, doing away with bulleted lists won’t just get your audience’s respect and attention – they’re also far more likely to remember your message and agree with it.

All it takes to turn your bullet points into visually appealing, effective content is a bit of creativity. We’ve put together a list of tips and techniques to help:

 

Reduce Text

Often, bulleted lists would be far more digestible if they were just less wordy. Plus, shorter sentences require less reading effort from your audience. Get your point across in as few words as possible by cutting down the text on each bullet to just key words and phrases.

[one_half] [box type=”shadow”]

Alternatives to bullet points

• Reduce text in each bullet
• Highlight key points in your message
• Spit bullets onto separate slides
• Replace bullets with icons

[/box] [/one_half] [one_half_last] [box type=”shadow”]

Alternatives to bullet points

• Reduce text
• Highlight key points
• Separate slides
• Icons

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Highlight Key Points

Can’t reduce the text? Highlight key words using bold or coloured text. Keep it to a minimum though, and pay attention to line spacing – too much highlighting can actually make your text harder to read.

[box type=”shadow”]

Alternatives to bullet points

• Reduce text in each bullet
• Highlight key points in your message
• Spit bullets onto separate slides
• Replace bullets with icons

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One Idea Per Slide

Splitting PowerPoint bullet points onto separate slides gives your audience more time to digest each chunk of information. It also frees up space to allow for larger text so viewers aren’t squinting at lines of 12pt. Fill the white background with a bold, relevant image to bring the slide to life.

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Alternatives to bullet points

Split bullets

onto

separate slides

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Use Icons

Replacing PowerPoint bullet points with icons is a great way to dress up your text with small, simple visual elements. There are plenty of great resources for icons available on the web, and using relevant icons can help your audience remember the information shown.

 

Smart Art

PowerPoint’s Smart Art feature is great for displaying information in Venn diagrams, organisational charts, processes, and more. There’s also a list option, which is perfect for transforming bullet points. Be careful though – while Smart Art should automatically adjust the text and shapes, it can be tricky to format.

 

Quote

PowerPoint offers 16 different callout boxes in its Shapes menu. Placing single ideas inside thought bubbles, especially alongside an image or graphic of a person, can add an authentic feel to your text. Use contrasting colours and bold key words to make your message stand out.