Comments on: 5 ways bullet-point slides damage your brand

By: 5 ways to be a top presenter – meet the FiRST framework | Remote Possibilities

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:02:03 +0000

[...] credible? Well for one thing, avoid what most presenters do. For instance, as Olivia Mitchell of speakingaboutpresenting.com put it: “Bullet-point slides damage your [...]

By: Discussing effective presentations of research « uusipaikkamaiju

Discussing effective presentations of research « uusipaikkamaiju — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 08:42:36 +0000

[...] is lazy and not effective. If your slides are bullet-point slides (not recommended) then they will often be cut-down sentences which will no longer make sense to the [...]

By: Olivia Mitchell

Olivia Mitchell — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 04:12:46 +0000

Have a great holiday.
Olivia

By: Brigid Anderson

Brigid Anderson — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 03:49:45 +0000

Out of town on vacation this week but looking forward to exploring the resources you provided . . . environmental law regulations with no bullets? I’m willing to be persuaded! Thanks, Brigid

By: Olivia Mitchell

Olivia Mitchell — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:21:27 +0000

Hi Brigid
Teaching legal compliance issues without bullets is challenging, but it can be done. An example of this is Norman Wei, who trains people in environmental regulations. Here’s an extract from a blog post he wrote:
“I just finished conducting a 2-day presentation on environmental regulations in California. As I have done in the past few years, none of my PowerPoint presentation contained any bullet points. Here are a couple of comments about the presentation format from the audience:

“Great review of environmental regulations and law; enjoy the format; presentation was great because it wasn’t filled with bullet points; like that it was simplified.”

“Usually when a presenter uses PowerPoint, they tend to use it as their presentation. Mr. Wei used it to supplement his presentation as an aid. It tends to keep the audience more engaged and interested in the presentation.”
http://nobullets.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/some-feedback-from-the-audience/

So it can be done.

Here are some questions to ask about your current method of teaching – is it working well? do participants enjoy it? do they understand and are they able to apply the information you teach them? Research in the e-learning field has shown that generally people are not good at retaining and applying information when it’s provided by bullet-points and an accompanying narration. Richard Mayer and Ruth Clarke are two researchers/authors to look out for here. Not much research has been done directly on face-to-face training using PowerPoint – but I have written up the study of one researcher here:
http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/design/new-evidence-bullet-points/

Another distinction to make is between the slides and the take-away material. They do not have to be, nor should the be, the same thing. The take-away material should include all the detailed technical information.

I hope this is helpful.
Olivia

By: Brigid Anderson

Brigid Anderson — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:40:26 +0000

Hold on there. Our company presents regular seminars (in-person and web) on technical legal compliance topics. Detailed slides are a takeaway for our customers and I don’t see how we could convey the very word-heavy, technical information that are the center of our product without bullets. I hammer on my colleages about the need to keep bullets short; to capture (as much as possible) the “concept” of a legal rule or requirement. We try to avoid numerous bullets at the same level–nicely balanced sub-bullets look better and are easier for the audience to follow. I also couch my speakers to follow the slides (I think people get lost if you stray too far) but make sure they are always adding something more (examples, asides, comments about reasons for a rule, comments that put the rule in the context of other rules or practices, common administrative challenges, common misunderstandings, related rules, etc.). But not so much more that folks get lost. What’s your take on bullets in this kind of context (i.e., where we are not trying to persuade but trying to educate about complicated issues). . . .?

By: Presentation Handouts

Presentation Handouts — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:26:21 +0000

[...] is lazy and not effective. If your slides are bullet-point slides (not recommended) then they will often be cut-down sentences which will no longer make sense to the [...]

By: Perché i punti elenco non funzionano: un esperimento « Presentazioni Efficaci

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:26:46 +0000

[...] e del tipo di narrazione che essi promuovono, è naturalmente sotto i riflettori da molto tempo. Olivia Mitchell ne parla da tempo, così come molti altri. I punti elenco appesantiscono le slide, annoiano, trasmettono l’idea [...]

By: Olivia Mitchell

Olivia Mitchell — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:13:28 +0000

Thanks Irene, for a beautiful exposition of the proper place of bullets. Olivia

By: wong words

wong words — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:07:12 +0000

Bullets are ruining more than Powerpoint. I am beginning to see them abused in text where, for example, 10 paragraphs are bulleted.

Paragraphs are a long established form of navigation, separated from each other with more space than there is btwn lines. Traditionally the first line was indented which helped the break up.

But bulleting each para suggests they are all important. This is is like crying wolf. Bullets are fine for 2 or 3 main key summaries/points if they are very short that is.

In addition, we all know that long bulleted lists of like items can be boring and cause mego (me eyes gloss over). And don’t get me started on bulleted lists where the content isn’t parallel.

I don’t hate bullets. I often break long sentences up by using bullets to list like concepts. They are wonderful when numbered for instructions. We can’t live without them.

But they must be preserved and treasured as the perfect tool for certain tasks. But they fail their readers when authors choose them over other visual and grammatical devices.