Presentations Training:
PowerPoint Presentation Skills: How Many Bullets?

So many people make the mistake of using too many bullet points in their PowerPoint presentations. Some things that I always consider when creating my presentations are:

1. Do I really need to use bullet points?
2. If I do use bullet points, how many should I use?

Things that you should always consider are that if you are showing bullet points on a slide, the following may happen.

1. Your audience will read the slide and pay no attention to you.
2. Text is boring - not stimulating visually.
3. Your audience becomes confused.
4. There is too much information on your slide.

So am I suggesting you never use bullet points? No, because they do have their place sometimes. Let me explain.

You are doing a presentation about internet banking and your original slide looked like this;

Internet Banking

1. No more queuing
2. You can do it from home
3. It's very easy

This is what you can do instead: use pictures. One slide will now turn into 4 or 5 slides.

1. Your first slide will have the words Internet Banking on it.

2. Your second will show a picture of a queue (cover the slide). You can talk about the disadvantages of a queue while showing this slide.

3. Your third will show a picture of a cup of coffee and a keyboard (cover the slide). Here you are showing comfort with the cup of coffee and the keyboard signifies the internet.

4. Your fourth will show the numbers 1, 2 & 3 to show simplicity. Counting to 3 is very simple so we can now see how simple internet banking is.

5. The fifth (you may want to use this) could show bullet points as single words:

A. Internet Banking

Queues
Home
Easy

Center all the above on your slide. Be sure to use only single words so the audience can associate them to the previous pictures you used.

Personally I dislike using bullet points but I do understand that sometimes we need them. Always ask yourself the following questions when considering them.

1. Do I really need bullet points?
2. Can I replace them with visuals

Here are some actions for you to practice.
1. Create a presentation on any subject.
2. Use visuals instead of bullet points.
3. Present to a friend or colleague and video your presentation.
4. Watch the video together and discuss.

Source: Liam Lusk link

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