Aral Balkan

I'm in the middle of preparing my presentation for Highland Fling and I find myself wondering if there's a logo somewhere I can use on my first slide to tell the world that my presentation does not contain any bullet points.

I Google it. I find nothing. So I make one.

So I present to you the super-duper official No Bullet Points campaign/logo/badge.

Grab the PSD (no_bullet_points.psd.zip, 36KB), resize it, make badges, put it on your presentations, and let me know how and when you're using it by adding a comment to this post.

Hasta la vista, bullet points!

Comments

• I totally agree that it just depends on the situation. However, I think my main point remains that, most times, having a stack of slides for your presentation does little more than divert attention away from the presenter and to the screen. Most presenters use this as a way to get the eyes off themselves or as some form of notecards. I suppose people could walk into the middle of the presentation and see what was going on (with slides) or they could get a copy to review later... but I still think it's a messed up format (say, powerpoint). If you need to show a specific image or screen shot--fine. But digging up photos that closely support your point--but not quite exactly your point--is a mistake. Summing up your message in a few words is questionable too because the idea is that you're SAYING those things already. Gee... I wonder why the presidential candidates aren't using slides in their speeches--even their prepared speeches? I am just trying to make a point... I don't totally follow my rules here and I don't expect people would. I just think you should consider the not-so-extreme approach of NO SLIDES.

  by Phillip Kerman on 2008-04-04 01:55:33

• I think the amount of text on each slide is a bigger problem than the use of bullet points. There was this one guy presenting at FITC with literally one slide for each sentence he said. No bullet points. One fancy transition every 2 seconds. The most annoying slides I've ever seen.

  by Michiel van der Ros on 2008-04-04 08:33:38

• Reasons I like bullet points: • They break up lists (see below) • They can be infinitely indented, I tend to stop at 5 or 6 levels • They're instantly recognisable • If they're big enough you can draw smiley faces in them with a contrasting colour • They're like a full stops older brother, bigger - fatter and liable to give you a noogie without warning.

  by Jolyon on 2008-04-01 09:23:20

• Nice Info Thanks

  by شات on 2008-06-16 06:03:39

• I just stumbled on your blog, love it! I have to say I abuse bulletpoints way too much. I need to learn to express myself and drive the point home without them. They become quite cliche while still being useful. -J

  by Jaems on 2008-04-03 03:00:27

• Adding this to my Q1 review presentation.

  by Gareth on 2008-04-04 12:55:58

• "No bullet points" or "bullet points are evil" just sets up another system of rules to follow that isn't necessarily going to help you make a better presentation. Bullet points aren't going to ruin a good presentation, and lack of them isn't going to make a bad presentation good. It's far more about the material and the speaker's ability to communicate. I've seen speakers have a page full of bullet points and sit there and read them line for line. Horrible. I tend to use bullet points of one or two words to give structure to what I'm talking about. - do this - then do this - finish with this And I explain verbally each point in detail. If you are presenting a technical subject, I see this kind of thing is very helpful to give understanding of key points or sequences. Helps users to take notes. On the other hand, another speaker might be able to do a better job without them.

  by Keith Peters on 2008-04-06 15:13:32

• @Jeremy I watched the Rheingold talk. It had very few slides--and nearly all were either distracting (because they made me think what the connection was... like the movie stills which I didn't recognize)... or just there for a quick laugh--which is totally fine. 99% of the time though, you were watching him.

  by Phillip Kerman on 2008-04-13 18:08:11

• You should sell t-shirts at cafe press with this logo :)

  by Étienne Groulx on 2008-04-01 15:15:57

• Okay, step back and think about the presentations you've ever seen... I'll bet they had no bullet points--but no "slides" either. Maybe if you're demoing software you need a projector... but generally, I'll bet the best presos you've seen are slide-less... projector less.... but just great presentations.

  by Phillip Kerman on 2008-04-01 15:14:05

• thanks aral super site

  by htmlmekani on 2008-08-31 16:08:13

• Your a fool turning your back on bullet points, what happens when you really really need to make sure your audience sees that line of text, your summary, YOUR BULLET POINT! you will be deserted by keynote or powerpoint or what ever your using, your line of text will just look normal, regular and un-important AND you'll have to put a full-stop at the end of your sentence! :)

  by john c on 2008-05-16 11:36:26

• I more agree to Jolyon to the usefulness of bullet points. I don't think that the bullet points are a problem in a presentation. It's the amount of information you try to put in a single sheet. efficient use of summary by bullet points can even created an easy to follow thread through your presentation. I'm interested in Aral's point of view on bullet points and his motivation.

  by Norbert on 2008-04-01 10:24:36

• Why have you used PSD? I guess that is a PhotoShop file format? Is it vector based? When I import it into Paint Shop Pro (I'm a developer, I have no time [or money ;)]for bloated designer tools like PhotoShop), it comes out as a bitmap image. A .PNG would have been better, no? And is this your April Fool post Aral?

  by David Arno on 2008-04-01 11:28:08

• haha funny! i'm definitely adding "No Bullet points" for my next presentation!

  by Daniel S on 2008-03-31 20:55:40

• Definitely adding this to my next presentation... In Spanish!

  by Henri Watson on 2008-03-31 20:57:18

• if i had a presentation, i'd add it.

  by davididas on 2008-03-31 21:18:38

• My latest thing is no-dang-slides! I mean, people are there to hear you speak--so talk! So many presentations/presenters use the slides as a crutch. Try it some time.

  by Phillip Kerman on 2008-04-01 01:11:39

• I think you have it spot on Jack: adjust the presentation style depending on your skills, your audience and your topic. If you are presenting a pitch to a bunch of suits, follow the "10, 20, 30 rule" (10 slides, 20 minutes max and font size >= 30pt) If you are presenting coding ideas to developers, show them a couple of slides, an IDE with large font size, write a little code and talk lots. If you are presenting to designers, ditch the bullet points completely, show them some pretty pictures, talk slowly and maybe do a dance. :P

  by David Arno on 2008-04-03 15:35:21

• Nope, not an April fool's post. Bullet points are evil :) I agree with Jolyron's points for written texts, not for presentations, where each slide should contains not more than what you could fit into a single bullet point. In other words, your slides are your bullet points :) I played around with Lessig-style presentations but my slides nowadays only contain images, videos, _short_ code segments, and URLs.

  by Aral on 2008-04-01 12:24:25

• I disagree - bullet points have their uses even in presentations, particularly when summarizing. Effective presentations follow similar rules for composition. Introduce topic, show support for the topic, summarize the topic. Say the first, present the second, display the third. Bullet points are often useful for the third bit, giving the audience a chance to integrate and remember what you've just presented. I can understand some people not liking them, but evil? Nah. Overused, yes. Poorly used, most definitely. Something that irks me more about presentations is the "complete copy of all slides in my presentation" handouts. Now THAT is evil!

  by Jack Cole on 2008-04-01 14:41:29

• Don't shoot the bullet points! They're only doing their job... :'-( I find them useful when I want to work less but say just as much as a full description. They're like a lesser paragraph. @Phillip Kerman : Dude, I have a low attention span, if it weren't for these babies, I'd have no way to catch up but to pester the guy next to me. And if I'm holding a presentation, I'd have no easy way to remember where I was if I go off on some wild tangent. Flicking back and forwards through slides is obvious and embarrassing ;-)

  by Lee McColl Sylvester on 2008-04-01 18:01:11

• @Phillip Kerman: "Okay, step back and think about the presentations you’ve ever seen… I’ll bet they had no bullet points–but no “slides” either." That depends heavily on presentation topic. The best presentations of technical material (not just software) were a good combination of presenter and slideshow. The best design presentations, ditto. I'd say the same for the best sales, planning and general business presentations, too. If we're speaking only of personal presentations in which the speaker /is/ the topic, then I'd agree with you. Keeping to "audio only" keeps the focus on the most important item, the presenter. The challenge there is that s/he had best have good public speaking skills. As Lee pointed out, speakers have to compensate their audience somehow for the mass of information they're being asked to take in. Make it easier on those you're presenting to by giving them more than one way to absorb that knowledge, and help them soak it in by selective (and varied) reinforcement.

  by Jack Cole on 2008-04-01 22:01:23

• I can certainly agree that bullet points have a purpose--sometimes even a rational one--in presentations . . . but Aral is the most right when he says that your slides should be your bullet points. PP and Keynote are great document creation tools. That's when bullet points are great. I've been given handouts of presentations that were so comprehensive (bullet points and all) that I didn't really need to attend the presentation itself. At that point, it's no longer a presentation. It's a book-reading. I'd rather just have the book. That's a document. A presentation, however, is the thing that happens somewhere between the speaker and their presentation deck. (If you're going to go with visuals--and I lean heavily in the direction of using them more often than not, but using them WELL.) If you have any doubts about this, go spend 18 minutes watching one of the presentations at TED (http://ted.com/). Or peruse the example decks at Duarte (http://www.duarte.com/). @Phillip Kerman, I have to confess that when you asked me to think of the best presentations I've ever experienced, I thought right away about Hans Rosling's first presentation at TED: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/140 and Howard Rheingold's presentation about collaboration: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/216 . The challenge is, it takes work--and hard work at that--to create powerful, meaningful graphical decks that enhance presentations instead of weighing them down. You should see Nancy Duarte's presentation ecosystem. Actually, you can: http://wiki.vizthink.com/files/NancyDuarte/EcoSystemv1.jpg . For my part, I've long since abandoned bullets in presentation decks, and I always push the folks around me to simplify and beautify in order to create deeper meaning.

  by Jeremy on 2008-04-09 01:46:49

• you will be deserted by keynote or powerpoint or what ever your using, your line of text will just look normal, regular and un-important AND you’ll have to put a full-stop at the end of your sentence!

  by fragman on 2008-10-21 13:45:19

• Losers with too much time on your hands!

  by Tony on 2008-12-08 23:44:34