Beyond Bullet Points

When presenting online, it is much more difficult to hold a user’s attention than when presenting live. this problem is exacerbated when you throw a list of bullet points up and start addressing them one at a tine. Many presenters use clever tricks such as animation or revealing one bullet at a time, but believe you me, unless you have the most interested audience in the world, they will soon be off checking their email or performing other tasks while you speak.

But people still insist on using bullet points to deliver their message. Why is this? One reason is that it is easy. Many people organize thoughts in their heads like bullet points. Bullets represent a simple, logical flow of information. But you’re not trying to entertain or inform anyone in your head. I recemmend that all presenters get and memorize Cliff Atkinson’s fantastic book, ‘Beyond Bullet Points.’ The main idea presented in the book is that each slide in a presentation should be a single thought represented by a single image or diagram to support the thought. People will remember more if you deliver just one thought at a time, so why make it difficult for them?

I recommend that all PresenterNet users get a copy of Cliff’s book and join his online forums to discuss techniques. You’ll see your presentation performance improve drastically.