Bullet points are a ubiquitous stylistic device in many PowerPoint presentations. However, they don't enjoy the best reputation. And rightly so, because an abundance of bullet points can make a slide unreadable. Our tips show some sensible alternatives.

Bullet points, typically displayed as black dots by default in Office, are widely considered outdated and obsolete. Those who fill slide after slide with them not only risk making the presentation difficult to follow, but also make it visually challenging to create the necessary narrative arc for the audience.

The underlying principle behind using bullet points is sound: to structure and organize the content, thereby placing it within a comprehensible context. Below, we offer a few tips and suggestions on how to manage with few or even no bullet points in a presentation.

Avoid bullet points
If you only have a few points to cover on a slide, it's best to simply forgo a bulleted list. The individual points or keywords can be visually separated by line breaks and spacing. This also prevents you from overloading the slides with too much content. Ideally, the content of a slide should be clear and coherent at a glance.

Is a list even necessary?
You should ask yourself this question when designing a slide. While lists are a good way to structure content, it's easy for the content itself to get lost in the mere enumeration. To avoid long lists on a single slide, divide the content across multiple slides.


Use talking pictures (icons)
Combining textual and visual communication levels is also suitable for lists. Instead of using conventional bullet points, reduce the list so that the terms can be arranged horizontally next to each other and accompanied by suitable images or icons.

Bullet points in PowerPoint
PowerPoint offers many different bullet point options. Click the bullet point icon under "Home" and select "Numbering & Bullets" from the context menu. There you can choose from a predefined selection or define your own bullet points.