New Year's Resolution

The new year is upon us and by now most of the resolutions will have slipped by like the flood water. It's not too late though to make that decision to change your life, to give up a ridiculous and damaging habit, to move to a healthier and more effective way, to put behind the secret shame and embrace the person you know you want to be. Give up using bulletpoints.

The rationale is simple; bulletpoints are educationally useless; their use as a script hinders effective communication; visually they disrupt and distract and their use as a handout is minimal. Bulletpoints don't work so give them up. Not as part of a gradual reduction plan, not “some point in the future”, not after the next meeting but right now, full stop. Just stop.

The amazing thing is that if you can put your excuses behind you and make that change by simply stopping using bulletpoints it will force you to reconsider how to deliver a presentation. This will direct you to consider what the data is that you are trying to deliver, its structure, the nature and requirement of the audience and then how you will support that with media. Then your presentations will make dramatic improvement both in terms of your construction but most importantly in their reception. Stop using bulletpoints today.